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Hello All,
I’m brand new to this site. Looking for feedback, encouragement and wisdom for anyone willing to listen. A little about my background & my current situation. Here’s my story. It’s pretty long. You’ll need popcorn..,
I’m a mom of 3 boys (15, 13, 11). My husband and I have had dogs throughout our marriage. Our first was a chi-weenie named Bill. Bill was a rescue, riddled with medical and anxiety issues. I loved that dog for stinkin 17 years. Cried like a baby when he passed! Then when our neighbors had a liter of labs, Ted joined our family. We raised Ted from a young pup to a giant 100+lbs dog. We unexpectedly had to put Ted to sleep last year at just 9 years old. Losing our dogs has been like losing a close family member.
Having room in our hearts for another dog, we ended up welcoming a labradoodle, Maggie. Maggie was too little to leave her liter so we would often visit at the breeder’s home. When we finally received her, all the normal puppy musings were happening just as expected.
At around 12 weeks, Maggie started to bite us. Of course, we knew this was normal. It was an obvious part of puppyhood that understood and accepted, but with correction. As a family we knew we had to work on this with Maggie. We patiently used positive reinforcement, redirection, yelping, click training, timeouts..nothing seemed to fazed our girl. Sadly, we restored to a spray bottle, which Maggie thought was very fun. A co-worker suggested a can of coins...nah, it was useless. As Maggie grew, her biting increased. So we bought Maggie more chew toys, put up some fencing in yard with PLENTY of space to run, upped her walks and made a daily routine to engage in fetch & other play. Hoping exercises would help that “prey drive”, it did not. Maggie’s nutrition is on par since we went with our veterinarian’s recommendation. That was a huge investment for us since we have always used Pedigree with our other dogs. Which by the way, our Vet is aware of the biting situation and Maggie does has a clean bill of health.
Maggie is 5 months old, biting all the time. All the time. But my heart’s most heavy when it comes to my youngest son. Maggie seems to target my youngest. She attacks him daily. He has scars on his body. He walks away crying and bloody. He cannot be alone with her because Maggie will not let up. He’s now fearful of our family dog. My oldest sons no longer want to play with her because of the way she attacks their youngest brother.
Our trainer is suggesting that Maggie is asserting our dominance over my youngest and is displaying aggressive behavior. And it’s true! Maggie bites all of us, but not to the extend like she does with my youngest. She is highly recommending a behavior modification specialist. I have already reached out to a reputable BMS to start the process.
I desperately need feedback from those who have been in similar circumstances. I’m willing to follow through with advice. I’m thirsty for any encouragement. Our family very weary. And my protective instincts is telling me to relinquish Maggie for my son’s sake. My heart really is very torn.
On a side note, my husband thinks we should get Maggie a playmate, another dog. Is that completely nuts? I think it’s a bad idea.
Thanks for listening. I really appreciate any feedback you may have.
I’m brand new to this site. Looking for feedback, encouragement and wisdom for anyone willing to listen. A little about my background & my current situation. Here’s my story. It’s pretty long. You’ll need popcorn..,
I’m a mom of 3 boys (15, 13, 11). My husband and I have had dogs throughout our marriage. Our first was a chi-weenie named Bill. Bill was a rescue, riddled with medical and anxiety issues. I loved that dog for stinkin 17 years. Cried like a baby when he passed! Then when our neighbors had a liter of labs, Ted joined our family. We raised Ted from a young pup to a giant 100+lbs dog. We unexpectedly had to put Ted to sleep last year at just 9 years old. Losing our dogs has been like losing a close family member.
Having room in our hearts for another dog, we ended up welcoming a labradoodle, Maggie. Maggie was too little to leave her liter so we would often visit at the breeder’s home. When we finally received her, all the normal puppy musings were happening just as expected.
At around 12 weeks, Maggie started to bite us. Of course, we knew this was normal. It was an obvious part of puppyhood that understood and accepted, but with correction. As a family we knew we had to work on this with Maggie. We patiently used positive reinforcement, redirection, yelping, click training, timeouts..nothing seemed to fazed our girl. Sadly, we restored to a spray bottle, which Maggie thought was very fun. A co-worker suggested a can of coins...nah, it was useless. As Maggie grew, her biting increased. So we bought Maggie more chew toys, put up some fencing in yard with PLENTY of space to run, upped her walks and made a daily routine to engage in fetch & other play. Hoping exercises would help that “prey drive”, it did not. Maggie’s nutrition is on par since we went with our veterinarian’s recommendation. That was a huge investment for us since we have always used Pedigree with our other dogs. Which by the way, our Vet is aware of the biting situation and Maggie does has a clean bill of health.
Maggie is 5 months old, biting all the time. All the time. But my heart’s most heavy when it comes to my youngest son. Maggie seems to target my youngest. She attacks him daily. He has scars on his body. He walks away crying and bloody. He cannot be alone with her because Maggie will not let up. He’s now fearful of our family dog. My oldest sons no longer want to play with her because of the way she attacks their youngest brother.
Our trainer is suggesting that Maggie is asserting our dominance over my youngest and is displaying aggressive behavior. And it’s true! Maggie bites all of us, but not to the extend like she does with my youngest. She is highly recommending a behavior modification specialist. I have already reached out to a reputable BMS to start the process.
I desperately need feedback from those who have been in similar circumstances. I’m willing to follow through with advice. I’m thirsty for any encouragement. Our family very weary. And my protective instincts is telling me to relinquish Maggie for my son’s sake. My heart really is very torn.
On a side note, my husband thinks we should get Maggie a playmate, another dog. Is that completely nuts? I think it’s a bad idea.
Thanks for listening. I really appreciate any feedback you may have.