To rehome puppy?

[MarsBars123]

Our 6 month old puppy bit our friends 6 year old daughter today.

We were having a meal and gave him his food afterwards. She walked behind him while he was eating and he spun around and bit her, he didn't draw blood but her hand was red.

I am in total shock, he has never done anything like this before, should we rehome him straight away? I'm really confused.

Well, at least we agree on something.

The dog that is aggressive with other dogs and was aggressive towards humans, although has never bitten one, is my rescue dog. I wasn't aware you had a rescue dog, is that the one you bred from? I do vaguely remember you saying you had 'rescued' her from her breeder.

However, enough of the pissing contests, the fact is, the OP needs proper professional help before something worse happens. What she has been doing so far has clearly not been working, as the dog has bitten someone and regardless of yours, mine or the thoughts of anyone else on this thread, this is something the OP needs real life experienced help with.

OP, you can fine a good behaviourist through the APBC, as said earlier in the thread and your insurance should cover a behaviourist from this body if it covers behaviour problems. www.apbc.org.uk

Aww midori they're lovely.

And flatbread, please stop assuming. I haven't posted anything about my dogs behaviour have I? So how can you say they're aggressive? They've never once bit, nipped or growled at anyone. And that isn't due to over training or abuse, its from knowing how animals work and respecting it whilst raising them to be good dogs. Bit of give and take.

And no dog should have to be trained to be acceptant of being pushed and pulled an generally irritated. That shouldn't be happening in the first place.

We're supposed to love and protect our animals yet all some of you are doing are training them to become shadows of themselves, tolerant of anything you wish upon it. If you've got children that want to grab and maul, you teach them not to. Or don't get a dog in the first place.
Another clear example of where humanity won't change their own actions but force others to live with them instead

OP, this is not so complicated. Your puppy is resource guarding. It saw the unknown 6 yr old as a threat/competitor for the food and nipped.

On the positive side, you have taught the pup bite inhibition, and there was no real damage.

Going forward, you continue to reinforce the message that humans control food resources. Continue reinforcing the training from your vet:

*Make pup sit and wait for food and only once you say ok, does the pup get food

• Put you hand regularly in the food bowl, add things, remove things. The dog should be very relaxed around that
• take the bowl away, give a wait command and when the dog obeys, give it back and drop another goodie in. If the dog growls or is tense, do no give it back, continue sitting with the dog till it calms, and then give it back
• feed the dog by hand often, giving it commands between treats -simple stuff like sit and wait.
• give it meals in different spots in the house and in various bowls, so it does not get possessive over anything food related

Do all or some of this everyday. At 6 months pups often forget their training and also like to push boundaries. Keep doing it and the puppy will learn that humans control food resources and guarding food gets him nowhere. On the other hand, calm behaviour and good manners get rewarded with food. It will eventually get imprinted in his brain.

Also, make sure the pup has lots of exercise. At 6 months they are bursting with energy and it is easier to get them in a calm frame of mind around food, when they have had other physical and mental exercise.

Visiting children are not allowed near my dogs when they are eating. Visiting children are not allowed anywhere near even my most tolerant dogs unless they are supervised very closely.

It's not that I don't trust my dogs. I don't trust other people's kids.

As pointed out earlier other people do not always train their children the correct way ton behave around dogs. I have known children to get right up in the face of whippy dog, something which most dogs would find threatening. The parents just smile and aww .

Don't rehome your dog OP. Supervise it better. Give it space when eating. Add better things to it's bowl while it is eating. Stop taking the bowl away. I train to be able to take things away using toys and bones. I give a toy. I hold something of higher value. I show them what I have, they drop the toy, I give them higher value treat and then give them what they had back. Eventually this behaviour is paired with the command "give". All of my dogs will "give" up anything because they have learnt I am no threat to their toys or food.

Read up on up to date theories. Jean Donaldson "The Culture Clash" John Bradshaw "In Defence of Dogs" anything by Ian Dunbar. Contact an APDT behaviourist for further advise on the dog's behaviour on food.

Flatbread is a good dog owner isn't she? She is the fountain of all knowledge on anything canine related. She knows more than any published author or degree educated behaviourist. Unfortunately us mere mortals can only dream of understanding our dogs so well. She can communicate with them with her eyebrows

Midori makes a lot of sense and uses words to train her dogs. I'd echo everything she has said on this thread.

It's not that I don't trust my dogs. I don't trust other people's kids

Codeword for I have not trained/socialised my dogs properly and cannot trust them in different situations.

Lol

It's not a code for anything, love, it's English. It means I don't trust other people's children to behave appropriately around my dogs.

I take in rescue dogs. Some of whom have issues because of the way they have been treat in the past. Allowing untrained children unsupervised access to them would be silly and asking for trouble.

Are there still people who think in order for a dog to "know it's place in the pack" you have to stick your hands in their food and pull their tails?

I dont let any children, my own or any one else's go up behind any of my dogs when they are eating. The same way I wouldn't expect anyone to come up behind me and stick their hands in my food or pull my hair.

I can take my little dogs bowl away when he is eating because he knows that means he will get a high value treat in it. And they will sit and wait for their food.

But to let any child go up and disturb a dog, whilst he is eating is quite strange to me.

I feel awfully sorry for Flatbread's dog. I really do. Poor thing. I've never heard anybody sound proud of pulling a dog's tail before! Bizarre. :(

OP, it must have been a shock to see your dog snap, but really, it's still just a puppy, and to automatically think of rehoming is just cruel.
You need to keep thinking about the situations you put your dog into. Strange people in a busy room with children pushing past it while eating was probably not the best plan in hindsight.
Keep training, keep teaching.
Don't give up. The dog is practically still a baby!

When I was a child other children did pull my hair. Even now babies like to pull my hair and play with it.

And dh regularly comes from behind and takes popcorn off my bowl .

No, I don't bite in response

Anyway, the comparison with people is silly as dogs are not human.

No, and nor are they wolves that run in packs and have to be dominated in a ridiculous fashion in order for them to learn their place in the pack.

OMG I can't believe this thread is still going this morning - did you people carry on all night!

Hihow, yup, I am proud that I pull my dogs tail gently, ruffle her ears, check her gums, check her paws, examine and groom all of her body, and hug her and kiss her on her nose with her face pressed against mine. And you know what, she loves it. All of it. Because she has been taught that human contact and touch is a good thing.

And she is safe around any child. That is what every responsible dog owner needs to ensure. And you do it by making your dog comfortable in most situations, not hiding them away.

My dogs are safe around my children. Because my children know how to behave with them, they take the little dog to puppy classes and know how what to do.
Someone else's child, coming up behind any of my dogs and pulling their tails or taking their food is a different story.

No you shouldn't rehome because of this, although it's ultimately your decision. There's a lot you can do to rectify.

It is not acceptable for a dog to be agressive over its food. If you have a poorly trained dog, sure, keep it well away when eating. But it shouldn't be necessary.

And out of curiosity, when you say you need to start training the puppy, have you not been doing this already?

The advice Goldship gave me was to feed the dog away from people. In the short term this might work but it is not a long term solution. He needs to learn not to be scared/aggressive around food.

I thought we had trained him well enough but obviously not, the vet said lots of dogs regress when they hot adolescence and need to be re-trained.

glodship it really scares me that you own dogs, I'm not saying this to try and insult you, I genuinely believe you shouldn't.

Sorry but who's dog went for a child? Oh yeah, yours. So don't patronise me. I've owned dogs and rescue dogs all my life and know how to treat them with love and respect and to help them grow into pleasent safe animals. Instead of programmed robots.

And thankyou d0ing x

And tantrums