dog bit my 5yr old, 9yr old and me

[Michele Glass]

I am a f1b mini labradoodle owner. I live on an acre, and we've had our boy, Cody, for 2 yrs. He's been obedience trained and he's a very loving, fun, energetic, and smart dog. He has developed some
issues and he's started to become passive aggressive as the trainer
states. I have 3 gentle children who love Cody, but all 3 have been
subject to his aggression. I have also been a target and the trainer we
have been working with for 2 weeks is stumped because he's getting
worse not better.  The trainer says he's definitely fixable, but it will take time
and consistency which I'm willing to do, but .... I'm not willing to
risk my kids getting hurt.

Cody is just over 2 yrs old. He's white, 35 lbs., neutered, very well cared for and loved. He has learned agility in 4H, he's earned the CGC award
and he is obedience trained. He has a crate, that is his den, he loves
it. He is housebroken and very well mannered. He sits to be petted, he
stands at the door to be let outside when he needs to go potty. He
loves walks and heels nicely, he loves jogging and running along side
of me while I ride my bike. He loves the water and playing fetch. He
sits pretty when it's grooming time and he's got a beautiful woolly
coat. He's is an awesome dog, w/ issues towards guarding random things.
We never know what that item might be that turns on his aggression
which has makes it very hard for us to train him. We have never abused
him or mistreated him, we love him very much!!!

[Lori]

What were the situations when you & the kids were bitten? Did he break the skin, or was it a warning nip?
I wish you the best in getting this figured out, I too have little guys and have had to warn them about being too rough w/ Casper & not to go near him when he is sleeping. Of course when the dog is sleeping is a great time in their mind to go LAY on him & maul him...which leads to a warning growl. Good luck & let us know about the situations...maybe someone can help : )

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

What kind of training is he getting? Positive Reinforcement? Is he food or treat motivated? Are you and the kids a part of his training program?

[Lynne B]

If resource guarding is causing this, it should have been addressed by your trainer, it's not that hard of a problem to fix. You simply offer something more valuable than what the dog is guarding and when it accepts that instead of the bone/toy/food it is guarding you praise it and immediately give him back what he was trying to protect. It has to be done many times before the resource guarding really goes away, but it can be done.

I hope you have a trainer who uses positive reinforcement. I am a little troubled by your trainer's assessment of this as 'passive/aggressive' that is peculiar. That would imply that the dog is attacking without warning, and I would challenge that- dog's always give warning but it might not be a growl, it might be body language which a good trainer should be able to recognize

[Michele Glass]

Where do I begin, we've had about 5 more serious incidents in the past 2 weeks and lots of less serious ones.

When he was a puppy he has always had an issue w/ beanie babies stuffed animals. My kids had them all over the house and if he got one he would guard it and attack anyone that would come close. We finally took all of them out of the house and anything else he would try and guard. He bit me several times when trying to take these items away. I finally learned to offer treats instead. lol... I'm a slow learner. Anyway, he's been much better and we thought all was well. A few months ago the kids kept reporting to me that they would just walk by Cody and he would lunge at them and nip their pants or arm. He wouldn't bite or growl, but just grab their clothes. This was so weird, I didn't think it was aggressive. Then the next thing to happen was when we gave him a bone to chew on, whenever the kids or I came near he would get very still and guard it. If we came too close he would grab it and run in the other room. So curious as I was, I would follow him and try and take it. So sure enough, he started growling and I backed off. I made him drop it and took it and threw it away. Shortly after, my 5 yr old was approaching me while I was sitting at my desk. Cody was laying beside me, as my son approached me Cody jumped up and bit him in the face. Ok, I was getting upset now. I needed to figure out what was going on. The next incident was when I had given him another chew bone, he chewed on it about an hour every night until it was getting very small. When I asked him to drop it and he wouldn't, so I backed him into a corner and held his neck like I was taught in grooming class. He dropped his bone alright, then bit my hand ferociously and punctured it drawing blood. He took the bone back and ran, I found him again, worried about the bone being too small and could cause him to choke I wanted to get the bone back. I approached him and he bit my other hand. I probably asked for it by doing what I did, but it was quite shocking to understand he could be that viscous.

That's when I got the trainer involved. She told us to exercise him 2x a day on the treadmill, practice claiming our space by making him drop things and back away. And to feed him by touching his food w/ our hands to get our scent on it and making him sit before we give it to him 2x a day.

But the next incident, my 9 yr old daughter was practicing piano, while I was upstairs, she took a break and got down on the floor to pet Cody then decided to imitate Cody by acting like a puppy, sniffing things and crawling around. That's one of their favorite games is to act like puppies crawling around. Cody was standing beside her and just turned w/out warning and bit her on the face. He didn't draw blood but scratched her face up and it left a nice bruise. my older daughter came and told Cody NO, then put him in the cage, and by the time I got there it was over. I ended up getting Cody back out of the cage and putting him down in a submissive position w/ my 9yr old beside me and claiming our space while making him lay there like our trainer suggested. He layed there for a long time being very submissive w/ her there. I wanted him to have some consequence, but I'm not sure if it wasn't already too late by then. my 9yr old knew better than to do what she did, as we've talked about it, but she forgot. I just can't be there every second and I have to be able to trust the dog and/ or the kids at some point to do what they are supposed to.

Then last night I was again practicing making him drop it, I was waiting for him to drop it, he arched his back and lunged for my leg nipping and growling. He's never attacked like that before. This is the 2nd week of working with the trainer and things are getting worse.

I'm wandering if he needs a new home, or if we need a new trainer or what?

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

New trainer - try someone who really focuses on positive reinforcement, clicker training, etc...
I am absolutely no expert, but I can't even imagine our trainer making us put Peri in those submissive positions. Our trainer is certified every way you can name it and has a background in animal psychology. I think you need to find someone like that who does only positive reinforcement training. These behaviors can be fixed - I do not think Cody needs a new home at this point - I think he needs some positive reinforcement. As my trainer says "don't set them up to fail"....go at it very slowly until they learn that certain actions and behaviors get praise from us.

[Amanda and Quinn]

I totally agree with Allyson. We had resource guarding issues with Quinn when he was a puppy, and all of the work we did with our trainer was positive. We never used submissive positions or anything like that. It all revolved around making him see that we were not a threat to his food or stuff in any way. (She did tell us to keep him off the furniture until he was 2, especially beds, but not every trainer would say that.) And it worked. We still work on it all the time--she told us that we will always need to do maintenance work on the issue--but knock wood we have not had any problems since he was a young puppy. I know this goes way beyond just simple resource guarding, but I really think this is still something you can work on. And GOOD LUCK. I know this must be so sad and scary for your family.

[Lynne B]

Please find a new trainer, your trainer is making your dog afraid of you. All of this forcing a dog into submissive postures is outdated and dangerous. At this point I would guess that a positive reinforcement trainer might refer you to an animal behaviorist, try this link to find someone in your area who can help you:
http://www.ccpdt.org/index.php?option=com_mtree&Itemid=16

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

There are lots of positive reinforcement trainers that are also certified animal behavioralists too. Ours is. Thanks for the valuable link Lynne. Great resource.

[Abi and Remington]

Michele, I've got a great, SIMPLE, dog behavior & psychology book.  It's called "Dogs are from Neptune" by Jean Donaldson.  You may be able to get it at your library.  I found it very helpful. 

In January, my Remington was attacked at the dog park, we patched him up and he proceded to pass his CGC that same day.  Well the very same week he started biting my kids' feet.  We corrected this with punishment  to fix the problem of him biting BUT we also cut him some slack because we fiqured his injuries may still hurt even though they're not visiable.  We kept him in his crate more,  we supervised at all times and when he felt better he was my sweet Remington again.

The reasons for this story:

1) The book really helped me understand his thinking as well as give my solutions to problems I hope I'll never have to deal with like intense resorce guarding

2) To show that the reasons for some behaviors aren't cut and dry and don't always make sense right away to humans.

 

I say get the book and a new trainer.

Abi

[Golden Beauties Driven 2 Doodles]

Excellent book, excellent author.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Michele, if you can afford to possibly throw out some money, have a full thyroid panel done on Cody. A full blood panel, it will take about 2 weeks to get the results.
If you went to a professional veterinary dog behaviorist, the first thing they would do is a full medical work-up to be sure there isn't a physiological reason for this sudden aggression. The type of behavior you are describing is very typical of dogs with a thyroid disease.
Cody may very well not have one, but it would be a good idea to rule this out first, because in the event he does have a thyroid problem, nothing you or the trainer can do behaviorally will help.

[Heidi]

I agree with Karen to get medical advice first and then move on from there. I read somewhere to play a game with something he will give up then give it back. So if Cody will play fetch, get the toy and just simply give it back without throwing it, have him drop it and throw it or give it back to him. I wouldn't have the kids do this until you have it down with him though and closley supervised. Goodluck.