Dog is biting daughter’s bf!!!

[noexcuses26]

Our dog has bitten our daughter’s bf, twice now!! Latest time he’s drawn blood. We’re mortified. Problems started when the pair of them were ‘smooching’ on sofa one evening (we w
weren’t home!!) & the dog got angry and barked at bf aggressively.. he obvs thought she was being attacked I think & tried to protect her. After that when bf came in house dog barked & when bf went to stroke him he snapped & caught his hand. We told dog off & suggested bf totally ignore him/ then try to feed him some treats gradually. Not sure if this haas happened but yesterday dog was happily being stroked by daughter on sofa, all relaxed, but when bf (who was sat on other side of dog) went to stroke him, dog bit his hand quite badly. There’s no growling/ warning signs, it’s an instant snap. He’s a 10 yr old cockapoo, can be fear reactive to some other dogs & does snap if you rub his ears in the wrong way but never known him to take such a dislike of someone like this. Any advice to correct this behaviour would be appreciated.

"Telling the dog off" was a mistake and will have made things worse

The dog sounds like he is possibly resource guarding over your daughter

I'd stop letting the dog on the sofa now that 2 biting incidents have taken place there - prevention is key

And join the "dog training advice and support" FB group to get proper expert advice!

Ok thx

Your dog is resource guarding your daughter. You need to invest in a proper behaviourist who specialises in this behaviour (not just some random who claims they can solve any issue).

But, honestly, at ten years old you'll probably struggle to manage this now. Sounds like he's got a lot of issues - no dog should be snapping if you touch their ears, and if they are you should be managing that behaviour not allowing it to continue - and this is finally the issue that has made you see reason.

Don't ask people for how they would manage it on the internet - no one should be giving advice about an issue so serious, in a dog so old, when it's a dog they have not met. It would be very different if it was a puppy.

Did her bf get a tetanus shot and have it cleaned ? I had to when I got bitten on my hand when I tried to stop my dog being attacked by another .
I would in the short term try to keep the dog in another room .

Have you had his ears checked out to see if he's in any pain there?

Sounds like resource guarding. Needs to be nipped in the bud and dog kept off sofa/ out of the room and firm boundaries/ leadership from his owners/ handlers

I assume your dog has seen the vet to rule out ear infections or other problems if he regularly snaps when his ears are touched?