Our rescue dog bit my daughter and I today.

[CaraVann]

3 months ago we rescued our dog, Bear.
He was born November 2020. Original owner got him at 7 weeks (I’ve worked out he was a Christmas dog!), it was also during lockdown, when the owner returned to work she crated him for 12 hours every day, she lived in a flat with no garden and never took Bear out, ever.
I believe the owner surrendered him to the rescue when he was about 12 months old.
The rescue worked hard on him as he was scared of the outside world and even putting a harness on him was hard work. They have done such great work with him but he will always be a very anxious dog, bless him.
He was adopted earlier this year, the couple had him for 3 months then gave him back. I was told by the rescue this was because they gave him a lickimat, he bit some of it off and swallowed a piece, he had to go to the vet to induce vomiting and apparently reverted back to his early days as the vets is one of his anxiety triggers and the couple couldn’t handle it, apparently.
So he was returned to the rescue, spent a few more months there and we adopted him early September.
He has been with us for 3 months.
We have had a few settling in issues with him but none of them major. The main things have been him weeding and pooing in the house, being scared of cars, scared of the vacuum cleaner, ripping things up (cushions/throws etc) and barking a lot for food/attention etc.
All these things have been ok to deal with as he has always been a happy and friendly dog, never shown aggression towards us, other people or other dogs.
He is so happy and bouncy that I often say he is like Tigger on speed!
I walk him at least twice a day, on the same field opposite my house.
As per the advice from the rescue and the behaviourist they use, we have kept his world small, just the local walks, just us family. We are a quiet family ( dc are 14 and 17), so no loud noises or lots of people coming and going.
All has been fine and he has been slowly settling into a good routine.
He was barking quite a bit in the evenings but for the last few weeks he has started to settle well and sits and snoozes on the sofa, in between dh and I, very cuddly and happy.
He has always been bouncy and happy and adores DH the most, he is definitely his favourite but seems to like us all.

However, today for some reason something changed.

Today he bit my dd and myself and I am not sure why.

The day started off well. Dh and I took him for a lovely walk over the field. We came home and he pottered around the house as usual then I popped out for a few hours. When I got home he was fine and greeted me happily as usual.
Dd came home from school and he sat next to her snoozing on the sofa, again, as usual.
Then dd touched his head, nothing abnormal there and he suddenly snapped and bit her on the hand. She was obviously shocked. I came in the room and sat with them both and stroked him. He seemed ok but looked a bit guilty. He then went for her again! Dd went upstairs to her room and we left him to settle.
A bit later (around half and hour) he came into the kitchen where I had been and I put my hand out gently to him (again, I’ve done this endless times and he has never shown any aggression towards me before this), he snarled/snapped suddenly and bit my thumb, drawing blood.
He now seems very wary of me for some reason, I don’t know why. He has always been so friendly and happy with us. I am quite shocked tbh as I can’t see what may have provoked this.
I don’t understand why he would do this after 3 months.
He had seemed fine all day, seems ok health wise.

Nothing today was out of routine other than DH was here this morning and didn’t go to work at 6.30am as usual, he is on sifts this winter and went to work at 1pm instead. But that is no different from the weekends when we all separately come and go.

Does anyone have any idea why he would turn on dd and I today?

Someone else has already mentioned the snow/cold weather - our dog has a shorter fuse in this weather too. I think he doesn't like us walking cautiously on the slippy pavements and the smells are stronger on walks. I'm not suggesting that this is the reason why your dog reacted today, but might have added to the wider picture and meant that he had a 'shorter fuse', especially if he is in pain as other posters have suggested

Our dog with no bite history at all suddenly bit my dds friend on the leg when she stroked him. We took him to the vet and he had a uti and kidney failure . That was the first real sign.
maybe he has a bad tooth/ ears?

He looks very similar to a rescue dog I walk - he's an Irish terrier/yorkie mix and can be quite snappy and touch aversive if you don't approach him properly.

So while your dogs' upbringing may well have something to do with his behaviour, it's worth remembering that many working terriers are quite snappy by nature anyway. They are bred to work and be independent little things, not to be fussed over and given lots of affection.

I don’t think you see what you have rescues properly until three months. I would go very carefully. I have had lots of rescues and they take much longer to settle than you expect. I think yours has a very difficult history and wonder whether the return to rescue has been accurately accounted for.

Has anyone had a dog bit the once and never do it again.

Yes I have in very similar circumstance. My dog is also a rescue and also a JR/Yorkshire terrier cross.

Our dog bit my ten year old on the hand and broke the skin. She's never done anything like it again and we have had her six years.

Thank you Adultchildofelderlyparents and Penaltyshootoutfan I really don’t want to give up on him, I’ve been so upset contemplating it all.
buckleten In some ways I do hope it’s something like that, I’d hate to think he’s turned aggressive for no reason.
Newpuppymummy no snow here but lots of frost.

Yes I worked for a staffy rescue , they rehomed a bitch who then bit the lady, we took her back and it turns out she was in pain but due to the bite they couldn't rehome her so I ended up taking her, she was the sweetest girl and never showed any aggression ever again. It really just was because she was in pain.

Rescues often go through a phase of “best behaviour” when they first come into a home. You haven’t had him that long and I suspect he is starting to settle and his real personality is coming out. Dogs that snap or bite are not bad dogs. Apart from rare exceptions there are nearly always reasons behind it. I’ve had my rescue terrier for 8 years now and she’s bitten me twice. Once was a few months after I got her (triggered by another dog and redirected) and once when she was in severe pain. Boundaries and a routine are needed here. My dog is much happier and secure with knowing what she can and can’t do now and on the whole is easy to live with. I would start by having a sofa ban, his own space to chill un disturbed, making him wait for food and just training basic commands, sit, stay, down, paw etc with a clicker. He needs to have positive and predictable associations with you. Good luck, I know it’s tough but he’s by no means a write off.

I will get him checked over, definitely.
We will go back to the beginning, will give him more space and go about our day to day lives with him in the background, observing us and getting used to us again. Absolutely no touching whilst sleeping/snoozing.

MeJane that has given me some hope, I pray it won’t happen again.

Ricco12 poor little girl. Good to hear it didn’t happen again, I’ll most definitely get him checked over.
Thank you Nosleepforthismum I really needed to read that. I don’t want to give up on him so soon. Oh course my kids are my top priority but they are not small children and know to keep a distance for now but Bear has been so badly let down by humans so far, I don’t want to be another. We will go back to the beginning and start afresh with some stricter rules for now.

Middledazedted the info from the rescue has been a bit sketchy tbh especially surrounding why the couple returned him after 3 months, I am not so sure him just swallowing part of a lickimat is the real reason. But I would be very annoyed if he has bite history and they are telling me otherwise.

Sorry I haven't read the whole thread but is he becoming territorial over the sofa? He may have adopted the sofa as his 'safe place' and has now taken against being disturbed there. The fact that he is okay with it some of the time doesn't rule this out.

I know the second incident didn't occur on the sofa but since the first incident was shortly beforehand he may have been in a state of mind where he was primed to defend his personal space.

If he spent a long time crated in his previous home he would have been used to sleeping undisturbed. Also, 3 months into adoption is the time when he would generally be finding his feet and becoming more confident about asserting himself!

I have a rescue greyhound (also prone to sleep startle because they spend so much time alone in racing kennels) and while we haven't experienced biting we did have him growl at us on a couple of occasions when we got too close to him on "his" sofa! Other times he'd cuddle up with his head on our laps so it wasn't that he'd taken against us in general. We solved it by physically barricading the sofa and having him exclusively sleep in his own bed for a few weeks. Now we let him up occasionally but he understands that it is on an invite only basis. Everything has been fine since then.

I'm in no way a dog expert so this is purely based on my own experience! Just thought I'd add my story in case it's helpful.

Hope it all works out for you, you've done a great thing taking on a returned/nervous dog :)

Strawberrypicnic thank you for that. He hadn’t shown any territorial behaviours over the sofa previous to this but maybe this was the beginning of it? We will have to do something similar to what you have done, from now on.

Have you got a crate for him? If he is trained to go into the crate he will know it’s is his safe space where he will be left alone. The children have to know that he must be left alone when in the crate too.
I’m afraid if you can’t sort out the biting very soon you will have to give him back to the rescue centre. You can’t keep a dog that bites.

mdh2020 yes, he has a crate in the kitchen and a mattress type bed. He mainly sleeps on the mattress bed but does occasionally go in the crate, the dc know not to disturb him when he is in there, we all do. He actually went straight in there after he bit me, so he was obviously frightened/unhappy for some reason. I hope a pray this is a one off incident.

I think it's very possible. Ours was the same, fine sharing the sofa for the first few months and then started to feel himself a bit once he got more confident 😂It does take a while for them to come out of their shells after going home from the kennels (we were told up to a year for his full personality to come out!) and as I think someone else said upthread, they can tend to go through a 'best behaviour' phase at first. I really hope this just ends up being a bump in the road for you, as it was for us!

I truly hope so Strawberrypicnic, I have never had to give up any of our dogs, they have all lived to good ages. The thought of returning him is heartbreaking.

Our dog bit my DS when he was 3. He was running around and tripped over the dog who was napping in the middle of the room 🤦🏻‍♀️
We kept the dog, because i knew it wasnt a malicious bite. DS just freaked her out.
Dog was with us for another 6 years after that and it never happened again.

He’s gorgeous. You sound like a lovely owner.
Hopefully it’s something easily sorted.

He is a small dog and your children are essentially adults as far as dog care goes - I can't see that anyone is at any risk here.

And the couple's story sounds really fishy.

hmm. I’d agree with him being in pain. I hope the vets turns something up OP so that you know for sure 💐

I have the same terrier mix, I agree with pp they are saying the dogs unwell or in pain.

Don't overthink it until the vets had a good look at him.

@CaraVann 3 months is not very long and not surprising that new elements of behaviour are appearing still. Give it time - I’ve had our rescue for 1 year and he has made progress; we love him enormously but he unfortunately still surprises me with bad behaviour sometimes (we have been bitten occasionally too)!

You will get some really bad advice on here from people who don’t know anything about traumatised dogs. I also thought I knew a bit about dogs when I got my rescue but it’s a completely different kettle of fish so be willing to learn.

1. Agree with PP who said don’t pat on head - generally friendly / happy dogs are tolerating rather than enjoying this
2. keep dog off sofa - consistent and clear communication
3. PAY VERY CLOSE ATTENTION TO BEHAVIOURAL CUES - this could make the difference between biting becoming a regular behaviour or never again - the whale eye, the suspicious look, the going very still, ears back, generally just having a not friendly facial expression - and leave well alone. don’t punish growling.

hope you can give your dog a chance and be patient with him- sounds like you have done something really worthwhile by taking him 💐

@CaraVann oh bear. He is so lovely looking and im glad he is a terrier mix because it's more understandable down to his breed that he might bite when shocked. In my life I've only been bitten once by a 'big breed' and more times than I like to remember by terriers, my childhood dog was a nasty piece of work and bit my brother and I a lot cause we were relentless and (horribly) used to purposely wind her up. My friends jack Russel has got me a few times too, classic ankle biting chasing. Our old friends rescue Terry looked like Bear and loved a startled snap/bite

Not to minimise the bite because it's awful. But terriers can be like that. It's easier to understand and work through a terrier being like that then the fear and potentially lethal bite of a bigger dog with an unknown breed mix driving it's biting. I personally could deal with it but I know a lot won't agree or wouldn't allow it because children are involved.

I have had a dog that bit me twice in 12 years! Other than that he was a darling. Both times it was because he'd been given a bone and I didn't know, and came home and went to make a fuss of him and he turned and snapped, guarding the bone. Obviously this is not the same as your situation, but just to answer your OP. I wonder if yours has toothache? Anyway, I really hope you sort it. He's adorable.