Bad news about my younger dog

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We do not hit her and never have.

Ok now that that’s cleared up:

Last night my friend came over with her 5 year old and 8 year old.

The 8 year old walked past our almost 2 year old dog.

The dog leaped towards her and snapped at her.

Luckily my husband caught her mid air.

She only got the child’s shirt in her mouth.

The child was scared after that obviously.

I feel so bad.

I don’t know why the dog has become aggressive.

Luckily my friend wasn’t furious with me. We kept the dog on a short leash for the rest of the night.

The dog also goes after my husband if he goes near her mommy, my 19 year old daughter. I just don’t go near her anymore just in case. I keep my distance so I don’t know if the dog would come after me or not.

Normally, she comes to me for pets and play. And I do that with her.

I don’t want a dog that’s a danger to children. What if we have grandchildren?!

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Maybe a dog behavioral therapist can help? I remember there used to be a show about a Dog whisperer who helped in those cases.

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I’ve tried Cesar Milan’s techniques while training her and they didn’t work.

I’ll have to try other techniques.

My husband also tried his techniques without success so it’s not just me.

Weird.

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Maybe you can get a specialist involved? It’s sometimes hard to know all the right things to do based on a book.

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Hope your dog becomes less aggressive.

That’s pretty scary, I understand.

It’s one reason I felt tentative about my bf wanting a dog.

But I think it could be solved with a specialist like how @anon17326926 said.

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Socializing him around different kinds of people and dogs including children at an early age would be ideal but sometimes it’s not that simple
With that said my almost 1 year old Frenchie was not socialized properly because I could not expose him to various strangers when he was younger
I have agoraphobia so it’s hard to expose my dog to different people and dogs when you spend most days at home
He’s not aggressive with others but he gets very overly excited when he sees strangers or other dogs
Everyone is his friend

I would suggest hiring a dog trainer if he’s becoming aggressive @LilyoftheValley
Unless you want to re home him
Which I don’t think you want

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Yeah. We worked with one when we first got her. He charged us $400 for 1 day!

My daughter will need to save up some money so we can try another trainer.

@Zoe @Jonathan2 @Wave

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That’s very expensive. I had no idea of the rates. Maybe you can find a more affordable one?

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Yeah @anon17326926 . I’ll try to find a more affordable one

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@LilyoftheValley dog trainers are very expensive
If you can’t find an affordable trainer then you can find different online dog training videos
Hopefully you’ll pick up some important tips
Having an aggressive dog at home is a liability

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I agree. We can’t afford to get sued.

I’ll keep looking for training help.

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We used to have a beagle who was the friendliest dog, always wagging her tail and friendly to everyone. Except she didn’t like kids, she would always growl and try to bite them. I think it started when she was a puppy and some kids traumatized her by putting her in a carton and not letting her out. IDK what to say about your dog and children, you just have to be extra careful and keep an eye on her when she’s around them.

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Yeah. We plan to keep her on a short leash anytime children are around.

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Maybe you’ll have to muzzle her and keep her away in a closed room until your visitors leave. Accidents like that can’t happen. She’s protecting you all so I understand that.

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Very good idea @sweetpotatocasserole . I didn’t even think about a muzzle. But that would be the best thing to do. I’ll have my daughter get her one

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My bf wants to get a dog. Later. But this was one reason I was afraid. Plus the tearing up of sofas and shitting on floors.

Anyway, I still think dogs are worth it. As pets.

Well they have to be cos my bf wants one.

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We play with our dogs and trained them not to do that. We also give the younger dog lots of bones and toys to chew. Everytime she went to chew something we didn’t want her to chew, we said no, chew this, and gave her a bone or toy. It worked.

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Yeah, muzzle her and tell all visitors including kids to give her space. Good kids who listen will avoid her. For the ones who don’t, the worse that can happen is that she growls or lunges.

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When I was younger, my friend’s dog had a seizure one night. They only noticed because they were in the room when it happened. If they had been out for that minute, they would have no idea. After that, she became aggressive at random times. It wasn’t a training issue, it was brain damage. There was nothing they could do for her, unfortunately.

Probably not a very reassuring story, and probably not a common occurrence. I just wanted to illustrate that there can be reasons beyond training and experience that cause aggression in a dog. I know that for me, in terrifying situations, I default to trying to figure out what I did wrong, or how I could have prevented it. It creates the illusion that I have control over unpredictable situations, and the illusion that I can stop it from happening again. It also generates a bunch of useless guilt and shame that burns out my energy reserves without actually helping solve the problem that currently exists. You might not need this advice at all, but it’s the advice I would need, in your shoes. Don’t waste energy wondering whether or not you had some sort of failure to train your dog properly. Memories can distort over time, and are constantly colored by our current fears and biases. If you go looking for “reasons” it was your fault, you will likely find them whether they exist or not. This is not a reflection of you as a person. All you can do is help your dog now the best you can.

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I would never own a dog and this is only one of the very many reasons.

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