My dog bit me

Factual Questions
1

I have a 9 year old yellow lab, the sweetest dog you could find. I would have bet she would never have bit anyone, least of all me. Today I was proven wrong. She had been outside, and was chastised for not getting the paper. She went in her crate, and then left the crate and went into the laundry room. This is where she goes when she is scared or upset, as when too many people are around or there is thunder. I tried to get her out of laundry room, she began to growl and snap a little. At this point I felt is was a battle of wills, and I did not want her exhibiting behavior like this. She has never acted like this before. I reached for her collar and she bit me fairly hard, there are five punture wounds and the hand is swelling.

She has never been mistreated in any way.

I feel that if she bit me I can no longer leave her with others when we need to, and I am fearful of her being around my 15 month old niece.

What I am looking for is some explanation of why she would do this?

2

Take her to the vet and get her checked out. In a cat, this kind of behavior would probably mean an abscess or something else causing pain.

3

You reached into her sanctuary, her place of safety. She was already showing signs of insecurity and you ignored them. When you say she ‘was chastised for not getting the paper’, what exactly do you mean? Did you yell at her? Hit her?

I have trained dogs for many years and feel there is more to this story than is coming out at this moment.

4

You chastised the dog for not getting the newspaper??? Then when the dog showed signs of being upset, you decided to feed your ego by dragging her out of her place of refuge?

Then you wonder why she bit you???

I suggest you reexamine your behavior and find out why you have this need for control and power over a defenseless dog.

Had I been her, I would have taken off your arm.

5

It would appear the dog felt threatened and trapped.

6

I concur… Something isn’t right. I’m not an “animal trainer” per se, but having had the pleasure of sharing life with a few dogs over the years, I can only recall having one of them, snap at me/ bite me, and that was when I was about 10 yrs. old.
Halloween night… my best friends dog (male) and mine (also male) got into a “dominance” fight. In the process of trying to “kick them apart”, my dog bit me in the calf, one time. Upon reflection and years of knowledge, I know that it was an instinctual response to being kicked. Other than that, I’ve never had a dog that had submitted to me, bite or even snap at me, for trying to control or handle it.

The animal should definitely be taken to the vet. I would be sure and describe the event, he may have some insight as to the reason for the behavior. At the very least, it should alert him for possible medical causes. Just sayin’…

7

In my experience, no animal I’ve ever had, exhibited the behavior described by the OP. Once an animal has “submitted” to me as being “dominant” and in control, I’ve always been able to handle it (and I mean physically, handle), with no exhibition of fear or aggresiveness from the animal.

As PaPSett has implied, I think there may be more to the story.

8

This isn’t surprising. Anything with a mouth can bite, and a wise pet owner both knows, and respects this. More to the point,* any* dog, under the right (wrong) circumstances will bite.

This was your dog telling you she’s had enough. In retrospect, I hope you can see that she exhibited several signs, finally culminating in the snapping and growling. You should have left her alone at this point, or in some other way worked to diffuse and calm the situation.

I wouldn’t go so far as to say you “mistreated” her today, but you certainly did not respect her, or listen to what she had to tell you. This was NOT a “battle of wills”; this was a frightened, stressed dog trying her best to calm down and behave and (from her perspective) being hounded and threatened until she had no choice but to defend herself.

If you tell people about her “hiding space” and instruct them to respect her need for calm that that space provides for her, then most likely she will not bite another adult. She should absolutely not be left alone or unsupervised with your neice; not because she bit you this time, but because you should NEVER leave a dog (or any uncaged animal) alone with a child. They are unpredictable at times, and even when they behave very predictably, as yours did, people miss the signs. Children, especially, do not recognize a dog’s signals. Remember: Anything with a mouth can bite, and ANY dog will bite under the right circumstances!

If you want to know why she bit you, PapSett had it right above; You reached into her sanctuary, her place of safety. She was already showing signs of insecurity and you ignored them.

9

No, there is no more to the story than that. I chastised her for not getting the paper because, well, in my opinion she was bad for not doing it. She was treated to a mild verbal chastisement, not screamed at and certainly not hit. She has never been hit, never touched except for being petted, for that matter.

Clearly I should not have kept after her. I am not an animal trainer. My thinking was this: She is growling. I do not think that is acceptable dog behavior. I was trying to get her to stop that. Clearly I should have backed off. She has never growled or drooled like she was today, but it never ever occurred to me that she would bite me.

10

Drooling is a sign of nausea as well as of mouth pain. Unless you’ve had her at the vet recently, based on her age, she may have significant dental disease, or at least an abscess or something else painful in her mouth going on. She may have avoided getting the paper because it hurts, and she hid because she hurts. She bit you as a last resort, despite the pain. She could possibly have recently lost some weight or seems a little less interested in food, all signs of dental distress. Get her checked out, and I hope your hand is OK!

11

There are a lot of more subtle dog signals that a dog trainer would recognize that laymen ignore. That’s nothing to be ashamed of; no one is an expert at everything. But I bring it up to say she had probably been exhibiting them all morning, or least a bit longer than you noticed. It’s hard to know why a dog would suddenly become stressed over a situation like this; I think a vet check up is a good idea. A 9 year old lab may be having hip pain that is flaring up and making her cranky (or something else; I’m guessing here). Seeing a vet to rule out the physical stressors is a good idea though.

What I wouldn’t do is go in with the idea that your dog is now a biter and may need to be put down or something. It is possible that is the case, but unlikely. A lot of people have this idea that a good dog will never bite no matter what, and if they are they are vicious, so put them down. I think this idea is wrong, wrong wrong! If I sounded a little harsh above, it was only because I see so many people fall into this. I’ve known several lovely dogs who were put to sleep because they were pushed too far (often by children) and when they finally defended themselves, like any sane animal would do, they were branded monsters and hustled off the the vet to be killed.

By the way, I am not a certified dog trainer, but I have had a lot of dogs, and worked with many others, and it is a subject that interests me and I read about it a lot. I believe PapSett is a certified dog trainer, so if she disagrees with me, you should probably listen to her. :stuck_out_tongue:

12

The actual biting sounds off to me. Most dogs seem to give warning nips at first. I do realize ANY dog is capable of biting. I would be concerned if the dog drew blood.

Unless you had peanut butter and jelly on your hand :slight_smile:

My neighbor’s dog (as a kid) bit a kid, but the kid had a hand full of peanut butter and jelly and I think the dog was just trying to lick the PB&J and got her tooth stuck on the kid

13

Take your dog to the vet. This doesn’t sound like normal dog behavior. And who knows what your dog could pick from biting you :D. Seriously, something unusual is happening when a dog bites like that. She may be ill, you should be concerned.

14

When you say not getting the paper, do you mean that you gave her the command to go get it and she didn’t, or that she was just supposed to know to get it?

15

If the vet doesn’t find anything I’d take her to the pound. That wasn’t a little nip she gave you it was a full blown bite. It’s ridiculous to have a dangerous animal as a pet. The downside is too great, especially if small children are around.

16

Were you watching her when she didn’t get the paper? It sounds like something happened that made her upset at that time. Could she have gotten stung by a bee, chased off by a mean cat, or something similar?

Also take yourself to the doctor because puncture wounds can get severely infected.

17

Take the dog to the vet. Nine years old is geriatric, there could be any number of things going on with her and this behavior can be an early sign or as has been said it could be a sign of pain. It would be better to find out now than later when the condition could be much worse.

18

This is too complex of a problem to be solved here. Yes, I agree start at the vet, nearly always the right first step with a behavior change with an older dog.

Next, you need to learn modern, positive, effective dog training methods.

Try some of these books, or check the authors’ websites for videos:

Don’t Shoot the Dog, by Karen Pryor, 1996

Surviving Your Dog’s Adolescence, by Carol Lea Benjamin, 1993

Second Hand dog, by Carol Lea Benjamin, 1988

Dog Problems, by Carol Lea Benjamin, 1989

Super Puppy, by Peter J. Vollmer, 1988

HELP, Mt dog Has an Attitude, by Gwen Bohnenkamp, 1994

Owners’ Guide Better Behavior in Dogs and Cats, by William Campbell, 1989

What All Good dogs Should Know, By Wendy Vollmer, 1991

How to Raise a Dog When Nobody is Home, Jerry Kilmer, 1991

Puppy Primer, by Brenda K Skidmore and Patricia B. McConnell, Ph.D., 1996

Beginning Family Dog Training, by Patricia B. McConnell, Ph.D., 1996

19

This is a classic description of a dog who is sick, in pain, or injured. Especially uncharacteristic drooling. Dogs act like that when they are in pain and frightened. Take her to a vet.

Also - it is virtually impossible to punish a dog for not doing something. Most likely, when you “chastised” her for not getting the paper, she thought you were yelling at her for no reason.

So, let’s see here. She is in pain, and frightened because she doesn’t know why. She goes outside, comes in. Her owner yells at her, and she doesn’t know why either. Now she is even more frightened and confused, and still in pain. So she retreats to somewhere she feels safe. Then you come after her and try to pull her out of the place she feels safe. Not knowing your intentions (you just inexplicably yelled at her!) she warns you to leave her alone by growling and snapping. You continue. As a last resort, frightened and confused, trying only to protect herself, she bites you.

Any dog would bite you under those circumstances. This has nothing to do with the temperament of your poor, sweet old labrador. When a dog starts growling and snapping at you, you don’t reach for their head.

20

It’s good that you’re cognizant of the danger of having the dog around the 15-month-old niece. Even good dogs can be unpredictable, and if your dog should be in the same circumstances again, it could be dangerous. I hope the vet can find something to fix.