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I know people come here and I think know what the answers should be, but I just wanted some opinions.
Cosmo is a dog that belongs to some very close family friends. He is also a dog that I dog sit for from time to time.
He just bit his second child last night, and the child needed stitches. The first child was my younger sister, at age 2, and it was our fault. He was laying by the door and as we were saying our goodbyes, she reached down and picked up his bone. Her bite did not require stitches and since we did not blame the dog, it went unreported. Last night he bit another small child unprovoked. She was two years old, and it did require stitches, so since they went to the hospital, it was obviously reported.
The family is distraught. The husband wants the dog to be put down. The wife wants to explore more options. They mentioned something to my family, since we apparently know a lot about dogs (according to them), and asked for some advice.
As far as adult bites, there's only one that I know of. Cosmo did bite my boyfriend last Christmas while I was dog sitting. The best reason we could come up for was that my bf was sitting in the spot where Cosmo sits and he wanted to sit there. The bite didn't break skin, and there was no mark. We tried to brush it off since my bf is a strange man that Cosmo has never met before.
I do know that when our families went camping a few weeks ago, my dad stepped near the dog's empty dish and Cosmo growled at him.
When Cosmo was a puppy, at 8 weeks, I noticed he would growl quite a bit. I didn't consider that normal for a puppy to growl at someone for no reason. I mentioned to his family that he would need to be socialized extensively, and I think they tried their hardest. They got him to meet as many people as they could, they took him to public places. I'm not sure they they took him to puppy classes or not, but it doesn't sound like they did (which was mistake one right there).
I also know he does have occasional seizures. I'm not sure why they occur, but I know that about once every few months they do happen. I'm also not sure how long they've been occurring.
I told them the first thing is to go see the vet. Look more into the seizures. Check for other medical conditions as well.
If everything checks out there, I want to suggest a behaviorist. But I'm not sure they can afford one, nor would I even know how to find a good one.
I know there's a ton of different variables. I do think that they will end up having Cosmo put down in the end. I know that they would feel horrible if they rehomed him to anyone, and then something else happened. But I do have some questions.
1. What options are there in this situation?
2. What would you do if you could not afford a behaviorist?
3. I know they did not start out in this situation totally right. He is missing manners that dogs should know. I know they tried to socialize him, but apparently it was not enough. But, would proper training and socialization really have been the answer? I want to say yes, but he was a 8 week old puppy growling and being aggressive, and I just didn't see that as normal.
Just so everyone knows, I do put full blame on the owners. I'm just trying to explore options for them. I'm not sure how long they have until they must make a decision. I do know without experts, all of this is pretty much hypothetical since no one can really diagnose over the internet.
Cosmo is a dog that belongs to some very close family friends. He is also a dog that I dog sit for from time to time.
He just bit his second child last night, and the child needed stitches. The first child was my younger sister, at age 2, and it was our fault. He was laying by the door and as we were saying our goodbyes, she reached down and picked up his bone. Her bite did not require stitches and since we did not blame the dog, it went unreported. Last night he bit another small child unprovoked. She was two years old, and it did require stitches, so since they went to the hospital, it was obviously reported.
The family is distraught. The husband wants the dog to be put down. The wife wants to explore more options. They mentioned something to my family, since we apparently know a lot about dogs (according to them), and asked for some advice.
As far as adult bites, there's only one that I know of. Cosmo did bite my boyfriend last Christmas while I was dog sitting. The best reason we could come up for was that my bf was sitting in the spot where Cosmo sits and he wanted to sit there. The bite didn't break skin, and there was no mark. We tried to brush it off since my bf is a strange man that Cosmo has never met before.
I do know that when our families went camping a few weeks ago, my dad stepped near the dog's empty dish and Cosmo growled at him.
When Cosmo was a puppy, at 8 weeks, I noticed he would growl quite a bit. I didn't consider that normal for a puppy to growl at someone for no reason. I mentioned to his family that he would need to be socialized extensively, and I think they tried their hardest. They got him to meet as many people as they could, they took him to public places. I'm not sure they they took him to puppy classes or not, but it doesn't sound like they did (which was mistake one right there).
I also know he does have occasional seizures. I'm not sure why they occur, but I know that about once every few months they do happen. I'm also not sure how long they've been occurring.
I told them the first thing is to go see the vet. Look more into the seizures. Check for other medical conditions as well.
If everything checks out there, I want to suggest a behaviorist. But I'm not sure they can afford one, nor would I even know how to find a good one.
I know there's a ton of different variables. I do think that they will end up having Cosmo put down in the end. I know that they would feel horrible if they rehomed him to anyone, and then something else happened. But I do have some questions.
1. What options are there in this situation?
2. What would you do if you could not afford a behaviorist?
3. I know they did not start out in this situation totally right. He is missing manners that dogs should know. I know they tried to socialize him, but apparently it was not enough. But, would proper training and socialization really have been the answer? I want to say yes, but he was a 8 week old puppy growling and being aggressive, and I just didn't see that as normal.
Just so everyone knows, I do put full blame on the owners. I'm just trying to explore options for them. I'm not sure how long they have until they must make a decision. I do know without experts, all of this is pretty much hypothetical since no one can really diagnose over the internet.