Dog bit daughter

[DozyDoriss]

Do I have to get rid of him? I mean find him a new home??

He's a chorkie, normally lovely! I was in the shower and daughter and brothers in the kitchen, oh in living room. Dog had daughters ball, she went to get it and dog growled and bit her. No blood, a small scratch and some teeth marks on her arm.

I feel so guilty, I thought her dad was watching her (he said he was going to). I'm so stupid I should have made her go in the living room.

Will I have to regime him now? I'll never be able to trust him with kids again

Sounds like a case of possessiveness

You don't have to rehome if you don't want to. Just train him to drop on command

But it's whether you will trust him again

Hope your daughter is ok

Honestly, hand on heart. For me the dog would have to go, I would never be able to trust it again. My DC would be too precious for me to even have a second thought about keeping the dog.

You don't need to rehome him but you do need to book a trainer to come help you train him to have a soft mouth and deal with his resource guarding.

Dogs have the strength to crack open bones to get to the marrow, so he was pulling his punches and he did give off a warning growl, so there's hope! He was trying to be a good dog, he just didn't quite make it.

Everyone in the family needs to make him exchange his toys for delicious treats (like cut up hotdogs, in my house) and so he'll associate giving toys away with Good Things for Dogs... but yeah, you need to call someone in to make absolutely sure that was the last time.

There no way I'd keep a dog in the house that bit my child.
Surely you'd be on edge constantly?

My ds sat on our dog and she grumbled. No harm done. If it was a nip and ob because of a toy then just make sure situ doesn't arise again. Train to drop the toy and make sure lo supervised til old enough to give out commands herself. My 2yo keeps our rotty, husky and lurcher in line while we watch!! It doesn't sound like a hanging offence as yet. Just a warning to keep an eye til lo is a bit older. Don't beat yourself up. If the dog had wanted to hurt her he would /could of. He didnt.

Believe it or not the fact he's not broken skin is a positive thing. It means he has a good bite inhibition and the snapping was a warning. The growling was one too but obviously the dog feels it was not heeded.
Resource guarding can be managed though - there's a really good graphic which explains why it happens and how to stop it.