HELP St Bernard has Bitten 3X's

MaO3

I'm desperate for help. My 23 year old son adopted/Rescued an 8 month old St Bernard pup. Hes' had him for 4 months now, we've had him neutered and he's healthy and 99% of the time happy and wonderful.
He lacks some manners but he's working on that.

The problem is that he seems to have some very serious aggression issues. He had bitten my 18 yr old son 3 times. Last night was the worst, my son was not involved in anyway with the dog, he was just sitting on the couch.

The dogs owner was attempting to leave our home to return to his own, when Moose decided he didnt' want to go. My son had called him and the big dog just basically refused to go with him. My son reached for his collar to leash him and the dog snapped. He attempted to escape and in doing so jumped on the couch and bit my other son. He held the bite, my oldest had to force him to let go.

He's heartbroken, he loves this dog, we all do, but we've not got some serious trust issues with him and dont' know if he's fixable.
Its like a switch goes off in his head and he turns from the lovable goofy puppy to Cujo in two seconds flat.

I've tried distracting him when he "gets that look" in his eye sometimes it will work, but other times he will simply ignore me and charge at my son.
We're to the point where the fear of him seriously injuring someone has us thinking that we may be forced to put him down.

HELP at all? Anyone?

Criosphynx

you need to hire a proffessional.

You dog is a fear biter. He is afraid of his owner (for whatever reason) and redirected on who was closest to him.

Int. Assoc. of Animal Behavior Consultants

please don't even consider euthanizing him until hes been evaluated.

MaO3

My son certainly doesn't want to euthanize him. God only knows what happened to this fella prior to my son getting him. I've talked at length today with a Behaviourist recommended by our vet. He is awaiting my sons phone call after work today to determine the course of action. He has suggested first off that the big dog should be leashed at all times, in the house and out.

He has some dominance issues, that we really didnt' consider to be dominance but after speaking with him have realized they are. Charging the door stuff like that. So I'm truly hopeful that my son can work with this fella and hopefully we can come to some kind of resolution.

Any other suggestions??

Criosphynx

did you behaviorist suggest these were dominance issues?

this isn't dominance (neither is door charging) its basic training issues and fear..

don't force him to comply...it sounds like to me that after the warning snap you guys attempted to MAKE him comply, thats why he escalated. You need to train him, not force him

Brittany

but make sure you or your son work on this with him when you aren't getting ready to walk out the door. Set some time aside when you can totally focus on the dog and there aren't alot of distractions. Do you know how much training he gets from your son? Any other issues?

fawkese1

i agree with crios...this doesn't sound like your dog is dominant, just hasn't been trained to have manners...
and from your description he sounds afraid....
the dogs get scared and do two things. they run (flight) or they bite(fight) their goal is to increase the distance between themselves and whatever is scaring them...when one option doesn't work, they switch to the other....
i don't have any suggestions other then to echo...don't force him to comply....

please keep us updated on what the behaviorist has to say/suggest for you...

Criosphynx

another thing I thought of...you likely talked to a trainer, behaviorists are sorta rare and they certainly don't give advice without seeing your dog in home. But yeah, behaviorist and trainer are not the same thing

MaO3

To be honest I really don't know this guys credintials I was directed to him by our vet. I do know he trains but the receptionist called him a behaviourist. Perhaps because he deals with difficult dogs as well as service animals.

His suggestion as of now is to work on his training, leash him inside and out. That this is manditory for safety reasons. If he's going to bite someone by being on a leash he could be quickly re-directed.

Hes a very large dog, right now he weights upwards of 125 -130 lbs. Not the kind of animal that can easily be dealt with.

The comment about not making him comply, I dont' understand that. What is training but to make the dog comply with your wishes or demands?

In my first post I talked about the Look in his eye, when he does that he herds whom-ever is closest. His herding behaviours are not fear based, in my opinion He blocks, pushes, basically herds you, then will bite you if you dont' avoid it.
What could be causing that kind of behaviour?

Criosphynx

If hes not listed on the website I provided, hes NOT a behaviorist.

no, training is about TEACHING the dog what to do and asking him to do it. Forcing him to do it teaches him nothing but to be scared of the person.

do you teach a child the alphabet by grabbing them and demanding they recite it when they have never heard it before? Same thing.

your dog didn't know how to react so he reverted to his instincts. What happend after the snap? did you guys yell? did you grab again? did he get a swat? He hasn't been taught that grabbing at him is a GOOD thing so he reacted with his emotions...which were saying "scary! go away". You task is to teach him that nothing bad will happen if hes grabbed by the collar. We can walk you through that if you'd like.

this dog is a saint correct? He shouldn't wouldn't couldn't be displaying herding behaviors. Herding behaviors are wide circles and ankle nips.

hes has not been taught not too...all dogs will do this unless taught not too.

your dog is still a puppy, doing puppy stuff.

by bite do you mean stitches and blood? If this dog wanted to hurt you, you'd be in the hospital. After rereading your first post it sounds like hes doing normal mouthy puppy behavior and perhaps snapping when hes frightened.

If he was truely aggressive, at his size, you'd be dead honestly.

Mikey

Welcome! Sorry it's such a troubling thing that brings you here

Why are you tossing out her original suggestions?

Basically the long and short of it is-the dog NEEDS professional help and there is no reason not to get it. If you don't want to euthanize you HAVE TO DO THIS BEFORE HE BITES SOMEONE.
If he bites someone they have the legal right to order your dog destroyed-and you are liable. This is serious business!


You are not going to solve the problem yourselves if your first time dog owners, and really even if you have owned dogs before-if you are not expereienced with this type of dog (big and fearful-aggressive) then your not going to get GOOD reliable results yourself.

Classes and seeing a trainer are not expensive-please please give the trainer a chance!


Size makes it dangerous-it does not make it hard I can control a 1500lb horse who wants nothing to do with me if I want to-because I know how You have to seek a trainer/behaviorist-like yesterday!

Please keep us posted on how that goes.