Over the weekend we were at a family gathering and my dog started mouthing on someone's 3 year old girl. I guess biting might be a better word, except there was no aggression on his part, and she wasn't hurt. She's been around big dogs before, (They have an intact male amstaff) and we intervened quickly. Though, she couldn't keep herself away from him when I had him on the other end of a large room on a leash. She just HAD to come over and be bouncy and interesting in his general direction. Grrr
Since obviously I can't control other people's 3 year olds and keep them away from my dog, I would love to figure out why my dog is doing this and try to correct the behavior. He's done this before, typically with people who aren't petting him or who seem frightened. He will nip at their hands, or leg, or whatever is handy if someone is tentative about petting him. He hasn't hurt anyone, and he is very soft mouthed most of the time, but it is a scary behavior especially with little kids.
He doesn't see well, so I'm not sure if that is related at all. He can also be a little jumpy when people grab his collar or raise their voice etc, so I think he may have been abused as a pup. (He's an adult, we adopted him last June.)
Does anyone have any insight into this, and what I could do to make him not do it? I caught him mid mouth over the weekend and gave him a leash correction (which I hate doing, but it was kindof a stressful time.) But he does it so rarely and unpredictably. And I hate to ask friends to help "Hey, could you come over and ignore my dog so we can see if he'll bite you? It'll be fun!"
I'm going to continue to work on focus and sit commands, but he's a husky and very very interested in the environment around him, so I'm not sure that I'll ever get him to be reliable in distracting situations. Help?
Since obviously I can't control other people's 3 year olds and keep them away from my dog, I would love to figure out why my dog is doing this and try to correct the behavior. He's done this before, typically with people who aren't petting him or who seem frightened. He will nip at their hands, or leg, or whatever is handy if someone is tentative about petting him. He hasn't hurt anyone, and he is very soft mouthed most of the time, but it is a scary behavior especially with little kids.
He doesn't see well, so I'm not sure if that is related at all. He can also be a little jumpy when people grab his collar or raise their voice etc, so I think he may have been abused as a pup. (He's an adult, we adopted him last June.)
Does anyone have any insight into this, and what I could do to make him not do it? I caught him mid mouth over the weekend and gave him a leash correction (which I hate doing, but it was kindof a stressful time.) But he does it so rarely and unpredictably. And I hate to ask friends to help "Hey, could you come over and ignore my dog so we can see if he'll bite you? It'll be fun!"
I'm going to continue to work on focus and sit commands, but he's a husky and very very interested in the environment around him, so I'm not sure that I'll ever get him to be reliable in distracting situations. Help?
It's good that you are taking it seriously enough to post here for information, but I think you need to take it even more seriously. We live in a world where dog bites are totally unacceptable and often very expensive.