My dog bit my child on the face

[LeopoldDerLowe]

We have a 3.5 yo neutered male (Leo) that has been raised with our 4 children (8,11,12,14) since he was puppy. At around 11 months, Leo bit my youngest child when he approached him while he was resting and blew into his face. We had warned all of our children to leave him alone while sleeping but learned the hard way to be more diligent about enforcement. The bite was a couple stitches and a lesson learned. Leo has been through obedience training, has 3 acres to roam and run, and is walked/exercised 3-4 times per week. Like many of the posts on this site he is a wonderful, friendly, loving dog.

So a couple days ago my 12 yo son was sitting next to Leo on the patio calmly petting him. My wife who was standing near commented "awe how cute a boy and his dog". My son leaned his face right up next to Leo's face and Leo quickly growled and bit my son causing a slight abrasion above his eye, a more serious cut below his eye (7 stitches) and a couple more minor lacerations inside his upper lip.

Our kids play with this dog every day, love, and pet him. He loves people, even strangers, and has never acted aggressively toward anyone before. Because of his size (115lbs) we have always been careful with him around the kids friends and watch him closely or kennel him just to be safe. My wife is devastated about this and would have him pts even though she loves him as much as the rest of us. We have made strict new rules that the kids are to stay away from him when he is lying down or sleeping and that he will always have to be in the kennel when friends come over.

We would appreciate any insight.

[RottsNScotts]

Yes, he HAS acted aggressively before, you said so in your second sentence! AND for pretty much the same situation! The child putting his face in Leo's face! Now, I understand that there were about 30 months between the two incidents but I think he has made it as clear as he can that he does NOT like this when he is laying down. Also, exercise 3-4 times PER WEEK is NOT enough for a young Rottie.

What obedience classes have you taken him to?

[whynotnaveen]

Children's safety is first....We cannot love our dogs by putting our children in high risk.

7 stitches under the child's eye is very serious. Don't take anymore risk. A biting dog is like time bomb, we cannot predit when will it explode? Even worse may happen. You have to learn a lesson from the incidents. 2 times it happenned.

Plz rehome the dog. If I am in ur situation, I'd give my dog to anybody who doens't have children in their home (or give him to theatres, farm houses, business firms, godown as a guard dog).

Rehome Leo & you can buy another puppy.

[bliss7373]

First, you cannot rehome this dog as whynotnaveen suggests. Doing so is akin to slapping a "please sue me" sign on your forehead. The liability associated with that is tremendous. Beyond that, it is simply unfair to pass Leo off so that he is someone else's problem.

Second, that leaves you with two options: put him to sleep or work to manage this problem. Because the bites occurred in predictable circumstances, I think it's likely that you can manage this - but he is not a dog I would ever trust, as you know he is willing to use his teeth to make a point. If you decide to do this, I would consider:

1. Finding a qualified behaviorist, asap. You need someone to come to your home and observe the way Leo and your family interact. You need someone to teach you ALL about dog body language. Leaning over a dog and putting your face right into its face is beyond rude, in the dog world. Some dogs tolerate our rudeness and ignorance - Leo obviously doesn't. There are also signs leading to the bite that you likely missed - stiffening, changes in the face and posture - these signals could prevent another bite in the future if the family learns to be more observant.

By "qualified behaviorist", I mean someone who is experienced, who is well-versed in dog body language and operant/positive training techniques (as opposed to someone who still uses harsh, jerk/punish techniques), who is comfortable with large working breeds, and who has achieved significant milestones with their own dogs.

2. Get back into obedience classes. This is different than working with a behaviorist. You need to get Leo's mind back to work.

3. More exercise. 1-2 hours per day of walking, playing ball, etc. Very tired dogs are very good dogs.

4. Implement NILIF. Search the forums if you aren't familiar with that term.

5. Most importantly, be consistent on your new rules with Leo. The behaviorist will help you structure them appropriately. I would never let him loose around guests. Your kids should understand that the rules are now the rules, period. They will never change and there are no exceptions.

Managing Leo will mean big changes in your lives. I am sorry that you have to deal with this - a dog that bites children, even when minimally provoked as this one was, can be a huge liability.

Best of luck, please keep us updated.

[kelking]

iam sorry whynot its one thing to give the dog away but to go out and buy a new puppy isnt a good idea,you cant make mistakes with a puppy/dog then when things go wrong ditch the dog and start again on a new pup


my male is 2yrs on tues :) hes gets up to 2 hours a day walks with trainning hes fine with children but i dont allow my children or others to get in his face,as i remember my sister doing this to a family sheep dog and was bit

[Liz]

One of the first rules we teach in dog safety class at the local elementary school is that you should never place your face near a dogs face, even a dog you feel that you know well. I used to explain it by using my sons - one is older by two years, and I told the kids who had siblings to imagine what would happen if they went up and stuck their face right in their older siblings face, possibly close enough to touch. Most of them felt it might cause a bit of aggression!

Is there a class or 4H program that your kids could get involved with where Leo could go for more training, or just to work with the kids in obedience, rally, agility or something that will keep him occupied and teach him that the kids are higher in pack order than he is?

Liz

[jazzking1971]

rehome or put the dog to sleep.

would you feel differently if you child lost his eye? It could happen next time, even worse it could happen to a stranger's child and then you dog will be gone as well as your standard of life. It's not worth keeping the dog.

[crazyea]

7 stitches on my childs face? That dog would be dead within the hour. Sorry to be blunt, but humans are more important.

[stale]

sorry -- this gets zero sympathy from me, and for once i'm not in the pts camp.

both bites happened in extremely predictable circumstances. matter of fact, they happened in virtually identical circumstances. the first one was simply bad parenting, in not teaching your children to leave the dog alone.

the second one now, that was just negligence. you KNEW that the dog would bite in that circumstance, one would assume the children knew the dog would bite, and yet, you allowed the same thing to happen.

these come under bites that should have no response to them beyond "what did you do to the dog to get bitten?"

knowing that you have a biter, you cannot rehome the dog, for reasons expressed earlier. however, being sensible, the bites were the children's/parent's fault, not particularly the dog's. putting the dog to sleep for the owner's failings is just plain lazy.

however, i'm just another voice on the internet, so no need to mind me, eh?

stale

[Earl H]

You have a problem and your solution depends on your priorities and your ability to be disciplined about the decision that you make:

1.) Rehome - you can rehome, however it must be a no-children house and the owner should be made to sign a consent form recognizing the potential risks....this is my preferred solution, but will likely be the most difficult (finding a good home for an older dog with issues)


2.) Seperation (from childeren) - If this were a working/sport dog, it could become a kennel-only dog. Given your described routine or amount of time spent exercising the dog, it doesn't sound like it fits the situation.



3.) Trainiing or condiitioning - This is personally the most risky(for your families health/safety). It is dependent on finding a good trainer and you being disciplined in maintaining the training.


4.) PTS - I hate to say it, but family comes first. This incident is entirely your fault, but the dog will likely end up "paying" unfortunately. I have raised a number of working dogs...dogs that will bite you for real and while we socialize our dogs with adults and children alike, they are never to be left alone, or without close supervision, with our/any other kids. ANYand I Mean ANY signs of agressive behavior, towards my childeren, is met with a SWIFT and DECISIVE correction!!!! Correction is not even the word for what I am referring to. My child's safety can never be in doubt....The key here is never putting the child or dog at risk. The actions that your dog exhibited, probably manifested themselves at an earlier time period...you have to be diligent in recognizing the signs (i.e. growling when someone is near his/her food or toy, slight growl when the child is too close to the face, etc.) and dealing with them swiftly, decisively and persistently.

You are in an unenviable situation. For me family come first. If I dont belive that I can manage the situation (you have to be honest with yourself about you own training abilities, time, etc.), then the choice is easy.

[brunie's mom]

bliss7373 gave you very good advise. Get a behaviorist to see this dog at home. I have a feeling that he thinks he's top dog over the kids, and he is way under exercised.
Any dog that was stable would not cause stitches....they would have growled or even air snapped...not made contact.

See what the behaviorist says and take it from there.

Gina

[zorro13]

We have a 3.5 yo neutered male (Leo) that has been raised with our 4 children (8,11,12,14) since he was puppy. At around 11 months, Leo bit my youngest child when he approached him while he was resting and blew into his face. We had warned all of our children to leave him alone while sleeping but learned the hard way to be more diligent about enforcement. The bite was a couple stitches and a lesson learned. Leo has been through obedience training, has 3 acres to roam and run, and is walked/exercised 3-4 times per week. Like many of the posts on this site he is a wonderful, friendly, loving dog.

So a couple days ago my 12 yo son was sitting next to Leo on the patio calmly petting him. My wife who was standing near commented "awe how cute a boy and his dog". My son leaned his face right up next to Leo's face and Leo quickly growled and bit my son causing a slight abrasion above his eye, a more serious cut below his eye (7 stitches) and a couple more minor lacerations inside his upper lip.

The above is worth for the OP to read over again. The first bite at 11 months, the 2nd coming at 3.5 years old. It appears you like learning the hard way, well you like it when your dog and children learn the hard way. You have only 2 options 1. you either actually enforce rules (this includes all the other advise you have gotten already or 2. you don't own any dogs, apparently they aren't mixing in your household because proper supervision of anything is completely absent.

[jlaack]

Somehow I have a feeling that between the first incident and current one that your son behaves like this often with the dog:

So a couple days ago my 12 yo son was sitting next to Leo on the patio calmly petting him. My wife who was standing near commented "awe how cute a boy and his dog". My son leaned his face right up next to Leo's face

If there was an incident a hard lesson learned and then understanding reached with the kids than this wouldn't have happened a second time. I'm sorry I just cannot make the jump that this is only the second time your child has ever put his face in front of the dogs, in three years. This does not excuse the behavior, but if it is something that happens alot (along with likely other rude behaviors that kids are likely to bestow on the dog) than it puts the bite into a different perspective.

Your options really don't change, however I think you need to be realistic about how trustworthy your kids will be to obeying rules pertaining to interactions with the dog. At the very least they broke the rule once.

[poohbearsmom]

Please take Bliss' advice to heart.

Either PTS this dog, or take very seriously the liability that he is, and find a qualified behaviorist/trainer to evaluate you, your family and your dog.

No child should ever be put into a position like this, and no child should ever have to live in fear of the animal that lives with him/her. Having been the victim of a dog attack in my adulthood (a career ender for most men who deal with dogs!), I can assure you that with a dog bite can come a lot of post traumatic stress and very understandable fear.

People want to trust their dogs to behave with morals and a conscience. They don't, they're dogs. They behave like dogs and they react like dogs, and we humans tend to put dogs in a position to fail....a lot. That more dogs do not fail speaks volumes for most dogs.

How was this dog corrected when this occured? If he was not corrected properly (most dogs are not), then this behavior was reinforced by use of teeth, not once, but twice now. NOT GOOD.

Some fodder for you to think about:

Some dogs adore children. They live to be with children, and kids seem to be able to do things to these dogs that some adults cannot.

Some dogs tolerate children. This is the kind of dog that gets up and moves away from situations like this, making sure there's real estate between the dog and the children who've moved in on his space.

Some dogs simply don't want children in their space AT ALL, and it appears Mr. Leo leans towards these tendencies. A dog that bites before trying to leave an uncomfortable situation is not the kind of dog I would personally want around any children. You cannot responsibly rehome a dog like this so there are really only two solutions, and both have been discussed now.

Please heed Bliss' advice.

[Canula2000]

Originally Posted by poohbearsmom

Some dogs adore children. They live to be with children, and kids seem to be able to do things to these dogs that some adults cannot.

Some dogs tolerate children. This is the kind of dog that gets up and moves away from situations like this, making sure there's real estate between the dog and the children who've moved in on his space.

Some dogs simply don't want children in their space AT ALL.

I have never thought of this before, but makes great sense...just like people I guess some don't care for kids at all, some only like their own, some like them all. Rottweilers aren't really what I would call a good kid dog.
I think people need to learn to read their dog better and not assume they are good kid dogs. And dogs are dogs...I remember getting nipped a few times when I was a child and guess what I deserved it. If you tease a dog they will reprimand you the only way they know how. This dog has let it known before it doesn't like kids in its face, so I guess the dog decided it needed to remind them.