[rosey516]

Hi Everyone, I am so upset.. Today our dog Nieko bit my daughter. I never in all my life would have thought he was capable of doing such a thing.. Not only did he bite her, but then she ran to get away from him and he ran after her a bit her again. I had to pull his mouth off her. I am just devestated. I know he has been alittle stressed because of the new piglet, but there is no excuse. This is a very sad situation I love him to death, but how can I trust him? What if I wasn't home to grab him? Please what do I do??
Roe:help:

 

[Whiteshepherds]

I have no advice, it's way out of my league...but wondered if the piglet was anywhere near the dog or your daughter when this happened?

 

[MaggieRoseLee]

This is all your responsibility, and I mean that in a GOOD way.

You need to continue to TRAIN and socialize your GSD so you know he will listen and obey and be comfortable around children. DOG CLASSES!!!

You need to NEVER leave your dog/child alone together or in a situation that your dog will grab your child. Baby gates, crates, the TRAINING I mentioned earlier.

Teaching your child to respect dogs and leave them alone. Both children AND dogs can learn the 'leave it' command. Since you will now be there 100A% of the time to supervise and manage the situation, as the calm leader, there should be more calm.

Was it a bite with stitches? Or more of a grab and hold?

EXERCISE EXERCISE EXERCISE EXERCISE!!! Get your dog out of the house and with miles of running and exercising and playing with dog friends to relieve stress and make Nieko calmer when he's home.

Training. Socialization. Exercise. Managing the situation. Teaching both dog AND child......

And if adding a piglet to your home is too much right now, then it just is. Last in, first out is the rule in my home if there is a situation when adding a new pet. It's not the 'older' pets fault, they didn't ask for the new addition. And if I didn't properly train/socialize/prepare for the new pet then it is MY fault and I deal with it my rehoming the newest addition.

 

[rosey516]

Yes, actually the piglet was in the cage next to them, Nieko doesn't leave the piglet alone so they were yelling at him to leave it alone..

 

[Whiteshepherds]

Yes, actually the piglet was in the cage next to them, Nieko doesn't leave the piglet alone so they were yelling at him to leave it alone..

Was he trying to get your daughter to move away from the piglet...as if he was guarding it, or does he try to hurt it?

Does the piglet have a name?

 

[rosey516]

Nieko is 6 years old, he was obedience trained with me when he was young. My daughter is 19 he never saw her as dominent cause she was always a little afraid of him. They are like brother and sister.. I had to stop the training because he has bad discs in his neck and cant wear a collar. He also has epilepsy very mild and under control. He is my best friend and always so lovable. I just dont understand. I am really sick about it.

 

[MaggieRoseLee]

Nieko is 6 years old, he was obedience trained with me when he was young. My daughter is 19 he never saw her as dominent cause she was always a little afraid of him. They are like brother and sister.. I had to stop the training because he has bad discs in his neck and cant wear a collar. He also has epilepsy very mild and under control. He is my best friend and always so lovable. I just dont understand. I am really sick about it.

Get rid of the piglet.

My daughter is 19 he never saw her as dominent cause she was always a little afraid of him.

Too bad you allowed your daughter to be afraid for the past 6 yrs. That's a dynamic that could have been changed long ago.

 

[rosey516]

It was more of a grab that punctured her arm with no warning, not even a growl, then when he ran after her he grabbed the other arm and punctured it also her leg. when I grabbed him after I got him to let go I threw him on his back and he then growled at me, so I yelled and held him down until he stopped and calmed down. Then I made them take the pig upstairs and put Nieko in the cage.. Then we went to hospital..

 

[rosey516]

I tried to get her not to give in to him, whenever he played rough with her she backed off instead of putting him in his place I used to intervien all the time but I am not there always and she has to put her food down on her own..I always felt like I was yelling at two babies fighting.. By the way the pigs name is Bobo, he will be staying in my sons apartment for now thats for sure...

 

[Whiteshepherds]

If he's never acted like this before you can almost bet it has something to do with the piglet.
Do he guard his toys or food?

Hope your daughter is okay btw.

 

[rosey516]

I do blame myself, I should have seen it coming. He has been to nervous with the piglet. But can I trust him with her again? Do you think once he bit her he will do it again? I am really sick about this...

 

[rosey516]

He lets our little maltese take food from his mouth, he has never been agressive thats why I am in shock.

 

[DJEtzel]

If your daughter does something stupid like yell at him when he's obsessing over something so strongly again I'm sure he could bite her. And the running away was not a bright idea either.

Train the dog and hope animal control doesn't show up at your door. I don't know what your laws are like for dog bites there.

Also, what do you mean by stating that you've been trying to get your daughter to put him in his place... how do you put him in his place?

 

[elisabeth_00117]

Sounds like you have a stressed dog on your hands.

I would say if this behaviour is out of the ordinary then 3 things should be done:

1. Vet visit to ensure it is nothing physcially wrong with your dog (full blood panel and I would also re-check his other injuries and med's).

2. Piglet needs to find somewhere else to stay.

3. One-on-one training with your daughter. He needs to understand that he must respect your daughter, this can come from fun play sessions/training sessions together. Have your daughter play ball with him but make him sit, or down, or stand or whatever before he gets the ball. NILIF must be worked by all members of the family, your daughter especially.

 

[GSDSunshine]

If your daughter does something stupid like yell at him when he's obsessing over something so strongly again I'm sure he could bite her. And the running away was not a bright idea either.

Train the dog and hope animal control doesn't show up at your door. I don't know what your laws are like for dog bites there.

Also, what do you mean by stating that you've been trying to get your daughter to put him in his place... how do you put him in his place?

when I grabbed him after I got him to let go I threw him on his back and he then growled at me, so I yelled and held him down until he stopped and calmed down.

I'm guessing something like this???

 

[JustMeLeslie]

I am not an expert at this but I can tell you it sounds like the your dog has been alone for 6 yrs and that probably how he wants it to stay. I am having crazy and erratic behavior from my almost 2 yr. old male shepherd because we added a female shepherd in Sept. He has went crazy and we now can't trust him out in our own yard. Your problem is more severe than mine but I am just letting you know the behavior is probably because of the new addition. My dog is obedient trained and did not give me problems when he was the only one. He started this about a month ago and we know it is from adding her to his environment. All dogs react differently to stress and I believe this is how your dog is reacting to your new addition. Ours now has severe separation anxiety and can't be left alone at all without supervision. He tries to jump on our vehicles, charging at our other dogs,has became more aggressive with visitors, digging holes right in front of us. So I know how frustrated you are at this. I will keep a tab on your thread because we are in the same boat as you.

 

[selzer]

Your dog has epilepsy and some disk problem in his neck?

Ok, maybe he growled at you when you threw him on his back because he was afraid that you would hurt him.

Not sure.

But, with an epileptic dog, you want to remove any unnecessary stressors that might trigger a siezure. Get rid of the pig. Keep it completely out of there. It does not fit into the family dynamic.

I agree with classes. if you cannot wear a collar use a harness. But obedience training and making sure the daughter is part of it is a must.

I do not think less of your daughter for running away. People who are afraid of dogs will try to save themselves. The pig did heighten stuff.

Now I am not sure if the dog wanted to aggress toward the pig and misplaced his aggression on the daughter, or was guarding the pig as his owne and bit the daughter. Either way, it sounds like leadership needs to be improved, and removing the pig from the situation is a must.

you mention your son's appartment. I hope that is not all on the same property.

Good luck.

 

[ChancetheGSD]

I just wanted to add in that you need to teach your daughter NEVER to run away from a dog. Dogs are preditors. Things that run are prey. This could have prevented the second bite, no doubt.

Secondly, I just want to say that this is the exact reason I DO NOT believe in alpha rolling. When you throw your dog on his back the ONLY lesson it teaches the dog is that he has to fight harder to dominate YOU.

And I'm not even going to go into how STUPID it is to throw a dog with an injured disc on it's back.

Get rid of the pig and if the aggression continues, get a thyroid check. An off thyroid CAN cause sudden aggression problems. Get into training classes with the dog and have you AND your daughter handle him. To gain more respect from her, have her feed him.

I hope your daughter is ok and that she can recover from the emotional damage done.

 

[GSDAlphaMom]

'Yes, actually the piglet was in the cage next to them, Nieko doesn't leave the piglet alone so they were yelling at him to leave it alone.'

'I made them take the pig upstairs and put Nieko in the cage..'

Is this one in the same 'cage'? If so, it can't be a good idea to let the piglet stay in Nieko's crate or vice versa.

 

[CaseysGSD]

'Yes, actually the piglet was in the cage next to them, Nieko doesn't leave the piglet alone so they were yelling at him to leave it alone.'

'I made them take the pig upstairs and put Nieko in the cage..'

Is this one in the same 'cage'? If so, it can't be a good idea to let the piglet stay in Nieko's crate or vice versa.

If that's the case I would think Nieko would be acting like that just then because the pig that he does not like was in his den, and then possibly acted out to your daughter because he was upset she was correcting for for defending his space????