my dog just bit my friend - advice please :(

[mumnosbest]

My dog has just turned 1 and although he has calmed down a lot is still rediculously disobedient and full of energy.

He is completely untrained, despite our best efforts and I'm coming to think we made a huge mistake in taking on a dog and completely underestimated the responsibility. Me and DH work 5 days a week but my DM is here when we are not. He is walked every day but stays on the lead (extending lead). He has a garden to run around in and goes out whenever he wants.

I have 3 young DCs and he's great with them and the numerous friends that are in and out. On the otherhand he goes mad and barks at anyone who walks past the house or knocks at the door. My main issue has been him escaping from the house. If visitors don't close the gate and he gets out he runs and wont come back untill he is tired out. Untill now he has avoided being hit by a car somehow :( If I follow him he runs the other way. He will not let me or anyone hold his color and lays on his back baring his teeth but untill now hasn't hurt anyone.

Tonight he got out and when a friend held his color for me he went for her, snarling, jumped up and bit her hand. She was understandably upset but he has only just marked her skin and as a friend she has been understanding. I on the otherhand am devastated. He's currently sulking and crated up but I don't know what to do next. I don't know whether to see about training classes or rehoming him. Is this just his nature? Can he be trusted with the DCs again? I am making an appointment to get him neutered, will this help?

Any advice much appreciated as I'm at my wits end :(

err, I don't think a 3-line post is a lecture .

You just come across as being pretty cavalier about your dog's lack of training.

thanks ModreB reassuring :)

Ok let me be more explicit on the advice front:

• take your dog to training classes ASAP
• increase the number and quality of the walks
• secure your garden
• talk to your trainer about the biting incident and he/she will advise you on whether you need a behaviourist, from what you say you probably have a really bored dog with no training rather than an aggressive dog.

OP, when you retrieve your dog after it runs away, do you tell him off?

thanks booboo that's more helpful. I have done a lot of research into training myself and tried but obviously I'm no proffessional. I don't really know how the combo of GS and JR will turn out so of course I am concerned about his nature. He probably is bored but certainly not through lack of effort and the advice earlier on mental stimulation is really helpful as no amount of exercise seems to be enough for him.

On the occasions he has come to me and allowed me to get his lead on (very few and he is getting wiser to me). I have rewarded him. Tonight he didn't come back despite all my efforts so when he finally sauntered in I did tell him off and put him in his crate.

From what you have described your dog is not aggressive - your DC's, friends etc will be fine as long as they do not grab his collar. I would actually be quietly reassured that he did not bite when he was in a position of fear and stress.

You have an interesting mix of dogs and as many terrorist terrier owners will tell you an exciting dog to train.

Neutering will not make any difference to his character so only do this for medical reasons. He does not need to be shown who is top dog and walk away from any advice that tells you to that you have to show him who is boss or that you need to dominant him.

I would personally get a 1-1 training session with a qualified behaviorist - the initially session may be expensive but the advice and follow up sessions will be worth it. You will be given good correct qualified advice and not be doing the wrong thing.

I would be working on increasing your bond with your dog. You need to be the giver of all things exciting so the need to run away will disappear. Games, trick training, tuggy etc will be a good place to start.

If you want to pm I can give you local trainers/behaviourists that would be able to help you.

Don't despair you have a young intelligent dog and you just need some guidelines to help you get over this - you will - and will end up with a fantastic loyal family pet

Recall has to be practiced constantly. I used a long line. Take dog to field. If necessary, tie the long line to a fence/car bumper or stake it in the ground. Allow dog to explore. Call/whistle dog. Once. Dog comes back, leap about like a kids tv presenter, lavish praise, feed copious amounts of sausage. Dog ignores you? Haul him in with the long line, steadily and calmly. Put him in a sit in front of you, then do the ott praise/sausage dance. A smart dog will learn quickly. A really smart dog will consider food worthless when running is so much fun. So find his Thing. All dogs have a Thing. My bastard spaniel's Thing is a squeaky tennis ball. He will always come to me, shivering with joy at the prospect of being allowed to chase and squeak it. Never shout or chastise, you have to be the source of all good things or why would he bother listening to you? Ignore what you can, put him in a safe place calmly and walk away when you can't. And please research pack theory, it has been widely discredited and can be dangerous. Dogs live in the moment and do what works. At the moment, your dog has learnt he can do what he likes and has to use his teeth to show he's uncomfortable. Teach him a new way.

Life is different with a working breed, I have a Border Collie (previous dogs have been a BC and a Springer) and it is quite time consuming to train them but ultimately very rewarding. DO NOT tell them off when they do come back, however long it takes them otherwise they learn not to come back, far quicker than they learn recall.
My training this week consists of 7 hours of classes (not just sit, stay etc but learning games plus how to socialise and how to meet/ walk past other dogs plus off lead supervised play then 4 hours of guided social walks with my trainer plus several other dogs, some off lead some on long lines but all in a controlled fashion. That's ten hours of training which I do enjoy, not everyone does this much but you do need to put the time in, they don't arrive trained anymore than children do.

He sounds like he will be a lovely dog with just a bit of effort and time on your part.

Ok. With praise/scolding, dogs tend to attach it to whatever it is they're doing/have immediately done. So when you tell him off after he comes inside, he's being negatively reinforced for returning home, not for running away. We're often so fed up by the time our dogs come back/we catch them that we can't help but tell them off or shout or stomp about a bit, mostly to make us feel better and release our tension. But to them it's just teaching them that coming back is something to be punished for. It's very hard to stop yourself from doing it if you're upset, but it's really important that you never, ever punish him for it from now on. Take yourself away from him, out of the room, if you need to. If you want him to come back quickly, on his own, he needs to want to come back, for praise and a reward.

Does he ever do the thing where he'll stay quite still as you walk towards him, then suddenly bolt off? The more you try and walk slowly, calmly, talking to him nicely, it doesn't seem to coax him into letting you catch him? My dog used to do this a lot. To him, my body language was still intimidating. So I would crouch down, turn to the side a little, and look away from him. And he would come slinking over, licking his lips and ready to run again if I did the wrong thing. I would hold my hand out slowly, stroke his chest/under his chin, and then bring him in to me and give him a cuddle. Dogs read body language much differently to us. Google calming signals for dogs; it will help you understand how to calm him down a bit and also to see when he's doing the signals to you.

You need to show your dog that coming back to you will always, always be rewarded, with the highest value you have, whether it's praise/play/affection/food/toys.

I know this sounds mad, but you have to get to know your dog. Work out what he likes, what he hates, what frightens him. Play games and find out what he's good at. Then use that knowledge to your advantage. Your dog disliked being grabbed by the collar. He showed that in an inappropriate way. But it's likely that he showed other signs of discomfort before he bit. The better you know him, the easier it will be to read the signs.

My boy during and post sprinkles, he was searching for his supper, if anyone has any experience of Border Collies from working stock this will mean something. It shows the effect 'work' has on their energy levels. This is a day when he has only had 45 minutes off lead with some training thrown in.

That's awful, OP. You must be so upset. Firstly, take the dog out of his crate and try to calm down. He isn't a bad dog, he just needs some more help to understand what is needed from him. It is a common thread in all these posts that the dog can certainly be sorted out, but it will take a lot of time and commitment. He needs to be properly trained. This takes a huge amount of persistent effort. He also, IMO, needs more stimulation and proper exercise, at least one hour, preferably more like two, an ideally a good deal of this should be off lead, proper running. (Of course, if you have no recall training in place at the moment this will have to wait.) If he is spending long periods alone every day this is not helping the situation. His desire to escape and run and run is totally natural in the circumstance. I wonder though whether in your heart of hearts you have already decided you do not want the dog and this is just the final straw? You won't be the first person in the world who found having a dog to be far more work and hassle than they expected. It doesn't make you a bad person. If it comes to it, do your very best for him re- homing wise and say goodbye. It might be the best option if you do not have the time to commit to exercising and training him properly. Good luck, whatever you decide.

If you want to keep him then he needs to see a good behaviourist ASAP.

If it was my dog I would not keep him, what if one of your dc decides to try and hold him back one day and he snaps again? Or spooks him accidently and he snaps?
Inhibited or not, it's still a bite.
At the end of the day, no matter how well you think you know your kids, they can be unpredictable, it only takes a split second.....

Thank you, lots of really helpful and advice and info here and thanks muttynutty i will message you if that's ok as I had no luck finding anyone local. ididnotsignupforthis your post is interesting as these are all the things I'm asking myself. I would love to keep him and know he's going to be a lovely dog with the right love and help but I don't know if i have it in me. He is never left as my dm is here with my dd while i work and she spoils him rotton. I have calmed down a bit now and won't give up on him just yet but I'd be lying if i said I hadn't considered it.

I haven't read all the replies so I'm
Sorry if I repeat anything already suggested:

You need a proper dog trainer - even just a few sessions, to give you confidence for a start and to give him confidence. These are the "teenage" years comin up and he sounds like he's a little stressed and worried with new people.

Do you socialise with other dogs?? I would avoid extendable leads - they aren't particularly safe and attaching to a neck collar can cause problems if they pull. I would use a harness where the lead attaches to the chest (greater control).

Consistency is the key too. Making sure he has somewhere "safe" to call his own. We have a crate for ours and also a bed in each room for him so he knows where his place is. Mental stimulation is important too. Whether its filling up a kong with dairylea and treats, making sure he has a bone, throwing his food around the garden so he has to find it are all great. Diet has a massive part in it too - I avoid the "popular" brands as they full of crap (bakers has made all my dogs go insane!), we feed raw food so chicken carcasses in morning, fish for dogs dry food in his kong during the day and then another raw meat in the evening with whatever veg we were having. Rawhide bones are great for us as our dog LOVES destroying things!

Positive reinforcement training is key too (Victoria Stilwell is an advocate, lots of YouTube videos etc). If there's behaviour you don't like, turn your back to them/get them off sofa/try not to shout (easier said than done). A trainer said to me recently, the dog knows what to do, it's the humans that need the training! And that's deffo true when we have visitors, you wouldn't believe how hard it is for people to ignore him and not make eye contact!!

Don't give up on him, get some professional help and do something where you can connect with him - we are starting agility/flyball to get that connection so he takes more notice of us :)

Oh and neutering was a god send for us!!! Hasn solved all the problems we've had but deffo made them easier. Ours is a staffy collie x- the collie in him gives Staffies a bad name!! JR are clever little buggers. I had one years ago, used to like to escape out the upstairs window! Crazy bastard he was

Neutering will only solve problems arising from hormones. In this case it sounds like the problems are due to inadequate training and boredom.

OP, please please ignore any advice talking about dogs living in human packs, dominance, keeping them in their place etc. These concepts are very outdated and inherently flawed - all it tells you is that the advice is coming from someone who hasn't got a good understanding of dog behaviour.

I'd like to bet that your dog is overfed and understimulated. Most dogs with no interest in food or treats are getting too much food and too much free access to food. If I was a millionaire I'd be less inclined to get out of bed and do what my boss says for a few quid. In your position I'd bin the bowl and feed from Kongs or food toys only (in a room or crate, away from children obviously), or hand feed. I'm training a young dog just now and she "earns" everything that passes her lips - everything she eats is an opportunity to train or reinforce something, even just a polite sit before she's given a treat. This also means that on a daily basis she's reminded that all good things come from me and that since this food is her only source of food she has to work for it. I use hot dog, cheese, chicken, and smoked salmon trimmings for training outside, where she needs more concentration.

Your dog needs long (time not distance - sniffing is more important than exercise) walks. Use a training line instead of an extending lead, or for now keep the extending lead short (1-2m) but when you are away from roads etc extend it to its full length and use it as a long line. Otherwise you're teaching him to pull. The long line means you can start to teach him that it's worth coming back to you without risking him pissing off. If you struggle to find a reward he values (toy/food) to reward recall then you can also use "go sniff" - so once he's recalled, say "go sniff" and release him and send him to do his own thing again. That way you're using what he wants (freedom to sniff) as a reward. Practise time and again as you walk (we do about 10-15 recalls in a 40 minute walk).

The bite is a red herring - but you mustn't ignore this. As well as addressing his boredom and frustration, teach a collar grab as part of recall (reward only comes after you touch his collar - don't reward him before he's let you briefly, at first, touch his neck) and work on this in the home (collar touch before meals, collar touch before he's allowed through the door etc).

Be imaginative. Rather than saying "he doesn't like food so he can't be trained" you need to work out what he does like and use that. Everything will snowball once you understand how to harness that motivation. For a dog like this who wants to go places rather than eat/play, you just need to start asking him to earn the chance to go out that door by sitting nicely first, earn the chance to cross the road by pausing and making eye contact with you, earn the chance to go and investigate that amazing smelling tree stump by recalling to you first. You will get there and you will also really enjoy it :)

OP I know you're not here for a lecture and you've received lots of great advice which I hope you'll follow up because I am a bit concerned. You say that your dog is not like this through lack of trying and that he gets lots of exercise and yet you don't actually seem to have done any training with him and you still haven't said how often and how long he's exercised for. You're repeatedly expressing concern about the potential effort you'll need to invest to train your dog - what were you expecting? A ready trained dog? Thousands of dogs are euthanised in the UK every year because people take on cute puppies then don't want to put the work in when their dog starts to misbehave. When you took your dog you made a commitment to him for the rest if his life. Trust me there is not a line of willing experienced owners waiting to adopt your mixed breed, high energy, untrained and potentially aggressive dog. If you won't put the work in, who do you think will?

You owe it to your dog to give him the attention he needs

I have to agree with the other posters. It sounds as though you need to go right back to basics and do lots and lots of training with him. Our puppy is 5 months old and I still view each walk as work not fun- though the pup thinks they are fun! I let him off lead where we can and a long (5m) lead where we can't. I frequently get him to come back to me - sometimes because I need him too, and sometimes just for practice. When he's on lead I mix up when I have him heel, when I give him a bit of freedom and when he gets the full 5m.

I do a lot of work in the back garden as well- practicing stay/come and heel work.

It does take an awful lot of effort. When we first started taking the puppy out for walks, he was terrible for pulling on the lead. It took 6 weeks of focused stop/start walks- and some of these were very frustrating!- before he stopped pulling, but now he walks beautifully.

Puppies are very hard work!

Oh, and I use a combination of frozen peas and chicken as rewards. My puppy will do just about anything for a frozen pea.

JRT and GSD, that is an interesting cross. My GSD is stubborn enough without adding any terrier to him!

It wouldn't hurt to neuter him. It won't change behavioural problems but may make he less likely to wander.

You need to do more to prevent him escaping. Look on amazon for a Outdoor Gate And Door Closer.

What food is he on? I agree with Crap and forget the food bowls and feed from Kongs or Kong wobblers. Mine take about 15 mins to eat from their wobbler and will have a good snooze afterwards. He may find food more of an interest if he has to work for it.