ok, i suck at searching this site.

how do people treat warning bites from their dogs? it's not the same as a full-out bite - good - but still a bite - not good.

teagan has made huge progress since i got her - she's come a long way and i'm really quite proud of her. the first time she bit me i hadn't had her for very long, i picked up a toy she had been playing with (but wasn't at the time) and she bit me. just got some small scratches. i wasn't confident enough with my handling skills to take her, though i know some people advocated that, so instead i ran her through obed. exercises for awhile.

i'm a lot more comfortable around teagan now - but we also have a very different relationship now. that doesn't mean that her not-so-perfect behaviour doesn't pop up on occasion, but there's been a lot of progress. i know people on here have identified her as a dominant dog, i'm sure she's less dominant than some of the really hard, dominant dogs some people have, but she obviously does have that streak in her. she's also obviously very intelligent, and she weighs out her decisions and actions. you can almost see the wheels turning. she is animal-aggressive, dog-aggressive, and if she's walked off of the prong collar, she has been people aggressive (!!!!!). that said, she's not at all a mean dog - but she has a strong personality, pretty high prey drive, and doesn't appreciate gestures of dominance or anything disrespectful from either dogs or people.

so i'm working on getting her comfortable w/being carried - she has hip dysplasia and a bone chip in her left hip so i think this is potentially a good idea to get her used to, just in case. now i can carry luc around and he doesn't like it but cooperates (i know that's mean, but sometimes i like to just pick him up in a big hug and carry him around the house....but that's off-topic). teagan is okay with tiny lifts, but when i really picked her up she went for the side of my head and bit - not hard, so i don't think she was trying to hurt me, i think she was warning me. i had picked her up in a way that did not compress her hips so i don't think pain was a factor.

i immediately put her down, saying NO!, held her mouth shut and made eye contact standing over her, and then held her down across her back (i sorta teed her off). was this dumb? good? then we did some quick obedience, and practiced a few small lifts.

just wondering....i really didn't like when she went for my wrist, but my head i feel should be totally off-limits. after we were done, i put her in her crate. while i work to keep the crate positive, i have been after watching the pack structure video enforcing that she needs to earn time out by calm and appropriate behaviour, and i've found that to work really well.

thoughts? i've only had dogs for 7 months and sometimes i find myself unsure....i just sort of reacted last night, i wasn't mad, but it was just natural to do what i did for me, but i'd appreciate the opinions of more experienced people.

oh, and if it's helpful, i've had teagan now for 4 months and she's 5 years old.

anyone? did i handle this right?

i'm going to be taking smaller steps to lifting teagan, but not to say i anticipate she could do something similar again over something else, but i'm not ruling it out....so i'd be curious if i'm on the right track, reaction-wise.

Jennifer,
Picking up a full grown dog thats hurting is an iffy proposition at best IMO. Its hard to do it without hurting them more, on top of that they don't really like it at all, even when not hurting. Understanding your concern for farther down the road, continue to work on getting her use to be being pick up.
Don't though, jump to conclutions about her mouthing or nipping at you. It sounds to me like a purely self defense measure on her part and not as you suggest, dominant behavior. It's more of a trust issue. If I'm wrong here I'm sure someone will let us know.
Sorry to hear she's not responding to the suppliments and meds.

If my dog isn't learning, I'm doing something wrong.
Randy

I was thinking the same thing as Allen. I AM FAR FROM KNOWLEDGEABLE> Probably because of that fact I would never pick up an injured dog. How can you be sure you are not hurting him?

My pup has a limp and at the oddest times he acts like something I did hurt. I think he might just have a low threash hold for pain or maybe I am being played? I error on the side of safety and I am very careful on dealing with him.

My pup is HORRIBLE at getting his nails done. I was working daily on this until the limp developed. The vet assures me I can continue the trainnig without hurting his elbow. Still I prefer to wait until he is healthy. JUST IN CASE.

I'm not experienced enough to opine on the behavior but I will second what Randy said about picking up a large dog. They don't like it. Add the pain/discomfort component to that and the lifter (you) runs a real risk of getting hurt. Teagan could also be injured if she gets you hard enough that you drop her (and it can happen).

Have you tried putting a towel around her and lifting slightly as she walks, to help carry some of the weight? I think they sell those lifts with handles to help arthritic dogs walk.

Sandy

Jennifer, for what its worth I think its better that you responded activly rather than retreating, as to the technicalities of every little move; I wont pass judgment, of course the dog shouldnt ever bite a human but it wasnt neccesarily totally unprovoked. (I think thats a good thing though! I would never hold a bite against a dog if they had a real reason and the only reason bites are so earth-shatering for humans is because we dont have hair)

I agree with Randy. I can see why it about "trust." It explains why Teagan was feeling threatened when you picked her up. She was giving you a defensive reaction. I don't think you need to try so hard to overpower her being dominant because it only makes a dog feel defensive.

We can't demand a trust in any dogs we meet, we have to earn it. I know what it is like and how hard it is to earn back. When she gives you a reaction, don't let it upset you too much. If she is being dominant and act like this, I would be serious about going back to square one. Do what Ed said about keeping a dog in the crate for few days and act like he is not worth my time to hang out. Be aloof and dont give any attention when u take her out for a potty break.

thanks guys.

to be honest, i hadn't necessarily thought she bit out of dominance....i was just trying to give as much background info as possible. i figured she bit me b/c she didn't like what i was doing, i didn't really think dominance vs. defence.

ALSO, to be clear - teagan isn't hurt right now. she's not showing signs of pain, and she has not been when i've been practicing on picking her up. to be honest, i wouldn't practice it then b/c she'd have enough other stuff going on without having pain factor into the mix as well.

i'm practicing for the future, if that makes sense. the supplements and metacam are helping a lot, but i'm sure at some point - hopefully years away - she'll get worse - and i'm sure she'll have bad blips (a few weeks before this we were away for a weekend hiking in very cold weather and i think that combination very much tired her in the back end, though through massage and a lot of touch i didn't see any pain reactions) so i want to practice lifting her while she's feeling okay so that she doesn't think twice about it if she's not feeling well.

when i'm lifting her i'm placing my arms similar to how i've seen some lifting harnesses. she bit me when i'd lifted her just over a foot, foot and a half off the ground - not up higher at chest level or something.

i did what i did b/c i've gotten advice, here and from the old trainers i went to (okay, they were very old school alpha rolls and i stopped taking luc there, so maybe i should've thought about that) has been very much telling me that i shouldn't allow any sort of this behaviour - of course, different context, but like i said - i honestly didn't think dominance vs. defence. i thought 'she knocked off my glasses and missed my eye by an inch and a half! that is not okay!' the dominant stuff i did lasted less than a minute, the rest was obed. work.

but i'm definitely going to have to think more about her motivations. the other thing that probably fed into this was that while she'd improved a lot and become less reactive towards other dogs, she has recently started to become more reactive/aggressive again when she sees another dog. even if i cross the street/move away, she still reacts. so her overall aggression has increased lately, not to terrible levels, but we need to work harder on refocusing her behaviours. i have started to round out my dog behaviour library, so hopefully that will help (and you guys, of course). teagan and i have done well bonding lately, but to compare her to luc - i mean, i've only had dogs for a short while, and teagan is the polar opposite of luc, who gives his love to everyone (my mom calls him the golden retriever of german shepherds ), teagan in some ways had a harder time settling in - luc had to deal with being exposed to things he'd never seen before, teagan has been emotionally more reserved, and she has started to come around lately but i think she found the initial transition hard/depressing (to a degree, though i worked hard to make things fun, lots of toys etc....i was so excited to have a dog that plays). but she'd been surrendered due to an eviction, than in the shelter for a little while, and so i think bonding wise that made things harder. we have come a long way though. she's been tethered to me tonnes, and it really has made a difference. i guess we just need to work on the lifts more slowly, with maybe in addition to treats some toys after small lifts before trying something a bit bigger. maybe it's dumb to work on this now when she's doing well w/treatment, but like i said - i'd rather she learn it when feeling well and healthy than throwing it at her when she's already dealing w/pain.