Our Rhodesian Ridgeback has bit two people. We are at our wits end as what to do. What would you suggest?

Question

My husband and I have a 5 yr. old Rhodesian Ridgeback that we got at 6 weeks of age. He has been a wonderful pet and friend to us but we are now faced with a difficult decision. For 5 yrs. it has only been the three of us.

Both my husband and I have loved and treated Maxwell (the dog) as our child, a person more so than a dog. The only training that Maxwell has received was puppy training, but he has always been very well behaved for my husband and myself, though he definitely has shown signs of aggression: he has always barked at the mailman, neighborhood cats and any strange car that doesn't belong in the neighborhood. He has been allowed to sleep with us in our bed and be on the sofa with us, so I have always thought of him as a very protective dog. Almost 2 yrs. ago, Maxwell bit my husband's grandfather. The grandfather who had never met Max, reached over the gate to pet Max's head, and got bit. I immediately reported this to the vet they said he was guarding his territory, ?nothing to be too concerned about.? Well last week, while being on a tie out in our front yard he bit my neighbor. My neighbor (she'd never been to our house before) came over to congratulate us on the birth of our son. As she was leaving, Max came out of the garage, and acted as if he would jump on her, so my husband held him, my neighbor stood and looked over the dog, but as she went to leave he got away from my husband and bit her lower arm. My husband and I immediately knew of Maxwell's outcome, being put to sleep, but I am writing you as one last resort to see if there is ANYTHING that I can do to save my dog. I have just recently wondered is there a perfect place to send him to be trained or live other than being put to sleep? One last comment, since you have not met this dog, but only hear my story .....I had a dog behaviorist/trainer come to our home after the baby came home, he gave us training advise and commented ?that we have a great dog.? Please help with our difficult decision.

Amy

Accepted Answer

This problem is a result of the way that you have raised this dog. While the root problem lies in genetics, the core of the problem is handler mistakes in raising and handling this dog. In other words, you and your husband caused this by allowing it to happen - from the sound of it you did not know you were making mistakes.

Read my article titled Dealing With the Dominant Dog. If you want to keep this dog you need to start doing everything I talk about in this article, without any exceptions. You also need to decide that you have a dangerous dog. This means getting control of this animal, which you do not have at this point. It needs strict obedience (on and off leash) with the use of a prong collar.

If you would like to learn something about the principles of obedience training a dog, read the description for my Basic Dog Obedience video. You will probably find that you have not had the full picture on the steps of training a dog must go through before it can be considered fully trained. You can also read why I am not a fan of taking an untrained dog to obedience classes.

You need to get a 6-foot chain link dog kennel and a wire muzzle. When the dog is out in the public, it needs to wear the muzzle.