Hey I just joined this forum because I need to get your advice/comments on what just happened to my family yesterday. I am 28 years old and live in the basement apartment of my parents house. I own a 4 year old GSP, male who still has his manhood. So last night my father came downstairs to put my dogs collar on him. Fido (GSP Name) usually sleeps on my couch downstairs while I sit on my Lazy Boy. As my dad approached Fido to put his collar on, my dog snapped and bit my dad pretty hard and wouldn't let go for a couple seconds which thus drew a lot of blood. My father and Fido hang out all day while I work because my father is retired so they've been together for 4 years. My dad was bleeding very badly. This is the first time my dog ever attacked like this, sometimes when he is in the corner and I want him to get out he growls and shows his teeth but I never seen this. I am very worried and upset because I am not sure what to do. The dog was laying down peacefully before all this happened. He isnt sick. I ran him for an hour right before this. Why could've this happened? What do I do next? Do I have to give him up? Your input here in greatly appreciated. Regards, TC
Maybe your dad startled your dog ie your dog could of been asleep when your dad approached him & that's possibly be reason your dog bitten him, or your dog could of been protecting you & thought your dad was a intruder.
Thanks for your input. Yea my dad frequently comes downstairs and my dogs nose is very powerful so I dont think thats it. Fido wasnt asleep but he was definitely coming out of a sleep. How can we prevent this from happening again?
If my dog did this to my dad, I would probably immediately surrender him to a shelter, making sure they know he viciously bit someone he is familiar with. Despite what many people try to claim, sometimes dogs do attack unprovoked for absolutely no reason. Now, my dad can't heal properly and thus risking dog bites isn't something I can do so my situation is slightly different. But severe bites like this to family members is horrible. But you said he is allowed to growl at people and raise his upper lip so clearly there are other issues. Viciousness like this when your dad didn't touch the dog isn't good at all. I can't say I think that merely ensuring the dog is awake is the safe thing to do. This dog growls and snarls at people, and now has mauled someone. Too risky to not have evaluated and actually trying to fix some of the issues.
I think this incident sounds more than a startle response. I also don't like the fact that he will show his teeth if you ask him to come out of a corner. I am assuming here that you are asking him in a cheerful manner, and not trying to drag him out. The first thing that I would want to rule out is that your dog is reacting to pain. I would explain what has happened to your vet, and have a thorough examination. If the vet can find nothing amiss, I would then book a consultation with a qualified behaviourist - one who uses modern positive methods - and follow their guidance. I hope you can sort out what is troubling him. Good luck. ps. GSP's are high energy dogs, and he is in peak maturity, do you think that he could need to be using his mind and body more?
I appreciate everyone's input. Yea I definitely think he may need to use his body and mind more. Besides working him what do you suggest for the mind? Also when he is in the corner i do say it in a playful manner and do not drag him out.
I had a rescue dog that bit me many times, twice when I startled her she was asleep or just waking up, but mainly she bit me when she got excited, when she saw her lead she would lunge up at me bitting my hands, she drew blood many times but she wasn't viscous, she was eager to go walkies. I wasn't going to give up on her just because she bitten me, I knew what got her excited & it was just a matter of retraining her, by the time she got to 10 years old she had cut down on bitting. As long as you can find what's caused the dog to bite then you can work on preventing same thing happening again.
Well, he is a dog that was bred to search, so I would start by teaching a retrieve. You could then hide articles in the garden and have him search for them. You could even work this up to following a scent trail to find an article, or a hidden person. There are several books of games that you can play with your dog on the market, and a variety of puzzle toys where they have to work out how to earn a treat. What about dog Agility? As long as he doesn't have a skeletal problem, (do have his spine and joints checked first), this is great exercise for both of you, and will help to learn to read each others body language and build bonds. Decide which dog sport interests you the most and join a club, it is so much more fun training with others.
I agree with mostly everything that has been said above, apart from surrendering him. As already mentioned firstly you need to have him seen by the vet. Just because he doesn't look sick, doesn't mean he isn't, or that he's not in some form of pain that is not immediately obvious. You mention you ran him for an hour before this incident? Underlying pain could be really aggrivated by strenuous exercise Secondly, it sounds like he may have some resource guarding issues going on which does often transfer to the guarding of space and objects I.e he doesn't want to lose his position on the sofa so he will growl and posture. Personally I'd not allow him any sofa time. He loses all priveledges. But that is where a good behaviourist is needed and worthwhile. Did your dog growl before biting? Even if he didn't it's entirely possible your dad did not see the signs of your dog being uncomfortable beforehand. Things such as turning his head away slightly, lip licking, wide eyes with the whites showing. And of course, if your dog was fast asleep and your dad just grabbed him, then yes this could gave been an over exaggerated startle response. Either way it's scary to witness and experience, but I'd certainly be looking at contacting a behaviourist for further help. Although you need to find the right one. A dominance based, physically pushy and hands on type will make things 100x worse, so be careful.
A good point Louise about this reaction occurring when being approached with a collar, while resting after an hour's exercise! I have a suspicion that there could be some pain involved here, but had missed the significance of that fact.
Ten years old and only "cut down" on biting? Doesn't sound like the problem was solved to me. Being bitten many times to draw blood? Really? Never in a million years, but do whatever suits you. Kinda terrifying that people here act like its safe or smart to allow this.
Yes that bit really jumped out at me, but of course it could be anything really. Hope the OP gets the help they need either way.
I think managing the aggression risk, is where i would start. Keep the lighting up. So the dog can see around it. Ask your dad to announce his arrival by calling out happily. Have dog on leash inside the house, so that regardless of his behaviour, you are right there to train/contain. Ahead lies hours and hours of training. Are you up for this? Yes, that's great. Now go get a animal behaviourist to help do a functional analysis of the current base line behaviour, what was happening, had just happend, those present, changes in light, ever been corrected with that collar? etc etc. And devise a plan on the outcome of the assessment. Something you can do whilst your managing the problem, to keep safety. Is learn how to read your dog. The dont just attack out of the blue. There would of been a lot of signals you missed. And knowing how to read the dog, to anticipate and intervene early, is essential in the training this out of a dog. Are you up for this? Surrender him? < this is niaive, it will fail a temperament test and be PTS by day 2 max, dont hand the problem on. Deal with it.
To say the dog will be PTS within a few days and then to turn and say that surrendering a biting animal to animal control is "passing the problem on" is contradictory. If the animal is PTS, then the problem wasn't passed on, it was taken care of. Also, I DO believe that dogs absolutely attack out of nowhere sometimes. It wouldn't be the first time a biting animal was put down. Not everyone has the ability to deal with a dog that shows viciousness or the desire to meddle with such. All this stuff about going to an animal behaviorist etc. Those are expensive and where I live, barely exist or use shock collars etc. Easy to say that stuff, hard for many to do it. Naive to think everyone on earth who has a pet can just follow such instructions and everything will be okay. Just telling someone to learn to read their dog isn't helpful, they wouldn't know how to execute such instruction. Some dogs can't be brought around anyway, though this may not be such a case. Like I said to the user that said she was able to "cut down" on biting after many years, I don't understand the mentality of letting a dog bite you over and over again. How can one advise people to do this OR tolerate this? There are too many sweet dogs in the world for me to deal with a dog that curls his lip at me and bites me.
PS - this thread is from June and I think the OP is gone. This site is so inactive, I replied anyway.
