Dog snapping - what would you do?

[Cherry85]

So we have the most adorable 6 month old golden retriever. He is a bit highly strung but a lovely boy and our 2yr old loves him (most of the time).
Yesterday, for the first time ever we had a sign of aggression. He had jumped up and stolen food.... I shouted at him to get down and said 'no' very loudly..... well he just turned... doun on all fours, teeth bared and snapping.

I have spoken with a number of friends, dog trainers etc who say it is food related and trainable but I am just totally on edge now and have been up all night in tears..... I don't think I want him around my 2 yr old ..... DS and the dog run about together and DS pulls his tail etc and whilst dog is always great - just that chance he would turn again is terrifying me.

What would you do? Is it premature to look at rehoming? But then if he ever did anything to DS I could never live with myself.

We had golden retrievers as children and this one is very different behaviourally.....

Large puppies get to an age and size where stealing food is fun and rewarding. Keep all food out of reach and train your dog to go to its bed when you are eating or preparing food.

You need to do loads more training of dog and child. Teach your dog a down command. Teach your child not to pull the dogs tail ever.

Maybe he doesn't like his tail pulled?
You need to supervise more.

I have a Golden Retriever, I have had 4 of them.
I wouldn’t mix one with a 2 year old. They are known for being good family dogs but are actually pretty big and powerful. Goldies can resource guard- our current one did but we go professional help and my youngest DC was 8 when we got him.
You need to supervise your child better around the dog and get a professional assessment. If you can’t/won’t do that rehome. I know plenty of Goldie people looking for another one

You need to keep your DS safe. It is not fair on the dog to be with a child who pulls his tail and it would be a perfectly natural reaction for any dog to snap in this situation. You are setting them both up for failure and potentially devastating consequences.

Furthermore, your inappropriate reaction is what caused your adolescent dog to resource guard. Dogs don’t understand the concepts of ‘stealing’ - they are scavengers by nature. Nor do they know what ‘No’ shouted at them means. The dog thought he had to protect his food from you and you were threatening him.

I suggest separating them and consulting a certified veterinary behaviourist for this issue and also getting some good general dog training from an APDT trainer or similar science based training. Run a mile from anyone who talks about ‘packs’ or ‘dominance’.

Your son should not be pulling the dogs tail at all. You or another adult must be there to supervise at all times.

Your son absolutely cannot pull your dog's tail. That's incredibly irresponsible. DD is 3.5 and we have never allowed physical play or any kind of tail-pulling or ear-pulling with our dog or cat, who are both very docile but that doesn't matter. The tail-pulling concerns me far more than the food guarding instance tbh. Please put an end to it now.

We had golden retrievers as children and this one is very different behaviourally....

I suspect that is because your parents ensured you as kids had better manners towards their dogs and that food etc was kept out of reach.

Yu can't expect your kid or the dog to know what is not allowed. You have to be far more prescriptive than you seem to be - no tail pulling or other rough play; dog sits elsewhere at tea time - unless you undertake to use meal times for proper training. Stop listening to friends, get a real trainer and get yourself fully trained!

Only read the title...

Could you glue it back together?
Or use duct (duck?) tape?

Sorry - perhaps I should clarify - DS knows he is absolutely not allowed to pull his tail, but on the odd occasion it has happened the dog has never reacted - sorry was trying to demonstrate he has never shown any aggressive behaviour before, even in that situation...it is not a regular occurrence.

What would you do? Is it premature to look at rehoming? the child I presume.
I would not rehome the child just yet.

Jokes aside - what? Your puppy does what puppies do and you want to get rid? In all honesty if this is the issue and you stayed up all night crying not wanting the puppy around your child please do the dog a favour and find him a knowledgeable owner.

All animals need consistent training, a lot of exercise and even then they are still animals, and will bite scratch growl etc. They are animals and that is how they communicate. Not a reason to rehome anyone, for communicating. If the dog does not get proper education he will become unmanageable in time and you will all suffer. Get yourself trained, then the puppy, then the child. Good luck.

The dog is challenging your authority - I change my energy, growl back at the dog and stamp my feet firmly on the ground.

The dig knows they have 'done a bad thing'

Dogs understand body language more than words.

I have done this in public!
Don't care how daft I look and the dog gets the message.

This post would be best moved to The Doghouse. You'll get better advice there.

You need to rethink the relationship and boundaries between dc and dog first off. Running around together can easily lead to an over excited accident with an ever growing dog and pulling tails should never happen. It's common however for them to try and assert authority of high value things at this stage. My dpup went through a short phase where she would snarl when moving her from your lap or from the sofa if she was comfy. It was a very easy fix - trained it out in the space of about 2 days and had no further issues

I want to believe this is satire but sadly I think the poster is serious.
Absolutely do not do this!!

Really shit advice