Dog bit someone!

Tiggyroo

Please help, I'm at the end of my tether! I have had my dog since last April, he's 14 months old now and was a rescue dog. We've worked really hard to train him and he's much better bahaved now than he originally was.
The problem is whenever we have visitors. He either goes crazy, running, jumping around the house and at people and nothing we can do will stop him, or he growls and barks agressively at them. We always take time to introduce him to any visitors carefully but last night a family member left the room and came back in. As he walked in the dog jumped at him and bit his leg. He ripped his jeans and broke the skin, leaving a big purple bruise. He has nipped people in the past but never to this extent. Afterwards, the man he had bit went back to the dog and he was fine, lying by his feet!
I've recently found out I am pregnant and am worried sick that the dog may be a danger to the child. I love him so much but don't feel that I can trust him.
It breaks my heart to think about rehoming him but I dont know what else I can do:(

flora48

In MHO no dog should ever be trusted with a child, but it does sound that your dog will be a huge risk with a baby. I fear that you have tough decisions ahead, I sympathise with you.

Caroline_a

When your dog bit this guest was it an aggressive move, or was it him being boisterous, and jumping with his mouth open. I know that sounds a weird question, but my dog has ocassionally caught me with his teeth accidently when he's been playing (and all entirely my fault!). Whichever is the case causes for slightly different actions I would say.

The boisterous dog who plays with his mouth open can be trained to be calmer, it takes time (I know!!), but if the dog is basically friendly and just a bit over exhuberant then more exercise will help to take away some of the energy.

However, if it was aggression, I personally would rehome him. You will never be able to trust him, and an untrustworthy dog with young children is a nightmare.

Tiggyroo

Caroline_a wrote: »

When your dog bit this guest was it an aggressive move, or was it him being boisterous, and jumping with his mouth open. I know that sounds a weird question, but my dog has ocassionally caught me with his teeth accidently when he's been playing (and all entirely my fault!). Whichever is the case causes for slightly different actions I would say.


Hi, no I completely understand what you mean. When I say he has nipped people in the past, it was usually playing and he got a bit too excited. I had managed to stop this by screaming really loudly whenever it happened. Last night though, it was aggressive, he just jumped at the man as he walked into the room and bit him.

I was really hoping somebody here might tell me that castration or crate training or anything really might help but I think really I know that it's just a risk I cant take with a baby on the way

Also, the running around and jumping is also a problem. He's a big dog and knocks over furniture ect daily. I don't know how I'll manage with a moses basket and all those things.

sarabe

Tiggyroo wrote: »

Please help, I'm at the end of my tether! I have had my dog since last April, he's 14 months old now and was a rescue dog. We've worked really hard to train him and he's much better bahaved now than he originally was.
The problem is whenever we have visitors. He either goes crazy, running, jumping around the house and at people and nothing we can do will stop him, or he growls and barks agressively at them. We always take time to introduce him to any visitors carefully but last night a family member left the room and came back in. As he walked in the dog jumped at him and bit his leg. He ripped his jeans and broke the skin, leaving a big purple bruise. He has nipped people in the past but never to this extent. Afterwards, the man he had bit went back to the dog and he was fine, lying by his feet!
I've recently found out I am pregnant and am worried sick that the dog may be a danger to the child. I love him so much but don't feel that I can trust him.
It breaks my heart to think about rehoming him but I dont know what else I can do:(

You need to prevent the behaviour in the first instance by shutting him behind a stair gate in the kitchen or consider crating him when you have visitors. Your attempts at stopping this behaviour are probably fuelling it.

Have you sought professional help with him? What about the rescue where you got him? Do they have a behaviourist?

The chances for rehoming a dog with behaviour problems that include aggression are pretty slim unless you are economical with the truth and that wouldn't be fair on him because he really needs some help by the sound of it.

cheerfulness4

Sadly we trusted our dog some years ago as he was much loved but could be aggressive with strangers. He was fine with our baby until 9 months old and then attacked him, just suddenly rushed at our son while he was playing quietly beside me.

It was heartbreaking to have the dog destroyed but much worse to see the cuts and bruises on our child, particularly knowing that if the dog had really intended to kill him he could have easily.

So sorry that you are in that position.

Raksha

Being aggressive around strangers and being aggressive towards a child of the family are two different things. I used to have a rescue Lab who was fine with adults, but had obviously never met a baby, or a toddler - and she really didn't like crawling babies, so had to be watched like a hawk when my two were tiny (she'd also been trained not to growl by previous owners). Once they were walking properly, she was a little star - she was just frightened of crawling babies. We praised and rewarded her good behaviour, and if she should any signs of anxiety, she was removed from the room.

elsien

I agree with Sarabe.
My dog is always out of the room when there are people around until she knows them well enough to be calm - she specialises in the flying leap with teeth attached. (Nerves, in her case - even with people she knows if they accidentally startle her, the automatic response is to jump and nip.) She does not mean to hurt, and she wouldn't ever hang on and savage someone, but it is enough to bruise and break the skin, which sounds a bit like what happened in your case. And what is a bruise to an adult is obviously going to do a lot more damage to a baby, which is your main issue.

It is possible to manage a dog and children by the judicious use of stairgates etc. However that raises the presumption that you/anyone else in the house will remember 100% of the time to have the baby on one side and the dog on the other, especially if there are trust issues.
Do you have time to get specialist behavioural help before reaching any decisions? If it's nerves not nastiness it could be sortable with time and help. If that's the route you want to go down.
Unfortunately due to the number of dogs being rehomed, people no longer have the time and space to work with one with "issues" around aggression, so it's not going to easy to find someone to take him on. I'm sorry, this is a horrible decision for you to have to make.

adviceforall

Our rescue dog, hates new people coming into our house ( we dont tend to have many) he barks at them and would chase them out if he got the chance..( so he is either shut in the bedroom) or we make sure he behaves, once they are in he will sit on their lap being stroked but the minute they stand he barks but he has been brilliant with our 5yr old grand daughter, he never barks at her when she comes in or out or as she runs about..
We got him at 3 ( he had been re-homed about 6 times and taken to the vets to be put to sleep) he is now 10 and he came with quite a few issues ( he still is frightened of change, he had been abandoned lots of times )and is wary of new people in his house but is fine outside he will play with other dogs, sit for children to pet him so they can change.....
Its just a horrible situation to be in when you have a new baby on the way..Hope you can get something sorted out..

Irony

As a rescue dog It should have been castrated long ago. Don't think you can gamble with a baby but deep down you knew that. Puppy teething nips become adult crushing/ripping teeth,it's why nobody should encourage pups to play-fight with their little needles. Time to take control & act like a responsible owner(he has to go). 1st place is the rehoming centre & you need to spill the beans. Do not be tempted to give him away,remember,responsible adult now.

Tiggyroo

Thank you for all your replies. I do know, really, that he has to go. It just breaks my heart to think about it. As silly as it sounds, I feel awful for getting pregnant and so having to rehome him when he was here first (hope that makes sense). It would be so much easier if he was a horrible dog all the time but right now, as he's sitting with his head on my lap, it's hard to even think about him as an aggressive dog at all!

I can't believe that he would ever hurt a child as he has always been fine around them, but I know that I just can't take that chance, I would never forgive myself if something awful happened.

The stairgate idea was one I tried a long time ago, when he was going through a chewing stage. He just hops over them. I tried to get him used to them by staying in the room with him. Result was dog jumps over and is already chewing up sofa while I was still trying to open the fiddly little clasp to get through myself!

I'm not sure if it's just pregnancy hormones but I have literally sobbed all day long about this decision, I never realised quite how much I loved him until I had to think about life without him :-(
Tiggy