My dog bit my husband today ..... We are gutted

CeNedra

We have a beautiful 9 year old Llewlyn setter. Until today the most placid dog I have ever encountered. One of my kids regularly hangs out with him and he has always reacted well with her.

My husband is the dogs master, he takes him off in his car all the time and generally they hang out. Good buddies.

Today I was unloading shopping from my car. Our dog has never been in my car but he came booting around the house and jumped in. I could not get him out so called my husband. The dog growled at my husband and had literally to be lifted out of the car. He then made several attempts to get back to my car and when my husband stopped him, by holding his collar, he bit him. Drew blood.

I have never seen our dog growl before and am shocked at the behavior today. Came out of nowhere.

If he will bite my husband the dog is not going near the children!! My confidence is shattered. I am so confused. At age 9 he goes off the rails?????

It is not long since he was at a vet who was very happy with him.

Any ideas how to approach this? He is a part of the family and I would like to figure out how to regain confidence. If I can't let him out of his run when the kids are out his quality of life will deteriorate so I don't want that. But safety first with the children.

ppink

If it is completely out of character for him to be that way with the car then I would be taking him to the vet in case there is something wrong with him.

CeNedra

Yep I think we will do that. He is not acting sick, spent the morning running around with his tail in the air, without a care. Came out of nowhere. But will call the vet for a talk and bring him in for a check.

borderlinemeath

CeNedra wrote: »

We have a beautiful 9 year old Llewlyn setter. Until today the most placid dog I have ever encountered. One of my kids regularly hangs out with him and he has always reacted well with her.

My husband is the dogs master, he takes him off in his car all the time and generally they hang out. Good buddies.

Today I was unloading shopping from my car. Our dog has never been in my car but he came booting around the house and jumped in. I could not get him out so called my husband. The dog growled at my husband and had literally to be lifted out of the car. He then made several attempts to get back to my car and when my husband stopped him, by holding his collar, he bit him. Drew blood.

I have never seen our dog growl before and am shocked at the behavior today. Came out of nowhere.

If he will bite my husband the dog is not going near the children!! My confidence is shattered. I am so confused. At age 9 he goes off the rails?????

It is not long since he was at a vet who was very happy with him.

Any ideas how to approach this? He is a part of the family and I would like to figure out how to regain confidence. If I can't let him out of his run when the kids are out his quality of life will deteriorate so I don't want that. But safety first with the children.

How long is it since he's been at the vet? If the behaviour is completely out of character you cannot rule out illness or injury. Also if he was held by the collar and he has pain in that area then it's in every dogs nature to protect themselves if they are in pain. He could have an ear infection, a toothache, his sight may be deteriorating (setters are prone to PRA) and he could be disorientated. Any number of things may be affecting him but you might have missed the signs.

I would bring him to the vet for a full health assessment before you do anything. An assessment with a behaviourist may also help, they will assess him and pick up signs that the average pet owner won't see and can work with the whole family along with the dog to regain confidence in the dogs behaviour.

Mr. Presentable

borderlinemeath wrote: »

How long is it since he's been at the vet? If the behaviour is completely out of character you cannot rule out illness or injury. Also if he was held by the collar and he has pain in that area then it's in every dogs nature to protect themselves if they are in pain. He could have an ear infection, a toothache, his sight may be deteriorating (setters are prone to PRA) and he could be disorientated. Any number of things may be affecting him but you might have missed the signs.

I would bring him to the vet for a full health assessment before you do anything. An assessment with a behaviourist may also help, they will assess him and pick up signs that the average pet owner won't see and can work with the whole family along with the dog to regain confidence in the dogs behaviour.

I would go along with this, but continue to be very careful with your children. A constant in almost all dog attacks on children is that the dog never showed aggression before.

Wibbs

Beyond the very possible physical illness idea it could "just" be a one off. On my right hand I bear the scar from a much loved doggie of mine who many years ago "out of the blue" bit me*. His canine went a good half inch/CM plus in, just missed tendons and arteries, though I bled like a stuck pig at the time and cried like a baby with it. He never did anything like that before or since, right up to the day he died of old age in my arms. It was just one of those things. I must have pushed his buttons when he was already having a bad day and that was the result.

With us humans a bad day might be a scowl, or a full on row, even getting physical. With a dog their only real response is a set of warning signals then a warning growl, then a warning bite. Easy to miss all of the above, until the dog thinks "ah here I love ye, but c'mon".

Cats may hiss and wriggle and scrape, even give a warning bite and cat lovers while obviously not happy about something like that, give the cat it's due and understand it. How many cats have been put down because of that kinda thing? Very few, yet dogs if they even give a hint of that are marked down as "dangerous". IMHO that's wrong. Very wrong.

Personally speaking, just as one swallow doesn't make a summer, one dog warning bite doesn't make for a dangerous animal. Especially if it's not in character. Where I would be concerned is when a dog presses the attack and doesn't stop at one bite. That's when I'd raise serious questions, that's when it is dangerous and that's when I'd consider rehoming/destroying the dog. From what you describe this doesn't sound like the case with your guy. PLus the car scenario as you say yourself was new to him, so IMHO you can't draw conclusions about his likely behaviour outside that scenario, especially with your kids, if he's not shown even the sniff of bad attitude in his 9 years.




*looking back he gave me major signals and I missed them.

650Ginge

It is a pretty awful thing to happen, you husband I am sure if very upset.

However dogs can't speak in the way we can, all they can do is growl and bark. After they try that they will bite, they have nothing else felt to say leave me alone. I think you need to be very careful with your dog, but importantly listen to him. Walk away, give him some time and if you cant convince him wait some more but dont force him into what he sees a corner. One bite doesn't mean it is the start of more biting. Dont make a quick decision after 9 years......

planetX

CeNedra wrote: »

We have a beautiful 9 year old Llewlyn setter. Until today the most placid dog I have ever encountered. One of my kids regularly hangs out with him and he has always reacted well with her.

My husband is the dogs master, he takes him off in his car all the time and generally they hang out. Good buddies.

Today I was unloading shopping from my car. Our dog has never been in my car but he came booting around the house and jumped in. I could not get him out so called my husband. The dog growled at my husband and had literally to be lifted out of the car. He then made several attempts to get back to my car and when my husband stopped him, by holding his collar, he bit him. Drew blood.

I have never seen our dog growl before and am shocked at the behavior today. Came out of nowhere.

If he will bite my husband the dog is not going near the children!! My confidence is shattered. I am so confused. At age 9 he goes off the rails?????

It is not long since he was at a vet who was very happy with him.

Any ideas how to approach this? He is a part of the family and I would like to figure out how to regain confidence. If I can't let him out of his run when the kids are out his quality of life will deteriorate so I don't want that. But safety first with the children.

Why was the dog so desperate to get into your car? could he smell food in there from the shopping, or was he hoping for a trip out? He came booting around the house to jump in - is it possible he was looking for sanctuary from the kids? I presume you had just arrived home, could something have happened in the garden while you were out?
The dog was in a corner and growling, and lifting him out of the car was probably not the best thing to do. The growl was his warning, and by physically forcing him, for whatever reason escalated the confrontation to the next level - it might help to have a behaviourist figure out why he was so threatened, and help you react appropriately.

puppieperson

Your husband is the dogs master how very telling this statement is perhaps he is tired of the mastership!! Dogs are very good character judges maybe he no longer likes your husbands character?
Even women go off their husbands why can't dogs??:D
Dont rush to the vets to kill him go to the vet get him checked out maybe he was guarding your car for you?
Dont be like the sniveling masses killing at the first bite if you have had him for 9 years he deserves a second chance......

ppink

puppieperson wrote: »

Dont be like the sniveling masses killing at the first bite if you have had him for 9 years he deserves a second chance......

no sniveling masses here i think........

CeNedra wrote: »

Any ideas how to approach this? He is a part of the family and I would like to figure out how to regain confidence. If I can't let him out of his run when the kids are out his quality of life will deteriorate so I don't want that. But safety first with the children.

boardbrowser

sorry to hear of your troubles with your setter. i'm curious to know however, if there has been any incidences of your dog growling in any other contexts previously?