Dog snapped at DS face

[anxiousmumy]

My DS (10) took a stolen ice lolly stick off my dog (under 1 year and a rescue) earlier without me knowing what was happening, I was in the kitchen.
I heard dog growl. My son had bent down so was at face level, and dog snapped at his face and caught under his nostril. It just about broke the skin, pin prick sized mark, from the tip of his tooth. No blood or anything. He's caught us like this when playing as he still has sharp puppy teeth, so I don't think he did intend to harm. But still this is worrying.

I'm sure this is resource guarding and I have told DS to never try to take anything off him again.

Has anyone else experienced this? How can I nip this in the bud? Would neutering have any effect or make it worse?

Your dog is still very young, I would be telling your son not to take things from him. If you choose a trainer make sure they are force free.
If he's a rescue why is he not neutered?

Nip it in the bud by not letting your son take anything off the dog or get into its space.

Look up dog body language and respect the dog’s boundaries. Don’t allow your son to be unsupervised with the dog.

You can teach your dog to swap things if it has something inappropriate, but it would be better for an adult to do this.

IMO this isn’t a definite problem and can easily be managed.

This is literally your child’s fault.

We've been advised to wait until over 13 months for neutering. Something about neutering young making anxiety worse, he's a pretty anxious dog. He also has potential hip dysplasia (the very start of it on x rays) again something about neutering can make it worse before they're fully grown.

My dog resource guards (also a rescue - has yours been a street dog at any point? It’s very common in Eastern European rescues, as I’ve come to discover!)

We have a behaviourist as part of our adoption contract and we have used them to help nip the resource guarding in the bud. We ‘swap’ stolen items for items of high value (toys, favourite treats) and if he won’t give up what he’s got, we leave him to it until he gets bored as long as it isn’t anything dangerous, such as a chicken bone, in which case I will cop a nip if I have to. He’s improved, and has gone from biting as his first response to scream-barking.

Get him out of the room when people are eating, if he’s crate trained then use that, or just put him in another room.

Absolutely speak to the rescue as this is so common and they should have behaviourist backup if they are a reputable rescue.

Thanks. The only other thing he's done that's worried me is when my son has been eating say on the sofa, he's tried to get to him. I've said no and pushed him away and he's snapped over my arm. I now shut him out when DS is eating.

My mums rescue dog had some issues with resource guarding, it went for my nephew when he tried to take a cushion away from him, he also went for my step dad a couple times when he tried to get into bed with my mum. I’m not exactly sure how they de lot with it but my step dads likely to have put the dog in it’s place and removed him from the situation. They did also get him castrated. He’s now fine with anyone taking any of his things from him and even food (has calmed down a lot), he was only 15 months when they got him and we don’t know exactly how he was treated by the previous owner.

I would probably look for advice from a dog trainer, but would say it’s totally fixable. Your sons old enough to know not to take things from the dog, if your ds was a toddler it would be more concerning.

He’s ten! He is a child, most children don’t know not to try and take something from a dog until they learn the hard way, or until an adult teaches them. It’s not his fault. It’s nobody’s fault, some dogs are just hardwired to be possessive over stolen things, but it can be managed with training and consistent boundaries.

Your son is young and didn't understand the risks, so this is the perfect time to teach him about not taking things from the dog, especially when he's resource guarding. Fortunately he hasn't been injured badly, but it could have been worse if the dog had caught his eye instead.

Our dog was very bad at resource guarding and he's definitely calmed down since being neutered, though he still has rare moments when he does it. I think engaging with an animal behaviourist would be a good call, so they can help the dog with any issues, and teach the family how best to manage them.

Very unusual for a animal shelter to rehome a dog these days that's not been neutered.

Thanks.
He's a foreign rescue and came to us at 17 weeks, they don't neuter until 6 months.

Neutering will not make this behaviour better , your son needs to learn not to get on face level with the dog and not to remove stuff from him .

Hip dysplasia can be very painful, there another thread very similar to this running. I'd get him for. a vet check and look into pain medication.

My dog is nearly 4 and he is lovely but I would never take anything from him that he is guarding. We taught the command 'swap' so we exchange whatever he has. The only time I ever go into his mouth is if he picks up a chicken bone from the street which could harm him.

If you want to neuter him try the chemical temporary option first incase it makes things worse.
Teach the dog to drop on command. Most times if he drops it you can give him a treat or something like a ball if you use it but it will get to the point where he drops on command and it won’t matter if you haven’t got a treat etc. Just pick your command words carefully because we’ve had some very random ones over the years!

This.

Your dog had a completely normal reaction to having your child take his stuff. Why did your kid do it? For kicks? Laughs? Cos he could?

You’ve said separately your dog has snapped before when your child eating. So your child has seen it be aggressive. Yet he was a wee little shit anyway.

TBH I’d rehome the dog (something I never suggest) because 10 is more than old enough to understand the repercussions of winding up a nervous animal and if your kid can’t or won’t control himself then you have no business having a nervous dog. It’ll only get worse and no amount of castration can change an animals nature that much when it’s being wound up. Dog deserves better.

Devils - are you for real? The child has not been a ‘little shit’ they were not teasing the dog but taking a potentially dangerous item from it. There is no indication that they weren’t trying to do the right thing.The child deserves to live with a dog that won’t bite it in the face. Why would anyone want a dog that is so reactive, miserable for everyone.

The dog has demonstrated poor behaviour in the past. At ten a child knows better! I bloody did. My nieces do at five!

Regardless of whether the dog stole a dangerous item (and ice lolly’s aren’t dangerous unless they have chocolate on…) the child should NOT have got involved given prior behaviour. The child has seen the dog snap before. The dog views the item as ‘his’ and in his eyes the is no ‘good’ or explainable reason for the child
taking the item. And in my eyes, given the child knew what the dog was like, there wasn’t a good reason for what the child did.

As I said, dog needs to be rehomed with people who understand it. It is in chronic pain, nervous, reactive and probably downright miserable due to the combination of all three. It needs someone who understands it - not someone who lets their kid grab things from it which, in the eyes of a guarding dog and most ethical trainers, is tormenting/downright stupid.

And OP shouldn’t get a rescue dog she has no idea of the history of when she and her family cannot cope (harsh but true - I am sick of seeing posts and stories about things like this).

Rehome the child.

Seriously though, it sounds like resource guarding, dog is being a dog, but try and nip it in the bud. Your son needs to learn to read body language.

This is why UK rescues very rarely rehome to families with young children. I think you're crazy tbh getting a Romanian rescue with a 10 year old. Re resource guarding you need to train the dog. There's a lot online re the drop command. We started with drop and swap for a treat which was picked up very quickly. You were lucky he only grazed his face this time. Your child also needs to know that a growl is a warning. Behaviourist to the house probably best bet

@Devilshands - that’s over harsh on the boy. The dog took an ice pop, presumably complete with plastic packaging, a lot of people’s instinct would be to take it off the dog ASAP, let alone a 10 year old boy. He may well have been told not to take chews or treats off the dog or disturb him when he’s eating or sleeping, but in the moment, when the dog snatched an item he shouldn’t have, not a doggy item, he failed to consider resource guarding as a risk. Ir could easily happen to most people in the moment but probably won’t a second time.

Why why why would you risk your child’s wellbeing?

This was your warning.

Rehome the dog before it happens again.

A basic is not to get into a dog's face when taking something they perceive as high value. 10 absolutely is old enough for a child to understand this. Both child and dog are young, and with training for both you can make everyone safer. I would get in a good, reputable trainer with the emphasis on working with you all.

Neutering will not help. Forget that.

YOU are the one in charge so you need to be in charge. If your child doesn’t understand not to take things from dogs then they need to be separate or supervised. It’s not an imported dog thing. It’s a dog thing. Just learn from it. Sounds like the dog did well.

Re resource guarding you need to train the dog. There's a lot online re the drop command. We started with drop and swap for a treat which was picked up very quickly

This 100% and while you are at it, teach the child as well!
But honestly, try and see the situation from the dogs point of view. And remember they can't speak and don't have hands.
You have a tasty ice lolly and your friend puts their face right up to yours and grabs the lolly literally from your mouth....

My advice, don't humanise the dog. Thake it training and involve DC so that both learn to respect each other.

Please consider using a behaviourist and not a trainer. Being a dog trainer is a largely unregulated system and could end up making things worse. Work with a qualified behaviourist using positive techniques which will lead to long lasting changes