dog bit my son. need advice.

I have a 6 year old Jack Russell.

I have an almost 5 year old & a 1 year old.

Jedi has always been amazing with my 5 year old. Never was an issue.

My 1 year old crawls around and isn't walking yet. My 5 year old never crawled (not sure that makes any difference).

Anyway, 2 weeks ago my 1 year old crawled into the bathroom (my dh was on the toilet) and jedi was laying in his dog bed in the bathroom next to my husband. My 1 year old gets excited and gets up on his knees and kind of flaps his arms. He wasn't hitting the dog at all.

Now jedi HATES it when you touch his paws. So i don't know if he thought my 1 year old was going after his paws or what but he snapped at him. Got him right on the bridge of his nose. We had my friend come over who's a nurse to look at it because it kept bleeding and we weren't sure if he needed stitches.

Now... yesterday... jedi was laying in his bed. My 1 year old crawled over by him and i sat on the floor with them. i was petting jedi, etc. Dylan got up on his knees (again not touching jedi) and the next thing i knew, jedi snarled at him and snapped at him. It happened so fast. He broke skin again. Has a gash on his cheek and a puncture under his eye.

I don't know what to do!!!!!!!!!!!!

of course i'm thinking about finding the dog a new home. I have to protect my kids. but i'm in such shock that our dog is doing this when he's always been so good before.

We love having people over and now i'll have to lock up the dog every time for fear of other kids. I can't trust him in the same room with my kids now. I'm a nervous wreck.

My husband thinks he might be depressed (the dog) and he could be. I mean it's winter and we can't go outside and play with him (with 2 kids in tow freezing). We haven't been able to take him for walks. So maybe he's resenting the baby because he blames him?!?!?!?

I don't know. I don't get it. I don't want to give away my dog (he's part of our family) but we got lucky twice. What happens if there's a next time and he takes his eye out or a chunk out of his face????? Or worse and my husband forgets to lock him up when other kids are over and he bites them? then we'll get sued!

Message edited 2/4/2013 3:22:54 PM.

dog bit my son. need advice.

Aww so sorry your hoing thru this. Heary breaking to think you may re home your pup. Before you do anything I would reach out to your Beth for advice. Maybe someone like Isaac the Dog Whisper can help.. hope your baby heals up quickly & it all works out.

Re: dog bit my son. need advice.

Has he had any other changes in habits? Eating, bathroom? How old is the dog? The reason I ask is he had a russell mix who loved kids but all of a sudden he started snapping at them. Turns out he was losing his eyesight due to cushings disease & would get scared at sudden movements. His reaction was to snap.

Re: dog bit my son. need advice.

I first want to say, I do NOT t hink your dog is resenting your child for him not going out. Most likely is your dog needs alot of exercise and his energy is getting pent up since you haven't been going out. Most likely senario and very likely with a jack russell.

Jack Russels are known for needing loads of exercise. I agree with your DH, if b/c of the cold your dog hasn't gotten what he needs exercise he could have pent up energy that may show itself in getting agitated with the crawling child and wind up in a bite.

I have 2 terriers who get alot of pent up energy (and htey are nippers/biters) when I do not exercise them enough.

If your dog is six and has never done that, I would say your dog needs something now that he isnt getting. And biting and exercise both go hand in hand. I would be careful going forward but I would find a way to give your dog the exercise he needs daily.

This does not sound normal for your dog, and I would also take him tothe vet. But my best guess is your dog is responding to pent up energy from lack of exercise dueto the cold weather. Agitated due to cabin fever.

Message edited 2/4/2013 5:33:59 PM.

Re: dog bit my son. need advice.

Take the dog to the vet.. I have a feeling there is a medical issue.. Is he making high pitch noises ? Maybe an ear infection? Dont leave them alone in the same room .. I never did until my dd was walking.. Honestly if my dog was a biter or just started to become a biter I would take her to the vet to make sure its not a medical issue.. If the medical issue was ruled out I would take her for long walks and pay alot of attention to her.. I would lock her up when people came over in a crate and then I would never leave him around my child .. I would spend most of my time (this I actually did) teaching my chid not to go near her or touch her ever.. I would not let my dd go near my dog..

For a long time when she ws a real infant like very very young I would let the dog near her but when she became a certain age I repremanded her if she touched the dog.. I didnt let her go near her.. When i saw she undersood how to treat her and not scream around her I now let them be alone in the same room..

My dd has a very good understanding that lola is a baby dog and we have to treat her like that.. she really gets it..

I know this is going to take alot of effort and time and probably suck the life out of you for a while .. But its certainly not forever and it will be so so worth it.. Can I ask you what you did to the dog immediately following the bite? How did you correct the dog?

Message edited 2/4/2013 7:28:36 PM.

dog bit my son. need advice.

If this is not normal behavior for your dog I would take him to the vet. Dogs will often snap at people if they are sick or in pain.

Re: dog bit my son. need advice.

Re: dog bit my son. need advice.

Re: dog bit my son. need advice.

Posted by aliwnec10

Posted by MrsG823

If this is not normal behavior for your dog I would take him to the vet. Dogs will often snap at people if they are sick or in pain.

Not normal for him at all.

I'll be making a vet appointment to rule that out.

Re: dog bit my son. need advice.

Re: dog bit my son. need advice.

I would definitely take him to the vet first. Then I would up his exercise. As someone else said, run him around the house, throw the ball up and down the stairs for him, and if you have a treadmill, that is actually the best option I think. I use the treadmill a lot with my dog in the winter and it helps a lot with his energy level. This winter so far I haven't had access to the treadmill because we moved and it is in storage and I can see the difference.

dog bit my son. need advice.

My chihuahua bit my daughter in the face once and nipped her another time. He is 8. The first time was a big accident, my daughter tripped and fell on him and he bit her above and below her eye. I'll be the first to say my chihuahua has temperament problems so not quite the same situation as your dog.

What we did was taught the dog to remove himself from the situation. If he was laying down and my girls started going for the dog I would tell him to "move" or come to me. If he was upset about it I would remove him from the situation. Basically, I juggle the babies and the dog. Babies/toddlers are just not the same as older children. They are unreasonable and have a very different vibe to them. If your son is 5 and your dog is 6 then when your son was born your dog was still very immature. Dogs are not typically considered to be adults until 2+ years old. Physically they might be full size but mentally they are still puppies.

If it is not a medical or winter blues situation it may just be that he is an adult now and doesn't want to be bothered by young children.

What does he do when you disturb him while he is sleeping?

I have a foster dog here right now who has no aggression issues at all. I was talking with my dog behaviorist and was asking her what I could do to avoid developing a problem with food/toy guarding and she told me that every time I approach the dog I drop a treat for her so that she doesn't need to feel possessive that something bad will happen. Good things happen when people come up to her. Same with her food. Some trainers suggest putting your hand in the bowl but my behaviorist suggest ADDING something special to the bowl. Message: when I approach you, your going to get something great.

My foster dog follow my toddler around like they are gods. They have snack cups and are constantly giving the dog treats. It's so cute, the dog will patiently sit and wait for them to give her a cherrio. If she doesn't get one, she will lay down for it. The toddlers have learned to tell her to "dooowwnn" and she will down for one tiny cherrio.

If you want to keep the dog, you might need to do some relationship work with the baby and your JRT, I would suggest calling in a good behaviorist for an evaluation in addition to what everyone else suggests about a vet visit to rule out anything medical.

dog bit my son. need advice.

Terriers especially need lots of exercise like all pps said or they start biting. I would be scared too if my child was but but it sounds like the dog has a lot of energy that is not being expelled and he doesn't know what to do with it.

Re: dog bit my son. need advice.

Re: dog bit my son. need advice.

Posted by Goobster

Posted by aliwnec10

Posted by MrsG823

If this is not normal behavior for your dog I would take him to the vet. Dogs will often snap at people if they are sick or in pain.

Not normal for him at all.

I'll be making a vet appointment to rule that out.

And immediately start giving your dog more exercise, even if it's throwing a ball back and forth inside the house. Walks or run in the yard. I bet your dog is really missing the exercise.

Funny, a neigbhbors jack russell bit me for no reason (my finger). Adorable dog, who also needed the ball to be tossed to him for a good hour a day....so it made me think of your dog.

Re: dog bit my son. need advice.

Re: dog bit my son. need advice.

Re treadmills....


This wasn't stated but I wanted to say you have to be very careful with a small dog on a human treadmill. The dog would need close supervision, the dog would need to be trained how to use it, cannot be left alone on the treadmill etc. You obviously cannot leash the dog to the treadmill for strangulation reasons. Just wanted to state what should be the obvious, just in case, for the dog's safety.

Message edited 2/6/2013 11:39:14 AM.