My dog bit someone today

[butterfliesinmytummy]

Actually, she bit two people but I'm too ashamed to put that in the title....

My dog is a 14 month old Staffy / ridgeback cross, we've had her for just over a year. She is the softest, silliest, cuddlyist dog ever, curls up next to you on the sofa kind of thing. We did two 8 week puppy training courses as soon as we were vaccinated enough to meet other dogs and started at daycare once a week from 7 months old. She adores running with the other dogs but has a very high play drive, gets very excited about playing. At daycare, the dogs have an hour at lunchtime with a snack in a run inside (we live in Texas, it's still hot outside here). Anyway, today the lady who took her water bowl out of her crate at the end of nap got bitten, so did the lady who leashed her to take her back outside. Apparently these were without warning (no growl, no body language) and fortunately didn't break the skin but left a temporary mark for less than an hour. The ladies involved did some reward-based training with her afterwards and I was told that my dog is very obedient with basic commands (which she is at home too)

I have posted before as my dog was in kennels at this same daycare venue over the summer and started snapping when her bowl was taken away or she was leashed to go out. We spoke a lot with the kennels section and were prepared to fly back but they worked with our dog, doing extra reward-based training, moved her away from other occupied runs, gave her rewards to distract her when they removed bowls etc. Since collecting her from there in August, she has been absolutely fine in daycare and behaved very well.

I am horrified that my dog would do this - she's currently sitting on my feet snoring as I type. I don't know what to do. I spoke with daycare and they have recommended a behaviorist but she can't see my dog before the end of November and will work with our family in our house - I need someone to see how my dog behaves at daycare.

I'm going to call back daycare tomorrow to see if I can speak to a supervisor to put some plans in place to help my dog and keep the staff safe but right now I don't know what to suggest (apart from a muzzle?!) I will suggest using food rewards as a distraction maybe while they remove bowls and leash her (as this has worked before) but I could really use some advice from you.

I'm sorry to hear that, it's worrying.

If you have kids you will need to keep them separate to the dog at all times until you get this sorted, being in the same room - even if you are there, unmuzzled isn't safe :(

She is only young, it's only happened at the daycare and she didn't bite hard - it should all be fixable, try not to get too upset about it.

Good luck getting some help soon.

Thank you latte. I do have kids aged 6 and 10. I can't separate them from the dog all the time as I don't have any internal doors downstairs (we are totally open plan) and the dog isn't allowed upstairs. I can't crate the dog all day but the kids are never left alone with the dog and know very well to leave dogs alone and respect their space. The dog is often outside anyway.

I have posted on another dog forum where someone has suggested giving daycare a miss for a while, might be a good idea.

I'd get her checked at the vet for any medical issues, make the appointment with the behaviourist (yes they work in the house, but you can tell them what happened) and avoid daycare.

To be honest with you, if she's literally never had a problem anywhere else I'd be wondering if something has happened in that situation that frightened her.

Thanks, I think this will be our plan. The thing is, I wasn't there, all I can tell the behaviorist is "someone removed a water bowl from my dog's run and my dog bit her without warning." I'm going to speak to daycare today to see if I can get more information .... If they have CCTV in the runs, that would be ideal to pass to the behaviorist.

A behaviourist should be able to build up an assessment of her through talking to you and interacting with her though...so they should be able to go, actually she's unhappy with x y and z and no-one has noticed, or, she seems to be a pretty stable dog just keep her out of that situation.

If that makes sense?

Obviously if you can find out exactly what happened that would be more useful, but they should still be able to assess her.

For what it's worth IMO (not an expert) if a dog of that size had wanted to break skin, she would have, easily, so even if in a worst case scenario you do have a dog that will use a bite as a first warning...she did hold back, which is a good thing.

Hi, not sure what the time is there, but have you been able to speak to the daycare?

I don't think you can just keep her away from the daycare and hope for the best. It's not enough. You need to be able to trust your dog around your children, visitors and the general public, you are going to be a wreck worrying if she will do this again if you don't know why it happened.

It's 8.30am here, I haven't spoken to daycare yet.

I don't know what you suggest Latte? I crate her all the time the kids are at home and when I have visitors and don't walk her? She is an amazing dog, she's got a fantastic temperament and this is totally out of character. I haven't seen aggressive or defensive body language or reactions from this dog ever. She seems to greet people (visitors, vets, children) by rolling on her back, that's how dominant she is! There seems to be something upsetting her at daycare.

I'm not just hoping for the best, I'm trying to figure out what happened and speak to qualified professionals in order to understand why it did and how to prevent it ever happening again.

I'll post when I've spoken to daycare.

There's no need to snipe at me. Of course I am not suggesting any of those things I was worried about how stressed YOU would be if you didn't get to the bottom of it.

I was simply responding to your comment I have posted on another dog forum where someone has suggested giving daycare a miss for a while, might be a good idea which made it sound like you thought that would be 'enough'.

I'll leave you to it.

Rolling on their back isn't always a friendly thing btw, it can be a calming signal. Which is a bit beside the point, but worth knowing.

Anyway, getting a professional in is absolutely the right thing to do...as is avoiding what you know caused it until the professional can help you work out the right course of action.

Poor you. What a shock!

Just a quick post to say a few small things jumped out at me. First I would strongly question the daycare's handling of this.

Dogs snap in reaction to something. They do not do it because they feel like it or are bad. They do not do it when they feel safe and secure.

You say your dog first started snapping when she was "in kennels at this same daycare venue over the summer and started snapping when her bowl was taken away or she was leashed to go out."

Given this, why on earth are the daycare staff removing "her water bowl out of her crate at the end of nap" before they have removed the dog and re-engaged with her? Are they trying to re-enforce this negative behavior???

The crate is your dog's safe space, where she should be undisturbed and should not not have to be defensive, and the end of 'nap' time might be a time when your dog feels most dopey and relaxed and the 'hand coming in to get the water bowl' seems most like a scary intruder.

Also, you say in your Op that your dog has a high play drive ... so this professional experienced establishment have this magnificent natural behavior that could be utilized to engage with your dog at trigger times ... but what do they do ... invade her safe space!

Yes, get a behaviorist involved ... but also, I'm sorry to say that all my instincts are shouting that you've got the wrong doggy daycare. I think this was their fault.

I'm sorry this has happened to your lovely dog and I hope you can get it sorted out soon. Best luck.

Sorry for not updating, daycare office is closed today, will try and meet with them next week.

Dish, it hadn't really occurred to me that the daycare might be doing something wrong. However, we have a huge crate for our dog and we all, including the kids, know never to put our hands in to touch the dog or her toys, kong etc when she is in there. It's her territory and we wouldn't dream of invading it while it's occupied. She will nap in there with the door open during the day and sleeps in there at night. Good to have your perspective.

Sorry for sniping, just didn't understand how I was supposed to keep my dog away from everyone. It's ironic as I have just landed a job working from home and set up our dog with a regular twice weekly slot at daycare so I can attend meetings etc. This could change things.....

Good luck on Monday. It would be interesting to hear what they have to say for themselves and I hope you'll come back to us.

I can't imagine what they could say, though. Right now, I feel like biting them myself!

Definitely stop daycare right away. Something is not working for her there. You do not want her getting anymore opportunities to rehearse this behaviour. To be honest she should have been removed after your trip as this stuff just doesn't sort itself out. Perhaps they have poor handling skills or she is over stimulated by the play. Too much frenetic play can lead to a hyped up stressed dog.

Thanks for replying. She did daycare while she was in kennels iyswim, and was absolutely fine in that section, it was the kennels part where she was stressed. They did some extra training with her and moved her to a quiet run and stopped removing bowls from her run when she was in it and she didn't snap again... this was all at my request while dh ran round trying to change flights in case we needed to come back early. For some reason, they seem to think that as she had always been fine in the daycare section (that has similar runs to the boarding section), it would be OK to remove bowls from her run while she was in it.

I still haven't managed to speak to the daycare manager but will do so asap on Monday, pref face to face. We will keep her out of daycare, the behaviourist is booked til end of November but we have an appointment then. Based on her advice, we will probably not return to our daycare and will take time in the long term scoping out another daycare, which in all likelihood would be next year. We have booked 4 days away at half term currently checking out single dog sitters for a trial stay....

Thanks all again. I met with the daycare today (General Manager, head of boarding and head of daycare). I explained how worried I was about my dog's behavior and wanted to get to the root of what had caused it.

Apparently she bit someone who knew her well and had engaged properly with her. The daycare worker had removed her waterbowl and refilled it, she was putting it back in the run and just standing up when my dog bit her. As the lady was straightening up from crouching, she didn't see my dog approach her so couldn't tell if there was any warning body language. This is worrying, seems there was no surprise etc for my dog. The lady straight away ran though half a dozen commands (sit, down etc) with my dog, which she did very well. The two bites were 2 hours apart, so one was not a follow on of the other. The other bite was someone my dog didn't know who may have been moving too fast (their words). While she was in kennels a while back they established that she didn't do well with people she didn't know well.

They have given me details of another behaviorist who used to work at the daycare many years ago and who often works with them to help dogs and owners. Hoping this guy will help.

I told daycare that my dog would not be back until we had seen the behaviorist and he says it's OK. They did say that it's not a great idea to have a very long break as dogs can get out of the habit of daycare (they are running a business after all) but that we need to work with the welfare of their staff and my dog as a priority. The daycare btw is rated as the top for daycare, lodging and training in our city of 2 million people...

Thanks for all your input, I will update as things happen. Meeting up with a dog sitter tomorrow to see if my dog can stay with him (no crates, no other dogs etc) for 4 days next month.... will do an overnight trial first if all goes well tomorrow....

Just a couple of points on your meeting.

Firstly, just because the bite was two hours later doesn't mean it's not a follow on. Stress hormones stay in the body for a couple of days rather than hours - ahead of seeing the behaviourist please look up trigger stacking in dogs.

Also, I really am shocked that they would try to suggest for her not to have a break from daycare. Great reviews or not, that would set off serious alarm bells to me regarding their knowledge of dog behaviour and the ethics of their business. To suggest a dog that is clearly stressed in an environment should stay rather than be removed is really letting her down. The behaviour is already escalating and will continue to do so if she is repeatedly put in the situation that leads her to bite.

Thanks SpicyBear, I will look up trigger stacking.

However, no-one suggested she should "not have a break from daycare". They said it wasn't a great idea to have a very long break as dogs can get out of the habit of daycare. They have noticed that dog that take a year off daycare for example can take a long time re-integrating. Once the behaviorist has green lighted her return to daycare, we will work with him on getting her back to "a" daycare, maybe not the same one. But we won't leave it months and months once the issues have been identified and resolved.