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Permalink Reply by Racheal on August 1, 2011 at 10:59am

Thanks to everyone for your replies. I have been reading them from my phone, but have been unable to respond until I reached my computer.

We are taking this very seriously. We cannot have a biting dog near the kids. Even though we know this is our failure, not his, safety is obviously the most important thing. By coming on this board and asking these questions, I'm trying to help determine if we can do anything that will let us feel safe with him around our kids or if we need to find him a new home. The other aspect of this is, it's not just that we want him to be safe around the kids. We want them to be able to play with him and such.

Right now we are keeping him separated from the kids. Our kitchen has baby gates on it, so our guy spends a lot of the day in there. I am in the kitchen a lot during the day, and we have an open plan so he it isn't like he's locked in a whole other room. He doesn't seem to mind -- in fact, I think he may be relieved to have a spot to nap in peace without little hands reaching for him. When the guys nap or are in their room, and after they go to bed, we make extra sure we give our pup lots of love and attention.

When he bites, there is no stare or anything first. Just a growl then a snap. After the bites, the husband held his muzzle closed and stared him down, then picked him up and put him outside. After everything calmed down, he went outside and ignored the dog's pleas for attention.

We are still trying to decide what to do.

We did take him to the vet, when he first started growling and such. Nothing appears to be wrong, but the vet feels that NEUTERING will solve all his problems. Does anyone agree with that?

We are afraid that neutering will kill his happy active personality. Also, we know that if we neuter, it may be more difficult to find a home for him if we decide we need to give him away. We feel that having him fixed is deciding we will keep him permanently. If we neuter him and we still have problems, we will kind of be up a creek.

The choice before us now is: give him away now OR have him neutered and bring him to a trainer, keeping him separated from the kids most of the time for probably a year until the kids are old enough to understand how to treat him more gently and he's proven that his aggressive behavior is under control.

What do you think? Anyone have experience with neutering under these circumstances? Does it help?

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Permalink Reply by Karen Dadisman on August 1, 2011 at 11:55am

Neutering will NOT kill his happy personality. He will remain happy and active. Our Rocky was neutered at about 18 months and he is a happy, bouncy boy. Neutering will NOT hinder you giving him away. I wouldn't give away an intact dog. He could end up in a puppy mill as a breeder. Anyone who is a serious breeder doesn't want a free dog with a history of biting anyway. Neutering would make him more attractive to a free home. Neutering might not make his less of a biter but it couldn't hurt!

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Permalink Reply by Jane on August 1, 2011 at 1:16pm

Neutering does not change their personality. It may make him a little less intense and territorial, but that is a GOOD thing, and in this case I would definitely recommend it.

 

I don't understand why you would think neutering would make him less desirable to a new home. The vast majority of people want a neutered dog, and it would probably make him LESS desirable to a good home if he is intact because the new owner would have to pay for the neuter. It would also be incredibly irresponsible to rehome him fully intact, knowing his temperament is not reliable and knowing he could be possibly used as a stud and pass that on to his puppies.

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Permalink Reply by Anna Morelli on August 1, 2011 at 1:23pm

Rachael, you are well intended, but seem to have some wrong assumptions which may be contributing to, or have caused, what is going on.  You say the dog is almost two and you also say you have toddlers.  Many people have this vision of "Old Yeller"  the Yellow Lab in the movies, and equate a good family dog with one who will take anything the kids will dish out, but this  is Hollywood, not real life!  The interaction between dogs and children, especially children younger than school age, needs to be ALWAYS supervised.  By supervised I mean you are in the SAME ROOM as the kids and the dog.  Young children are never too young to be taught proper interaction with any dog.  A small child sees no difference between a live dog and his stuffed animal.  One has to teach being gentle, never grabbing, never chasing, not disturbing the dog when he's sleeping or eating, not hitting the dog ( a toddler may think this is quite funny).  The dog needs to have a safe place where the children know they should not go to bother him, be it his crate or under the table, or his bed.  The dog also needs to learn how to be gentle with the children.  You should by all means neuter him, it will not make him unhappy, nor change his personality for the worse,  it will make him a better pet, whether you keep him or need to re-home him.  It will also not solve your immediate problems, but contribute to the long term solution.

 

If you did not care, you would not be asking these questions.  You need a good private trainer with experience with dog-child interaction, that can guide YOU in the proper treatment of the situation and you need to keep limiting access to the children until you are properly guided.  There are thousands of perfectly good dogs that get put to sleep because there are no homes available.  A  2yr old un-neutered male with a history of biting has little chance of finding a good home.  If you've had the dog from puppyhood and he did not display bad temperament to begin with, he could pay with his life for your well intended mishandling of him.  A trainer can also help you evaluate if the scenario I painted applies to your case, or if the dog has indeed a temperament problem.  Some dogs never do like children.  If they  are neutered and well behaved, they can still find a home, though choices are more limited.

 

Avoid dominance techniques that can really get you in trouble and make the dog more likely to bite.  My guess is that, with proper advice and management, you are still not too late to  turn this around, but time is of the essence.  I hope, if this happens, you update your post in six months or so.  Good luck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Permalink Reply by Anna Morelli on August 1, 2011 at 2:28pm

Rachael, i looked at your page and saw that you had the pup before you had twins. So, if you did things right, he was number 3 in your "pack".  Children don't upset the pack order until they are mobile (crawling at first).  If the interaction is not properly guided, the dog may see the children as trying to take his place and a dominant dog will not easily go from being number three to number five.... much as you would not like being demoted in  the work place.  With twins you must be very busy and it's no wonder if things kinda went topsy-turvy.  Hang in there.  I too have a  brindle Cardigan and he's rooting for yours :-)

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