Help!

[izzywillynilly]

I have a 18month german shepherd cross, that we adopted 6 months ago (and know very little about his history). After a few settling in issues, mainly chewing, I thought we were doing well, and everybody comments what a lovely natured dog he is.

Today, on his walk, we met 3 girls playing in the street, about age 8, and one ran over to him, went to give him a cuddle, he squirmed, and snapped, catching her on her arm, enough to scratch and draw blood . She ran screaming into this house. I didn't know what to do, so just stood still, not wanting just to walk off, and not knowing what had happened. Apparently this was one of the other girls house, so her mum put a plaster on it, and sent her home. She then gave me the mums number. As she reached to give me this number, my dog also tried to jump up at her, although no barking or snapping, (although I was freaking out at this point, and I guess he knows that).

I took my dog home then, and a few minutes later, again passed the girl, who had been home, her mum had stuck a plaster on it, and said she was fine

But I'm still freaking out. Should I call her mum? And what's going on with the dog? He has never been like this before, but does his mean I can't trust him? What should I do?

I would never ever ever let a child cuddle any of my dogs ever.

No it does not mean that you can not trust your dog but it does mean that you have to protect your dog from anymore unnecessary stress.

Do not let anyone cuddle him, watch his body language carefully and see where he does like to be stroked.

What do his ears do when you stroke his head, what happens when you stroke him under his chin?

I wouldn't phone, you've seen the girl again and she was fine. Your poor dog must have been scared, but not vicious. Sounds like a normal doggy reaction to being suddenly cuddled by a strange child. An 8 year old should have been taught not to run up to strange dogs, hopefully she's learnt her lesson, it could have been a lot worse.
My friendly completely inoffensive lab would hate it and probably struggle to get away and he's got sharp claws so could easily scratch the offender
You can make sure it doesn't happen again by not letting anyone run up and cuddle or otherwise manhandle him without asking your permission first.

Normally he loves to be fussed, particularly behind his ears or under his chin (when u stop fussing him there, he'll nudge you for more) so I'm sure that he likes. He does hate people standing leaning over him, and I know that scares him. I just didn't think he would react like that, without growling, or barking or anything. I was stupid, I should have reacted sooner, but this was over in a couple of seconds, before i'ld really registered what was happening.

It's just so scary, those moments where I didn't know whether she was properly hurt, or what to do, didn't want to just walk off, but who knows the 'proper' thing to do in that situation

I have a 7 year old, he has been told by us never to approach a dog unless the owner has said he can. Was your dog off lead? If so, you may need to keep him on a lead just in case. I don't think he is aggressive at all, but we need to know our dogs limits, and he sounds like he doesn't like to be crowded or the unexpected. You did all the right things, as if its the first time he has behaved like this til now, how would you have anticipated it? The mum will seek you out if she has something to say, so please don't worry.

He was on his lead, walking to heel.I'ld like to think if he had been offlead, he would have ran away rather then responding, but I guess I will never know. He has always been fine being fussed and stroked by all children, as well as adults, he normally goes off lead in parks etc, as his recall is good. But now I'm really nervous to take him offlead anytime soon, just feel like he's more unpredictable, and hard to predict. Ever since I adopted him, i'v had people telling me that german shepherds 'turn' and can be really aggressive. Am just so scared that he will end up that way.

My sympathy. Must have been very stressful. I worry about my dog doing the same as she can be nervous of strangers. Actually she is better offlead. I think they feel less threatened as they are able to get away. I don't think any type of dog suddenly turns unless there is a physical reason or they are abused (not it this case). Perhaps get a vet check in case there is a physical reason.

Best of Luck