He bit the hand that feeds him. 🤬

[OntarioHunter]

I have only had to do it once but as soon as a dog bites me we have a "dog fight" if I win he stays and we never have problems if I don't he goes and ill never have problems.
A lot of guys won't like it but I probably would have immediately dumped him out of the kinnel and pinned him on his back for a second. Let him know he messed up. You only have a few seconds and he is going to hurt you more then you hurt him. Like a lot more. But he is going to instantly understand where he sits in the pack.
Also an hour later once everything has calmed down act as if it never happened. Become instantly best buds again and move forward.
Not fun but a lot will be brought to light fast.

Agree entirely. A couple of times while maturing I've had Labs show their teeth at me. They were INSTANTLY informed in very clear terms that such behavior is not accepted. I was careful not to aggravate things so it turned into a bite, but it was a VERY unpleasant and memorable situation for them. The exception was trying to examine Pearl's snake bite. She was out of her head sick. But I've never tolerated any resistance when removing porky quills. Those dogs knew who was boss! I pulled Ethyl's quills out with my teeth because that's all I had available. One of my trail crew came looking for us and happened onto the scene with me in the middle of the trail with her, dripping blood all over my face. "God, I don't know why that dog doesn't bite your face off." I just glared at him: "She wouldn't DARE!" "Uh ... okay, okay. See ya at camp." The night before he watched me sew up a nasty wound on my right hand using a curved needle from horse first-aid kit and some of Jeanie's mane. And I'm right handed. Took us a day and a half to get in to camp. We WERE NOT going back out till the job was done. Period!

 

[Cheesehead]

I’m not saying this is what you should do. But growing up our family used a pretty strong dominance training method (I think driven by Monks of New Skete early version). Back then the advice was to pick them up by the scruff, slam them down with their back on the ground, then yell at their face and repeatedly slap them until you proved you are the alpha dog. It sounds horrible to write it
We had an Akita one time growl at my dad, and got that treatment. Best dog ever after that.
Good luck in your decision making.

 

[David58]

On a lighter note: I love the Monks (see posting above), and using their technique I had my Airedale by the jowls growling at him to show my displeasure and dominance (I forget what he did to deserve my ire). Almost nose to nose, I was angry. And he growled back. So, I had an 80 pound Airedale by the ears, nose to nose, and he wasn't buying it. I decided on a slightly different approach being maybe a bit better with that terrier.

He's my best bud, of course.

 

[OntarioHunter]

I should add a word about dogs and infants. Do not be surprised if your typically sweet dog acts "agressively" when there's a new baby crawling around the house. I have observed this more than once, even with my present Lab Ellie and two of her predecessors, all of whom were normally great dogs. When my granddaughter first came to the house as barely a handful, both dogs were standoffish. When she started crawling Ellie avoided her as best she could but if pressed she'd wrinkle her lip. "Knock it off!" from me was enough to end it. About broke my daughter's heart. I told her not to worry. The day that baby started walking, Ellie would be her dog. And that's the way it was. Don't give up on your dog if it acts strange around a crawling baby. Just know it's a quickly passing thing and act accordingly. Be ESPECIALLY attentive about dogfood dishes! Keep the baby out of the way while dogs are eating and put dishes away when they're done. Again, as soon as that baby is walking on two legs the dogs typically change dramatically. Don't kill a good dog for a dumb reason.

 

[Akcabin]

Great news to hear man. I'm glad you ask a vet to look at your dogs health.

 

[schmalts]

JMO, You you need to train the trainer, meaning both you and the wife. Any dog I encounter weather my own or one I am dog watching it never gets away with aggression. Someone mentioned it already but my instant reaction to a snap or even a growl when reaching for anything, the dog has is not going to fair well. My last lab was adopted at 3 years old. He tried with wife and I to growl or snap when we grabbed either his food dish, bone or even his collar to put him in his kennel. He was met with a punch, slap, head pinned to the ground, whatever.... but in both cases it only happened ONCE and after that we was a saint, and I mean a saint. He was only trying to test his ranking. You already said the food chain rank was you first, dog second and everyone else is lower than the dog and that is the problem. This ranking on the food chain was not as big of a problem before the ankle biter was around but it still should have been made known the dog is lower than every human in the house. Hope it works out.

 

[OntarioHunter]

JMO, You you need to train the trainer, meaning both you and the wife. Any dog I encounter weather my own or one I am dog watching it never gets away with aggression. Someone mentioned it already but my instant reaction to a snap or even a growl when reaching for anything, the dog has is not going to fair well. My last lab was adopted at 3 years old. He tried with wife and I to growl or snap when we grabbed either his food dish, bone or even his collar to put him in his kennel. He was met with a punch, slap, head pinned to the ground, whatever.... but in both cases it only happened ONCE and after that we was a saint, and I mean a saint. He was only trying to test his ranking. You already said the food chain rank was you first, dog second and everyone else is lower than the dog and that is the problem. This ranking on the food chain was not as big of a problem before the ankle biter was around but it still should have been made known the dog is lower than every human in the house. Hope it works out.

Schmaltz, I expect you'll get some heat for whacking your dog. Not from me. While I do not hesitate to physically discipline my dogs for very serious offenses (e.g. running across the street, chasing deer [however breifly], taking food off the table, getting aggressive around other dogs, etc.), it must ALWAYS be used sparingly and only rarely for the worst offenses, otherwise it becomes counterproductive. And at the end of the day my dogs always get lots of loving. That is absolutely essential follow up.

On a couple of rare occasions I have seen Ellie and Opal show their teeth while physically disciplining ... and I got the message: tone down the intensity. They were scared shitless: "Who is this guy, and what did he do with Dad?" Dogs need to be kept in order but they also need to trust that their handler won't turn into Mr. Hyde at any given moment. They need to recognize who's in charge ... but that requires the handler retain enough composure to be recognizable. And again, make sure love and affection outweighs physical discipline a thousand to one and all will be well.

Physical discipline must be weighed against each dog's individual personality. Some are so sensitive that any physical discipline can be seriously counterproductive. Others are so hard headed that one must be careful to not overdo it. My current Lab Ellie has the ability to jump the four foot chain link fence in the back yard. For years it was a serious problem because she'd wander off to go visiting. Just bored. The problem was the busy city streets in this neighborhood. I kept a close eye on her but she'd still sneak off once in a while. Always caught her in short order and initially really laid into her because that was a life threatening bad habit. Then it became impossible to catch her when I did find her. So I had to stop that. Just get her, take her home, and make her do extra time in the penalty box with lots of verbal reminders through the rest of the day. Making up at bedtime is always special. Eventually she caught something going over the fence and cut her belly a bit. That seemed to fix the problem. Even when the snow is so deep she can walk over the fence, she won't leave the yard.

 

[LuketheDog]

We have two kids and lived thru it. I wish I could get rid of the Yip Yap but it would likely cause a divorce. She has been lusting over this dog for years and with it finally here there is no getting rid of it.

I’ve told her that he was here first and he has seniority before we even got the pup. She says understands but the reality is that fuzz butt gets away with pretty much everything. I really don’t like that dog.

Ooooh man, if that little dog doesn't get some solid training I'd bet money he's going to be the real problem in a few years. My friend's mom had a dog like that, a psycho mini aussie named Newman (yes, insert Seinfeld meme here) that never had a bit of discipline and was extremely aggressive.

That dog bit me or tried to bite me every time I walked into their house, he bit the FedEx guy on the ear, and he bit everyone in their family except for the mom. One day I stopped by the house to drop something off when they weren't home, I looked through the big picture window next to the front door and could see that stupid dog laying in the hallway. I started banging on the glass and yelling at him, he came streaking across the room and jumped off the back of the couch right at my face...right into the plate glass window at full speed. I don't know how the glass didn't break, it probably hurt so bad, he never bothered me again

 

[Mallardsx2]

Food for thought: I have never had a good dog show its teethe at me. I have had a lot of good dogs and a few bad ones. The bad ones didn't live long.

 

[tzone]

Easy decision for me.

 

[HighDesertSage]

There is a lot of good advice in this thread. @Addicting, personally, from what I have seen described in this thread, your dog had a reactive bite out of fear/pain, and did not specifically "attack". Those are very different circumstances in my book. Big difference if a kid, or you, grabbed his toy, and he went after you for it, vs. he's scared shitless and backed into a corner. Even then, both those issues can be corrected with training. If it was me I'd give him a pass. But something does have to be done. I think alot of times guys just don't have the time to devote to what it actually takes to get him there. I have trained a few of my own bird dogs over the last few years, and a couple have shown aggression, once. It might not be popular, but as Elkmagnet stated, when aggression is shown, we have a fight. How physical I get, is determined by how the dog reacts when I pick him up by his scruff and put him in a submissive position. Like I said, might not be popular, but I view it as I am quite literally saving the dogs life. If that behavior goes unpunished, next time could be worse, or maybe a kid, or maybe my very petite wife. If that happens, the dog gets a final trip to the vet. I love my dogs, I do not want that.

I recently got a German Shepherd pup from a reputable working line breeder out of Illinois. This is my first time taking on a dog like this, and is quite literally a different animal than the sporting lines I am accustomed to. More precautions must be taken, and strict guidelines must be followed. I have to accept that more than likely this dog will challenge me, and be prepared to show them their status in the pack. And it's not enough for them to just view you as the pack leader. A dog has to view itself below all humans in the house to avoid any aggression. One of the best and easiest ways I have found to show the dog his pack status is feeding. Humans always eat first, and the dogs are not allowed near the table while we are eating. When we are done eating, the smallest member of our family (my 35lb 5 year old) is the one who feeds them, with our supervision of course. He gets their food ready out of a bin, puts it in the bowl, tells them to lay down, puts it in front of them, and then releases them to eat. At no time are they allowed to touch the dog food until they are in the down position, and my 5 year old releases them. This practice alone will give a foundation on where the dog sits within the pack. Obviously the adults should start this kind of training first as you work through any issues the dog may have.

One the best resources I have found is a book written in the 1960's by William Koehler. He trained thousands of military and police dogs in his career. His methods are often viewed as unconventional in today's world, but everything he teaches is time tested and effective. Surprisingly no publisher will print the book anymore. The only way to get a copy is to buy an old one. I found a copy printed in the 1980's I picked up on ebay, at a premium. The second half of the book is geared more towards guarding and police dogs, but the 1st half is covers alot of good, basic information for dog owners. I'd recommend picking up a copy, or if you would like, I can mail you mine, and just send it back to me when you are done.

Good luck with the pup, hope this helps.

 

[Addicting]

Well it’s been a month and a half and he is doing fine. No signs of aggression and is playing with the pup every chance he gets. We are still working on his place in the pac dominance issue. Although it’s been more training my wife than the dog. She keeps enabling him and not correcting him. I correct her and the dog, next day same thing. This may be a loosing battle.

The pup is clueless and quite annoying. She insists on training it but it just does whatever in the hell it wants with no consequences. I warned her a shock collar in its future if she can’t get it to come when called.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Buddy, if you figure out how to train a spouse, you'll be able to retire on the first printing of that book.

 

[KB_]

Buddy, if you figure out how to train a spouse, you'll be able to retire on the first printing of that book.

amen to that. MY wife said she would train the wenier dog. 12 years and im still waiting.

 

[OntarioHunter]

Well it’s been a month and a half and he is doing fine. No signs of aggression and is playing with the pup every chance he gets. We are still working on his place in the pac dominance issue. Although it’s been more training my wife than the dog. She keeps enabling him and not correcting him. I correct her and the dog, next day same thing. This may be a loosing battle.

The pup is clueless and quite annoying. She insists on training it but it just does whatever in the hell it wants with no consequences. I warned her a shock collar in its future if she can’t get it to come when called.

Good to hear your good dog is working out. Those good for nothing ankle biter breeds mostly had the brains bred out of them several centuries ago. Noisy lawn ornaments. I can't relate to your domestic situation. My late wife was the definition of easy to get along with. Two people who looked and acted so differently but always on the same page. I was very lucky.

 

[JohnCushman]

Buddy, if you figure out how to train a spouse, you'll be able to retire on the first printing of that book.

I found the easiest way to train them was to get rid of them

 

[Addicting]

Ugh, he did it again. I truly wish some of you would have been wrong. His final vet appointment is made.

 

[Southern Elk]

Damn, I was hoping to read a happy update. You are doing the right thing.

 

[SwaggyD]

damn man - sorry to hear this. as @Southern Elk said, you are doing the right thing.

 

[Elkmagnet]

Really sorry to hear that. Tuff decision but you have to do what is safest for everyone.