Aggressive Behaviour from ****zu

dub_dan

My family has had a Shih Tzu for about 4 or 5 years now, from a pup,, he's always been a bit touchy, if he's sleeping and you had to move him he'd give you a little growl, harmless though.

Yesterday he hurt his paw, my mam was trying to get a closer look when he bit her, it didnt break the skin but left a nice bruise and indentation on her hand. She was very shaken by this as he is very well looked after (especially by my mam, walks etc) and thought there was a certain amount of respect there.

She brought him to the vet and he basically said the dog should never do that even if you try to touch his injured paw, he told her to watch his behaviour and said if he got anybody outside my family like that they would have grounds to get him put down. Something we would never ever consider at the time.

Then today everyone ignored him (because he bit my mam), didnt get the same level of attention he normally gets, wasn't allowed wander the house like normal.

This afternoon he bit my dad as he went to pet him (felt sorry for the dog being ignored with the bandaged foot and all)

This bite was pretty serious, dad had to go to hospital get anti-biotics and tetnis etc.....

We were talking afterwards saying how lucky if was my dad he got and not some little child or similar. (silver lining?)
Now my parents are getting the dog put down I think, I can see their point but they're both very emotionally attached to him.

What should we do

Jules

Very fine line you have there, the vet say that your dog should never do that is jsut plain wrong. If you hurt your hand and someone was messing at it, maybe making it worse or more sore i would hope you would tell them to leave you alone. Unfortunately dogs can't take and they communicate by barking growling wagging the tail and biting. Maybe your mum should not of touch his paw.

Now as for your dad, that is a more difficult one to call. Did he touch the dogs paw, or if the dog noticed everyone was ignoring him and your dad kinda went to touch him without calling him or something he might of gotten a shock... there are so many angles you can take this from.

Is he around little children often or is it a case of he goes out alone, or off the lead that he could get him/herself into those kinds of situations? If not possible think of giving him another change. As i said the 1st time he did it the situation was a stressful one for him.

My two cents.. and i think the spelling your looking for is Shih Tzu

monkeyfudge

Gotta love the good old swear filter though...

peasant

jules80 wrote:

As i said the 1st time he did it the situation was a stressful one for him.

agreed ..and possibly the second situation as well.

Ok ...I'm making wild assumptions here:

You say he's been "touchy" from the beginning ..I'd say he's been bossy !

Mom's little darling, probably a bit spoiled and let away with quite a lot of things ...he might think he's king of the heap.

Now ...first time round he was in pain (like jules80 said) and that's why he bit (probably also because he hasn't learned to be handled) ...second time round his whole world was turned upside down (being ignored and pushed to the margins) ...so he was grumpy AND in pain.

Sounds to me like your whole family needs some advice from a good trainer on how to manage the dog without over-doing it and without swinging from one extreme to the other.

In the meantime, keep him safe, on a lead and away from children.

dollydishmop

monkeyfudge wrote:

Gotta love the good old swear filter though...

LOL...maybe if it was spelt correctly the swear filter wouldn't get so upset

shih tzu

Yup...no swear filter

As far as that vet's advice...he/she's plain wrong IMHO.

As others have pointed out his paw will be painful. He can't verbally tell you to 'get off', but he can react in a way that gets the message across.

At this stage to be considering having him put down is in my opinion an over-reaction.

Glowing

Don't be too hasty ...

Has the dog been neutered? If not, this should be the first step .....

michelleans

monkeyfudge wrote:

Gotta love the good old swear filter though...

lol i was thinking the same thing!

I have a german shepherd and once he cut his paw (quite badly actually). When I went to examine it, (bending over) he simply licked my face... Now, all dogs are different, but i put my dogs not biting (ever, in any situation) down to how i've trained him, and his trust in me as his leader and caregiver.

peasant put it very well. It seems the dog is the boss in that house and seeing a dog trainer/behaviourist would help your parents out loads.

I'm angered to hear that they are even considering putting the dog down!! If a child pushes one of its parents off in frustration or pain should it be put down also? :rolleyes:

houndsoflove

dub_dan, the same thing happened to me today!

I had a male shihtzu he is 5yrs old and he had a very bad experience with a dog groomer when he was younger. The groomer must have either cut his paw or grabbed him by it.

To this day no one even the owner can touch his paw he will snap and even bite. (as i found out) The owner got him sedated at the vets and then came to me to groom him, it was all going well until i went to touch his paw he turned and gave my arm a nasty bite didn't break the skin just a sore bruise. He didn't get much sedation because of his age.

dub_dan maybe your shihtzu had a bad experience too?

nicola :eek:

Schlemm

My dog is 12 and he's shown behavior like that sometimes. If he's hurt he hates anyone going near the injury and will sometimes show you that he'd bite you if you went any further eg he'd open his mouth but wouldn't actually bite. He does the same when you're clipping his nails...I've never cut past the quick but he must've had a bad experience having them done somewhere else or something. If you push him too far he'd nip you alright but thankfully he's a small dog and won't inflict much damage.

TBH some dogs are just like your dog...they are usually a bit spoiled and will get stroppy sometimes if they're being bothered. A dog who shows this kind of behavior is a liability especially around kids and people who aren't used to dogs. But IMO having him put to sleep is a bit extreme and I'd be inclined to try training before going down that road. If you've ever seen that show 'It's Me or the Dog', that kind of aggressive behavior can be eradicated with persistence and clever training, and you'd need to hire a professional and invest in a few good books. And as Glowing said, getting him neutered is also a good step. His behaviour is far less threatning than some aggression I've seen and based on your description it does seem to be the sort of problem that would respond to some good professional training and also dedication on you and you're familys part.

I think what the vet meant is that he'd have to be put to sleep if he bit anyone else and they were taking action, which is true. But I wouldn't have him destroyed without at least trying to right his behavior first.

Ruby Soho

This is a dog who thinks he is boss, plain and simple. Any dog who knows his place in the pack knows it is not acceptable to bite pack leaders, or anybody for that matter. I frequently deal with dogs who would never dare bite, even in pain (I work with a vet), thats not a valid excuse. I also don't think that letting your dog away with growling at you from the sofa is on either, if i tell my dogs to get down off the furniture, they get down immediately, no growling, no hesitation. I'm not bullying, they know they're place thats all. Behaviour like this needs to be nipped in the bud (pardon the pun), or you will have a pushy, aggressive dog on your hands who thinks he can control everyone around him by biting. Get the dog neutered and make sure he knows he's a dog, not the head of the family.

comongethappy

I agree with many other posters on this forum - the dog needs behaviour training. I'm surprised the vet didn't suggest this to your parents. Many little dogs can develop big attitudes without proper training. I'm sure within a few weeks of training, your parents will find that their old dog (but less bossy) is back to normal