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.

[Flatbread]

Ah, Dooing, I though you mentioned earlier that one of your dogs would growl if a child came up to his food bowl? If that happened, the dog would be on my blacklist and not invited back to a lunch/ dinner get together. If it were a young puppy like OP's, yes, everyone would make some allowances. But for an older dog, no. They should have been trained and socialised by then.

My dogs are not performing seals. The have limited focus and I prefer spending the time teaching them skills that enable them to have a happy life. The rest of the time they sleep and lounge around. Having fun is exhausting, you know.

[Inthepotty]

Flatbread you and your dogs seem to be living in a famous five novel.

[D0oinMeCleanin]

He would growl if a child put their hand in his food, given the choice between retreat or attack if the growling did not make the child understand he did not want to share his food, he would retreat.

I would not feed my dog at a party. I would have treats on me and toys to use as rewards/distractions if needed, but he wouldn't be fed a meal from his bowl around a lot of other dogs and people.

He is also very focused during training 1) because he has been taught to focus on me and only me when we are training and 2) he enjoys the interaction and attention from me 3) it gains him rewards of food, games or love.

[Flatbread]

Monster, don't encourage the fear. Don't send an escort. Throw a stick or ball or bone even when the balloons are out, and let her run out alone to get the treat.

If you ignore the balloons, soon she will too. Same for fireworks or thunder. Ignore and dog will be easygoing about it. Reassure the dog, and it will think that there is indeed something to fear, and will become anxious.

[TantrumsAndBalloons]

Yes. That's it. They just spend their time training and never have fun.

FFS you seem to be going out of your way to twist every single word in your favour. Well good luck to you.

My big dog has gone from being terrified of everything and everyone because he was unsocialised, fed only his owners leftovers, smacked all the time and not trained in the slightest, not even sit, stay, wait.

It makes me sick that you would look down your nose on people who train their dogs, and take pride in them achieving something.
You have no idea how much hard work it took for him to be able to go out of the door. He kept waiting for one of us to hit him.

And the pup was in a cage 14 hours a day from 7 weeks. He was again completley untrained,and unsocialised.
So the very fact that after 4-5 months with us, he is ready to start working towards his bronze means a lot to me.

I've never hit, smacked, kicked or pulled any dogs tail or allowed anyone to do it. And even the most severely mistreated foster hasn't bitten anyone because I make sure they feel safe and I don't allow random children to torment them.

But yes, having left over stew clearly makes you the better owner and all my and my DDs hard work with little dog means shit.

[Flatbread]

Seems like an alternative planet here, sometimes.

Once again, if your dog growls because a child came close to its food, it is resource guarding. For any normal person, that is not acceptable behaviour and the dog would be trained pronto to be easygoing around food.

As for your not feeding dogs at a party, that is frankly your dog's loss. I am sure he would prefer being trained to have good food manners and be invited to, and get play and treats at parties from the host and other guests. But instead he has to learn to focus on you, as his sole source of entertainment.

[D0oinMeCleanin]

Did you miss the bit where I said he spent yesterday evening running free on the local beach with 7 other dogs?

He will do the same again tomorrow night, only perhaps there will only 5 other dogs, perhaps there will be more. It depends on who, if anyone, we meet along our way.

Did you also miss the bit where I said I can handle my dog while he is eating? And add things to bowl and get him to give me his bone/toy/stolen items?

Like Tantrums just said, you are determined to twist things to make yourself look better.

Our puppy is with us because, like you, his owners thought he should be happy to put up with any treatment and was happy to, until the day he wasn't and he bit one of their children, that was when he came to live with us.

[monsterchild]

Flatbread, I appreciate your input. I agree making a big deal or comforting her would reinforce the fear, so we don't make a big deal of this, but she won't leave the house if she can see a balloon. Even if it is only the size of your fingernail. And other than picking her up and physically removing her from the house, there's no other way to get her outside to pee. I have to go out and feed the horses anyway, so it's not a special trip or anything.

But I think she's a good dog and if she is scared shitless of hot air balloons, then so be it. It's a lot better than other fears. She gets to stay inside during the fiesta week, and everyone is happy. I don't want her hurting herself!

Just to put it into perspective, there are 900 balloons in the fiesta, and we live about 3 miles (as the balloon looms) from the launch site. So there are LOTS of balloons. Often the sky looks like this <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=N&rlz=1C1TSNO_enUS464&authuser=0&biw=1092&bih=527&tbm=isch&tbnid=O9MhENSF2DwXeM:&imgrefurl=www.zianet.com/ynika/balloon.HTML&docid=cxiGl3S-YlLiYM&imgurl=www.zianet.com/ynika/1794.jpg&w=720&h=476&ei=-f9yUMzTH-LCyQGotoGoDw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=4&sig=114467140988915743408&page=5&tbnh=155&tbnw=203&start=49&ndsp=14&ved=1t:429,r:10,s:49,i:282&tx=112&ty=143" rel="nofollow noindex" target="_blank">balloons!

But sometimes these fly over: <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&rlz=1C1TSNO_enUS464&authuser=0&biw=1092&bih=527&tbm=isch&tbnid=jRPU9uBb78tXdM:&imgrefurl=dukecityfood.com/&docid=mcj_vW1gwR3LCM&imgurl=www.itsatrip.org/!userfiles/localexperts/gallery/RW_0020_web.jpg&w=394&h=297&ei=_ABzUKyrEKK-yQGSm4HwBg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=242&vpy=160&dur=857&hovh=196&hovw=260&tx=147&ty=108&sig=114467140988915743408&page=1&tbnh=158&tbnw=200&start=0&ndsp=10&ved=1t:429,r:1,s:0,i:74" rel="nofollow noindex" target="_blank">special shapes rodeo

[HiHowAreYou]

Sidenote: Don't vets always say they'd take your dogs because they're so beautiful / good / charming?

I thought it was just, you know, the vet sort of... flirting with your dog.

[Moominsarescary]

My grandparents dog was frightened of hot air balloons

[monsterchild]

Moomins apparently they are horrible death machines designed to maim and terrify dogs!

that's what my dog thinks, anyway.
But at least I can now say with confidence that dogs can indeed, look up.

[GoldShip]

its a dogs life...

[biff23]

Yes you would be unreasonable. Pups bite all the time, they are teething until around 6 months old (don't quote me on exact age). All dogs should have an area they can go to and get peace, they should also be allowed peace and quiet to eat. This is basic care for a dog and something you should have done your homework on before getting.

[Flatbread]

Ah, monster, didn't realise the balloons were a one-off thing. They look absolutely amazing. We saw 15 ballons in the air on 15th of July, but nothing like the link you sent!

[OliviaLMumsnet]

Ahem.

[Inthepotty]

Do you honestly think dogs don't have fun training?! My dog, and 3 others I went training with today- had a bloody ball. Over jumps, scent work in muddy fields, being fed liver cake and playing games with their owners? I'm not sure I have a need to take my dog to parties tbh.

[Bubblegum78]

A smack on the bottom is NOT the same as "hitting" your pet?

This is what I was TOLD to do by a dog breeder/trainer. We tried useing a water sprayer first but it didn't work, the dog thought it was great!

And no I do not smack her to stay away from food? What an odd thing to say?

I smacked her if she nipped anyone. You are SUPPOSED to do this if puppy's nip.

As far as the food is concerned, you are not supposed to approach dogs from behind whilst they are eating, they are very terratorial.

[ChickensHaveNoEyebrows]

Chickens are terrified of hot air balloons. There was a lady on the news a year or two ago who kept finding dead hens on her free range farm. Turned out that early on summer mornings hot air balloons would sail by and the birds would stress themselves to death. Mine hate helicopters and white washing blowing on the line

[crashdoll]

I've tried to avoid this thread but I had to comment on "supposed to smack a puppy if they nip"! This is terrible, terrible advice and dangerous!

[Inthepotty]

No bubblegum you're not SUPPOSED to do that.

[Moominsarescary]

So what if the puppy decides fuck that and bites you again

[Bubblegum78]

It is NOT terrible and it certainly is NOT dangerous.

Clearly you have no experience of dogs? This was based on PROFESSIONAL advice.

I had to do it less than half a dozen times, she got the message VERY quickly.

Better that than have her bite someone properly, cause physical damage to anyone (god forbid a small child) and end up having to rehome her, or being prosecuted and being made to have her destroyed because she bit someone elses child.

The dog is non the worse for it and is a delight.

I'm quite happy with it.

[Bubblegum78]

Smacking a puppy on the bottom with a rolled up magazine for biting is hardly pet abuse.

[Moominsarescary]

Monster she would refuse to go out if they were about, not sure what she thought they would do to her! She was scared of almost everything when they got her and had obviously been hit and mistreated. In the end the only thing she was afraid of was the balloons.