My dog has bitten my other dog, can we remove her canines?

Question

I have a 2.5 yr old Great Dane who bit my golden retriever yesterday while they were playing in the yard. I have 4 dogs total. She bit one of my pugs seriously over some food about a year ago, and we have been working with her behavior ever since. She has been great, no signs of aggression, has never shown signs of aggression. We are not sure why she bit him yesterday. We don't know if it is dominance issues (the other dog is the alpha) or if they were playing too rough and he stepped on her injured paw. Does anybody have any ideas? Can we have her canines removed so that she doesn't injure my smaller dogs if this ever happens again? Would that be torture to her? She has never shown aggression to any humans. Other than these two instances, she is a total angel and normally gets along great with the other dogs. What are we doing wrong?

Answer 1

Removing a dog's canines is cruel. Besides it wouldn't keep the dog from hurting another dog anyway. Dogs bite with 500-700 pounds of pressure per square inch. The dogs still has 40 other teeth to bite with. Train the dog that NO aggression is ever allowed, or keep the dogs separate.

Answer 2

First, I would never remove a dogs canines. I don't believe you could find a vet that would do this. This dog has only bit twice and you said that you don't know why she bit yesterday. It was over food before. We had aggression problems with one of our four dogs about a year ago and started professional training and found out that white vinegar in a spray bottle works great! If you are still feeding the dogs together I would advice supervision with vinegar bottle in hand. If there is ANY growling or ANY sign of aggression at all spray the vinegar in the mouth of the aggressor (it doesn't have to hit dirrectly, if a little gets in the eyes it will not hurt them). This works like a charm. After 1 or 2 times all you have to do is pick up the bottle. They hate the taste & they don't forget it. My advice is to never feed them w/o supervision or being seperated in some way. She doen't have to lose her canines (that's pretty major surgery),you just need a different plan. You can have a trainer come out and evalute her (most trainers will evalute free of charge). You might find out that she is not the problem, that she is being provoked. This is a very common problem, the wrong one gets blamed. I hope this helps. From one critter lover to another!!

Answer 3

3 or more dogs is a Dog Pack. When you have a dog pack, the pack drive in ALL your dogs is increased, and this can become a problem. Because of this, your dogs now have rank issues. Each dog in a pack has its rank in a pack, and if the owner is not a Pack Leader, one of your dogs will step in, and take the role of Pack Leader. Dogs fight to establish a rank within a pack. The one who fights/bites the hardest in the pack becomes the alpha dog in the pack. This is why you often see dog fights erupt within dog packs. You are not the Pack Leader, because if you were, your dogs would not fight each other in your presence. Lower ranking members respect Pack Leaders, and will not fight in the presence of one. They will, however, fight when the Pack Leader is not present. I own three dogs, and I'm my dogs' Pack Leader. Two of my older dogs have some issues with my younger dog, so I keep them separated when they're not under my supervision. When I allow them to run free in my backyard, I am watching them the whole time, and they DO NOT fight. You don't need to have your dogs' canines removed. You need to educate yourself about dog pack behavior, and how to become the Pack Leader. This will be a heck of A LOT of work for 4 dogs. If you're not up for the grueling challenge of Pack Leader, then keep the trouble maker(s )separated while the more submissive dogs are allowed to run free, and vice versa. Some dogs will never be able to get along, and you'll have to accept that. It's no big deal, really. Keep them separated, and you should have this whole ordeal under control. The dogs who are always trying to establish rank(troublemakers) cannot fight other dogs when kept separated. I keep my younger dog separated from the older dogs, and I do not find it to be such a big deal.

Answer 4

Do not pay attention to previous posts. Your concern is valid. Many dogs that may cause harm w/ full canine teeth can be gently modified w/ capping of those sharp teeth. The trauma to other animals will be minimized to pinching in many cases. We are having a similar problem w/ our lab/greyhound that is suffering from congenital cataracts and acting out. I view a tooth modification as being much more humane than ignoring the issue. Those angry posters should address some real issues with their energy! God Bless you and your very lucky dogs. And yes, my life is a zoo with four very happy children, three great dogs (sans the occasional biter) two cats (yes he has bitten) and a bunny that he loves!

Answer 5

as the owner of six dogs, i can relate to your problem, i dont think you are doing anything wrong, except having dogs who dont always communicate well, pugs, goldens and great danes are very different in the way they play, you have to understand that great danes were originally boar hunters who picked up and shook the wild boar to thier death. That instinct is still very much a part of the way a great dane views the world. Goldens are soft-mouthed retrievers, they dont bite ducks to puncture them just to carry them back to you!

your great dane is being a DUMB DANE, thats what they do, my great dane picked up my basset hound by the rear leg and shook her during a play session, there is only one thing to do about it, and removing four of her 32 teeth will not help. You need to monitor thier play better, and stop the over stimulation before it results in a bite.

i know its easier said than done but im on great dane number three and i have dealt with dumb dane syndrome many times, when you see her bouncing too hard, ears to the side and that low pitched grumble, blow the whistle and back them into thier corners.

the bite over food is just dogs being dogs
good luck

Answer 6

you arent doing anything wrong.some dogs just have this dominanace thing and will try to bit at other smaller dogs or other dogs in general. if your dog is biting over food then it would be a good idea to feed that dog separately from the others. i have a toy poodle with the dominance issues and she tries to attack my chocolate lab over food and shed get killed lol but the lab is very gentle and patient with her. you just have to separate them. and no you cannot remove their canines. a dogs teeth are kinda like our hands those canines are the most important of their teeth, they are the teeth that really allow a dog to pick things up easily

Answer 7

I see "I'm probably Wrong's" point but I also see the other guy's point -- the one talkin about dumb dane syndrome!!
Go with the dumb dane theory and "blow the whistle" and send them back to their corners.

At least you haven't abandoned or destroyed the dog because it bit a couple of dogs a couple of times. . . I have been bit by several dogs and even more colts -- I would never think of getting rid or destroying the animal though!!!
And working for a vet for several years I have seen that owner's often resorted to destroying the animal!!!
good luck!!

Answer 8

i was parable because the sore foot got step on. removing the teeth will not help and would be real hard on the dog. try watching the dog when they play when you can not be there put her some where she can not accidently hurt the other dogs sound like you are doing the best you can.

Answer 9

You must love her alot, otherwise why would you have her surgically altered to maximize your convenience?

If you succumb to that temptation, you might as well breed pit bulls for fighting, bob the ears of your doberman and declaw your cat. All are equally torturous barbarities.

Why not just kill and eat her? I'm certain that would solve that biting problem. Inhumane? EXACTLY.

There's a reason you asked this question. You know it's wrong, and you were hoping if enough people signed off on it, you would be morally in the clear without having to make the decision yourself.

Answer 10

No actually just remove them all and feed him graham crackers and ginger snaps make him watch as the world turns for two weeks and this will solve all of lifes tough problems