Bitten by your dog?

[IVFNewbie]

Hi! Has your dog ever bitten you (other than puppy-related relatively harmless mouthing?)

No why?

yes, but not out the blue.

i stupidly tried to get a bone out if his mouth with my bare hands. obviously a bit of a stupid thing to do in hindsight

No. She’s very confident and secure with us and we would have seen any pre-bite signals if she was uncomfortable with anything. She caught my hand with her teeth once while whipping her head round to grab her lead (an overexcited party trick of hers when little) but it wasn’t a bite.

No. I have 2 labs and they are pretty soft mouthed, gentle creatures, used to being handled and checked over.
The older one will take DHs nose into his mouth and hold it ever so gently if DH picks him up.
If either did, I would assume pain, or neurological issue.

Only one of my four (two cockapoos, two huntaways) has come close (graze of the teeth!) and that was entirely my own fault. He was injured and I wasn’t as careful as I should’ve been, by accident. He was never going to do much damage, he’s a rather small cockapoo 😂

A few minor incidents over the years with ddog 1. Slept on ds's bed and he accidentally shoved her during the night.. She nipped his toe! Still had a scar!! Dd ran over her paw with skates on and she caught her. arm. She caught dd's bf hand when he grabbed her collar - a def no no but he forgot. Never held any of these against her..

He’s snapped at me a few times and gone so far as a “muzzle punch” once. He’s a rescue with some issues but it’s getting better. Why do you ask?

Yes, when he was going through adolescent and I let him off lead in a field he got way overstimulated and as I was trying to catch him he ran past, jumped and bit my arm. Tore my jacket and left a mark on my skin but no puncture luckily.
It was quite an aggressive move and I really thought I had adopted a dangerous dog and that was the closest I got to giving up on him.

A combination of him maturing, being neutered and going to training, getting a good routine, learning about appropriate enrichment for his breed, finding the right balance between mental and physical exercise and learning his triggers meant it has never happened since.

But it was a scary and worrying time for a while.

Yes, but I accidentally hurt her and she lashed out, he didn’t mean it.

I have had a few bloody incidents related to resource guarding. We have been seeing a behaviourist.

No, mine has never bitten me.

I'm a dog walker and I've been bitten twice since I set up my business nearly three years ago - once when I was separating a fight between one of my on-lead dogs and a strange dog that approached us, and a second time when I was looking after an old, confused, blind dog who caught me by accident.

I hope you're getting all the help you need, OP

@IVFNewbie exactly our situation. You have my sympathy!

Only by accident when I had my hand in there removing a stuck stick across the roof of her mouth - I think she was entitled to that one, she was panicking and bit down without really trying to do anything except dislodge the stick. No more small sticks.

Yes but it was at the end of his life. We stupidly kept him as long as we could, rather than letting him go when it was probably the right time. He lost his hearing and eyesight was going. I went to give him a hug (was only about 6 at the time) and he bit me. As soon as he realised it was me he let go and went in to full on sad mode. Even I could tell he was really upset by it and my arm was bleeding and I was crying my eyes out. He wasn't put down as a direct result but it was the icing on the cake sotospeak

My dog accidentally bit me when I was trying to save him from a bulldog a few years back - he didn’t want to be saved , it broke the skin but didn’t need stitches . My sister got quite seriously bitten ( minor injuries / antibiotics) by one of her dogs when she split up a little spat they were having .

Yes my springer did last year. He’s a bit on an arse to be fair and he is a rescue. I made the mistake of holding his collar and he span around and bit me. We worked with a behaviourist and found out his triggers and removed his collar and it seems to be behind us. I’ll never be 100% confident of him though if I’m honest as he has a difficult personality.

Yes but by accident. He likes me to hold his chews for him whilst he bites into them and once or twice has mistaken my finger for the chew 🙈

He literally brings his chews to me and puts them in my hand for him to hold 🤣lazy bugger

No I think he’d be more likely to sprout wings and fly off than bite 😂. He’s a real softy, he never retaliates when dogs try to snap at him either which happens a lot as he’s a black lab and other dogs seem to hate them 😢. He does still nibble my hand when he’s tired but that’s for comfort and doesn’t hurt at all.

I really feel for you OP. Can you give us a bit more info though. What kind of advice are you getting from your behaviourist?
We worked with 1 who was ineffectual, 1 who made things so much worse and was almost the cause of us having our rescue put down if I’m honest. We now work with no. 3 who is wonderful and who reversed everything no. 2 told us. We’ve had amazing results but it has been hard work.
When you say resource guarding, can you give us a bit more information about what is happening and what you’re trying to achieve?

No. One thing my dog is brilliant with is never guarding. He'd drop anything for any of us if we say drop. Including food.

My mum's old dog, you had to pry his mouth open.

Yes, as a young (6 month) dog who had a stinky rabbit leg in its mouth.

We were very novice owners and pup had very sharp teeth.

No. I've had six dogs in my life and none have bitten me. I have a 13 year old one now and if you wake him up (he has a propensity for sleeping in doorways) he gives a brief growl but only because he is startled and he's never been aggressive.

I have never in all my 30 years of owning dogs ever had one so much as even growl my way. All different breeds. If one of my dogs bit me now I could never look at them in the same way again . I know you never fully trust a dog of course but if out of the blue and no cause could be found for it i wouldn't have the dog in my house again the bond would be broken.

Hi! Not looking for advice as such; just a feel as to how common or otherwise it is. The behaviourist is helping and we understand the triggers better now, so progress is being made. He's just over 2 years old. Mixed breed medium sized terrier type.