My dog has started to nip at children?

Question

What do I do? He is almost 2, and he has always been the ideal dog. He is a toy Schnauzer, great with kids, great disposition. I absolutely love him. 2 weeks ago he nipped my friend daughter on the face and today he nipped a little girl on the arm. WHY is he doing this.

I have noticed when he was groomed last time that they nicked his ears and it got infected. I thought that might be bothering him.

My husband wants me to get rid of him so we don't get sued. What else can we do so he won't bite? HELP!!!

He is neutered! And the nipping is bitting but not breaking the skin!

Answer 1

Don't get rid of him yet. Consult your vet, maybe consult a dog behaviorist about how to handle this.
The fact that he never acted this way before is significant. Something has changed.
If he hasn't been around little kids before, that may be it. He may just be treating them like puppies. This is what happens when a puppy misbehaves, it can get nipped. If that is the problem, he needs to be taught that he must never growl or nip at children. Put him on a leash when a child visits, so you have him under control. Let the child pet him and give him treats. Correct him if he growls. Don't let him run loose with children until you can trust him.
But if he has been with children before, and this behavior is new, you have to figure out what has changed, and fix it. If he is in pain, get that treated. If it is a behavioral thing, you can train him out of it. Don't wait, because right now it should be pretty easy to correct.

Answer 2

Your husband is very wise, unless he is under pain. I would take him to your local vet and see if they can find anything wrong with him. Then if they can't, I would get rid of him as soon as possible. If he actually bites someone they could sue you for all you have and that would be terrible. You life is worth more than your dogs. My dog just recently turned two as well and two days ago we had to get rid of him because of the same problem! I'm so sorry and good luck! We can hope it's just the ear problem! See the vet asap before he bites! There are always other dogs that you could get. Sorry!

Answer 3

His ears are probably making him more short tempered. Dogs often look at children as 'below' them in status, so he may feel justified in snapping at children (especially since he's been good with them before) but not adults. Get a child involved in some of his training (with you there of course). It has to be a child who can follow your instructions well and won't be intimidated by the dog. Hopefully as the pain in his ears resolves so will the snappiness, but to prevent it from happening again he needs to know children are above him in the pecking order.
Good luck!

Answer 4

He hasn't been socialized properly, You should see a trainer..

DON'T just get rid of him... If he can't be corrected, then you should have him put down. You can't pass off a problem like that to someone else, you would still be liable cause you knew that he was bad. Only way you could find him a home is if you let the potential owners know that he is a biter...

You didn't socialize him properly, You should fix the problem, and if you can't He is your responsibility.

Neutered???

Answer 5

You right, your dog's ears are probraly bothering him. There is no other way he can somewhat releive his pain. Don't let him see stangers untill the ear is fully healed. Give him a lot of bones or things to chew on. GOOD LUCK! ☺

Answer 6

the dog now has two strikes it is time to put it down before a third child is hurt badly giving it to some one else just transfers the problem. it is sad but the dog is no good.

Answer 7

Dealing With Normal Puppy Behavior: Nipping and Chewing



* If, and only if, you catch your puppy chewing on something he shouldn't, interrupt the behavior with a loud noise, then offer him an acceptable chew toy instead and praise him lavishly when he takes the toy in his mouth.
* Make unacceptable chew items unpleasant to your puppy. Furniture and other items can be coated with "Bitter Apple" to make them unappealing.
* Don't give your puppy objects to play with such as old socks, old shoes or old children's toys that closely resemble items that are off-limits. Puppies can't tell the difference!
* Closely supervise your puppy. Don't give him the chance to go off by himself and get into trouble. Use baby gates, close doors or tether him to you with a 6-foot leash so you can keep an eye on him.
* When you must be gone from the house, confine your puppy to a small, safe area such as a laundry room. You may also begin to crate train him. Puppies under 5 months of age shouldn't be crated for longer than four hours at a time, as they may not be able to control their bladder and bowels longer than that.
* Make sure your puppy is getting adequate physical activity. Puppies left alone in a yard don't play by themselves. Take your puppy for walks and/or play a game of fetch with him as often as possible.
* Give your puppy plenty of "people time." He can only learn the rules of your house when he's with you.

Discourage Unacceptable Nipping Behavior
You must also teach your puppy to be gentle with hands, and that nipping results in unpleasant consequences for her. Teach your puppy that nipping "turns off" any attention and social interaction with you. After a nip, look your puppy right in the eye and yell "OUCH," as though you've been mortally wounded, then ignore her. Leave the room if you must, but ignore her until she's calm, then try the chew bone and petting method again. It's even better if you can coax your puppy into a sitting position using food. It may take many repetitions for her to understand what's expected.

Nipping and mouthing hands can also be discouraged by loosely holding your puppy's lower jaw between your thumb and forefinger after she's taken your hand in her mouth. Don't hurt her by squeezing too hard, just gently hang on so that wherever her mouth goes, your hand hangs on. This will quickly become tiresome and she'll eventually pull away. After several seconds, release her jaw, but continue to offer her your hand. If she licks or ignores it, praise, pet and offer a tidbit. If she closes her mouth on your hand again, repeat the procedure.

A third alternative is to wear cotton gloves coated with a substance with an unpleasant taste such as "Bitter Apple." In this way, your puppy will learn that "hands in mouth taste bad." For this method to work, every time she nips your hand she must experience this bad taste. The possible disadvantage to this method is that your puppy may learn "hands with gloves taste bad and those without gloves don't."

Remember that any of these three methods will probably not be effective unless you work hard to teach your puppy the right behavior by offering her an acceptable chew toy.

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Answer 8

he needs training, try petsmart or check with your local doggie day care. he is doing it as a reaction but it can be overcome. it doesn't mean he's a bad dog. just needs to be taught better

Answer 9

Get a muzzle

Answer 10

Dog aggression is any behavior meant to intimidate or harm a person or another animal. Growling, baring teeth, snarling, snapping and biting are all aggressive behaviors. Although aggressive behaviors are normal for dogs, they're generally unacceptable to humans. From a dog's perspective, there's always a reason for aggressive behavior. Because humans and dogs have different communication systems, misunderstandings can occur between the two species. A person may intend to be friendly, but a dog may perceive that person's behavior as threatening or intimidating. Dogs aren't schizophrenic, psychotic, crazy, or necessarily "vicious," when displaying aggressive behavior.

Because aggression is so complex, and because the potential consequences are so serious, we recommend that you get professional in-home help from an animal behavior specialist if your dog is displaying aggressive behavior. Our Behavior Helpline can't assist you with aggressive behavior problems (see our handout: "When The Behavior Helpline Can't Help").

Types Of Aggression
Dominance Aggression: Dominance aggression is motivated by a challenge to a dog's social status or to his control of a social interaction. Dogs are social animals and view their human families as their social group or "pack." Based on the outcomes of social challenges among group members, a dominance hierarchy or "pecking order" is established (see our handout: "Dealing With Dominance In Dogs").

If your dog perceives his own ranking in the hierarchy to be higher than yours, it's likely that he'll challenge you in certain situations. Because people don't always understand canine communication, you may inadvertently challenge your dog's social position. A dominantly aggressive dog may growl if he is disturbed when resting or sleeping, or if he is asked to give up a favorite spot, such as the couch or the bed. Physical restraint, even when done in a friendly manner, like hugging, may also cause your dog to respond aggressively. Reaching for your dog's collar, or reaching out over his head to pet him, could also be interpreted by him as a challenge for dominance. Dominantly aggressive dogs are often described as "Jekyll and Hydes" because they can be very friendly when not challenged. Dominance aggression may be directed at people or at other animals. The most common reason for dogs in the same family to fight with each other is instability in the dominance hierarchy (see our handout: "Canine Rivalry").

Fear-Motivated Aggression: Fear-motivated aggression is a defensive reaction and occurs when a dog believes he is in danger of being harmed. Remember that it's your dog's perception of the situation, not your actual intent, which determines your dog's response. For example, you may raise your arm to throw a ball, but your dog, perceiving this to be a threat, may bite you because he believes he is protecting himself from being hit. A dog may also be fearfully aggressive when approached by other dogs.

Protective, Territorial And Possessive Aggression: Protective, territorial and possessive aggression are all very similar, and involve the defense of valuable resources. Territorial aggression is usually associated with defense of property. However, your dog's sense of territory may extend well past the boundaries of "his" yard. For example, if you walk your dog regularly around the neighborhood and allow him to urine-mark, to him, his territory may be the entire block! Protective aggression usually refers to aggression directed toward people or animals that a dog perceives as threats to his family, or pack. Dogs become possessively aggressive when defending their food, toys or other valued objects, such as Kleenex stolen from the trash!

Redirected Aggression: This type of aggression is relatively common, but is a behavior that pet owners may not always understand. If a dog is aroused into an aggressive response by a person or animal that he is prevented from attacking, he may redirect this aggression onto someone else. A common example occurs when two family dogs become excited, bark and growl in response to another dog passing through the front yard. The two dogs, confined behind a fence, may turn and attack each other because they can't attack the intruder. Predation is usually considered to be a unique kind of aggressive behavior, because it's motivated by the intent to obtain food, and not primarily by the intent to harm or intimidate.

Individual Variation
Dogs differ in their likelihood to show aggressive behavior in any particular situation. Some dogs tend to respond aggressively with very little stimulation. Others may be subjected to all kinds of threatening stimuli and events, and never attempt to bite. The difference in this threshold at which a dog displays aggressive behavior is influenced by both environmental and genetic factors. If this threshold is low, a dog will be more likely to bite. Raising the threshold makes a dog less likely to respond aggressively. This threshold can be raised using behavior modification techniques. How easily the threshold can be changed is influenced by the dog's gender, age, breed, general temperament, and by whether the appropriate behavior modification techniques are chosen and correctly implemented. Working with aggressive dogs can be potentially dangerous, and should be done only by, or under the guidance of, an experienced animal behavior professional who understands animal learning theory and behavior.

What You Can Do
First check with your veterinarian to rule out medical causes for the aggressive behavior.
Seek professional help. An aggression problem will not go away by itself. Working with aggression problems requires in-home help from an animal behavior specialist.
Take precautions. Your first priority is to keep everyone safe. Supervise, confine and/or restrict your dog's activities until you can obtain professional help. You're liable for your dog's behavior. If you must take your dog out in public, consider a cage-type muzzle as a temporary precaution, and keep in mind that some dogs can get a muzzle off.
Avoid exposing your dog to situations where he is more likely to show aggression. You may need to keep him confined to a safe room and limit his people-contact.
If your dog is possessive of food, treats or a certain place, don't allow him access to those items. In an emergency, bribe him with something better than what he has. For example, if he steals your shoe, trade him the shoe for a piece of chicken.
Spay or neuter your dog. Intact dogs are more likely to display dominance, territorial and protective aggressive behavior.
What Not To Do
Punishment won't help and, in fact, will make the problem worse. If the aggression is motivated by fear, punishment will make your dog more fearful, and therefore more aggressive. Attempting to punish or dominate a dominantly aggressive dog is likely to cause him to escalate his behavior in order to retain his dominant position. This is likely to result in a bite or a severe attack. Punishing territorial, possessive or protective aggression is likely to elicit additional defensive aggression.
Don't encourage aggressive behavior. Playing tug-of-war or wrestling games encourages your dog to attempt to "best" you or "win" over you, which can result in the beginning of a dominance aggression problem. When dogs are encouraged to "go get 'em" or to bark and dash about in response to outside noises or at the approach of a person, territorial and protective aggressive behavior may be the result.