Re: biting

In Reply to: biting
Posted by:  TI M O'CONNELL
Posted on:  July 30, 2001 at 11:33:12

: Saturday we came from a party where I was petting another dog.When I came home I was petting our dog SCRAPPYwhilespeaking to him when suddenly he showed his teeth bit me on the finger jumped up on the couch growling and snarling and bit my arm.He broke the skin with both bites.He then ran to his crate.I pulled him out and threw him into the garage.He IS 6 1/2 and this is not the first time this happened.I don't want to put him to sleep but I don't know what to do.I'm afraid he's going to bite someone and we'll be sued.We tried a trainer when he was younger.One he bit and the other never came back to our house.I'm wondering if he can be placed in a rescue situation because frankly he is starting to scare me

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Hi Tim,

Sorry to hear of your problems with Scrappy.

Some dogs are aggressive due to poor breeding, some get aggressive out of fear and some because nobody in the house established themselves as leader.

If you have ruled out any type of medical condition that could be causing Scrappy to bite, then you may have to use not a trainer, but a behavorist.

Remember to that if you act aggressive with Scrappy that is only going to make your situation even worse. Aggression begets aggression, especially with terriers.

Frankly I don't like the idea of trainers coming to the house, especially with a dog like Scrappy. You want to take him out of the environment he feels protective of and get him on neutral territory.

This is something you need to discuss with a behavorist and your vet. If they assess the dog as having inherited aggression then my suggestion to you is to have the dog put down.

Rescues will not take biters. There are too few people willing to put up with this behavior and certainly they don't have enough time to deal with this type of situation. There is also the liabilities of placing a ticking time bomb. There are far too many terriers without this type of problem out there looking for good homes.

Sorry I can't be of more help to you.

Marie