My dog bit my son...help

[Christina p]

My family has a 14 mos old beagle. He has an aggressive streak in him. All other times he is an adorable mush. We have a 6 mos husky female. When we got her, our beagle started to get aggressive towards her. He will attack her and will not stop biting down on her, till one of us pulls him off of her. The other day, our beagle attacked our husky while they were out side with my 10 year old son. My son tried to pull our beagle off of her, because I was still inside. When I got out side, our beagle has bitten my son hard enough to puncture his wrist, and pull some meat out when he retracted. I feel we should give our beagle another home, so he will not bite one of us again. My husband feels he did not mean to bite our son, and does not want to rid of the dog. Any other opinions? By the way, he is neutered. He has shown aggression towards both my son and I in the past, multiple times.

[Husky_mom]

he definately needs to be worked with... the girl is making him protective of his turf.. and you husband is right, he didn´t mean to but your son got in the way..

your beagle need to learn he shall not do that.. he needs correction but nor punishment.. he needs to learn that that actions are not good

try praising him when he is near her and he remains calm, so he associates her being near is not a bad thing at all and will get him somethign good out of it..

[Karen]

You do not need to rehome the dog. You need to retrain him, and your son needs to know what to do if the situation ever happens again. Trying to insert yourself between two fighting dogs is the fastest way to get bitten.

You, and probably your son as well, should sign up for an obedience class with the dog. It is not so much to teach him tricks as it is to establish good rules of behavior and respect and communication with your dog. Rehoming him would just give the problem to someone else.

He needs to be trained, the sooner the better.

[Dee M]

Hi Christina,

I hope your son is doing okay. It is really traumatic to get bitten, especially if it is your own dog! Try to explain to him that the dog did not know what he was doing because he was in the middle of a fight. (You can compare it to a toddler having a temper tantrum.) I find it is best to spray fighting dogs with water, either from a hose or spray bottle. It surprises them and doesn't hurt them. You might also want to tell your son never to go near a dog that is hurt because they will also bite without realizing what they are doing.

I agree that the dog needs training, but he also needs lots of attention, praise when he is being good, and ignoring when he is causing problems. (That might solve some of the Alpha dog problems going on.) The training will give you lots of opportunities to praise the dog and establish who is boss!

Keep us posted.

[buttercup132]

What a mess..

What was your 10 yr old son doing alone with 2 dogs kown to not get along?
What are 2 dogs doing being left alone together after knowing what your Beagle does period?

You stick your hand in a dog fight your gonna get bit and if you dont well you are damn lucky but it's always a slim slim chance you wont get bit..

You and your whole family need to work on the dog not just pawn him off to someone else because your not being a good owner.

Start doing NILIF with him and get him into obedience.

[DriftyAlison0]

Is he netured? If not then Neturing should help.

[Karen]

She mentioned that he is neutered. So training, and training, and training are what is most needed here.

[CountryWolf07]

I had a Beagle for the last 6 years - When she was nearly a year old, she bit my brother once.. but it was due to "startling" her by accident. So, what did we do with her? We trained her. So training is what you need to do. He has to realize that they both SHARE that same turf in the backyard.