[Paulk1989]

We got our Paddy as rescue this time last year, he’s not a typical Patterdale (nutter) little bit more solemn, we don’t have him causing chaos round house hes Normally well behaved in that fashion. In April time, he bit me in the face - when i went to fuss him but he was looking at my girlfriends food/begging etc, so I went from behind (stupidly) and he turned and went for me and got me.

The issue is it’s happened again last night, and for no trigger this time - we was in our hot tub and he plays fetch, brings the ball back, my girlfriend got the ball and lifted it to throw and was waiting and he went for her face. And now she’s gone through same as me - we’re not sure what to do next?

He’s 6, we don’t have children. But I’m now distraught and not sure how we can handle this.

 

[Lillith]

The first thing you should do is get a vet visit to rule out any medical conditions. The first incident is not okay...but more understandable since food was involved and it seems he was startled. The second in the hot tub is pretty strange. It's possible he was resource guarding the ball, but it's weird for them to do that when you already have the thing and throwing the thing is what makes the thing fun.

The second thing you should do if a medical condition is ruled out is consult a behaviorist. A dog biting is a little too much for people on the internet who can't see what's actually going on to help very much, especially when the dog seems to go for a face bite without any other signals first.

 

[pandora]

I agree a vet check is in order but having really thought about it the first was resource gauding the food that your GF was busy with.. The second, I know how excited my dogs gets when we throw the ball and there have been a couple of occasions when OH took too long to throw it that Murphy has lunged to grab the ball, sheer excitement. But if there was any element of a tease involved however playfrul it could spark resource guarding again just as you see in dog on dog behaviour when a ball is involved dog1 might not actually be playing with it but if dog2 gets anywhere near the ball dog1 gets snappy..

For now I would avoid activity that gets him over excited and after a vet check Id be enrolling in classes with a good trainer that will help you understand this behaviour.

 

[Paulk1989]

Hi All

Thanks for the replies.

We’ve spoke to a few behaviourists who all have had differing opinions. Over the phone, it’s clear they can’t really say after the training that everything will be fine and we understand, we’ve just got a difficult decision now to make as it looks like we would be wondering all time if he’s ever going to bite again - something my girlfriend doesn’t want to go through and I’m not sure any other way around it apart from letting him go.

The rescue shelter have told us they will take him back if we want to hand him back - we just now have got to think what’s next, I don’t think training him will unfortunately help us or him.