BIting - how do I prevent this ?

[Blistory]

Ok, am not trivialising this at all as it's happened three times now and I'd like to minimise the risk of it happening again.

My BMD girl is not yet two but around 7 months old, she started becoming a bit hand shy and strangers are no longer allowed to pet her. For every 20 people who approached her, she airsnapped at 1 and I couldn't work out anything in particular that she was reacting to. She does however clearly indicate with body language when she's uncomfortable so I'm happy to manage this by ensuring that I don't put her in that position. She remains incredibly positive around people with the exception of some random men. And it's only ever a hand going to her head she reacts to.

Recently however she has started biting. We dont have a lot of visitors to the house and she generally reacts with happiness, keen to be petted etc. Workmen at the door have however always resulted in tail under the legs and retreating to under the kitchen table. I pretty much ignore her until she comes out and is back to her usual bouncy self.

Two months ago, a former and pre dog neighbour was passing time on the doorstep, big girl approached her a wee bit timidly, acting as if she was just going for a sniff then went up on her back legs and appeared to mouth neighbour's arm. Straight back down and slunk away to her hiding place under the table. No quick movements, no pierced skin, but pressure was exerted although not enough for it to register as a bite initially. Met the same neighbour at the beach two days later and big girl was in raptures about seeing her.

Has now happened twice more, different people but exact same method of attack, once at the front door, once in the garden. I have just ignored so far and she's either ignored or greeted half a dozen unknown visitors without any issues whatsoever.

How do I stop this from escalating ? Is it to do with territory ? I can't really ask for volunteers to assist if there's a chance she might bite them. And she loves all my friends and family so problem doesn't arise there to try and counteract.

And whilst it's a soft bite, it's definitely not just mouthing, just a case of seriously good bite inhibition. I hate that my big gentle girl is so stressed that she feels the need to warn someone off and yet very grateful that she has enough self control to do it gently and immediately retreat. This is a dog who stands baffled if another dog has a go at her and simply wanders away from a fight looking puzzled or invites them to play instead.

Any ideas ?

My advice is to get a properly qualified behaviourist involved. You need someone to observe the dog's body language and behaviour so they can try and work out what her motivation is.

It does sound as if it might be territorial, if it's only happening in your house and garden, but with a large breed dog - and with the new dog legislation - you can't risk her frightening, let alone eventually injuring someone - even on your own property.

APBC behaviourists will only see people via vet referral - but the advantage of this is that some insurance policies will cover the sessions.

An alternative would be a CAPBT/COAPE member.

What moosemama said really. Get professional help, I don't think people here can really advise how to prevent escalation on the basis of these facts.

All I would say is you need to absolutely prevent this situation from arising for now by keeping her in another room when visitors arrive. Mainly because you don't want her to bite, clearly, but also because the more times she has a chance to repeat this behaviour the more likely she is to continue to do it.