During playful fighting with family members, my little maltese/shitzu attacks growls and bites at me instead of who ever is hitting me. I find this very strange because i thought their instinct is to protect their owner. If anyone can explain why it would be a great. Thanks :)
2007-03-17 17:41:56 · 12 answers · asked by Natalie J 1 in Pets ➔ Dogs
I dont normally have any problems with him, hes very pleasant. Its usually my brother (yes dont worry just playful fighting hehe) but once i noticed this i experimented with other people and he did the same thing each time. Its very weird.
2007-03-17 21:22:33 · update #1
My German Shepard does the exact same thing. We could be play fighting with family members and he bites me instead. He draws plenty of blood too. My family wants me to get rid of him but I can't because he is an excellent watch dog. He won't let anyone on the property. He even watches my neighbors property for strangers and they are very grateful. Now why he bites only us is a mystery to me. I've never heard of it until I read your question. I don't think that they mean to bite us, I just think that they want to play with us and they know that we are the only ones that will play as hard as they do. That is my theory anyway. As long as your dog had his shots you have nothing to worry about. And remember my dog is a black dominant male German Shepard and this dog can give a good bite. Good luck and if you find a better answer please let me know. My name is Barbara O and my E-Mail is OPATOVSKY05@YAHOO.COM. I hope that this helps you a little bit and good luck in your search in our biting dogs.
2007-03-24 14:17:43 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
What dogs in their natural environment do is to band together against a perceived threat or sometimes just another animal that appears weaker or seems to be hurt.
They will gang up and attack, it is the instinct of a pack animal. They will feel empowered by "Having strength in numbers "or through someone esle
For example I used to have a dog that would never start any trouble with my other dogs, if a different dog started messing with one hewould be right there in an instant to gang up on that particular one.
So your dog was, together with the attacker, ganging up on you..
I find that very strange as well, it seems like she sees herself as being dominant over you.
Especially if she gains some extra strength from a "buddy" that will help her feel stronger.. Good thing it is a Small dog, just imagine it was a Dobie or Rottweiler :)
Does your dog obey you, do you have any sort of discipline problems with it?
Ether way I suggest some classes for you and your pooch, so you can establish your dominance over him/her. I believe this to be important for a harmonious relationship between humans and dogs.
Just out of curiosity, who is hitting you.? I hope this was a play sort of attack.
Good luck to you and I hope I made some sort of sense to you
2007-03-17 18:40:57 · answer #2 · answered by thatswhattheytoldmelastnight 3 · 4⤊ 0⤋
There is no excuse for people letting their pets terrorize the neighborhood and especially children in the name of wanting to live in the country where there is no leash law. That's just pure ignorance and irresponsibility on their part. Tell them that your children have more right to a safe play environment than their dogs have to roam loose and if they threaten your children again you'll call the sheriff. If possible, try to video tape the dogs being aggressive toward you or your children without endangering the children. Ask the owners if the life of a child, and/or a huge medical bill and law suit along with euthenizing their dogs is a fair price for letting them run loose. If it was me and the dogs ran toward me growling and showing aggression, I would not hesitate to shoot them. I would not enjoy it, but its my life, the lives of my children or theirs and I'll do my best to make it their's.
2016-03-29 03:48:09 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
When parrots bite their favorite person if a new person comes by, we believe the parrot is trying to drive the favorite person away from a threat. That could be what your little dog is doing.
Or, he could be an excited little dog who spazzes out and forgets what he's doing and bites you.
You could always hire an animal communicator and ask him what's up! (just kidding.)
2007-03-25 15:33:36 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, it's really weird. Because your dog is supposed to protect you if you have shown to him that you're his owner.I don't know of the shitzu dogs, but maybe he's just playing with you too.
Maybe he's angry with you for allowing other people to hit you. He wants you to fight back maybe. . Because I've two dogs and they really protect me, even in mock fights. Because they know I really love them. I feed them myself and really discipline them.
2007-03-25 15:25:56 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Dogs do not understand human playing!
They understand one on one ( you and him). And they will play.
If you are going to do the Family (fun) fighting...put your dog away. They don't understand that!
With a family, the dog likes everyone. But when you do the playful fighting it does confuse them.
2007-03-25 12:17:56 · answer #6 · answered by bob P11 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You did not say who was hitting you. Could make a world of difference if the dog was attacking with his alpha leader.
2007-03-17 18:30:01 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
our boy is the same. when we playfight he sides with whoever he perceives as being the agressive one. however the other day he wasn't in the room when hubby and i started our rough-housing, he came in as i was getting the worst of it during a pillow fight and he promptly went after my husband! go figure!
2007-03-24 16:07:44 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
in a dog pack, when i dog attacks the alpha leader, others may join. they want to beat the alpha so they can be the leader
2007-03-25 07:07:49 · answer #9 · answered by powerball 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He probably knows that your just playing and wants to join in or the fighting bothers him and he is trying to let you know.
My siberian husky is like that.
2007-03-22 20:10:29 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋