Biting Humans

[araine]

Let's begin with Nubi's complete history. Given to us as a 6 month old pup, she was suppose to be a gift to William since I already had Cassidy. Not knowing much of her history but that she had gone through 3 other owners, mostly young couples. When she first entered our household, she was shy, cowering, and had to come to us by crawling underneath all of our furniture and staying close to the walls. She always peed whenever we went to pet her, praise her. She never had too much interest for toys or food for treats for that matter. Over time, she became to come out of her shell, now over a year, has completely been comfortable in our home, playing, barking, licking, getting into mischief. In this year, she has made accomplishments, completed obedience training, walking to Petsmart, going to dog parks, walking around the block. However, over this year span, we have noticed possibly alarming traits. She growls at young children, head lowered, heckles high, evasive. Same for men, but she would bark, try to sniff them, but keep eye contact, and if they move, she would growl and bark and back away, but keep her eyes on them. Never has she ever attempted anything for months. About a month ago, we were leaving the dog park, and some kids came over to pet Cassidy and Nubi, Cassidy great with kids! Nubi however, nipped at one of the kids, me reading her body language, pulled her away in the exact instance preventing any damage. We leave the park. Then, last week She escape from the fence, and harassed some young kids walking to school. That scared me. Also at the dog park, kids were watching from the other side of the fence, and she charged the fence. I disciplined her for it. Then, I took her to the dog park yesterday and walked with a friend of mine around the acre of land while the dogs enjoyed themselves. This whole time, she was nipping my side, jumping up on me, grabbing at my hands, standing in my way, really annoying. Not sure what she wanted. I told my friend, she is trying to tell me something, but I am unsure of what or why. I shooed her to go play. Then, later we were standing and talking to groups of people, when Nubi came up, and grabbed the man's arm, causing him to jump back, and Nubi was in a somewhat aggressive pose. I grabbed Nubi and told her NO! and pulled her away, apologizing to my friend. He said no big deal don't worry about it. Then the second time was about 5 minutes later, she bit again, and I then leashed her up and removed her from the park. My friend was not upset, no skin was broken nor blood of that sort. But this really hit me. I put her in training to try to help with her socialization and confidence. I have taken her to new places for this as well. All of this work, and it doesn't seem to be working. I am at a loss of what to do. She has been on death row before for snapping at a child. (But I later found out their child was 5 years old, was deaf and had ADHD and cornered her, I would have snapped too!)It would be hard to find her a home, and I don't want to put her down. I talked with a trainer for nearly an hour last night to discuss personal training. $500 dollars later and of course lots of work. I don't mind the work. I have worked for over a year with her so far. But, it takes 2, and all in the family must be willing to work it out. My husband on the other hand, will not. He feels that Nubi is broken and cannot be fixed (I know is not true) and he doesn't feel he can take the time, nor do I feel he wants to. He would much rather take $500 dollars and put it towards Blu's training (4 months) to be properly trained or for a new starter for my car, etc. If he isn't willing to take the time, and I can't make him, then it's not worth the trainers time nor the money. I already seem to do everything myself in the first place. I take the 3 dogs for walks, feed them, clean the crates, train them, etc. I am just soooo tired...and I just don't know what to do. How to handle this. We rent as well, and can't risk the liability. I don't feel I should muzzle my dog in her house, nor should I have to
crate her when people come over. And I am also beginning to realize that, Nubi will never be the family dog I wanted her to be....to go hiking, family events, I can't even have friends over with kids, because I can't risk it on both ends. Any advice? Thanks,

[Tucker]

I don't have any advice, but I feel for you. This must be a real rough time.

[Double Trouble]

Oh I do sympathise though am really at a loss as to what to suggest. To my mind I would be worried about the apparent aggression towards children in particular. Although you have invested at lot of time, and of course, love into this dog, if the trust is not there, I'm not sure what you can do. It is so sad but could you live with yourself if Nubi really hurt someone? Have you consulted a registered pet psycologist rather than a trainer? This behaviour is most likely related to a poor, unfortunate start in life and you have done everything in your power to create a wonderful, happy home. An animal psycologist may be able to "read" Nubi's boby language and correct the problem. I wish you the best of luck, I hope there is a happy ending to your dilemma, please keep us all posted.

[RosCole]

I am so sorry you are going through this. This certainly is a sad, very hard situation. I believe that Nubi deserves a second chance and can be rehabilitated but as you said, you need all hands on deck for this one.
If it is beyond your capacity (it is A LOT to take on), maybe you can find someone who will be able to devote all of their time to her. Sounds like it might take her being the only dog so that all attention is on her.

It angers me to think what happened to this poor girl to make her the way she is.

I don't have much to offer here except prayers and postive thougths for a solution.

[Mel14]

First off I'm very sorry that you have to go through this. Now for the advice.

If you do not want to give her away or put her down, put a muzzle on her when you are out and about. It isn't cruel nor is it unfair to her as she can still play with other dogs and do everything else that she normally would do but she wouldn't be able to bite anyone. There is a dog who comes to my local dog park who wears a muzzle because he doesn't like kids and will bite them if they come near him. He is a happy little dog and enjoys himself at the park.

I know you said training may not be an option because of your husband not being on board but maybe look into personal protection training for her. Chances are you wont be able to train the agression out of her unless you get cesar millan's help, but at least with the personal protection training you'll likely have more control over her. The people who do that kind of training know how to deal with agressive dogs and may just be the perfect trainers to help you.

I saw you live in Florida. Not sure how close this place is to you but they do personal protection training. May be a good place to look into. South Florida Dog Trainers - K9 ADVISORS Dog Training 786-419-3647

And I should mention that my dog went through personal protection training. He went from just reacting on his own, much like your dog, to now looking to me for the command. Best thing I ever did was going through that kind of training.

Good luck and keep us posted.