AIBU to think our dog bit because his warning growls were ignored?

[Vauxhall21]

I have a 4 year old Cavapoo. He has always been a placid, but anxious dog because of his background and the environment he was bred into, however this has massively improved over time.

He has always had a little bit of resource guarding, but usually only a tiny bit of a growl and then happy to let you take the item if it was not appropriate for him to have.

He is currently going through a trial (chemical) castration. Potentially due to this, his resource guarding has got considerably worse where he will even growl at me now when he never used to, because of this if I have to take an item off him, I usually get him away from the item first by treats or a distraction and then remove it and this works fine.

Today, he was chewing on a piece of plastic and my partner attempted to take it from him, ignored his warning growls and did not do the distraction technique or try replacing it with something else, and it ended up with him biting her quite badly on the finger.

This is the first time I have ever been in this position and it has completely shaken the whole house.

Firstly, it is likely to need a hospital visit due to the punctures being quite deep. Does the hospital report this to the police? I also have a 10 year old child in the house (who knows not to go near him when he has anything in his mouth and respects his boundaries), will the hospital report this to SS?

Secondly, how do I handle this going forward? I already do the trading/distraction technique, I also suspect that the castration is making it worse so I will call the vets and ask for advice. But who was at fault? Was this a careless mistake on my partners behalf or is my dog no longer safe to be in the family home and is likely to be more aggressive after this first biting incident?

He is a very much loved dog and this was very very out of the blue despite his resource guarding issues, and we are all feeling incredibly heartbroken that this has happened so please be kind.

We had a dog who bit three people because they totally ignored his growls. As he was small, they thought he was joking and being silly! They tried to (a) take food from him, (b) a toy from him and (c) get him out from under a table where our friend dived under the table and tried to forcibly remove him. Their dogs were kept in a crate at mealtimes and our dog, a guest they had agreed could visit, didn’t have one. It was awful! He didn’t want to leave us and just sat quietly under the table by our feet. We probably should have gone home,

Our dog lived to 14 and was overall kind and happy. He just had three incidents and it happened quickly but he did warn first and never ever would he give from his mouth! Not once. But that didn’t make him bad - more a breed trait!

Person at fault.

Each to there own but personally I’d never risk a child’s safety above a dog

Yes, when you taunt dogs, they bite. They warn with growls and then bite. They are dogs. Humans are supposed to be smarter and empathetic.

Why are you making your child live in the same house as a dog that bites, or tiptoe around the whims of a neurotic dog?

A few of the responses on this thread are too extreme (in either direction) to be very helpful to the OP, who is in a sad and difficult situation.

OP, I'm not sure it is helpful to think about "who was at fault". Naturally you want to be able to put the incident down to your partner's mismanagement, so that you can continue to feel as positive as possible about your dog. But it isn't really relevant. There is still a behavioural problem, even if this episode wasn't handled as well as it could have been.
You have a resource-guarding dog that will bite if sufficiently challenged, and the steps that you need to take are the same, regardless of whether your partner contributed to the bite on this occasion.
But I don't think it is all doom and gloom. You know the triggers, your children presumably know how to behave around the dog. Your partner will manage things better in future. You need to talk things through with the vet, and consider seeing a trainer or animal behaviorist, and I'm sure this can be a good way forward for you.

I don’t think you should be recommending that a woman be assaulted! Bad enough she’s been injured.

Hi OP. A couple of years ago my partner was playing with the dog, misjudged it and she nipped him
on the face. It was bad enough that he had to come to A&E but he admitted it was completely his fault and we never heard anything afterwards. Dog is currently sat next to me gently farting!

I agree - it’s so important to prioritise a dog over a human. Humans are dogs worst enemies at times like this!

A dog who has bitten its owner IS a dog out of control FFS!

This has to be trained. A lot of dogs will naturally resource guard if not actively trained not to. We've had to train the behaviour out of most of our rescues at some stage.

Tetanus shot and a course of anti biotics for your DP, visit vet for a castration appointment, the chemical castration will have shrunk his testicles, making the procedure more straightforward.

I had a similar situation, my fault as I put my hand into dogs mouth to remove a plastic bottle top, GP surgery weren’t worried, no social services referral or follow up.

The hospital absolutely should report this to the police and a biting dog should be put down.

You say your dog is generally quite anxious. Is the chemical castration a trial to see how he copes without testosterone?

The dog’s signals were ignored, so it reacted by escalating. So not the dog’s fault.

But resource guarding needs to be addressed with a behaviourist, it’s not something I would want in my pet.

Exactly what @WiddlinDiddlin says.

Tell me you know nothing about dogs without telling me you know nothing about dogs.

Dogs only option to warn someone they’re unhappy is a growl. It’s not like they can say ‘please don’t do that.’ When that’s ignored they get SCARED and lash out. The human was in the wrong here. They deserve what happened.

Your partner is at fault. Dogs communicate their fear/discomfort before biting and he refused to listen, now he has received the consequences. Does he normally love and respect your dog? Or does he act like this a lot? Concern would be for 10 yo child who is potentially less able to read dog body language (although if a sensible child potentially better behaved than your DP!)

They don’t report

I think DP was at fault for ignoring a growl.

Saying that, a deep bite as a result means I am not sure id have him in the home with a 10 year old.

I think you need to speak to a vet. And have a discussion about what can be done and are you able to provide what he needs

This.
It does sound as if his warnings were ignored. You need to do your best for him.

You could always say it was an unknown dog at the hospital if you're worried. Your son is safe if this isn't typical and he knows to respect the dog's boundaries.

They absolutely won't do that.

Slightly off topic but the OP clearly said their partner was a she.

The human was at fault here. Resource guarding in dogs is normal…they can’t buy food or source their own food anymore.
Op, once the stress of this situation has passed, teach your dog the “ leave it” command. I do this with mine. I use “ leave it” and offer a super tasty high value treat. It works, everytime. Even with previously starved rescue dogs. After a while “leave it” will make them drop anything they’ve got and come to you instead.

What is resource guarding?

@Chagalaga23 Resources are what a dog considers belong to him/her. So food is a good example. It might be a favourite toy. Some dogs will not be happy if they have something taken away that they care for. So people should not do it and dogs cannot all be expected to “give” when asked to do so. Some breeds happily give up resources but others are less keen. My Lhasa apso wasn’t fond of giving up anything and therefore we understood him and didn’t ask.