I'd like to hear anyone's ideas on how to stop this, from both the positive & negative sides of the camp. I got bit again tonight and I'm not a happy camper right now (although I'm not nearly as upset as I used to be LOL).
(sorry this is so long - I want to try to get a clear picture for you here)
Willie is my rescued street dog, classified as a biter, Shih Tzu mix with a split personality that I've had for about a year. He's around 2 yrs old, I think, which makes it even more urgent that I get this handled now.
For probably 98% of the time, Willie is a very happy, energetic, affectionate, funny & needy little guy, and he trains fairly easily, although he does have a stubborn streak. It's because of this side of him that I keep him.
For the other 2% of the time, he takes on the form of Cujo. He starts growling, snarling, and will bite over specific things we're working on, but he also does it out of nowhere, which is what happened tonight. I've tried confronting the behavoir twice; the first time I got bit very badly, the second time I had gloves on that saved my hands.
It's obvious that confrontation doesn't work with him, so I've taken a more passive "management" approach with him and it's worked well enough, but every couple of weeks he starts getting "testy" and it can escalate. He's been testy for the last couple of days, then he bit me tonight, which is the first time in about 6 months.
Here's how it goes.....
Willie, Pinkie & I were out in their (large) playyard after dinner just hanging out. I have a canopied bench swing out there and Willie loves to sit in it & swing with me. He was running around playing and every few minutes would run to the swing, jump up on it, and roll over on his back for me to pet his chest, then he'd be off again - this is his normal behavoir.
The 2nd time he came up, he flopped upside down over my leg so I could pet his chest & belly (a favorite position of his). As I was petting him, I felt some pieces of grass caught in his fur, so I got the first one and flicked it off the swing, then went back for the other piece I'd felt. I got it and moved my hand away from him to flick it off, just as I'd done the first time, when he suddenly lunged about a foot to bite my hand. Then he whirled around to face me, snarling and growling at me, and watching my hand out of the sides of his eyes. I had jerked it up and back at the shock of him biting me, but I wasn't moving it, and had laid it on the back of the swing. (He didn't break the skin, and it wasn't even that hard a bite, but it was definitely a bite.)
As I've been doing with him the last few months, I showed him my "mad" face, told him "NO" and "Get Down". That usually works, but not tonight. He refused to move and hunched down on the seat still snarling & growling at me. Every time I said anything or moved, his noises got louder. I felt pretty vulnerable at that point, with my whole side open to him, so I stood up, turned to face him, and repeated the "Get Down", and he finally did. He's been fine since then, but I'm not interacting much with him now.
I was actually surprised that he bit me without breaking my skin this time, and I think he did that intentionally. He's learned in the last few months how to mouthplay with me and is a very soft mouthplayer, immediately easing up when I tell him it's too much, or stopping and "doing kisses" when I tell him to. There's been a method to my madness with that game, and I think maybe it paid off tonight.
BUT, he still shouldn't be biting me in anger and I need to learn how to handle this. I really want to try to do this myself, so any & all ideas are welcome; if nothing works, I'll have to take him to a behavoirist. If that fails, I may have his canines removed - can you do that???
(sorry this is so long - I want to try to get a clear picture for you here)
Willie is my rescued street dog, classified as a biter, Shih Tzu mix with a split personality that I've had for about a year. He's around 2 yrs old, I think, which makes it even more urgent that I get this handled now.
For probably 98% of the time, Willie is a very happy, energetic, affectionate, funny & needy little guy, and he trains fairly easily, although he does have a stubborn streak. It's because of this side of him that I keep him.
For the other 2% of the time, he takes on the form of Cujo. He starts growling, snarling, and will bite over specific things we're working on, but he also does it out of nowhere, which is what happened tonight. I've tried confronting the behavoir twice; the first time I got bit very badly, the second time I had gloves on that saved my hands.
It's obvious that confrontation doesn't work with him, so I've taken a more passive "management" approach with him and it's worked well enough, but every couple of weeks he starts getting "testy" and it can escalate. He's been testy for the last couple of days, then he bit me tonight, which is the first time in about 6 months.
Here's how it goes.....
Willie, Pinkie & I were out in their (large) playyard after dinner just hanging out. I have a canopied bench swing out there and Willie loves to sit in it & swing with me. He was running around playing and every few minutes would run to the swing, jump up on it, and roll over on his back for me to pet his chest, then he'd be off again - this is his normal behavoir.
The 2nd time he came up, he flopped upside down over my leg so I could pet his chest & belly (a favorite position of his). As I was petting him, I felt some pieces of grass caught in his fur, so I got the first one and flicked it off the swing, then went back for the other piece I'd felt. I got it and moved my hand away from him to flick it off, just as I'd done the first time, when he suddenly lunged about a foot to bite my hand. Then he whirled around to face me, snarling and growling at me, and watching my hand out of the sides of his eyes. I had jerked it up and back at the shock of him biting me, but I wasn't moving it, and had laid it on the back of the swing. (He didn't break the skin, and it wasn't even that hard a bite, but it was definitely a bite.)
As I've been doing with him the last few months, I showed him my "mad" face, told him "NO" and "Get Down". That usually works, but not tonight. He refused to move and hunched down on the seat still snarling & growling at me. Every time I said anything or moved, his noises got louder. I felt pretty vulnerable at that point, with my whole side open to him, so I stood up, turned to face him, and repeated the "Get Down", and he finally did. He's been fine since then, but I'm not interacting much with him now.
I was actually surprised that he bit me without breaking my skin this time, and I think he did that intentionally. He's learned in the last few months how to mouthplay with me and is a very soft mouthplayer, immediately easing up when I tell him it's too much, or stopping and "doing kisses" when I tell him to. There's been a method to my madness with that game, and I think maybe it paid off tonight.
BUT, he still shouldn't be biting me in anger and I need to learn how to handle this. I really want to try to do this myself, so any & all ideas are welcome; if nothing works, I'll have to take him to a behavoirist. If that fails, I may have his canines removed - can you do that???