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Is my dog aggressive?

2K views 10 replies 10 participants last post by  spotted nikes 
#1 ·
My boyfriend i have a female boxer/pit mix who is just a over a year old. We share our home with my boyfriends brother who sometimes uses what i consider questionable methods of dog training...Grabbing her by the back of the neck and throwing her, bopping her on the nose etc. He plays with her somewhat aggressively at times as well.
Yesterday while neither my boyfriend or i were home, he caught her getting into the trash, grabbed her by the back of the neck, picked her up and went to throw her outside. As he as putting her out she turned and bit him. There was one other time while at the park a stranger came up to pet her without asking and she nipped but other than that shes never showed any other real aggression towards anyone. Shes the sweetest and knowing she acted out like this bothers me.
Did this happen because of the way my boyfriends brother handles her?
Is it something I should be worried about? and how can i nip it in the bud? help!
 
#2 · (Edited)
Did this happen because of the way my boyfriends brother handles her?
Is it something I should be worried about? and how can i nip it in the bud? help!
It sounds to me like it IS a result of his "training." She defended herself by biting, and that kind of treatment can also create a nervous, fearful dog who will fear-bite in public. It really sucks, but as long as he uses these methods towards her, there's probably not a lot you can do. It really depends on him, and she may get worse the longer she's treated like that... =/

If you can convince him that there are better, non-violent ways to train, then he might be able to reverse the damage.

EDIT: I misread the part about whose dog this is. If it's YOUR dog, then you can definitely put your foot down and tell him you won't tolerate him treating your dog like that.
 
#3 ·
I would have bit the jerk too.

Yes you should be worried, you should be worried about the abuse that your boyfriend's brother is inflicting on your dog. He is a bully and a low level abuser and the dog is defending herself from him.

The problem is, when someone continues to treat a dog like that, the dog will start to interpret the actions of OTHER people to also be frightening. As in, if he hits her on the nose, then she will think any hand reaching towards her face is coming towards her to hit her. So one day, nice stranger kid reaches for a pet (kids are always reaching out towards the faces of dogs) and gets bit. Just like the stranger in the park got nipped. If the dog didn't break the skin, she was showing bite inhibition and probably trying NOT to be aggressive.

You either need to move out, stop the guy from interacting with your dog or allow ONLY supervised interaction on YOUR terms which means absolutely NO grabbing, throwing, bopping or hitting in any form. If you continue to allow someone to treat your dog like that, you are setting yourself up for a bite lawsuit and setting the dog up to be put to sleep for something she was innocent in.

Nothing of what you said indicates an aggressive dog- to me, it indicates a dog that is going to great lengths not to be aggressive and has taken a lot of crap without fighting back.
 
#11 ·
This^^^^. Your boyfriend's brother is being abusive. He WILL make your dog aggressive. Get rid of the boyfriend's brother, or move out. Under no circumstances should that abuser have any contact with your dog, or be left alone with your dog. If you can't get rid of boyfriend's brother and you won't take dog and move out, you need to rehome your dog, before he makes it so aggressive/fearful that it becomes dangerous, or he ends up hurting the dog. He sounds like the kind of person who would injure/torture/kill the dog if it seriously bit him (a well deserved bite).
 
#4 ·
I am not an expert ... but I believe the way your boyfriend's brother is handling the dog is making her bite out of fear and just plain defense. If it were me ... personally I would put a stop to this person handling this dog at all.

Just my honest opinion.
 
#5 ·
Quite frankly, he deserved it.
Your dog is now reacting out of fear, and the fact that she's now biting strangers/people who don't have any intention of hurting her, is showing it's getting worse.

Picking a dog up and throwing it is abuse. And if he's willing to grab a dog by the neck and throw it, I doubt 'bopping' is actually just 'bopping'.
Your dog isn't aggressive and because she's taking this kind of treatment, you can't expect her to react any other way. I personally don't know too many boxers that will just lay down and take something.

You said this dog belongs to yourself and your boyfriend. Make his brother stop hurting your dog. If he continues, this is going to escalate fast and turn into a human-caused tragedy.
 
#6 ·
If someone grabbed me by the neck, I'd bite him, too. . .
 
#7 ·
YES, you should be worried. You should be worried about a lot of things, like the dog biting him again, only worse, or biting another friend, or stranger, or child. You should also be worried about your POOR DOG. The things your boyfriend's brother is doing are totally and completely INAPPROPRIATE. He could cause injury to your dog. You should be worried about law suits that could result from your dog biting someone.

This is absolutely this jerk's fault. A dog that suffers abuse often feels they need to defend themselves, because no one else is defending her. Defend your dog.

If it were me, this guy would find a new place to live. I don't think just talking to him, or telling him to stop is going to do the trick, as the bite happened when you weren't home, and you will NEVER know if he continues to do this when you aren't home.
 
#8 ·
Y
This is absolutely this jerk's fault. A dog that suffers abuse often feels they need to defend themselves, because no one else is defending her. Defend your dog.
Or, you know, HER fault, because it's HER dog. If you can't keep the dog safe, find it a new home- oh, wait, you can't because you allowed someone to spend a year teaching her that people are dangerous and she needs to bite when someone reaches a hand toward her.

How many dogs die every year because of this sort of thing? "Oh, she bit out of nowhere!" Yeah, right.
 
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