Dog bite! My 10mnth old bit me

[Shiba]

My 10 month old bit me last night! What should I do?

[SaranBear]

Giving a little more info as to what happened and how would be helpful. There's not much advice to give with the little info you provided.

[BostonRott]

What were you doing when you got bitten? Have you had this dog since a puppy? How old when you acquired? What obedience classes have you completed? What is this dog's general routine? Do you use a crate? How much exercise does the dog get? Where does the dog eat? Sleep? How is the dog reguarly disciplined?

[molochai2580]

Well I guess I would start by cleaning the bite and if it's bleeding apply a bandage, some antibiotic ointment will help as well. If it's really deep you might want to see a doctor about it. Now of course we need to know the situation that you and your dog were in when it bit you, before we can offer much advice.

[Shiba]

Hi,

Shiba is my 10 month old Rott. I purchased her from a registered breeder. Both of Shiba's parents have excellent temperament and so does my Shiba so I don't know why she decided to bite me!

I did everything right with her (or so I thought!) from the moment I got her. She took a puppy socialization class then went into obedience. I even put her in a fun conformation show where she won 1st place! I've never ever had a problem with her.

We spent Saturday at the lake. Shiba was swimming in the lake and appeared to be having a good time. Nothing out of the usual.

When we got home, she went onto her bed and began to chew one of her toys. I made eye contact with her and called her name and she growled at me! I came up to her and said, "Shiba No!" and reached for her toy and that's when I got bit!

I can understand now that I got bit because I shouldn't have reached for her toy. I should've used obedience and removed her from the toy. However I still don't think that she should've ever bit the hand that feeds her!

I'm so upset. I love her dearly and won't ever consider giving her away so I need major help! I've contacted my breeder who's helping me train her and I've also reached some trainers who have experience with dominant dogs. So please pray for us!

Doreen

[gail pang]

Oh boy, I had that to happen to me with my Coco. I think what I did was
startled her and she was not aware of my being there. But any way back
to training we went. She lived almost to 12 years of age and was a sweetie.
Now my boy Rufus did my husband in....keep in mind my husband is 6'4" and
at that time tipped the scales at 225. Rufus was just 3 or 4 months old my
husband back handed him before he knew it. My husband years ago used the
Kholer (sp) training techniques. I will say one thing those rotten rotties got
a lot of compliments from the vets and neighbors. I almost died when my hubby
backhanded Rufus. But he got up got the training lead and they where
gone over three hours, after that he could take any thing he wanted to from
Rufus and so could I at any time.

So good luck, and keep up the training

[jakesfostermom]

Shiba - my belief is that a 10 month old rottweiler is far from "trained" - she is still learning - and at break neck speed - so without formal positive training, she is learning whatever she finds interesting - and as they say - give your dog a job, or they'll find one on their own and you might not like the career they choose! She needs at least another 2 years of solid training and consistent leadership and then you might have a well rounded "trained" dog on your hand with continued effort on both your parts. I hope you'll get serious about her training.....at 10 months old, she's still a puppy and needs your guidance in a BIG way.

[Mochasmom]

I would guess that this is running along the same lines as your food agression problems you were having with her. How is that going now?

You will also need more than the one ob class to have a well trained, respectful dog.

Are you practising NILIF? Sounds like she needs to come down a peg or two.

[RottyMom]

Have you contacted your breeder and let them know what's going on? If you did what advice/help have they given you?

[Hannibal]

It should be obvious to you who the boss is in that relationship. Rottweilers can be very dominant. So can other breeds. Biting the hand that feeds it is an ideological concept which dominant dogs are not aware of. They just want their way. In this case what your dog is saying is "I'm relaxing with my possesion and don't even think of looking at me in such a way that tells me you are going to demand something of me in about 2 seconds now that I want to do what I'm doing". You ignored the warning and got punished. Doesn't mean your dog is bad just that it considers you subodinate.

Obedience training will not do the trick. This dog needs someone stronger than you or you must become stronger.

What I would do in that particular situation is:
1. Recognize what the dog did for what it is.
2. Completely ignore the situation and wait untill it dissipates.
3. Make sure the dog has a good chain collar on and a 15ft cotton web leash to drag around the house and get used to it.
4. Once the dog is oblivious to the new equipment (may take a couple of days) set up the exact same situation. Location toy/bone time of day and repeat exactly what you did to trigger that behavior except that now the dog is wearing the chain collar and the 15ft leash.
5. When you get the first sign of aggression (a growl) yell "out" as loud and as strong as you can, make a beeline for the end of the 15ft leash even if it's not near the dog. Grab it and reel the dog in hand over hand while continuing to yell out. When the dog reaches you apply the level of correction necessary for your dog's age, size and character.

I don't want to be the bad guy here so maybe someone else who has a clue can say what are the different possible corrections.

May sound harsh to you but in my opinion having to give the dog away to whatever place is harsher. And trust me this is where you are going if you don't fix it now. This kind of behavior only escalates with time. And by the way the least you can do is not give it any more toys or treats that it can't consume right away, at least until if/when you resolve this problem.

I love rotts, good luck.

[sage138]

Originally Posted by Shiba

Hi,

Shiba is my 10 month old Rott. I purchased her from a registered breeder. Both of Shiba's parents have excellent temperament and so does my Shiba so I don't know why she decided to bite me!

I did everything right with her (or so I thought!) from the moment I got her. She took a puppy socialization class then went into obedience. I even put her in a fun conformation show where she won 1st place! I've never ever had a problem with her.

We spent Saturday at the lake. Shiba was swimming in the lake and appeared to be having a good time. Nothing out of the usual.

When we got home, she went onto her bed and began to chew one of her toys. I made eye contact with her and called her name and she growled at me! I came up to her and said, "Shiba No!" and reached for her toy and that's when I got bit!

I can understand now that I got bit because I shouldn't have reached for her toy. I should've used obedience and removed her from the toy. However I still don't think that she should've ever bit the hand that feeds her!

I'm so upset. I love her dearly and won't ever consider giving her away so I need major help! I've contacted my breeder who's helping me train her and I've also reached some trainers who have experience with dominant dogs. So please pray for us!

Doreen

My boy was doing the same thing with his bones, when he was 4 months and he is 8 months and I did alot of training with him. He is doing much better.

[Shiba]

Originally Posted by Mochasmom

I would guess that this is running along the same lines as your food agression problems you were having with her. How is that going now?

You will also need more than the one ob class to have a well trained, respectful dog.

Are you practising NILIF? Sounds like she needs to come down a peg or two.

My food aggression problems have gotten a bit better. I make her sit then I put her food down in front of her. I then feed her a treat by hand like some salmon or sardine. And then I say, "You can have it!". She knows this command and will get up and eat her food. Sometimes I drop pieces of fish or meat in her bowl while she is eating. She doesn't growl unless my hand is near her bowl for too long. If this happens, I get up and say "no!" and take whatever is left in my hand and leave her. I don't take her entire food bowl away.

I'm getting in touch with a trainer who deals with dominant and aggressive dogs. My breeder recommended him to me. We will most definetly be taking another obedience class soon.

I'm sorry but I don't know what NILIF is? What do you mean when you say she needs to come down a peg or two? I'm new at this!

[Shiba]

What type of training did you do?

[Shiba]

Originally Posted by sage138

My boy was doing the same thing with his bones, when he was 4 months and he is 8 months and I did alot of training with him. He is doing much better.

What type of training did you do?

[Shiba]

Originally Posted by BostonRott

What were you doing when you got bitten? Have you had this dog since a puppy? How old when you acquired? What obedience classes have you completed? What is this dog's general routine? Do you use a crate? How much exercise does the dog get? Where does the dog eat? Sleep? How is the dog reguarly disciplined?

I just turned and looked at her. I wasn't doing anything.
I've had her since she was 8 weeks old. We took a puppy socialization class right away. She was attacked when she was 4 months old by a mutt in the park so we had to take a break from obedience classes but as soon as we got the ok from the vet, we joined a beginner obedience class. After that class was over, we took a tricks and obstacles class to learn things like, shake a paw, wave, sit pretty, crawl etc. This class ended in June. We were planning on enrolling into obedience again in the fall.

I'm a nurse and would like to eventually take Shiba to the hospital with me but I don't trust her at all right now.

We were using a crate for bedtime and anytime that we were out but we stopped when she turned 10 months old because she stopped chewing our furniture and she began to sleep in our room with us. I realize now just how stupid of me that was! Needless to say the crate is back and she sleeps in it and gets sent to it if she is bad. If Shiba does something she shouldn't we say "no!" and banish her to the crate!

She goes on at least 2 walks a day. We play ball in the yard in between. I must admit though we haven't been doing much more training lately.