Help! Bite incidents with my three year old :( - Page 2

[greenmagick]

Originally Posted by chewynotcrunchy 

I hate to be the mean one, but if an animal bites, it is out of my household.  No second chances with my children.  Find it a home with an elderly couple. Having been a vet tech for 8 years, I don't mess around with any sort of aggression.  I realize it is a lot easier to say that than when it isn't your animal and your children that are attached to it.  I hope things work out for you!!!

Seriously?  We are talking about a PUPPY here...they bite, they nip, they do all kinds of crazy puppy antics.  

And its not like its easy to find these random elderly couples to take biting dogs or young energetic puppies in.  IMO it is often (not always) very irresponsible to rehome a problem dog.  It is your responsibility to fix the issues, not someone elses, again especially as we are talking about a puppy nipping here!

Now in a situation where a house is just to chaotic or energetic to rehab a truly fearful dog, maybe rehoming would work but still it is not easy to find a suitable home who has experience rehabbing fear issues.

[Lookingup]

Yes, I might be naive... but what happened definitely seemed like wild puppy behavior, not fear aggression, etc.  Her tail wagged the whole time.  No growling. 

We've been working with her and things have gotten better.  She still views the boys as puppies, so I have to keep a close eye on her.  But I need to work with the boys as much as Moya; if they don't want her to get riled up, then they need to not play rough with her!  It's tempting, but they're getting the picture.  And she gets excited when they wrestle and wants to join in, so that's when I leash her and bring her to another room.

[Xeli]

I just wanted to say that it sounds like you are doing everything right.  I grew up around a ton of dogs, and I was unsupervised all of the time with them, after all, it was back in the day and I lived on a farm.  The whole keeping your kids supervised when around the dog thing was very anti-Lassie! 

I guess what I am saying is that yes, you should have been supervising.... BUT, these things happen.  Do not feel guilty or upset about it.  The fact you are immediately looking for solutions shows what a great Mom AND Dog-Mom you are!

[tinuviel_k]

Originally Posted by bygones75 

Yes, I might be naive... but what happened definitely seemed like wild puppy behavior, not fear aggression, etc.  Her tail wagged the whole time.  No growling. 

We've been working with her and things have gotten better.  She still views the boys as puppies, so I have to keep a close eye on her.  But I need to work with the boys as much as Moya; if they don't want her to get riled up, then they need to not play rough with her!  It's tempting, but they're getting the picture.  And she gets excited when they wrestle and wants to join in, so that's when I leash her and bring her to another room.

One of the best things we did to help with the "children are puppies" problem was to have DD completely control Merlow's feeding and start getting involved in daily training. (Supervised, of course). Your kiddos are younger than mine, but you might be able to try something like this with a lot of guidance and supervision.

We started this technique after Merlow had nearly perfect food manners with adults. It won't work otherwise.
At each meal DD (age 7) would hold Merlow's meal (with me holding Merlow until I could trust her not to jump or steal it). Merlow would need to sit and lay down, then wait patiently. When she'd calmed down enough DD would put the food down and give the "OK." Then several times during the meal we would take the food away, have Merlow sit, and then DD would give her the "ok" again. We also had her do training with the pup every day: lots of "sit," "down," "wait," etc. And lots of food rewards for good behavior.
It took only a week of this for Merlow to start treating our daughter with a lot more respect. Within a couple weeks the puppy nipping had vanished. Merlow now seems to view DD as a playmate, but also as a boss and takes play cues from her.

Of course, all this also required a lot of kid training, as well. We had to coach DD in body language, firmness, and a clear voice. We especially had to show her how not to run when she gets overwhelmed by the pup and not to jerk things out of the pup's reach (which just enoureged Merlow to jump for it). The more confidence she gained the better everything went.
Edited by tinuviel_k - 12/23/10 at 12:47pm

[Lookingup]

Originally Posted by Xeli 

I just wanted to say that it sounds like you are doing everything right.  I grew up around a ton of dogs, and I was unsupervised all of the time with them, after all, it was back in the day and I lived on a farm.  The whole keeping your kids supervised when around the dog thing was very anti-Lassie! 

I guess what I am saying is that yes, you should have been supervising.... BUT, these things happen.  Do not feel guilty or upset about it.  The fact you are immediately looking for solutions shows what a great Mom AND Dog-Mom you are!

What a nice thing to say.  Thank you.

[Lookingup]

Those are very good tips.  We're already doing the meal routine, but I think having the boys help with training would be helpful as well.  Sometimes I get so overwhelmed with my day that things get rushed, and that's usually when baby puppy behavior results.  I'm going to go work with them all right now!
 

Originally Posted by tinuviel_k 



One of the best things we did to help with the "children are puppies" problem was to have DD completely control Merlow's feeding and start getting involved in daily training. (Supervised, of course). Your kiddos are younger than mine, but you might be able to try something like this with a lot of guidance and supervision.