Our Ddog just bit DH

[Courcheval]

We've got a bit of a grumpy Ddog, he's a beardie age 4.
He's just bit DH.. His food bowl is in the kitchen and a single piece of kibble had gone under the edge of the washing machine. He was barking so DH went to investigate, saw what the dog was barkjng about so bent over to get the kibble and the dog bit him on the hand and was growling.

He sometimes nips (normally if I'm grooming him and catch a tangle etc) but never a bite - luckily only a very superficial wound which I've cleaned and DH had a tetanus last year.

Any advice much appreciated.

Our dogs are lovely but their main trigger point is food. We have to feed them separately outside. And we've always drilled into dc that you are never ever to disturb a dog when it's eating. They are so territorial.

If the dog is usually placid and friendly then I wouldn't worry too much. It's a lesson learnt for dh never to approach them when they are eating again. Even if he thinks he's helping. If it's a more regular occurrence then it's a bit more concerning.

Food is a really common flash point for dogs.

It sounds like the dog was worried your DH would take the kibble and get rid of it (rather than give it to him) so he was growling (and then bit) as a warning to him to stay away.

All I would so to do next time is remove the dog from the room before going anywhere near the food :) also, never allow anyone to approach him while he has food again - if you want him to leave something or come away, use a treat or toy to lure him from a safe distance instead.

How is your DH? Is he bleeding or was it more of a warning bite? If it's broken the skin, he should really go and get it checked as he may need antibiotics and a tetanus booster.

That's unusual for a beardie. I think therer was a very specific trigger for the dog. I give my rough collie a chew when grooming her and we used to do that with our beardie back in the day. It kept the teeth occupied!

Thanks all, I've calmed down a bit now.

DH thinks that you should be able to approach Ddog when he's eating and I've told him not to do that, the dog is very guarded around his food full stop.

Ddog has been very quiet since, he went over to DH and offered his paw and then wanted a cuddle.

I cleaned DH's hand with TCP and put sudocream on it, the skin was only slightly broken and not bleeding. I'll keep an eye on it.

Thank you wise MN's for calming me down, really appreciate it 🤗

DH thinks that you should be able to approach Ddog when he's eating and I've told him not to do that, the dog is very guarded around his food full stop.

Hmm, yes and no.

The ideal is of course that you can approach the dog and remove things from them with no issue, but the reality is dogs are animals and they can unpredictable. You can do all the work in the world and follow all the puppy books, but you can never guarantee that a dog won't decide to turn and snap at you one day.

For that reason, the best thing is to leave dogs alone while they're eating, sleeping and laying on their beds. They should be able to eat their meals, sleep and rest without worrying about someone approaching them and bothering them.

If you want a dogs' attention, call them over to you - don't approach them. The same goes with food - if you want to, say, remove a bone from them because they've eaten too much of it, you need to call them to you, get them out of the room/area and then go and take the bone away.

My "yes and no" line refers to what your DH thinks, by the way!

You're absolutely right that you should never approach the dog while eating. The risks hugely outweigh any benefits. Many dogs are fine with it but if one day they're not, you could end up with a very, very nasty bite.

Has DH been trying to get the dog used to him going near him when eating?
This is resource guarding.
I leave mine alone when feeding. The only thing I would do is add food to the bowl when they are feeding. Hands near bowl is positive then. But they don’t resource guard at the mo.

It’s a very old fashioned and outdated approach that you mention about being able to remove food from a dog while they are eating

As he’s never bitten ever before in his life, it might be worth taking him to vet to see if a medical reason why he’s particularly grumpy. My border collie got grumpy and nipped at me when she tried to eat a bit of foil and I unthinkingly went to stop her...can’t be good to eat foil. She nipped my hand, then chewed and spat the foil back out.
Took her to vet because normally I can even brush her teeth with no issues she is a very loving and placid dog. Turned out, there is something called anal glands and hers were massively swollen and had to be drained?! They are apparently very painful and similar pain as a human sitting with piles, only that pain for the dog all the time.

@Dodgyveneers

It’s a very old fashioned and outdated approach that you mention about being able to remove food from a dog while they are eating

Well no. You should be able to remove anything from a dog, especially if it’s something that shouldn’t have/be eating. It should be taught from a young age by swapping the food/item for something better.

However, once you have a resource guarding dog, you have to be very very careful.

For that reason, the best thing is to leave dogs alone while they're eating, sleeping and laying on their beds.

Our dog trainer drilled that into us.

As well as always call the dog to you.

My FIL every time he came to our house insisted on striding over to the dog in his bed, leaning over him and dropping his hand from above the dog to pat him. He had several warnings (both from the dog and us) not to do this. One day our dog snapped and bit him, really quite hard. Honestly, I never gave it a second thought.

They’ve never done it since (both FIL and the dog).

Never a good idea to go near a dogs bowl whilst they're eating. If the dog wanted to really bite he would have drawn blood, sounds more like a back the fuck off to me.

@RunningFromInsanity sorry, I stand by my post. You simply saying ‘no’ does not change that. It’s outdated and will lead to resource guarding.

‘ Considerations to make

Before you begin, remember that sound training methods are based on rewarding dogs for performing desirable behaviour, rather than punishing them for unwanted behaviours. Punishing them will only make any aggressive behaviour worse. Ignore outdated advice, such as to repeatedly remove your dog’s food bowl while they are eating. Taking food away from a food-possessive dog is dangerous and is also damaging to your relationship with your dog’

Source-RSPCA

[quote Dodgyveneers]@RunningFromInsanity sorry, I stand by my post. You simply saying ‘no’ does not change that. It’s outdated and will lead to resource guarding.[/quote]
You should teach your dog from a young age that you won’t ever take anything off them, simply swap for something better. And that your presence around food is a good thing, not a bad thing.

Yes, you should leave a dog alone whilst eating, but you should be able to walk around in the same room as their food bowl, and take a forbidden item off of them without them growling/biting.

If you have the dog from a young pup, you should have a habit of handling the dog all over... head, mouth, paws, underbelly.. everywhere...
This is part of the pack dominance training. The family should be fed before the dog etc...
We were all able to remove food, bowls and any other items .. chews, sticks, undesirables(!) from the dogs without any resistance because they understood their place in the family pack.

You should teach your dog from a young age that you won’t ever take anything off them, simply swap for something better. And that your presence around food is a good thing, not a bad thing.

Yes, you should leave a dog alone whilst eating, but you should be able to walk around in the same room as their food bowl, and take a forbidden item off of them without them growling/biting.

In an ideal world, yes, you be able to do all of those things, but in reality, you need to work with the dog you have, not the dog you think you have. It's also worth remembering that just a dog tolerating something as a puppy is no guarantee they'll be okay with it as a fully grown adult (with the strength and bite to match).

You can also do all of the "right" things when your dog is a puppy and still end up with a dog that resource guards one day due to (for example) pain, poor eyesight or poor hearing, or just because it's fed up having it's space invaded, or it's tired and having an "off" day.

Therefore best practise is to always leave a dog alone while it eats (or sleeps, or rests) because the risk (being bitten by a guarding dog) doesn't outweigh any benefit.

All dogs should have a quiet, safe place to eat their meals where they don't need to worry about people interrupting them.

I should add that nobody was allowed to touch the dogs when they were in their beds and nobody was allowed to put anything in the beds or remove anything either.
When it all got a bit ripe (!) the bedding and boxes were cleaned out when the dogs were out.. and they were in the huff for days!!

@Bonbon21 that’s outdated and even possibly dangerous advice. Pack theory has been debunked.

@Bonbon21

If you have the dog from a young pup, you should have a habit of handling the dog all over... head, mouth, paws, underbelly.. everywhere... This is part of the pack dominance training. The family should be fed before the dog etc... We were all able to remove food, bowls and any other items .. chews, sticks, undesirables(!) from the dogs without any resistance because they understood their place in the family pack.

I totally agree but others definitely won't. Never been bitten by a dog yet.

Agree food is a flash point.

Our DDog has a bit of an eating disorder. She was a rescue and think she was starved and locked up for prolonged periods more via stupidity and selfishness of airhead owner rather than intended cruelty but still...

From day 1 i was REALLY clear with DH if you show food you give it. Teasing is not allowed. I actually slapped food out of his hand at one point as he was inadvertently waving it about.
It was really difficult to crack it but we have seen drastic improvements in 18 months, she eats politely and gently from hand and can wait for food before a release command to eat.

That said...If we did what he did our ddog would be scrambling and frantically chomping at our hand too.

I would chalk this up to "owner error" he should have moved her away commanded sit and stay and then fished it out and made her spin for it.

If the dog is known to be a food guarder then wtf was he doing trying to get its food in front of it.
Obviously you should be able to do all sorts of things but that doesnt mean you can. You work with what youve got. I think it sounds like your husband was being provocative

You describe your dog as a bit grumpy(nipping when groomed,biting when getting a kibble from under the fridge).it sounds to me,your dog asserts himself to be the boss.for me,this would be unacceptable and I personally would do work (if necessary with a trainer/behaviourist).I agree,you should leave a dog to eat its dinner undisturbed.A lot of people get just a bit upset and ignore those "little nipping" incidents and are surprised when one day its a proper bite.My advice is,you need to nip your dogs nipping in the bud.

@Bonbon21

If you have the dog from a young pup, you should have a habit of handling the dog all over... head, mouth, paws, underbelly.. everywhere... This is part of the pack dominance training. The family should be fed before the dog etc... We were all able to remove food, bowls and any other items .. chews, sticks, undesirables(!) from the dogs without any resistance because they understood their place in the family pack.

Utter bollocks