Dog snapped at 5 yr old DD.

[Ziggyzoom]

My 12 month old springer has just returned from 5 days at kennels. He has stuck to DH like glue and growled at DD when she approached him. We told her to keep away from him until he settled but when DH turned his back she tried to stroke him and he nipped her arm. He didn't draw blood, but obviously it upset her and us!

He is generally a good natured dog and not aggressive, but he does occasionally guard his space by growling when he is with DH. What should we do and would neutering help?

Bump

neutering may help, it is certainly a good thing to do regardless. Unless he is a TOP class example of a springer then he does not need his balls- and it will prevent any accidents!

I would think he is very unsettled and upset/ nervous after his stint at kennels.

I would make DH send springer away when he starts guarding DH - that is not on.

But give springer a chance to settle back home in peace and quiet. it must be very stressful for him.

Personally, I would ask myself if I could trust my dog again near my child. And I am speaking as someone with 2 collies, a 5 year old DSD and a baby, so I understand your situation and not everything is black and white.

By no stretch would I say put your springer to sleep, but maybe another home. I only say this because you will always be worried when your DD goes near the dog, and if anything happens again it could be too late. You hear too many stories, and hindsight is a wonderful thing.

Ofcourse, you are the one who is there and saw it, and only you can decide.

I know he is probably stressed, it is the first time he has been to kennels and I think it will be the last. I dont think he's slept much as he seems very tired, which wont help.

He is a pedigree Springer from a good line of working dogs, but he only has one fully descended testicle, so he is not likely to be prized breeding material. I think we will look into neutering.

DH does send him away when he growls and I stand my ground without confronting him. We have told the children to just back away if he growls which generally they do. This is the first time he has nipped though.

I don't want to rehome him if we can get past this. He is only 12 months and I'm hoping we can train him appropriately. I may reconsider if he continues to growl as I wouldn't forgive myself if he seriously hurt one of my children, but equally they would be devastated to lose him.

In your situation, I'd get professional advice. A good behaviourist will be able to tell you why your dog is showing this unwanted behaviour, and how you can prevent it escalating. The dog is sending a clear warning and it must be listened to. I'm very sorry your DD has been nipped. It might be best to keep them apart until you work out what is going on.

Growling is him expressing himself, you told her not to approach him but she did. In that instance it's more about teaching your dd about the dog, not the dog - as far as he's concerned he gave her fair warning.

It sounds like he didn't like the kennels and dh is his place of security. Let him sleep, rest and recover as it can be very traumatic for them. Then if you're going to need to use kennels again, visit and take him with you to view some more. It sounds as if you need to do some more training with the dog and with your dd too. Does the dog have his own space (room/crate/bed in a quiet place) to go to when he needs it, where he isn't bothered? It's so important to teach your children that when the dog is in that space that they are to be left alone.

i agree on getting professional advise, he is only young. perhaps some good guidance for both of you would be a good idea.

He has a crate, but since we stopped using it at night he has stopped using it voluntarily. His safe place is at DH's feet!

We will not use kennels again, we now know a friendly dog walker who took him for a walk for us once will do overnight stays on a one-to-one basis, so that will be preferable on the rare occasion we need to go away without him.

DH says our vet has a behaviourist and he will ring them in the morning for advice.

How old are your children ziggy? I personally would be getting some professional advice.

Popular advice on this board, is you train your children (and yes I do believe children need to be respectful of dogs) and you organise your home and there home (the children's around the dog..... Personally I disagree with this. A dog should be a positive addition to give family, for everyone..... I would not tolerate our dog growling at me when I approached my DH, or at my children when they try to interact with their dad.... I am not saying rehome, straight away, get some advise, but keep in mind , what are reasonable adjustments off your family around the dog.
You also have to be realistic as to what you can train your DC to do, and this will down in there age.
My dD is 3 1/2 - I could not risk it.... Ds is 8, and although would follow the instructions to a tee, he is not a confident child, so could really have terrible consequences to his confidence and self esteem, if something happened. .... And my children will always come first.

I think the issue here seems to be the attachment to your husband and that is what you need to work on with a behaviourists advice . I would have thought its fairly normal for a dog to be more attached to one person ( ie the one who walks it and feeds it ) but not to the point where they are guarding that person .

DDs are 7 and 5. The 7 year old gets it and I think the 5 year old has learned a hard lesson. I have been out working nights and when I got home a few minutes ago, he gave me the loveliest most enthusiastic welcome home. I hope we can get past this. Thanks for all of your advice- DH is speaking to the behaviourist this morning.