My dog bit someone, don’t know what to do

[Worldofwindows]

We adopted a rescue dog 2.5 years ago, she was just over 1 at the time from a reputable rescue. No reported aggression and none displayed when she was assessed at the rescue either towards other dogs or humans. She was handed in as apparently she could be kept in the flat she was living in and she wasn’t being given enough exercise and left alone all day with the result that she was destructive. She is a mix of two fairly high energy breeds. The advice was to slowly socialise and train which is what we did. With structure and physical and mental enrichment we never saw any ‘bad’ behaviours from her although she did from time to time tell off other dogs for getting up in her business, usually if she was on lead. We would avoid those situations so as not to prompt any such reaction but in any event it was always a measured telling off.

She has regularly attended a local daycare who slowly built her up and worked with her. They are a good team with what I think is a good mix of qualifications and experience. She has loved going and aside from the odd report of grumpiness we’ve never had any issues until last week. It seems that she was snuggling with one of the handlers when another dog approach and she and/or the other dog became jealous and ran snapping at the other dog. We’ve never seen her do that or display any other jealous behaviour, we have a 12 month old puppy at home as well and she’s never really cared when he’s had attention nor has she displayed any aggression towards him and he has had his annoying puppy moments.

The handler intervened and it seems tried to grab her and she turned around and but them without any other warning such as a growl or snap. Needless to say she can no longer attend.

We don’t know what to do. Although we work mostly out of the home daycare is a big help to us and we would never have got a second dog if we didn’t think she was comfortable there and with other dogs. I’m also concerned that we may never go anywhere like a couple of days away or even an evening out without worrying what might happen if she is in kennels or with a sitter. She can be left for a few hrs no problems but we tend to use a sitter for both if we need longer and although it’s not often I feel like we need that time after a few difficult personal years. We also can’t leave her alone all day on the odd days we both need to be in the office.

I’m concerned that a behaviourist may simply say just not to put her in that situation again which doesn’t really help.

I love her so much but I also don’t want to end up living like hermits because she is unpredictable. I’m also worried we did this to her somehow but we’ve always did everything slowly and taken all the advice we’ve had along the way.

I'm so sorry you feel so worried.

But honestly, this is entirely the fault of the daycare. And I say that as someone who works with dogs. The handler should have known better than to try and break up a fight using their hands - that's dog handling 101. Never stick your hands anywhere near a dog fight or you will get hurt. Your dog was focused on the other dog, got grabbed and the handler received a re-directed bite. This wasn't human aggression or a human attack.

In fact, if the handler hadn't intervened, I'm betting it would have stopped at a warning snap, but if it hadn't, the way to break up a dog fight is NOT to use your hands or try and grab one of the dogs - you cover them with a blanket, chuck water over them or use something like a broom handle to get in between them and break them up.

I'd be really, really disappointed with how the daycare handled this to be honest. You really don't need a behaviourist - the daycare are professionals and should know better!

From what you have written the Daycare is at fault. They grabbed a dog in a state of alert and it redirected
However you will now have to tell other daycares etc that your dog bit someone, which may cause you some issues

These posts make me just sigh and I feel very sorry for you OP.

There have been a few recently when the so called dog professionals letting the dogs in thir care down.

Dog day care staff need to be able to deal with pretty normal dog reactions. The one you describe should have been prevented by the staff. Dogs together will behave like dogs just as these two were.

What mix of dogs is your dog? (wonders if it is a herding breed?)

I would get a detailed vet check to rule out any pain or health issues that could have made your dog a bit less tolerant.

If your dog does not have the trigger they will not react so in one way that is easy to manage. So if you can get a dog sitter without other dogs then the issue will not arise.

Can you use a dog walker instead of day care and your dog could be walk on their own or equally with the right balance of dogs be totally happy walking in a group.

Your dog behaved as many dogs do and their will be a solution that works for you both. (it was not jealous behaviour)

Completely the daycare’s fault.

it’s standard that you don’t get between two fighting dogs. Your dog was stressed and defending herself and she lashed out as a stress/defense response - that’s not her fault

She is a husky Labrador cross so not a herding breed. Temperament wise I’d say more Labrador like with the husky stubbornness. I worry if we got a sitter that they might feel the need to intervene if she and our puppy where playing a bit boisterously and they may do something similar. We don’t man handle her ourselves, we’ve never needed to and she is a dog that likes her own space much of the time so we only give her attention if she wants it and she does have her soppy moments. She’s never once bothered about our puppy who always wants attention so I don’t understand the jealous thing really.

We have a full life and she’s always just slotted in, great with family and friends and super soppy with most of them and gentle. We have small nieces and nephews as well and although we always keep separate (they are all very young toddler age now) if they visit I’m now terrified. She mouthed a bit when we got her in play but that phased out over time and we worked quite hard on it. Because she isn’t some small dog we struggled to get a dog walker in the first place (most near us won’t take anything unless it’s cockapoo size).

If you find an experienced walker or sitter who knows what they're doing, you shouldn't have to worry about this happening again. As everyone has said, the daycare are 100% at fault here. They handled the situation very badly.

Of course it's not nice that someone got bitten but honestly, what do they expect if they're going to grab at a dog like that?

Is the daycare licensed? How many dogs do they take at once? I wonder if your dog would either be better in more intimate setting like a home-based daycare, or in a kennel-based daycare where she can have her own space during the day and get walked on her own if necessary.

It is fully licensed and has the highest rating according the council website. The dogs are split into appropriate groups accordingly to play style. They tend to place her with other larger boy dogs as she’s best with them. We did use a home daycare for a bit as well but we found because they were a one man band they were a bit unreliable. On a few occasions we were left a bit stuck. It might just have been the sitter but a lot were reluctant to take her due to her being a rescue, despite us having no information to suggest she was a concern.

How many dogs do they take? How many are in her section? It sounds like it's a big, commercial-based daycare which doesn't suit all dogs.

We are due to go away Mon to Friday next week and now not sure whether to send to her usual kennels. My mental health has been suffering recently and as selfish as it sounds need the break and I can’t stop crying.

It was not jealousy - it look likes it to us but dogs really do not do jealously.

It does sound like the situation is over stimulating and stressful for your dog (and tbh honest many other dogs- I hate some of the bigger dog care with a passion!) and your dog is being hypervigilant hence the reaction. She was just over stressed and reacted . I've dont it myself!

I think it would be good to chat with a behaviourist to help them explain how your dog is feeling. Then it is easier to find a caring situtation that they would be happy with. It will also help reassure you that your dog is not an aggressive dog and going to attack every human they see. If the account of the incident is correct there is no reason at all to be more wary of your dog.

A good dog professional would not be put off by the behaviour you explained but happy to make sure your dog is not put in the situations to need to display it again

It was the daycares fault. I learnt the hard way not to break a dog fight up using my hands.

My own terrier bit me very hard when I intervened. Not his fault. And he's not an aggressive dog. Never bitten before or since.

Kennels will be fine if your dog has been there before and is happy there.

Go and have a good holiday

Does the puppy go to the day care too?

You've had solid advice already, so I'm here just to add my voice to it.

Jealous reactions from dogs is not ideal, but not unusual. Dog fights among otherwise socilised dogs are not ideal, but not unusual. These are both within the realms of normal dog behaviour that a qualified day care facility should be able to handle in a way that keeps everyone safe and happy.

No one should ever be putting their hands into a dog fight. Fights tend to have natural break points - especially fights between otherwise laid back dogs that are just narked at each other in the moment. At which point, a safe/distanced intervention and distraction can be used. If the fight does not break naturally, then options such as water can be used effectively as well.

Based on what you've said here, I would not use this example as a reason to no longer trust your dog. Keep you sensible precuations in place (no manhandling, children kept seperate etc) but otherwise, this sounds like a normal reaction to being grabbed mid fight.

She'll be absolutely fine in kennels. Please don't worry.

This is 100% the fault of the daycare.

Another voice agreeing with the consensus.
We had collies growing up, the ONLY time one bit a human was because the stupid human ( me 😳 ) tried to physically break up a snarling session, as a pp has stated a re directed bite.
Please do have your holiday op.

OP I hope you feel a bit better about the situation.

If nothing else all the posters on MN in The Doghouse are agreeing so we must be right

I would say it’s not her fault! It’s not like she’s walked up to someone & just bit them - she’s reacted how many dogs would n fight mode. it’s a normal reaction to someone grabbing a dog. The daycare are at fault here.

I e had my rescue dog 8 years & he’s the most tolerant & she’s ft dog but in this situation, I can see him doing the same!

I appreciate everyone’s words and advice here. We will need to tell kennels so they may well say not to bring her. She’s always been fine there and they only have her out with our puppy. To be honest she’s been much happier in kennels since we’ve had him and he was also old enough to go. We ask for separate kennels as he can be a pain but they are next to each other and can play during the day and they are really good with making sure they are both well exercised.

I'm really not a fan of these dog daycare places. I used to teach animal care at a college and we had students who would do work experience at various ones in the area.

I had to assess the students whilst they were there. In many cases they were run by people who just didn't have the necessary experience and often made very poor decisions with regards to the number and mix of dogs, plus they were often far too small and not enough supervision going on.

I remember one occasion a particular place had decided to take on an extremely nervous/reactive staffie, the daycare owner had buggered off leaving a few teenage staff in charge and they were about to put it in with a puppy! I stepped in at that point and said absolutely NOT.

That's just one example, I've got plenty more. These places were all 'council approved' which quite frankly means nothing to me. Just because the staff have done a few online courses does not mean they have the skills necessary to work in these places.

I would never send my dog to one. In fact neither would I send them to boarding kennels for the same reasons, I have plenty of stories about them too!

It totally sounds like the daycare's fault to me too. I'd never put my hand down between dogs like that.

I have a rescue German Shepherd who is the loveliest, most loving dog ever. I won't wake her up by touch...I call her name first. I wouldn't grab her from behind, or startle her in any way. It's common sense.

Why do you need to tell the kennels? Is it a condition of your contract there or something?

I just worry for what we do if we cant make arrangements for her, our puppy also goes to the daycare but clearly we need to think that through. As bad as it sounds we wouldn’t have taken on a dog with a bite history as it was probably more than we had experience for at the time but as she was a young dog and clearly had a lot of potential that pushed us to rescue given there were no red flags. I feel gutted for her that this will follow her.

I couldn’t see anything like that on their website. I can’t really remember if there was anything on the form to disclose things like this that we filled out when he registered as it was a while ago now. I don’t really want to lie to them or leave them unprepared if she needs a bit more caution while we get to grips with this.

I honestly don't think you need to do anything differently with her. She's no longer attending daycare so this isn't an issue that should crop up again.

I would remove the puppy from the daycare but otherwise I wouldn't do anything new or different if that was my dog. Daycare should have known better and hopefully the handler learnt a lesson from their silly mistake.