Help! Japanese Spitz started unexpectedly snapping at /biting guests! Please tell me what to do next.

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We have a 3 year old Japanese Spitz, male, neutered. He is from a reputable breeder, we got him as a pup. We love him. My 2 previous dogs were collie cross rescue dogs. He responds to "sit","down", "heel","stay" and usually returns quickly when called. He has never been comfortable with cuddling in that he will happily play about with the children on the floor, lie next to them, let them stroke him, but he would never lay his head in someone's lap or look them in the eye when close up - he sort of wriggles away. Just recently he has growled at a friend as she tried to stroke him, nipped my daughter when she took a toy from him, snapped at DC's friend and today left two teeth marks (indentations which went after 10 mins and a tiny red bruise)on a 10yr old. I am utterly horrified. Have removed dog from having further contact with kids this evening, but what should I do now?

Can he ever be trusted around people other than me & DH? Does anyone have similar experience with their Japanese Spitz? Or is it something we've done wrong?

I intend to take him to the vet on monday if I can get an appointment for further advice.

Am really worried vet will advise dog is put to sleep.

I would really appreciate any wise words from those more experienced than me.

Keep him away from the children
See what the vet says but your options are rehoming with full information or putting to sleep. Keeping him is a risk you can't take. I'm sorry - but you know that is the case.

I absolutely disagree that your only options are rehoming or putting to sleep.

The dog is clearly unhappy with the situation and is giving warnings, because if the dog meant to do damage it woul dhave done. This gives you a chance to do something about it.

A vert visit to rule out a physical cause is in order and if that doesn't offer any answer, I would get a decent and qualified behaviourist out.

For the time being, keep the dog away from your daughter (who should never have been allowed to take things from the dog in the first place I am afraid) and away from guests. If the dog is crate trained, then keep the crate in a quieter room and confine the dog in there when guests are visiting as he will feel mnore secure and use a baby gate to keep the dog in a seperate room from your daughter during her waking hours.

A DAP diffsuer or collar may help the dog to relax more too.

Midori, my daughter was throwing a bouncy toy for the dog, he was fetching it back, she threw it again etc.

She is 13 years old. She has done this with him for 3 years since he was a puppy. I thought she was doing the right thing as she always tells him to "sit" before she throws the toy for him again.

He totally unexpectedly nipped her, but has not done before or since. Genuine question- should she not have been playing "fetch" with him in this way?

Dog has his own bed in a room off the kitchen.

I appreciate you taking the time to reply, but could you tell me what a DAP diffuser is /does?

Thanks

Sorry, my typing is awful! On iPhone now so no doubt will be worse!

Your daughter playing fetch with the dog is a bit of a different situation to her just trying to take a toy from him, but I'd still stop her doing it for the time being. Has the dog been taught to swap the toy for a treat or is the toy just taken from his mouth? Was it definitely deliberate on the part of the dog or could it have been accidental as he tried to snatch the toy back etc?

If your daughter is 13 and can understand to keep out of the dog's way then you probably don't have to keep the dog seperate from your daughter, but if there's no veterinary issue you really need to work on the dog's confidence and in the circumstances proffesional help is best for that.

DAP is dog appeasing pheramone. It helps calm and relax some stressed dogs. If you google you'll probably find more info. You can buy it from your vets.

i use a DAP for my nervous dog. i get mine from medicanimal online as they are the cheapest i have found. you plug them into an ordinary socket and they release a calming pheramone. this is not a magic cure though but may help a little? i just use mine around fireworks time

i thought you meant a young child took toy off dog but when you explained your older daughter playing fetch then i dont think she did anything wrong. however, would advise against playing it until you find out what has caused this change in behaviour

i am definitely of the opinion you should seek help and that you dont need to think of putting to sleep or rehoming. it seems dog was giving a warning - he could easily have done far worse if so inclined - and need to find out why he felt he had to give a warning

The dog has displayed FOUR incidents of aggression towards adults and children.

You may think that trying to sort it out behaviourally is worth risking a serious attack, but I would not. My priority would be to my children and guests to my home.

The dog would be out. Sorry if that makes me tough. FOUR biting/aggression incidents? No.

If you think growling is aggression, you souldnt own a dog. It's a way of communication, one that was ignored by it's owner and from what the OP has said was probably not the first sign that the dog was uncomfortable in certain situations. The dog then felt it had to progress to snapping as a warning. If it intended to do harm, it would have done. It isn't an aggressive dog at all, it is an unhappy dog that is possibly in physical pain. Provided proper help is sought so that the cause of the dog's behaviour can be managed accordingly then there is absolutely no reason the dog should ever progress to biting anyone.

Also, without further clarification, the nip to the OP's daughter may well have been accidental or is quite possibly a completely seperate issue to the other nips.

It growled at a different person to those it bit

I own two dogs, neither of them have ever growled at adults or children so I don't have experience of growling.

I don't know how you can tell it is unhappy and not aggressive. If it has progressed from growling to giving warning bites to three people, how do you know it won't progress to a full on bite?

I think you are prioritising the dog over safety of the kids

Thank you all for your feedback.

I have walked dog on the lead this morning and noticed he is limping slightly. I think Jap Spitz are prone to something called slipping patella(?), so will def be getting him to the vet the first available appointment tomorrow re: biting and limp.

I have kept him in his own room away from all DC.

Freshmint, neither of my previous 2 dogs ever growled/ nipped, and I most definitely don't think it's ok. My initial reaction was to feel I couldn't ever risk having him near anyone other than me or DH, but that's obviously not practical, so I would take the advice of the vet regarding re-homing/ putting to sleep

However, having thought about what midori said, in each situation if he had really wanted to do harm, he could have done. So maybe it was a "warning"... but obviously still not ok. Is an agressive response the same as a fear response?? Presumably I can do something about the latter?

Does anyone have experience of Jap Spitz as a breed? Is it common for them to wriggle away from close physical proximity yet keep coming back for attention?

I appreciate your views. I want to do the right thing.

Growling is simply a dog's way of saying 'hang on, I don't like that'. Obviously ideally we socialise and manage our dogs well enough so they don't ever feel the need to growl. However, it's unrealistic to think a dog should never dislike any situation it is put in.

Maybe had thing been dealt with differently then the dog would have never felt the need to growl, maybe if after it growled someone had questioned why it felt the need to growl and what exactly it was unhappy with, it wouldn't have felt the need to snap. Really though, a dogs teeth are so sharp and it's reactions so much faster than outs, there is no way a dog that wants to bite and intends to bite will only nip by accident. This dog didn't even break the skin, it only intended to warn, to try and get out of the situation it was in.

I wouldn't go on the advice of the vet for a behaviour issue at all. Vets are experts in their field, but that doesn't usually include canine behaviour. You need to speak to someone who specialises in this area and who is good at what they do, sadly, not all behaviourist are good ones.

I think it's outrageous to consider having a dog 'put to sleep' for a bit of growling and nipping. I'm not dismissing the behaviour, obviously it's not good and is something you need to address, but I can't believe anyone would actually consider killing another living being over something like this.

midori has given good advice. If my dog started displaying uncharacteristic behaviour I'd always first consider whether he might be in pain or unwell and not able to tell me in any other way. Otherwise a behaviourist should be able to help you understand what's going on and what to do about it. Until then I think you're doing the right thing in giving him his own space away from children so he isn't too stressed, especially if he's not a very cuddly dog at the best of times.

Dogs cant say go away, leave me, I'm in pain so they growl to let you instead and use body language. If you dont take heed of this or recognise the body language and keep doing something which makes it unhappy, then it will go to the next stage ie a nip as it cant say stop you're still bugging me. Perfectly normal behaviour for a dog. I agree with poster who said you shouldnt have a dog if you think growling means its vicious - it's just a dog.

I am gobsmacked that after normal dog behaviour you are considering rehoming or putting it to sleep.