Rescued dog random 'fear biting'?

Hi all, I am new here and was hoping for some advice.

In Aug 08 my husband & I rescued a 25lb 7yo cocker spaniel mix. His blurb was that his family couldn't afford him any longer and he really loved cats (which we have 2 of). He immediately bonded to me, loved our cats and was pretty good with my husband. In June 08 when he was brought to the shelter he was neutered and a skin flap growth was removed from his back end so he was pretty sensitive and we asked people to be careful of his sensitive areas. The vet checked him out and said he appeared healthy.

But anyway, he will bite sometimes and I think he might be partially a fear biter and somewhat of a territorial biter as well. He usually will bite if someone he doesn't know well is petting him while sitting next to him and either acts nervous or stops paying attention to him but continues petting him. He does not clench down and has only broken skin once bc my 10yo cousin was trying to pull him by his collar down my mothers steps on our first visit there and his tooth hit her cheekbone. Otherwise he will just sort of cover the area with his mouth for a second after snarling. The weirdest part is he will then come back for more petting and affection and act sorry for what he did!!

Only once or twice he has exhibited territorial biting. Within the first few weeks we had him he chased someone walking out of our apartment and tried to bite his ankle. Luckily his pants were thick enough. I think it might have been because he was walking out of the room and in a room by himself so the dog felt like he needed to protect our space. A few weeks after that he growled at another man that was in the apartment who walked into a room we were not all in. But he did not bite that time.

I thought he might be getting over it because he hadn't bitten anyone in a few months but he seems to get in a funk. I notice he will be stubborn about going to the bathroom outside (usually if it's rainy) so we'll have to put him in his cage for awhile. That happened a couple days in a row and then a girl he'd never met stopped by and was a little nervous of him but was petting him and he bit her hand. A few days later he bit my husbands little sister in the same manner on her hand. Then last night he bit my husband!! He does not like when my husband hugs him and he's growled before if he hugs him and buries his face in his side, but this time he actually bit him when my husband was trying to get him to accept him. I am not sure if it is because he had a strange scent on him from being at his uncle's for a few hours or if it was purely bc he got scared. My husband is harsh with him sometimes in reprimanding so I think he is just a little scared of him in general. (He yells loudly and slaps him on the butt pretty hard and sometimes throws things in anger, not at the dog but at a wall or on the floor).

Either way this is not acceptable so I think I might muzzle him in public. I was wondering if anyone has had similar experiences and if it has ever been corrected in any of your older dogs. My husband thinks that if he yells really loud and slaps the dog on the butt hard it will teach him, but I'm not sure that is true, especially with an older abused dog. I find it interesting that all of his bad behavior seems to come on at once (accidents in the house and moodiness). I wonder if he has bipolar disorder sometimes!!

No loud shouting and NO SLAPPING hard or soft.

These are attack actions and will only increase the dog's level of anxiety.

Please consider taking an dog obedience course, and make sure hubby attends regularly. (Oh, take the dog as well.)

You really can't allow biting to go on like this, you have to take some action before you have a liability suit, and a dog which is ordered put down.

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He does not like when my husband hugs him and he's growled before if he hugs him and buries his face in his side, but this time he actually bit him when my husband was trying to get him to accept him.My husband is harsh with him sometimes in reprimanding so I think he is just a little scared of him in general. (He yells loudly and slaps him on the butt pretty hard and sometimes throws things in anger, not at the dog but at a wall or on the floor).

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This is rather disturbing. Your dog obviously does not enjoy having parts of his body touched, and, in return, he gets slapped and yelled at? That's not right. That's not dog training. That's not even heavy-handed compulsion training. It's "Accept me or I'll hurt you". What kind of dog would respond positively to that? Also, please tell your husband that humans hug - dogs do not. Hugging a dog is threatening and domineering. Your dog and your husband obviously have not built enough rapport to allow this type of touch. Yelling, scaring, and hurting the dog is not going to build rapport - he's only worsening the vicious cycle.

I apologize if that comes off harsh, but your husband has a very very very old-school mindset and, obviously, it's not working and it's not going to work. Even if your husband manages to suppress the dog's biting and growling, the fact is that your dog doesn't enjoy being touched in that way and will continue to view these situations as negative and unenjoyable = serious trouble in the future.

First thing is first: Check that he's medically sound. 7 years old and up is when most dogs start to become more sensitive and more arthritic. If your dog is arthritic, he's nipping and growling when people touch him because he's in pain. It's not something to be punished then; it's something to be managed.

Second: You need to POSITIVELY and gradually teach your dog that touch is a good thing. You can accomplish this through desensitization and counter-conditioning. Counter condition = teach dog that touch is a positive thing via short training sessions of 1) touch 2) click/treat/praise. Desensitize = increase frequency and intensity of the touch, i.e. rub his tummy more firmly, touch sensitive areas like ears/neck, etc.

Third: Your dog and your hubby need to work on their relationship. Begin Nothing in Life is Free (NILIF): http://k9deb.com/nilif.htm
Also, I would highly encourage both of you to read this book, How to be Leader of the Pack... and Have Your Dog Love You For It:
http://www.patriciamcconnell.com/pro...er-of-the-pack

Fourth: If you really feel uncomfortable, seek a good, reputable, positive reinforcement trainer. From what you wrote, your dog is not responding well to heavy handed tactics. So understand why he's acting negatively, respond to him, and train him to use his brain and seek the positive alternative (i.e. instead of nipping the stranger, have him sit/stay while the stranger tosses him treats). Be sure that your trainer understands your pup's needs, and you all will go far :)

Hi guys, thank you for the tips. My husband's brother has a large yellow lab and if the dog is bad he said that his brother punishes it by yelling at him and open hand slapping him so he knows not to do it again, and apparently it's a really good & friendly dog. Maybe he is just lucky, or maybe because the dog is so large the hitting doesn't even hurt or phase him. Whereas our dog is 25lb and has very short little dachshund legs, it probably hurts and affects him more, especially since we haven't had him since puppyhood. Plus I think my brother and his dog have a bond more like me and our dog (more trusting). I admit I have slapped him before too, but I am a lot more gentle and he doesn't seem to mind or hold a grudge. If he poos on the carpet for example I will make him come stand by it, hold his nose down to it and lightly slap his bum and tell him sternly 'NO'. He understands that at least.

When I think about it, I think some of the times he has bitten has been partially my fault by letting him be so quickly and overtly exposed to new people when he is a nervous dog. He is just tricky because he seems like he wants to be around the new people but I know deep down he is not that trusting. I think I just keep wanting to think he will get better after he is with us longer just naturally because he is so good with me. In terms of the hugging, he LOVES to cuddle usually, especially with me. He just gets nervous randomly for some reason. He was leaning into my husband and trying to cuddle when he bit. My husband just noticed if his face was not able to be seen the dog does not like that. He was testing the boundaries, but I guess not a good idea!

We have been thinking of an obedience course. I will try and find one nearby that has good reviews. It's funny because he is so well behaved at the vet and when we took him to the kennel while we went to Disney World the girls there LOVED him. But I always warn them they may have to muzzle him and they just laugh at me... but if I ever take him to Petco again or out in public I'm definitely going to buy a little nylon muzzle because little kids do not understand it's not OK to just run up to a dog they don't know. They think he is a cute little puppy and flock to him. He seems deceptively friendly.

My question is will my training him on touch affect him since he already doesn't mind when I touch him? He likes me to touch him, it's strangers he's got a problem with. Even my husband and people he's met a good number of times have to hit that sweet (or not so sweet) spot to get anything out of him. .. .And yeah, we are going to take him to the vet too I think for a checkup again.

Labs have extremely high pain tolerances. That's what makes them such good family dogs. It's because they can withstand a LOT of pain and they do it happily. Slap a lab? Get licked/wagged/panted on. Slap a smaller dog? Ehh... not such a happy response. That's why families with small children are so often recommended Labs- because there's less chance of the dog being hurt by the children and vice versa.

As for your pup, train what he lacks.

If he's not completely okay with strangers, use the touch desensitization training with strangers. Have a close friend or family member come to your house and just spend a couple relaxing hours working on that. If he's not completely okay with your husband, have him use the touch desensitization.

Rules and schedules are very important. Lay down some rules now, and teach your pup to be a confident, obedient dog. Remember, he's always learning, so always keep teaching!

Thanks again :)

We started it a little last night, but it's funny because even with my husband he's fine 99% of the time. I was breaking up a very small treat into tiny pieces because I don't want him getting fat since he's mostly just always good and would get the treat, haha. But I also noticed last night that if he is eating and I pat his back he is fine but if I move my hand closer to his dish on his head he growls somewhat. So when I noticed that I immediately made him stop eating and sit and wait. Then I let him go back, did that a number of times and he stopped the growling. But then he did it again this morning, so I guess it will just take time, but that is one thing I can work on a lot. I'm not sure if in his mind he can relate learning THAT to help him learn other good behaviors, but I hope so. I taught him not to bite my hand when I am giving him a treat and he's usually very good about that now.

This poor little dog literally did not know what a treat was when we first got him. Well he didn't know any of the key words like "treat" "snack" or "cookie" at least. And he didn't even know how to play with toys, which he now LOVES. We'd try to play tug of war or throw a ball or a stuffed animal for him to go get and bring back and he didn't know what we meant. It's funny how fast they learn when it's a repetitive teaching though, so I hope we can help him with the other stuff :)