My Wheaten has bitten me and my husband (years apart). How does a dog behaviorist decide if the dog must go?

Question

Both incidents of biting happened when we tried to take old food wrappers or trash out of his mouth while we were walking him. He grabs the items so quickly that often we can't stop him. My husband used his hand to try to take the trash out and the dog got very aggressive and nipped his hand. This happened about a year ago. The recent incident happened last week. The wrapper was dangling out of his mouth so I tried to step on it and he went wild and jumped up on me and injured my chest. I am badly bruised, but no puncture marks. There were two very small skin abrasions, but I am very sore. I had a tetanus shot and I am taking antibiotics. My vet wants the dog evaluated by a pet behaviorist to determine if he should stay with us. We've had him since he was about 10 weeks old. He will be six in January. He is very sweet and gentle at all other times. Please help if you can. This has been, and continues to be, very difficult for me. Thank you in advance.

Answer 1

Nobody can tell you when to put your dog down...unless there is law enforcement involved...the decision is always up to you. Lots of dogs are very protective of forbidden treats they find on walks...bring a couple of your dogs most favorite treats on the planet with you when you go for walks and if he finds something you can bribe him to let go of the garbage and take the treat you have brought. You should also get back to some training and teach your dog to "drop it". Also, "ann a" above sounds psychotic...you should never slam your dog down, and berate it, unless you want him to bite you in the face out of fear! I have never heard such a terrible peice of advice before! That is NOT how you show your dog authority...the dog knows you are human, you are not a dog...you teach it with strict, consistent commands and proper praise for a job well done. Teach him the "drop it" command at home with his favorite toy and some treats to trade with him If you want your dog to give you something that he has, you must have something to give him in return!

Answer 2

As a behavioral consultant and trainer I try to look at what was happening at the time of the bite and what the person did nin relation to what the dog did or was doing.
First what breed of dog is this?
Can you take food away from him at any onther time?
Like if you put the food bowl down can you take it away?
Can you take a rawhide bone or toy from him?
He is showing that he is in charge and you are not. I would quick fix the problem by putting a muzzle on him when you walk until you can teach the leave it command.
I would get working one on one with a trainer and teach the LEAVE IT commmand. When mine are out if they pick up anything I tell them leave it and they will drop it. Or I make them sit and down and remove the item from thier mouth. But I make them sit and down so they are in a subervaint position to me.
It soulnds like you could use some basic training with this guy to get him to submit to you. FIrst make him submit then take the item.
See if you can find a trainer in your area and have them eveulate him to see how far this aggression really goes and if it is something that with some work can be sorted out.
However if you are afraid of this dog or are not sure you want to keep him make that decision first.
If you do want to keep the dog make sure both you and your husband are aggreed on it. And then find atrainer and get to work.
Firm consistant disipline will help the dog to understand that you are in charge and not him.

Answer 3

You need to teach your dog a release command. The best way to do this is to set up situations you can control. Then when he has his "prize" show the dog a treat you know he cannot resist, give your command, out, release, drop it, whatever you decide to use. The second your dog drops what he is holding, throw the treat far enough away that you can pick up the object while he is retrieving his new treat. Gradually work up to where he will drop the prize and let you pick it up before you give him the treat. This may take quite some time, but it works.

Answer 4

This is very serious.

Does he show aggression toward all food/items, or just these wrappers he finds on the street?

Please visit my website at http://www.libertydogtraining.com

In order to tell you if he could potentially stay and be worked with, I would need more info.

However, if these incidents have caused you to fear your dog, the dog will be able to sense that. It may be best, in that case, to have him euthanized humanely.

Answer 5

Has this only happened when you walk him? You might want to try an appropriate muzzle to keep him from picking things up and to protect yourself as well as passers-by until the issue is resolved. It sounds like he thinks he is the "alpha" , when you try to take something he has foraged away from him, he percieves that as a threat to his alpha status. Since he is sweet and gentle normally he probably gets away with a lot at home. Try treating him like a dog for a while and see if that helps.

Answer 6

Oh for heaven's sake.

The dog "bit' because he was trying to grab the food wrapper back.

By the wat, terriers are very mouthy and grabby - they were bred to hunt and kill vermin.

In the pack, the boss dog (or Alpha) ALWAYS takes the food of those dogs lower in the hierarchy. A lower-dog trying to take the food from the Alpha will get knocked aside, shoved and grabbed and napped at, grabbed and pinched and sometimes BITTEN where there is a pucture - not a scrape.

Now if the lower ranked dog has the food and the Alpha wants it, they hand it over NOW.

Problem seems is that you have never informed the dog that you two ARE the Alpha in the pack. He has the food, you go to take it, he is the Alpha and boom.


I'm going take a pretty good guess here that you trained him to sit, come, walk on a leash etc by the current fad of "kitchy kitchy coo - if you do it, I'll give you a cookie." Now think about that in terms of the pack behavior over food - he has ALWAYS taken the foodoff you at his whim - if wants the food, he sits, if he doesn't want the food he doesn't. With that "method" you have NEVER established that he does something because you tell him to - pets and praise for doing it, correction if he doesn't (its gonna cost you dog if you ignore me..)

The wrappers represent what he hunted down as food - the prey drive - and he is far more defensive over them andacts the Alpha


Now lets get some perspective here - two little abrasions and some sore muscles are NOT a real bite. That is a graze - happens all the time when the dog is warning without really trying to bite and the person either moves into the strong position or the dog miscalucates; or the dog grabs for something and gets the person instead.. He jumped up trying to get it the wrapper back. I know 'bite' having been training and handling for 43 years. I've had worse scrapes on my hands when arguing with a dog over whether or not he will do a retrieve and is refusing to pick up the bject and keeps snapping his mouth closed while we are wallowing aound as I try to force him to open his mouth. If your description of the injury as an abrasion is accurate, racing off for a tetnaus shot and antibiotics for an abrasion is an EXTREME over-reaction. Didn't you ever play sports?

What interests me is what kind of response you and you husband gave to his conduct.

Was it to yelp and back off and maybe let him have it? Great - you just confirmed that he is the Alpha

Was it to just say or yell 'bad'? Weak - very weak response. high pitched tones and yelping are what the losing dog does.

Or was it what I (or the Alpha dog) would have done and the correct response: When he leapt, slammed into him with my body and knees and roared - and I mean roared in a very deep voice" - NO You SOB - What do you think you are doing - you are toast; and literally land on top of him by grabbing him by the scruff of the neck (or if I haad a good slip collar or pinch jerking him and then grabbing him), taking the dog belly or side down to the ground with me landing on top of him and flat decked him with my fist right in the side of the mouth or nose - what ever I could reach; and then hauling him to his feet, shoving him into a sit with the skin pulled so tight on the back of his neck in my fist that his eyes popped out while getting right over top him with my body;and all the while berating him in a drill sgt voice with threats of real retribution; and then ordered him into a down - while sounding like I'm going to kill him; and finally snatched him to his feet with the lead and ORDERD - not ask - him to get back into heel position. (And by the way, I weigh 98 lbs and have worked with everthing from Danes to Chihuahuas.).


What he did is called "food aggression" - and he is showing it when he thinks he has hunted down and foound the food (although I do wonder how he acts if you try to take away his dish with food in it.

The dog does not need to get dead. I have fixed such behavior in an hour - well, the dog's part of it. The owners always take longer as they have to be taught how to act and be in charge.

You need a behavioralist or a better yet a competent obedience trainer. The dog can easily learn that what he did is a NO -- but you have to completely learn or relearn how to train and handle a dog so the obedience trainer is the best choice. Behavioralist is just a fancy name for an obedience trainer who gives you the psychological jargon for why the dog does what he does and why you do what you do as they do what any good obedience trainer does: change the behavior - the dog's and yours!

GO here to find contacts in you area that can help you locate and obedience trainer who works with all beeds and who does AKC obedience competitions. If some "trainer" does not compete at whaat they claim to teach, go elsewhere.:

http://www.akc.org/clubs/search/index.cf...

http://www.akc.org/clubs/search/index.cf... (set on all breeds)


http://www.akc.org/clubs/search/index.cf...

Even it they are an hour or more away, they will know other people all over the state.

Answer 7

When my mutt was a baby, she was eating trash and I tried to grab it from her. She bit the crap out me, put a nice little scar on my pinky finger. I screamed (mostly out of surprise) and it scared her and she ran off and hid. I think she tried to nip my husband one other time and he fussed at her. We took her to a trainer and he said she was trying to be the alpha. We had to do all sorts of stuff to reinforce that she was NOT in charge and she has been fine since. As far as the trash eating goes, if you figure out how to keep yours away from trash, let me know. I hate digging slimy stuff out of her mouth. I have a helluva time keeping her away from the garbage.

Answer 8

Well my vet told me that if a dog bites its time to put him down and I had mine put to sleep,and the vet told me thats what I should have done.I don,t know about wheatons,but I would not want a dog that bites...It appears that the dog does have a problem with having his own way.I know that some dogs snap at you when you go to take food from them ,however my x husband was very good at training our dog when he would snap,he spanked him and said NO! you have to stay in control of your pet,,

Answer 9

Hey,

Checkout Wikipedia for that! Its an excellent source for all the answers!

Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page and type in ur question and .... voila theres ur answer!

Hope that helps!

tc

Answer 10

have the dog put down