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If Your Dog Bit Your Face


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The dog would be around 3 years old now and was only recently desexed (a few months ago). I believe they left it too late and I have no idea why they waited so long, especially when he had obvious high levels of testosterone causing him to be very "angry".

Now he has personality traits which a deep seeded and haven't been dealt with. I don't hold out much hope of rehabilitation.

Desexing a dog very rarely makes any real impact on aggressive behaviour...

Hopefully she sees a reputable professional who is experienced in working with aggression. I've seen the scariest aggressive dogs you can imagine rehabilitated, I would be surprised if this dog is beyond saving.

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I worry about it biting again and I worry about my friends daughter and MY children who spend a lot of time there.

You say your children spend a lot of time at the home with the dog in question.

You are saying the dog's behaviour has been reasonable enough for you to allow this. Does that mean the unpredictable behaviour....& the snapping at the owner's face...has only been recent? So it's only now you believe you have cause to worry?

Just clarifying if there's been a marked change in the dog's behaviour.

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are muzzles any good for this situation? ie quicker and cheaper than building a pen/dog run. And give them a little bit of piece of mind until they can get him assessed and work out what there doing?

(not sure if muzzles are any good etc, i just remember reading an article on my local councils website about dogs that are declared dangerous must wear a muzzle when in public, and all other times unless they are in there pen (which was also a requirement for dangerous dogs here))

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I worry about it biting again and I worry about my friends daughter and MY children who spend a lot of time there.

You say your children spend a lot of time at the home with the dog in question.

You are saying the dog's behaviour has been reasonable enough for you to allow this. Does that mean the unpredictable behaviour....& the snapping at the owner's face...has only been recent? So it's only now you believe you have cause to worry?

Just clarifying if there's been a marked change in the dog's behaviour.

The behaviour is long standing. The children are not allowed to play with the dog and I ask my friend to put him outside when we come over. She does so because she is just afraid of what may happen as I am. She doesn't say.. oh he will be ok he's all bark no bite.. she says.. yes for sure, I don't trust him either.

I don't think a muzzle would be good because he would need to wear it at home.. he needs to access food and water.

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I would certainly NOT rehome an aggressive dog.Totally irresponsible IMO. PTS is my last option after I exhausted every other. Professional help would be the first thing I would do.

There is No Way I would be allowing any children any where near this dog either. Maybe he did bite by accident but it's just not worth taking any risks. I would never forgive myself if

he decided to take to one of your children's faces next.

Edited by BC Crazy
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Personally - if I PTS without attempting to fix or at least identify the problem - I'd feel like I let my dog down. Especially if it bit me because I had done something like pick it up when it was highly aroused. It's just not that black and white for me and I can speak from experience here.

Not to mention that if the dog was the way it was due to the way I was treating it then the issue could arise with a future dog also if I had not been corrected myself.

Before I had to deal with this situation myself I did have the view "if any dog of mine bit anyone it would be PTS with no hesitation" but now I view it differently - but that's just my opinion.

It's easy to have all the answers when you're not in the situation yourself, and it's easy to say 'I'd PTS' when it's not your beloved dog on the vet table.

No doubt I have offended people with my view :shrug:

Totally agree

I have been bitten by one of my dogs once. Totally my fault :o they hurt them self. I grabbed their leg to look at the wound and got teeth in my hand for doing so. The whole time i did whatever connects my mind do my body wasnt working. I was thinking "shouldnt do this, dog is a sook, you will get bitten, get the muzzle first" but my body moved first and yeah i got bitten. My hand was out of action for a few weeks.

I have also been bitten breaking up a dog fight (not my dogs) the owner was horrified but i took the risk jumping in the fight and would never blame a dog for something that i did that was stupid...

Obviously the water pistol is not effective punishment if he likes it and tries to catch/bite it :laugh:

Hope the behaviour assessment goes well - definitely a good idea to seek professional help in this case.

god, if you gave kaos a water pistol she would keep doing whatever it is she was doing.. i used to train her in class with a water pistol! Best reward for her.. on the other hand, if i even get the water out with Atlas near me he freezes.. i have a EMPTY water bottle i use to punish him.. it hasnt had water in it for 5 years but the second he sees it he stops doing whatever it is he was doing :laugh:

you need to find the right punishment for each dog, as you can see by my guys, what one sees as punishment the other sees as a massive reward

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The children are not allowed to play with the dog and I ask my friend to put him outside when we come over. She does so because she is just afraid of what may happen as I am.

So the dog is one that is best kept from interacting with children. The owner shows she knows that & separates the dog from children when they are visiting. You have then felt safe to have your children visiting that home & have shown that by continuing to do so.

Looks like the owner has arrived at one management strategy which works in one respect.

It's not totally unusual for some owners to separate their dogs when there are children visiting. For example, some small dogs are overwhelmed by the liveliness & 'touchiness' of children playing with them. Also other dogs can get highly excited with children running & squealing...& that triggers a prey drive or need to 'correct'.

Edited by mita
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The children are not allowed to play with the dog and I ask my friend to put him outside when we come over. She does so because she is just afraid of what may happen as I am.

So the dog is one that is best kept from interacting with children. The owner shows she knows that & separates the dog from children when they are visiting. And you have then felt quite safe to have your children visiting that home. Looks like the owner has arrived at one management strategy which works in one respect.

It's not totally unusual for some owners to separate their dogs when there are children visiting. For example, some small dogs are overwhelmed by the liveliness & 'touchiness' of children playing with them. Also other dogs can get highly excited with children running & squealing...& that triggers a prey drive or need to 'correct'.

Yes, I always watch Lili like a hawk when there are kids around, normally she isn't very interested in them, but if they run and squeal I can see her watching them and I worry she might chase! She has never done it so it could all be in my head, but I know my dog and I know she loves to chase....anything....:laugh:

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My instructor was a bit hesitant on letting me use it in class, treats were doing nothing she wouldnt even look at the treat let alone eat it...

after one lesson instructor told me to bring the water every week LOL

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I think when you have children and an aggressive dog then you have 2 options, behaviourist or pts

. What a terrible terrible thing to happen if they choose to keep him and this 11 yr old goes behind the parents back like you said they do ( my 11 yr old would know the consequence for doing that but that's another story lol) and gets bitten terribly, the parents would feel very guilty..

What about a behavioural therapist that comes to you? Sorry if that has been suggested or mentiond I'm a zombie today, new puppy lack of sleep :-)

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are muzzles any good for this situation? ie quicker and cheaper than building a pen/dog run. And give them a little bit of piece of mind until they can get him assessed and work out what there doing?

(not sure if muzzles are any good etc, i just remember reading an article on my local councils website about dogs that are declared dangerous must wear a muzzle when in public, and all other times unless they are in there pen (which was also a requirement for dangerous dogs here))

A dog can't wear a muzzle 24/7. Muzzles are great for when out on walks though. I would suggest crating the dog when guests are over.

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I have heard that some dogs settle after desexing, so I wonder if he would have if he had been done earlier. Guess we will never know....

Of course there are also entire dogs who are well trained or have great temperaments.. this one wasn't one of those.

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I have heard (from a vet) that dogs prone to fear aggression will become worse if desexed, because the testosterone level makes them tougher, and when that's gone they become more fearful, and so the aggression gets worse.

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