Do you believe dogs that bite can be rehabilitated?

Question

There are 3 types of biters; Fear, Aggression and Herding breeds.

Fear biters tend to attack when backed into a corner, or they stand and watch you, usually but not always growling to warn you, waiting until you turn your back to them and come up at you from behind. They generally bite below the waist.

Aggressive dogs are those that go for the face, they generally bite anywhere above the waist. These dogs consider direct eye contact as a definate challenge and act accorfingly.

Herding dogs get tagged as biters many times when they really are just doing their jobs. They tend to be ankle biters/nippers.

Answer 1

I will address this in reverse order.
First a Heeler;
If you turn your back on my ACD (Blue Heeler) I can assure you that you will find yourself in a loading shoot waiting for a cattle truck. And, if you forgot to put boots on your ankles will be bleeding a bit. It always amuses me when someone will buy a Heeler and holler bloody murder when it wants to herd the kids into a corner. People have worked for decades to develop that breed to do a job, and believe me they can do it very well.
IMHO, ranchers rely on stock dogs to help them put food on YOUR table, so why would you want to alter the traits of those breeds.

There is no place in my opinion for unstable aggressive dogs, and dogs that display these tendency's should never be given a second chance. IMHO to harbor a dangerous dog while wonderful dogs are being put to sleep every day is absolutely ludicrous, and irresponsible.

Nine times out of ten when someone says that they have "adopted an abused dog" this timid potential fear biter is exactly what they adopted, and it was never abused in any way.
The irony is that it is very easy to tell the difference. Dogs are a very resilient animal, and they will normally recover from abuse very quickly. The timid dog will normally take a long time, and often the help of a pro to rehabilitate.
Almost without exception the fear biter timid dog is the result of a breeder that didn't know how to socialize their puppies, and almost all of them could have been avoided. Most BYB have no idea that there are things that they should be doing between weeks 5 through 8 besides collecting money. For anyone wanting to learn, go to this site and find out about "sound beginnings", Jackie is the best in the business.
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Answer 2

Rehabilitating Aggressive Dogs

Answer 3

1

Answer 4

Yes, there is definately a way to rehabilitate dogs that bite. Fear biters would actually be the most difficult, I think, because conquering the aggressive and herding dogs is a matter of dominance and training.

Extremely aggressive dogs do have serious issues, and should be put down as soon as possible, but most aggression stems from other problems.

Answer 5

It depends on the individual dog.

First of all, I know that you write herding dogs are just doing their job, but I am still outraged that you list herding breeds as one of 3 types of biters. The nip from a herding dog is not a bite and is in no way related to aggression. It's not a temperament problem and I would not even call it a problem, it's like saying that a retriever that likes to retrieve has a problem. I am inbetween dogs at the moment, but I have herding dogs (Belgian Shepherds), as do many of my friends. None of these dogs nip, simply because they have been taught not to.

Aggressive dogs. There are so many types of aggression. Dominance aggression, resource guarding aggression, pain aggression etc., many of these can be corrected successfully.

Fear aggressive dogs are one of those dogs I'm the most reluctant to work with. While a dog can be taught to overcome some fears, it is often near impossible to correct a weak temperament. I have, by the way, never heard of fear-aggresive dogs attacking someone from behind or not warning before a bite. The ones I've encountered have actually all had good body language, letting me know when they started to feel pressured, giving me plenty of time to back of and give the dog calming signals, although the ones with the most bites to their name had more subtle body language, as in no growling.

Again, each dog should be judged individually. To me, the most problematic, and rarer, forms of aggresion are dogs that have displaced aggression and dogs with aggression based on a neurological defects. I see next to no chance of rehabilitation for these.

Answer 6

Herders bite because they are bred to herd. That is just a breeding issue. They should belong to people who allow them to work.

Fear nippers are probably the most dangerous because anything can set them off. I have had fearful dogs. They do well here because they I know they need to be secluded, calm, without a bunch of people running in and out. But they are the most dangerous group. And they cannot be "rehabilitated". They can be kept in some settings, but they should probably be culled out if they come into a shelter.

Aggressive dogs should just be euthanized. There is no good way to keep them in the general public. There are working guard dogs that are aggressive, but it is a different type of aggression that is more controlled.

Answer 7

Your 3 types of biters are wrong and NO, I would not waste time trying to rehabilitate a dog with a history of instability.
There is a huge difference between a biting dog that is trained for police work (stable dog) and the dog who will aggressively nail someone on the street (unstable dog).
As far as herding dogs biting... the "nip" is the last resort when their charge refuses to "be gathered or driven." The Border Collie dog especially uses eye contact and directional running or walking to control what he is again moving or gathering. They are not "biters" in the sense of what the are bred for. They and other herding breeds get into trouble when they are misunderstood for trying to "move" the neighbors kid.

Answer 8

Where do you get your facts from? What is a herder biter? Are you serious or is this another joke? I hope it is...
Where did you hear that fear biters bite below the waist and aggressive biters bite in the face?
Listen up, here is some good educational material for you. I have been training and dealing with dogs in general for about 27 years and I have been dealing with REAL issues as far as dogs go. That means no house training and no tricks training.
Fear biters bite because they have genetic issues and they will bite anything they can bite, as long as they feel they are not in danger. Aggressive dogs will also bite anything they can get a hold of, as long as they can bite you, period..
I am not even going to discuss the third category of biters you listed as it is too early in the morning and I do not want to raise my blood pressure!!!
As far as rehabilitation, well, it depends on many factors and cannot be discussed here because there are no specific examples.
I can tell you as far as my own dogs that I would hope there is no rehabilitation as they enjoy biting too much, they love it in fact and we practice it regularly.
I REALLY hope I have helped!!!

Answer 9

Your dog has been severely traumatized by being in the shelter and all the experiences that brought her there. Anxiety levels will decrease with some basic commands, spoken in a gentle voice. Never raise your voice, in reprimand or praise. I have taken in many abused dogs over the years, and they always come around. Reward her, keep the noise level down (remember how noisy the shelters are.) I recommend an excellent book - The Other End of the Leash by Patricia McConnell, a PhD animal behaviorist. Remember you must be the leader of the pack, but don't buy into the Dog Whisperer - it has gotten a little hyped. Some discipline leads to growing security.

Answer 10

I happen to have a dog that fits two of those categories. She is a fear-biting herding dog. I don't believe that my dog can be taught to never bite anything-she is after all a breed with a very intense herding drive (Australian Cattle Dog). I have, however been working with her on the fear biting. She was never socialized as a puppy and then abused, so it is a slow process, but she is already much better than she was. I had to hire a behaviorist in order to get the results I have right now, and even when she is completely through her training, I will not trust her in uncontrolled situations. She will always be safeguarded from people and only brought into situations I can control, just in case. I think it is totally my responsibility to protect the public AND protect my dog.
As far as the herding biting, we are already beginning all kinds of activities to keep her happy in that respect, such as soccer, agility and we are taking her to get assessed for herding ability in the spring. I think she will be awesome!

Edit: Some of the herding breeds are very nippy. The ACD is the nippiest, as they have a survival need to nip the cattles heels. One good kick and the dog is dead. So, yes, this breed is encouraged to bite-otherwise there would be a few less ACDs! And it is difficult to get the dog to understand the difference between biting the cattles heels and biting the kids heels. Ask any ACD owner who uses this breed for the job it was bred for.

Edit: Tom I-wish I could have my girl train with your dog-sounds just as intense! Hit the nail on the head about the "abuse" thing. Most of the time the behavior is from lack of socialization and dogs going into "survival" mode, which makes them wary of everything. We get this in rescue all the time. A shame that the bybs don't understand the importance of early socialization and don't explain it to their buyers-in addition to selling unsuitable breeds to the unsuspecting family. My girl came from a family household-they thought an ACD would be a good pet (unfortunately). When she began to bite the kids, they beat her. Finally they turned her loose in suburbia to fend for herself. I hope animal control procecuted. She still sleeps under the bed at night and hides there every time she hears a loud noise. ACDs are not what I would consider "pets". More like co-workers.