My dog lunged from my bed and did a full mouth bite to my son’s face. I don’t want to keep him in a crate when I’m not home; I want him to interact with my family when I’m at work. Advice?

Question

Ed,

You are a wealth of knowledge and we are "lucky," yes lucky to have you... Thank You.

I am asking for your knowledge and wisdom today...

Here's my problem... 2 days ago I was in Emergency with my 18 yr. old son getting his faced stitched up after Dragon bit him. Dragon was lying on my bed (don't even say it... I know about the bed). Jeff was walking into the room, at about a foot away from the bed he lunged up at his face and did a full mouth bite to his face. My son never had a chance, he is very lucky that he only ended up with stitches in a few places, it just missed one eye and close to tearing lip.

1 year ago while playing with Dragon on the bed (I know, I know) my son sort of curled his neck over Dragon's shoulder blades and Dragon bit him twice quickly in the back of the head, he did break the skin and there was bleeding but no stitches. Shame on me, I knew better, I am knowledgeable on dog behaviour and I absolutely should not have gotten comfortable just because he never again showed any signs of dominance with anyone.

My Doberman is 3 3/4 yrs old,

* neutered 7 mos ago (not due to dominance issues).
* German import as a pup, working line - 'Edertal' line
* Purchased with Shutzhund training in mind for him.
* Excellent obedience and tracking.
* "Started" bite work with decoy at 2 1/2yrs - tugs, few sleeve bites, less than 10. I noticed during a session he seemed to slip into defence rather than working in prey drive. I immediately called off the session and chose instead to stop all protection sessions to let him mentally mature a little more.

Life changed somewhat and I have not continued any formal training. Obedience is used daily and he loves it. He is still exercised regularly.

* Stable temperament, he is not sharp, assumes everyone is friendly first, will show dominance with other males if given the chance but it is controlled through obedience (I don't let him).

* Never a problem with absolutely anyone regarding dominance/aggression apart from my son.

My dilemma... I don't live alone, therefore this problem is not just for me to handle.

- Husband - not very knowledgeable, also dominant, difficult to teach him anything

- Son - Jeff, got bit - now wants nothing to do with dog - doesn't care whether we keep or get rid of Dragon - but won't buy into any formal training to establish his order in our pack.

- 11 year old daughter - more dog knowledge and understanding than any of them, no problem correcting dog.

In your opinion is this a completely manageable situation that even if my husband and my daughter slip up on there commitment from time to time (which is what I'm afraid of) I do work full time shift work and I don't want my dog crated continually. unless I am there to supervise. Slipping up of dog on furniture or bed is NOT an option, but other commitments to always know what the dog is doing at all times, weather they are on computer or watching TV etc. I always know where my dogs are and what they are doing when I am in the house. I want my dog to still interact with family while I am away from the home.

I will be ordering your Dominant dog video - but need your input right now.....

I thank you for your time Ed.

Tanya
Ontario, Canada

Accepted Answer

I’m not sure what to say, because in order for your family and dog to be safe then you are going to need to keep your dog in a secure location when you can’t supervise him.

I’m going to quote you here “Jeff was walking into the room, at about a foot away from the bed he lunged up at his face and did a full mouth bite to his face. My son never had a chance, he is very lucky that he only ended up with stitches in a few places, it just missed one eye and close to tearing lip.”

What more needs to happen for you to realize that this dog can NOT be loose and interacting with people in your home when you aren’t supervising? You WERE home and looked what happened!! I’m sorry but unless you are willing to completely re-structure your dog’s life in and around the house and unless your family will honor and uphold this handling of the dog, I can’t help you.

If you want to do what needs to be done then this situation can be managed, but if not then I’m afraid my advice would be to rehome the dog. It’s just a tragedy waiting to happen.

As the mother of a teenager and the owner of several dogs who are strong working line dogs, I can’t imagine not being willing to protect my family and my dog from another situation.

The dominant dog DVD is great, but this dog needs to be under complete ON LEASH supervision with you at all times unless he’s in a kennel. Dominance aggression has nothing to do with obedience training or schuthzund training, it’s the temperament and genetics of the dog paired with irresponsible handling in the home environment.

I'd recommend reading our section on kids and dogs. You can see some of the damage that other dogs, less powerful than yours, have done to kids.

This is a serious situation and needs to be handled as such.

Cindy