Serious Question

We adopted Benny from a shelter about 2 weeks ago.. in those 2 weeks he was really sick, nebulized for three days and came home. He has been a dream! No accidents..so sweet... until last night. I was holding him on my couch and my parents were over. We were watching tv and they were going to leave. My mom came over and pet benny and pet his paws.. she was talking to me as she did this and he growled. My mom said did he growl? I said I havent heard him do that before, I dont know. With this she pet him again and he lunged at her a bit her forehead. It is a tiny mark, but he drew blood.

What do I do?? We eventually want to have chidren and I dont want to have to worry about a agressive dog. Can this be fixed? He is a 2 yr old mixed breed.. beagle and lab.

Please help..

Re: Serious Question

I rescued my dog and sometimes he can do this as well. Some dogs have problems with territory issues. If I am on the couch and the dog is comfortable my dog with growl if I invade his space. Your dog may have been anxious or just not feeling well. Also most dogs do not like their paws touched. There must have been something the dog felt threatened or dominated.
You do not really know what happened before you got this dog that is what is so hard to deal with when you have a rescued pet. I would consider talking to a professional dog behavior specialist. Sometimes the place where you rescued the animal has someone there you can speak to. Don't give up on the doggy I doubt he meant to cause harm to your mom. Good Luck!

Re: Serious Question

Check out the book "Leader of the Pack." It gives a lot of good ways to establish that you are the leaders of the family, not the dog, and might help with aggression because some dogs act aggressively out of feeling they need to be in charge, establish order, and/or protect their humans.

If you had the dog up on the couch with you (was he on your lap??), according to what I remember from the book, you can send the message to him that he's important, even more important than you if he's physically up high/on top of you, therefore will be protective of his status (read: aggressive towards people who invade his space).

Also, your mom probably shouldn't ignore the "warning" if he growls at her again when she does something. Leave him be for a little while, try again later. Did you correct him when he growled and bit her?

If you guys stay on top of it, he'll probably be fine. The fact that he's been sweet otherwise is a good thing - he's still new to your family, and meeting new people and figuring everything out. Good luck

Re: Serious Question

sorry that happened to your mom. I think you should look into some training. I know alot of dogs that HATE having their paws touched, not sure why but a good trainer can help you (and the dog) work through this aggression

Re: Serious Question

and I agree that once he growled, he was warning her that he did not like something she did, I do not think she should have went back in to pet him again...NOT saying that it is her fault but he DID warn her by growling, KWIM

I hope your mom is okay

Re: Serious Question

What I got from your story is that he was on your lap - right there, he's claimed you as his own. Your mother pet an area that some dogs are protective of (how would you feel if a stranger stroked your feet?). He warned her that he didn't like it but neither of you corrected him so he wasn't told that growling wasn't allowed. Then she continued and her face was close enough for him to reach with his mouth. All bad things.

Until you can get him into a formal training class (please do, soon), keep in mind that no one should put their face that close to him, it's uncomfortable for many of them. Also keep in mind that it would be a terrible thing to 'put up' with this kind of behavior until you had children and then it became 'unacceptable'. You need to learn how to resolve these situations now. It's never too late, no need to jump to that conclusion straight off without learning about what causes these situations and how to work on them.

Cesar's book is excellent, so is The Other End of the Leash by Patricia McConnell. They can teach you signs that a dog is anxious and how to overcome that. There have been many threads here about training you could search for, even your local Petco is a start!

I'm very glad he's feeling better by the way. Did you post pics of him yet? I haven't seen any and I'd love to see him!

Re: Serious Question

thanks for all your replies. DH is talking to a trainer now... here are some pics

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Re: Serious Question

You sure have been through the ringer with this dog! Sorry that happened to your mom.

The thing is, regardless of the idea of taking a growl as a warning sign and all that, a child, especially a small child, won't know any better than to go up to the dog and touch its paws and could get bit. So I think if children are ever going to be living with Benny you will need professional trainers and/or behavioral specialists to work with him to work through his aggression.

I also had a dog from a shelter once that did not like for you to touch her paws, she would pull them back away but never growled, but in 10 years she never got over that. Who knows what these poor dogs go through before you get them but I'm sure it's something that can be dealt with appropriately with proper training. But a bite that draws blood from someone's face is serious enough to immediately get professional help - if it was a stranger that got bit in the face they could try to have the dog put down.

Good luck!

ETA: Just saw the pic and he is very cute!!!

Message edited 12/18/2009 1:52:22 AM.

Re: Serious Question

He is adorable!! Thank you for posting a picture, I love the beagle/lab mixes I saw on Petfinder, thought they were super cute.