Rehoming dog

[HouseOfEssex]

I'm prepared to be flamed terribly for this but I'm desperate for an impartial ear.

We have an 8.5 month old dog, bought after a lot of research from a reputable breeder. He's obedient and well trained.

He has always resource guarded, many things but never his food. Bully sticks and long lasting treats (so he doesn't have them any more) spaces (no longer allowed in certain areas) and random things he steals (could be anything, usually non food) It has taken a LOT of work to manage this, particularly as I have 4 and 7 year old children. They have worked really hard to manage the RG with us along side a behaviourist.

He has bitten my Dad once hard enough to break the skin, both children and my husband. He has bitten me once. All as a result of guarding behaviour.

Today we had left an old pram in front of our armchair. We came in from a long walk, and the dog went to sit on the chair (he's allowed as he understands down means down from that chair) My daughter went to move the pram away from the chair for him and the dog bit her wrist (didn't break skin but left a mark) I told him down and he jumped straight down, as I moved to my daughter he lunged towards me and bit my leg.

He nipped my daughter on Friday when she went to move a pair of glasses away from him. So he's bitten her twice in 3 days.

He has to go doesn't he?

It's so hard as he's currently snoozing on my lap and can be the sweetest dog but I don't trust him around my children and would NEVER trust him around other kids who didn't understand how he can be. We usually have a big Christmas party every year and I know we can't this year as I could never relax with the dog around a load of kids.

I can't believe this has gone so wrong. I'm heartbroken

I should also add he barks and growls at random men and children whilst we are out and about and I cringe whenever some little kid asks to stroke the dog

What breed?
Who is the breeder? What do they suggest?

If you know that he's aggressive and has bitten people and then he attacks a child you could be in a lot of trouble. My DH put a friends dog down because he had gone for some family members , it wasn't safe to .keep him.

Can you give a bit more info? Breed? What is his routine like? How much exercise does he get?

I don't want to immediately jump to advising you put him to sleep but you are potentially passing on a huge problem to someone else if you re-home.

Have you had a vet check?
What Breed?
What does breeder suggest?
im assuming if it’s a good breeder then they would take the pup back if necessary.

Any breed that bit a child and an adult enough to break the skin, need to not near children full stop.

Have you tried professional trainers to help rectify this problem?

I think you need to speak with professionals to see if rehoming, as a PP had said, would just be passing on the problem.

Two things here nipping and biting are two things which is it?

Is the dog crate trained?

What breed?

Has he been to the vet?

Are two different things

I'll try and answer you all. He's a second generation medium Groodle. Yes, the breeder will take him back. She is shocked at his behaviour.

He's crate trained, but we mainly use the laundry as a larger confined area now, he will still happily go into his crate.

He is walked twice a day, one long line country walk/beach run and a shorter street walk early evening. I'm a SAHM so he has company a lot of the day but is also content alone for a few hours. He has lick mats, kongs and other enhancement but usually sleeps when I'm out.

I've been working with a behaviourist to manage him.

He mainly nips. He bit my Dad hard enough to break the skin in two places when he was about 14 weeks old. He has bitten my daughter twice hard enough to break the skin and bruise, and my husband once. He has also broken and bruised my son. He has never bitten me "properly".

I honestly feel I've done all I could in terms of breeder, research, training, lifestyle but he's just not the dog I wanted. If I didn't have young children, and a lifestyle surrounded by other young children I'd definitely keep him but I'm worried about childrens safety, and if he bites a child outside the family, his life too

He has been vet checked 3 times, last time when he was castrated last month. I was hoping to wait until 12 months but the vet advised earlier would be better so he was neutered at 8 months.

The behaviourist has said his behaviour stems from anxiety. And she's probably right, but if with careful managementwe have an incident like today, when he nips my daughter and lunges at me over a pram, which had been there 10 mins and I never thought he'd RG, I don't feel it's safe to keep him here

What on earth is a Groodle? I'm assuming a Poodle (intelligent, attention seeking, guarding dog) crossed with a what? A Golden Retriever? The food driven hairy, roll in anything, eat anything dog??

If I'm right, good luck with that cross breed!

@OldTinHat Yep, a poodle crossed with a Golden retriever. I'm very allergic to dogs and cross breeds like these open up dog ownership to many people who couldn't own dogs otherwise

@OldTinHat Your definition of the poodle is why I didn't get a purebred poodle. The GR is to dilute those tendencies to make a better family dog. But thanks for your helpful insight at this difficult time for my family

At 8 months, he is in the adolescent stage, when they challenge rules and boundaries. I can understand your concerns and of course you need to keep your children safe, but in your shoes I would work with him rather than sending him back to the breeder.

I would definitely not allow him on armchairs or sofas. I know a lot of people allow this with no incidents, but it seems a particularly fraught area for dogs with resource guarding issues. I would also go back to basics with training to ensure his responsiveness to you and reinforce what is and is not allowed. But if the issue is anxiety, then that isn't really something that he can be trained out of. It requires a different approach. Is your behaviourist accredited?

What on earth is a Groodle

I was assuming half great dane, half poodle?

cross post

Yep, a poodle crossed with a Golden retriever. I'm very allergic to dogs and cross breeds like these open up dog ownership to many people who couldn't own dogs otherwise

no, they don’t. If you are very allergic a poodle would be a better choice, you’ve basically taken a non shedding, hypoallergenic dog and crossed it with a high shed, high allergy trigger dog.

do you know how genetics works? If you cross desirable traits with non desirable ones you are reducing the desirable ones in the offspring dog.

there are plenty of breeds that meet your allergy requirement that exist already. These crosses do not open up dog ownership, you end up with dogs like you have where you get the worst behaviour of both breeds.

what is it about you “groodle” that makes it more suitable than a poodle?

@lessthanathirdofanacre We aren't in the UK so accreditation isn't the same but the behaviourist we are using is used by all the reputable animal charities and was our RSPCA puppy school instructor.

I know he's in the adolescent stage and I saw a real regression in his recall and other training, but that's starting to come right again.

But fact is he's not a happy dog much of the time in our house. I feel like the children stress him out and he'd be much happier in a quieter less chaotic home. And he's not the easy going family dog I had hoped for

@Reallyreallyborednow Congrats, you've finally made me cry after what has been a really, really shit day. Talk about kicking someone when they're down.

I didn't want a poodle as they are highly intelligent, high energy dogs who require a level of stimulation I probably couldn't provide.

My pup is a second generation Groodle. I met his grandparents, parents, pups from a previous litter. They're all relaxed, happy, family dogs. I also live somewhere where availability of some pure bred dogs is limited. I looked at many pure breeds before deciding based on suitability and availability.

He definitely needs to be in a child-free quiet home by the sounds of it. Some dogs do not cope in busy households. If the breeder will take him back and work with him - opt for that.

There's a Goldendoodle that's been a sponsor dog at Dogs Trust for ages now, she hates strangers and likely has a bite history - hence being a sponsor dog with limited people visiting her and not up for rehoming.

As others have said, crossbreeds are as likely to amplify unwanted breed traits as much as wanted traits.

Op you sound like you have done your best but in your shoes I would return to the breeder yesterday. This is not teenage naughtiness: the dog broke skin at 14 weeks. RG is an inherited trait, not a training fail. Yes you may be able to improve the situation somewhat but you will never be able to relax and fully trust the dog when you have young kids. It will alter the course of your family's life for the foreseeable future and there will likely still be incidents. While you sound like a lovely owner, you are obviously fairly inexperienced and RG can be a very difficult issue to solve. It is also unpredictable as the dog will

Oops ... Guard random things.

Castrating so young was also probably the wrong decision for an anxious dog.

You say the dog is miserable, you are stressed, your kids are being bitten. It's just a no brainer and I love my dog like family. So sorry op xx

as worrying as this behaviour is, I think you need to remember that this is only a puppy, and having nipped at someone at 14 weeks old really doesn’t register on the “my dog is aggressive” meter.

Golden retrievers can be incredibly sensitive dogs,and if you have reacted emotionally to his nipping since he was a tiny puppy then this has potentially made the problem worse.

As an adolescent he needs boundaries, starting by not allowing him on the furniture.

I would absolutely continue to work with him. He’s young, this behaviour can be unlearned.

But this is why these designer breeds are often a recipe for disaster. Because when the breeder puts two breeds together they do so for the external benefits e.g. the poodle’s non shedding abilities. But the personality traits seem to be overlooked, the poodle’s potential to be highly strung vs a golden retriever’s stubborn and sensitive streaks.

Obviously you have your reasons for owning such a breed, but IMO it’s time more needs to be said about why crossing various breeds essentially for money is a bad idea.

@GhostFromTheOtherSide What happened at 14 weeks is that pup had escaped through baby gate restricting his access to bedrooms. As my Dad went towards him to pick him up and take him back, he bit my Dads arm hard enough to cause a really nasty bite

What I'm taking from this thread is basically it's my fault for having bought a cross bred dog. A very very sad lesson learnt I guess

@GhostFromTheOtherSide I don't even mention the warning growls every day all day long or the fact my 6'5" husband is scared of the dog. When he bit my daughter yesterday for moving the glasses out his reach he grazed her back