Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

3 Answers

need IMMEDIATE help with my biting dog..please help, very urgent

Asked by: 798 views Dog Training

i have had my dog for about 8 years now, we adopted him from a shelter when he was 1. he has had some biting issues, though they have recently started to get worse. we only took him to puppy training class at petsmart, and it didn’t do much. other than that, he hasn’t had much training, which i assume is where this is coming from. when he is sleeping, you can not go near his pillow. he has bit everyone in my house at least ten times, some being serious requiring stitches. although my parent’s have pretty much just blown it off, a recent incident has set them over the edge. my dog was sleeping on his pillow, and i guess my mom went to grab something that was near him. he woke up, and bit her finger. my mom thought it was fine, but within a few days realized it wasn’t. she went to the dr who sent her to a hospital where she ended up having surgery because it had gotten super infected. my mom spent 5 days in the hospital, and came home to an in home IV treatment. my mom spent the entire time in the hospital worrying about my dog and what we are going to do. everyone is telling us to put him down because of the number of times he has done this, and because of the severity of this one. but i can’t just jump to that conclusion without seeing what our other options are first. i am well aware of how my dog is when he sleeps, so i leave him be. however, my parent’s seem to “forget” how he gets, causing these terrible situations. do you think this can be fixed and get out of him since he is already 8? idk if that’s too old to try to change things like this? he also has a very bad food aggression problem, but we were told that is probably caused by trying to force his way through his brothers and sisters when he was younger to food from their mother. i guess i am just asking for advice, and whether a normal dog trainer should be able to help with this, or if we are just left with only one option? :( the thing that i am worried about is that even if we get a trainer, it’s not guaranteed to work, and we can’t risk this happening again, especially to someone outside of my family. my dog is perfect for 99% of the time..it’s just that small 1% where he has issues. :/

3 Answers



  1. Matt on Mar 27, 2011 Reply

    Obviously you need to find a trainer that has experience with dogs being possessive and aggressive over items. In the mean time be extra cautious going around your dog. Your dog believes the he ‘owns’ the pillow and that he is higher in status in the household. Everybody in the household should be above the dog in the ‘pecking order’ and you need to retrain your dog to understand this.

    Here’s what I would do. Get yourself a dog muzzle, not a wire muzzle but a mesh dog muzzle that allows for panting and drinking water, plus you’ll be able to still reward small treats to your dog through his muzzle (a good treat is peanut butter and works perfectly with the muzzle).

    Once your dog is use to wearing the muzzle you can approach the pillow and if the dog growls or acts aggressive firmly say ‘no’ if the dog continues take the dog and physically move away from the pillow, have the dog sit and reward. Once the dog is comfortable with you near the pillow you can begin to try to take possesion of the pillow. This is more difficult and will take more time but you can use the same procedure as above. Remember that everyone in the household needs to do this (not at the same time) to establish that they (the humans) are the dominant members of the household.

    Once the dog understands where he stands in the household you won’t have this issue. In the mean time be careful!

    +1 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  2. Chuck on Mar 27, 2011 Reply

    No dog is too old to learn how to behave properly, however the training process will take a bit longer. Consistency is the key with the training and everyone in the household should be training your dog in the same manner or it will confuse the dog.

    Where are you locate? I’m sure there are some terrific dog trainers in your area. Classes offered by big chains like PetSmart are more for dog socialization and basic obedience, you need one-on-one with an experienced trainer.

    +1 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  3. Pat on Mar 29, 2011 Reply

    Yeah I would definitely get yourself a muzzle until you can get the dog trained right.

    0 Votes Thumb up 0 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


Answer Question