The Dog Who Didn't Like Hugs

Not the hugs you are thinking of though.  This is a dog who doesn't like it when the humans hug, and more specifically doesn't like it when anyone hugs mom.  The owners thought it was kind of cute, at first.  But then, they noticed that it wasn't really all that funny when the dog started jumping up, interrupting hugs, and shoving people apart.  It became especially concerning when he escalated to nipping anyone who tried to shove him away.  The final straw?  Mom was sitting on the couch with the dog laying next to her.  One of the kids came up behind her and leaned over the couch to hug her and the dog jumped up and bit the child in the face, necessitating a trip to the emergency room and a handful of stitches.  Such a desperately sad situation for this family, but one that really should have been dealt with long before the dog chose to bite to make his point.  Whether you want to say that this dog suffers from resource guarding aggression with mom being the resource, or you choose to label him as a protective aggressor, it doesn't really matter.  The bottom line is that he's now bitten a child, a child who he's lived with his whole life and who walks him every day, plays ball with him, and even gives him treats. This dog had given this family many warnings that a bite *could* happen and they ignored those warnings thinking he'd never actually bite anyone.  They still believed this to be the case right up until the bite to their son.

Their veterinarian, and a friend of the family, had recommended me to this family more than once.  Apparently, the dog didn't like the vet hugging mom when she brought him into the clinic for a vaccine. When the vet saw this, she knew what she was seeing, but her recommendations were downplayed and she stopped hugging her friend when she saw her.  After the bite, however, she couldn't keep quiet anymore, asking them why they hadn't reached out to me for guidance as she'd strongly suggested?

While it may be hard to admit that  your dog has a behavior problem, ignoring the problem will not make it go away.  More importantly, when you are dealing with issues in aggression, burying your head in the sand or making excuses for your dog puts others at risk.  In this case, a child. So, here were my recommendations to this family:

At this point, the dog is a proven biter.  He has demonstrated that he is willing to escalate to a serious bite if someone touches his female owner in his presence.  Going forward, this dog must be confined when people arrive and go through the hugging rituals of human greetings.  When guests are in the house, he must be on leash and tethered in place on his dog bed; he cannot be allowed on furniture or at his female owner's feet any more.  The owners will need to muzzle train him so that when he can't be confined or tethered for some reason, he'll be prohibited from biting.  And yes, HE WILL BITE AGAIN if they don't complete all of these steps.  The bottom line, however, is that I don't think that this dog is a good fit for this family any longer.  He should be in a home with a single human or couple who will enforce boundaries and keep him under threshold for his guarding behavior.  Given that their veterinarian had recommended euthanizing the dog, my treatment plan though difficult, seemed like something they were willing to try.  The kids love this dog, even the child who was bitten thought it was his fault for "surprising the dog when I hugged mom."

I really hope this family heeds all of my warnings and boundaries are rigorously enforced with this dog.  He actually is a pretty nice dog overall, a bit pushy, but not bad, as long as you don't try to hug his female owner, so we'll see how it goes.  The liability is still there and that's never going away.

As always, if you have questions about your pet's behavior, you know where to find me.

Here's Henley, asleep in the crook of my legs on the couch.  Anyone can sit on the couch next to us, or hug me when he's there.  He just figures one more person available for him to cuddle with and love on.  He does try to block Ozzie from getting attention, but it doesn't come from a place of guarding, he's just competitive and Ozzie always lets him know where he stands in the pecking order.