[tallblondes]

I'm dismayed to say that our dog bit a family member visiting for the holiday. Of course there's all the worry for their well-being, but I am also concerned about how to prevent this in the future. Our dog is NOT a dangerous breed and this particular dog is one of the most docile dogs I’ve known. His only behavior issue is that he can get anxious and scared at times. I really don’t want to sound like I’m making excuses for him – he caused some pretty serious injuries! He was asleep and this family member approached him and scared him. Of course there’s the obvious tell-people-not-to-do-that advice, but I’m looking for something more. What can I do to socialize him so he is less scared? Should I close him in our room when we have visitors and he’s sleeping? He’s also intensely scared by storms and fireworks. Over the course of my life I hope to own other dogs as well and want to do everything I possibly can to prevent this from ever happening again. Any advice would be appreciated!

[Yogi]

Originally Posted by tallblondes

I'm dismayed to say that our dog bit a family member visiting for the holiday. Of course there's all the worry for their well-being, but I am also concerned about how to prevent this in the future. Our dog is NOT a dangerous breed and this particular dog is one of the most docile dogs I’ve known. His only behavior issue is that he can get anxious and scared at times. I really don’t want to sound like I’m making excuses for him – he caused some pretty serious injuries! He was asleep and this family member approached him and scared him. Of course there’s the obvious tell-people-not-to-do-that advice, but I’m looking for something more. What can I do to socialize him so he is less scared? Should I close him in our room when we have visitors and he’s sleeping? He’s also intensely scared by storms and fireworks. Over the course of my life I hope to own other dogs as well and want to do everything I possibly can to prevent this from ever happening again. Any advice would be appreciated!

Startling a dog when sleeping is simply stupid. As for correcting the response, there is none. You cannot teach a dog to be less scared or frightened of this type of action against it. The dog reacted the way all dogs react, it is referred to as fear biting and in this case is a common result of simple ignorance on the party who initiated it. It is your responsibility to have stopped this before it happened and being that he is "anxious". you probably should have monitored him or kept him someplace where he would not have felt that way, especially with more than normal number of people in the home.

[cigwyllt]

I can fully understand why you would be making excuses for your dog, I would be doing the same. It is an awful situation to be in, especially if he has never caused any injuries to you or your immediate household.

I think you need to do two things -

a) you need to manage him and his behaviour around people that he is wary of, perhaps as you say, by leaving him in another room when there are visitors, even if that happens for longish periods on some occasions and

b) you would benefit from some time with a trainer/behaviourist who can give you expert advice about building his confidence, coping with his anxieties.

Aggression is a serious problem, even when it stems from nervousness, and it needs a qualified person to help you to rehabilitate the dog.

I wish you all the best and I hope your relative makes a full and speedy recovery too.

[lange]

I know I will sound harsh but people are idiots when it comes to dogs. Even dog lovers can be. :roll: We see something we like & we have to touch it. Meanwhile the dogs see something totally different. Even I can fall into "human mentality" w/dogs & have to remind myself what is appropriate behavior with dogs that aren't mine. I remember once being at a pet store with my old dog & some random man who was standing behind me reached over to pet my dog on his head from behind us. Mt dog of course lunged and snapped without warning..I didn't even know what was going on until I seen the man pulling his hand away. The guy never even acknowledged me or the dog..he just reached for him. Stupidly I apologized for my dog but really..it was the mans fault. I could understand a child not knowing better & but another dog owner? People think if you're in a pet store with your dog your dog is up for grabs. This is one reason why I am extremely cautious out in public or with outside people. Sorry for rambling on your post. I AM the sort of person who thinks sharing helps in showing solidarity.

I'm in agreement with Yogi on startle/fear biting instances. You can't really do anything about that. You can only protect your dog by crating or leashing when people are around. You can also muzzle to protect others.

As for being skittish in general, Cig is right.

But what I would be most concerned about working on ASAP is bite inhibition. The worst dog bites are from dogs w/out bite inhibition. A dog who has bitten 10 people but has good bite inhibition compares nothing to a dog that's bitten once & has no bite inhibition. That is the more dangerous dog.

Ironically, if your dog seems friendly you will have more people doing "stupid people things" that a dog will see as threatening & will again be more likely to bite. Where as people tend to be more careful with what you referenced as "dangerous breeds".

Get as much information as you can about bite inhibition. It is harder to work on with an adult dog because you WANT your dog to bite....just softly..and many adult dogs won't mouth or bite because they have been taught not to. Still, it is the most important training for your dog IMO because he is a fear biter. That way, if he is ever startled in the future, he will HOPEFULLY not cause serious damage to anyone else.

[Yogi]

Originally Posted by cigwyllt

I can fully understand why you would be making excuses for your dog, I would be doing the same. It is an awful situation to be in, especially if he has never caused any injuries to you or your immediate household.

I think you need to do two things -

a) you need to manage him and his behaviour around people that he is wary of, perhaps as you say, by leaving him in another room when there are visitors, even if that happens for longish periods on some occasions and

b) you would benefit from some time with a trainer/behaviourist who can give you expert advice about building his confidence, coping with his anxieties.

Aggression is a serious problem, even when it stems from nervousness, and it needs a qualified person to help you to rehabilitate the dog.

I wish you all the best and I hope your relative makes a full and speedy recovery too.

Cygwllt, the dog is not aggressive. Someone deliberately scared the dog while it was sound asleep. The reaction is common. Don't blame the dog for reacting in the only way it could. Too many people immediately assume it is the dogs fault and therefore the dog needs to be addressed, when in fact it is just as much the responsibility of the owner and people that need to be taught the correct way with dealing with a dog. Obviously the person who got bit did something simply stupid and is now paying the consequences for his or her action. Dogs react, in this case it was defending itself. To blame a dog for reacting to a threat which it has no choice but to perceive as it was asleep would make no sense in a case like this. The dog is anxious around people, the OP did not say the dog was aggressive when around people.

[tallblondes]

I've been reading a lot today since posting that. On the one hand, I'm in full agreement that the person hurt should never have approached and touched him while he was sound asleep. He wasn't just napping - it was a time when he's usually completely asleep. There were only two people there in addition to our small family so it wasn't a case of a large gathering.

I can accept that you can't completely control his reflex. I don't believe he's an aggressive dog (it's neither his breed nor his temperament) but I do want to work on dominance and obedience with him. Since he has such a relaxed temperament we have been lax on training with him (although he is walked daily and has access to a HUGE fenced back yard). I am realizing more and more that training him helps alleviate his fear with humans in general; I also think it can help him to trust us since we hold his safety in our hands.

Here are some questions I thought I'd throw out there at the risk of tomatoes being thrown of course.

1. He sleeps on our bed. No, he RULES our bed. A couple of years back I suggested this wasn't a good idea to my husband, but he laughed it off and then it got sort of...comforting I guess. It's hard to describe. I'm wondering if we should transition him to his own dog bed. Should we do the same for our female rescue dog as well (although she sleeps with our teenage son)?

2. How much will dog park visits help and does anyone have any other ideas for socialization.

I am researching enrolling him in training but I want to focus mostly on building his trust in more humans than just us. I love that show "It's Me or the Dog" and think I'll go back and rewatch a couple of episodes for other ideas. Still a fluid topic but now I need to figure out what animal control will want to do. Will they at least listen to the scenario (i.e. that he was awakened from a deep sleep by a stranger touching him) and allow us to quarantine him at home? I don't see a reason for taking a dog to a scary situation for ten days when we can prove he is current on his shots, etc. I'm worried it will make him even less trustful...

[cigwyllt]

I see your point Yogi. I suppose my dogs are all so docile and never really sleep that deeply - too much going on around them through the day. Therefore I would see a reaction like that from one of mine as aggression. Also I tend to put them away when we have visitors unless I am certain that the visitors will behave appropriately. And sometimes the adults are worse than the kids LOL!

[lange]

Originally Posted by tallblondes

at the risk of tomatoes being thrown of course.

1. He sleeps on our bed. No, he RULES our bed.

LOL! I think I might be the only active member on here who doesn't let the dogs on the furniture or beds. I think any tomato throwing will be at me!

I don't like dog parks for socialization because it's a rowdy mad house but that's just me. I personally prefer dog class for dog on dog socialization since it's more controlled. What sort of socialization does your dog need to work on?

Originally Posted by cigwyllt

And sometimes the adults are worse than the kids LOL!

OMG Yes..You should see my dad with my dogs! He riles them up like no other.

[tallblondes]

Yes, our dog is not aggressive at all. He's only anxious when strangers first arrive and after that he is happy-go-lucky once he realizes we're okay with the person's arrival. He was cheerful and friendly not long before. He doesn't sleep very deeply at other times, but he's usually conked out by 10:00 at night.

Almost all of the times I see dominance are with our female dog. He stands over her literally as if he were a statue letting her know he's bigger. No aggression involved. I'm thinking obedience classes with plenty of practice are the best thing we can do. I drove by the dog park this afternoon and it was rather quiet. Hmm. We can't try it out any time soon, though, because we have to turn our dog in for 10 days of required quarantine. *sigh*

The socialization I want to work on is with other humans. He handles greeting at the door well as long as I'm there talking him through it - I wish I could help him be even more comfortable more quickly. I'd also like to reduce his barking a bit so once he knows we're alerted, he can settle down. Most of all, I'd like to work on his trembling/fear over thunder storms - that's his strongest anxiety.

I still can't believe this has happened. I know the family member was wrong in approaching so closely without calling his name or waking him before touching him. I'm super vigilant with children around and take caution as guests arrive...but once things are settled we've never had a problem before. Is it practical to zoom in and make sure he has moved to our bedroom once it's that late and he wants to go to sleep? He likes to be where he can hear us/sense our presence until we go to bed. It's hard to know exactly what to do and feel like we're doing everything we could do.

[Yogi]

Originally Posted by cigwyllt

I see your point Yogi. I suppose my dogs are all so docile and never really sleep that deeply - too much going on around them through the day. Therefore I would see a reaction like that from one of mine as aggression. Also I tend to put them away when we have visitors unless I am certain that the visitors will behave appropriately. And sometimes the adults are worse than the kids LOL!

similar boat here, with all mine it is easier to put them away when guests are over but I have been around dogs in the past more times than I can count where people nudged a sleeping dog to get it to move or deliberately poked it to get a reaction and it always is the same. Leaving a sleeping dog lay, unless you call it to wake it first you are generally going to get this reaction. It is no different in people. I know that if I was startled my first reflex would to be to defend myself. In humans, we strike out with our hands or fist, dogs rely on their teeth. Even the most docile dog has this protective nature built in. Sort of like the old adage about cornering an animal. In a sense that is what you are doing which leaves it no choice but to become defensive.

[tallblondes]

We went today to visit our dog in quarantine. How awful. At least we took his box, his food and bowl, blanket, some toys, treats...when we got there he was clearly TERRIFIED. It took him a minute to recognize us. Then he talked and talked and talked nonstop the entire time we were there. I'm glad we saw him and let him run around with us in the parking lot. It was awful leaving him, though.

What lesson have I learned? People will do something that's really not smart and then freely leave you feeling guilty and terrible and completely responsible without releasing you at all from feeling awful. It's sad. I will never assume even the most experienced dog lovers at any age will do the right thing. They will never have access to our dogs without our presence again! (Never mind the fact that we were all together and didn't even have a hint that the bitten one left the room to go and wake the dog up!)

I can't wait until the end of the prison sentence!

[cigwyllt]

(Never mind the fact that we were all together and didn't even have a hint that the bitten one left the room to go and wake the dog up!)

Poor dog! My children, from the time they can move, have been taught that you do not surprise a dog while it is eating or sleeping. How ridiculous that an adult should be so ignorant to seek out the dog and disturb him. I really do feel for you and your household that you have had to go through this. Hope your dog recovers from his incarceration and you can start to rebuild his confidence.

[lange]

When does your dog come back home?

[tallblondes]

Just a few more days!! After that first visit he has been better and better - they are taking quite good care of him. Actually, I suspect they are falling in love with him! ha ha. When we visit now he still talks quite a bit but I can very easily tell him to kennel up when I leave and he goes back into his box (even though he's not happy that I'm leaving). I do want to do some training with him to work on his confidence after this experience. I am so glad I posted here for advice so I'm sure to best understand the situation!

[Lunareclipse]

I would have bitten the dude myself if he would have disturbed my slumber.

[nattiej1976]

Originally Posted by lange

LOL! I think I might be the only active member on here who doesn't let the dogs on the furniture or beds. I think any tomato throwing will be at me!

.

Not the only one Lange, Kato gets on the couch or chairs on the very rare occasion (usually for the sake of a photo) that it though, furniture is out of bounds
So here I stand next to you, copping some of those rotten tomatoes. lol

[reeskujo]

Originally Posted by Lunareclipse

I would have bitten the dude myself if he would have disturbed my slumber.

LOL...Me to Luna no doubt about it!

[lange]

tallblondes, soon enough he will be back home where he belongs. Good luck on the training. One of mine just graduated puppy class yesterday. She REALLY enjoyed going.

Originally Posted by nattiej1976

Not the only one Lange, Kato gets on the couch or chairs on the very rare occasion (usually for the sake of a photo) that it though, furniture is out of bounds
So here I stand next to you, copping some of those rotten tomatoes. lol

Good! I'm not the only mean one here. lol I don't feel so guilty now!