BIG problem my boyfriend was bit in face by Chief

[MustLoveGSDs]

Trying to keep my composure here, I cannot believe what just happened..


My boyfriend came home from work about 30 minutes ago. Chief was on the floor and just woke up from sleeping because Todd called him to take him outside. Chief refused and hopped up in bed and curled up behind me as he sometimes does. Normally Todd will say 'Let's go Chief!" again and he will follow him to the door. Well this time Todd reached for his collar to pull him down, not in a mean or rude way or anything, and Chief lunged at him aggressively and bit his face. Todd has a big gash in his cheek and across the bottom of his chin. He straight up with no warning lunged and put gashes in his face!! He just left for the minor emergency clinic to get it cleaned up, it is nasty and he said very painful. Omg I didn't even know what to say or do, I am completely shocked and I feel absolutely horrible. There was so much blood on his face and on the bathroom sink and floor. Now Chief is super attached to me but he has never shown any aggression to Todd. He has started to bond with him really well and would often cuddle with him in the bed and on the couch, something he would never do even with me in the beginning. I cannot believe he did this to Todd. I do not and cannot have this happen again. I love my dog to death but now I don't doubt he would act this way towards ANYone to "protect" me. This deeply concerns since it has hit close to home. I know this is Todd's fault since he is the one that went to move Chief but IMO this should NEVER happen, Chief should not act that way towards him. I am so thankful he did not get his eye. I mean I am just at a loss, this has never happened before? What do I do? Does Chief need to be re-homed, can he be trusted to a new home unless it was a single person? He apparently bonds to one person. He obviously has a pretty serious bite history now and that would be a big liability to put him up for adoption. I am really scared and worried. Todd totally kept his cool and didn't react to Chief but I could tell he was extremely upset, [censored], angry, etc. I am VERY upset about thinking of euthanasia and wonder if that is overreacting but tell me what should I do, I need some insight PLEASE. I know Todd is going to have a very different view of Chief now, and i dont blame him, but now I worry that he will direct his frustrations and anger onto me because of what my dog did and I don't want it to break our relationship apart, we are planning on purchasing a home together in May, he's not just a guy I could easily say goodbye to.

OMG

[MaggieRoseLee]

How shocking, must have been so horrible to go thru.

Good news is it sounds like generally you dog's temperament is good, so you can fix this.

Bad news is, it means changing how you manage your dog and I bet you will have BIG troubles with this. You have to change Chief's world and where he thinks his position is in it. Because YOU aren't the Queen in the House. Clearly your boyfriend isn't even a beloved servant.

CHIEF IS KING! He sleeps in the King bed, allows you to share (lucky you) and your boyfriend...................not so much.

No more sleeping on the bed or on the furniture with you for at least the next YEAR or so (not few days, YEAR). It's not his bed to guard (bad news for you, he wasn't being protective of YOU, you weren't in any danger from the boyfriend, he was guarding THE BED).

Easiest thing is to change up bedtime. Hoping he's crate trained cause that always our best management tool. Keep the crate in the bedroom, have a new bedtime routine that is 'treat in crate, dog in crate, close crate door' and EVERYONE goes to sleep.

How many miles of exercise is your dog getting a week. OFF leash and real exercise?

How many dog class sessions have you attended? THis isn't about getting the perfect 'sit'. It's about giving we humans the skills to learn to be the LEADER in our dogs lives so they look to us, get guidance from us, and LISTEN to us. Not just react and bite cause they are comfy and don't want to move when asked to.

THIS IS NOT ABOUT YELLING AND CORRECTIONS AND BEING ALPHA!!!!

I have to repeat that again. For a dog that has learned to up to aggression to get it's own way (and has learned that works) coming down like a load of bricks will NOT teach the smart and consistant LEADERSHIP role we need to have in our dogs lives. A good leader is followed because of respect NOT fear.

Here's some sites to read up on:

http://www.k9aggression.com/Aggressi...sion_main.html

http://www.wonderpuppy.net/canwehelp/1dbaggression.php

This is a good article explaining why the old macho myth of 'Alpha' with our dogs is outdated:

http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2001/macho.htm

Exercise, training, managing the home, rules rules rules and boundaries!!!

[Dainerra]

yeah, what she said
and don't be surprised when he rebels like crazy when you start sitting down the new rules! He's the king of the roost and he won't appreciate a coup

[Kayos and Havoc]

Slow down.... take a deep bretah and let it out again.....

Can understand you being upset and you are right this should not have happened. ANd I have to disagree with you on this - How is Todd at fault? He gave the dog a command, the dog did not heed it, he repeated himself and then went to enforce it. Unless Chief has a loose screw this is fixable. This sounds like a brat teen that did not want to leave his throne.

I would cease allowing Chief in the bed. Provide him a bed of his own next to your bed. Every time he tries to get on the bed or gets on the bed, firmly remind him "off". You can either toss a treat on the floor to lure and reward him getting off or keep a leash on him that you can pick up to guide him off. Do not get into a confrontation that just winds him up and encourages him to protect his space, you will lose. And BTW it ain't his space. Every inch of your home is your space.

I would start learn to earn or NILIF if you are not already. He works for every bit of attention he gets from you and Todd.

Join an obedience class and start going and working at home with him.

Todd needs to hand feed him his meals as well.

I hope Todd is okay and heals quickly. By going to urgent care he has now reported a dog bite. I hope this does not label Chief or put him on the radar as a potential aggressive dog.

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

Deep breaths.

I think in hindsight you can see that Chief was set up to fail. Most of us do not do this knowingly! We do it and then we go OH CRAP! Should he have reacted that way? No, absolutely not, but we don't know the reason for it.

That is what I try to assess with a dog who has bitten. What is the cause? Are they predictable? If they are predictable, are their triggers known and can they be either removed or dealt with in a safe way?

I am not going to make excuses for Chief but I think you can get through this. You can see a vet to assess pain or any physical issues. You can see a good behaviorist, I bet there are some through the rescue who are trusted and good. Then you can all get into some good, positive based training. You can do NILIF. You can make sure Chief is not on the furniture without your say so. Chief loses a lot of privileges here but can gain some back.

He may be a dog who has to have things in terms of leadership black and white. Not cold and hard, just clear. He may not be a cuddle buddy because that may confuse him. He cannot assume a person is mine, but that is up to you to make clear to him.

He is a German Shepherd. They are wonderfully obedient and intelligent companions. With that comes the idea that we have to be thinkers as well.

I believe once you think this all through you will see that Chief is relying on you to be the people you need to be to have a happy GSD, and that you can do that.

So-
1. Vet, assess pain
2. Behaviorist
3. Training classes for all 3 of you
4. NILIF on-going (Ilsa has been on NILIF for 4.5 years now!)
5. No furniture privileges

Sometimes when dogs do things, they do them because they think that they are allowed to. We would never imagine allowing that, but they think differently than we do.

I am very hopeful that once Chief and you all come to a clear and positive understanding of your relationships together you will be able to put this experience in perspective. Right now, awful and scary, eventually, a learning time.

[MustLoveGSDs]

Maggie,

Honestly I understand the possessive/resource guarding thing but I do not think he was guarding the bed and here is one situation involving my brother's friend that tells me why. I take Chief to my parents house every now and then with me to visit. At times I have left him there to go get some food or go out. One of my brother's friends comes over a lot and has always gotten along famously with Chief and would play with him when I was out. One day I was at their house sitting at the computer and Chief was lying down on the floor not too far from me just relaxing. My brother's friend walked in the house and Chief immediately jumped up and ran barking aggressively up to him and stopped right at his pants, but didn't bite. He just stood there barking in his face. Chief had to be crated anytime I was over there with him after that. He would never do that if I wasn't there. When I say this dog is attached to me, I mean he is attached to me. If he is out of my sight he freaks out and has to sniff every corner and search for me, he gets tunnel vision. I don't think Chief owns me in his eyes, I just think he is HIGHLY protective. I can look him in the eye and he will roll over, I do have control over him. I practice NILIF and all of that. Chief was bonded to his foster mom like he is with me, he glues himself to one person. I posted on here back in the summer when I moved in with my boyfriend on how to get Chief to listen to him and the tips and advice I got really helped, but Chief hasn't bonded to Todd like he has with me, or anyone else for that matter and I don't think he will as long as I'm his owner.

Chief isn't a high active or driven dog. He is an older rescue dog and he mostly just lays around. He is very quiet in the apartment and is never demanding. He is one of the calmest and laid-back dogs I know. A couple walks a day is all he needs, so I know this isn't an exercise issue. I have never attended formal obedience classes with him because he was already trained when I adopted him but I have worked obedience extensively with him when I first adopted him and over time. I used to take him to work with me and would do OB commands with him for a good 30-40 minutes every morning. He is not an out of control dog in the least bit and he listens to me very well.

[onyx'girl]

Agree with all the above and want to share my experience
Hawkeye was a foster I had last year at this time. Not sure of his age, but about 1 yr old. He was neutered a couple weeks before he came to me.
He formed a really strong bond with me, and would bark at my DH and son when they entered the house or when my son came downstairs. We tried to work on it with them throwing treats, etc. I did use NILIF with him. I had him for 9 weeks.
He was allowed in the bedroom, but not on the bed. One night I had just gone to bed, Hawke was on the floor next to me. DH came in and sat on the bed with his back to us, and Hawkeye jumped over the bed and nailed him in the back. Not provocation or warning.
I had to send him back to the former foster the next morning. It was never resolved(he never was re-evaluated) he was adopted out 2 weeks later, everyone at the SPCA thought it was my fault and that he was resource guarding me.
Broke my heart( I really wanted to adopt him, but he didn't like the guys in my house) and I wonder how he is managing in his home that has a DH and 16 yr son. I wasn't able to have contact with the new adopters, either.

I hope Chief and your DH can find a good relationship again.
I'm sure your DH will have some negative feelings for him after this has happened and it will be felt by Chief.

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

This is why it would be so important to have him seen by vet, behaviorist, trainer.

We can't see him so it is hard for us to say what causes the behavior.

I see the second instance as a potential startle response.

Just because a dog is bonded to one person (I have Chow mixes so totally get that-they just don't act all gooby like a GSD when I am not around ) doesn't mean that the expectations in terms of behavior change. Not in bonding- I know they won't totally because they are one person dogs, but my general expectations are the same, they get it, and they act appropriately (or if they don't/can't/won't I work around it).

Again, not discounting the OMG of this situation at all just saying having real life people looking at it in the next couple of weeks will help you tons.

[DianaM]

What a scary situation! I agree that this is a definite resource guard. I skimmed through the thread and saw that NILIF and lifestyle changes were recommended which I second/third/fourth. I'm not sure if it was mentioned, but I would do the following AFTER meeting with a vet/qualified behaviorist:

1) Chief needs to be bumped down to "ensign" and lose ALL access privileges to the bedroom. His paws no longer set foot in the bedroom. Ever. Same with the couch. Any furniture is now completely off-limits. I know it was suggested to just keep him off the bed, but I say it sends a clearer message if there are whole, entire ROOMS of the house where you and Boyfriend have access but Chief and Zelda do not. Put up a baby gate so they can still see you, but they cannot enter. And yes, I think I would treat both dogs the same just to avoid pack dynamic upset amongst them.

2) Nobody touches Chief unless he sits or downs first! If he wants to be petted, make him sit first. If he wants to play, sit first. Wants to go inside or outside, sit first. Put on a leash, sit first. That's hardcore NILIF.

3) Boyfriend should feed Chief's meals as training sessions. This is easier if you do kibble but can be done if you do raw. Basically, BF prepares Chief's meal, then instead of putting down the bowl, he has Chief do basic OB in exchange for small handfuls of food. About halfway through the meal BF can release Chief to the rest of the meal after a very nicely done OB command, but this REALLY helps drill the point down that "Thou shalt not eat without MY graces."

4) If Chief is lying down in the floor in the way (not in a corner or by a wall), make him move, especially BF. Chief no longer has any right to lay anywhere he wants and expect peace. If he is in his own bed or off to the side, that's perfectly fine but sprawled out in the middle of the room, no way. He can move his furry behind because the humans control the movements in the room.

5) What is Chief's favorite game? If he likes to tug, have BF play tug with Chief and work on teaching a solid release command and also downing in between tug sessions. This is fun, bonding, and VERY good obedience/control building. Same thing with fetch- Chief must release the ball on command and perform some obedience before the ball is thrown.

6) Would your BF be willing to go through a basic obedience class with Chief? This can really help strengthen a bond and build a partnership.

Keep us posted. I Chief so much and am very interesting in how things progress.

[MustLoveGSDs]

Thank you for all the responses so far, I am listening and will talk to Todd when he gets home. He's waiting for the Dr to give him stitches. Ugh. I am sick to my stomach over this.