My Dog Basically Attacked a Man This Eve

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Sky123

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He has never done anything like it before, exept maybe growling at visiting males in our house but he usualy just runs and avoids or growls at them if they try to touch him.

He just ran up to the man and jumped/growled at him and tried to bit his arms/face. He didn't get the man but he said he was calling the authoritys?! The man didn't do anything, barely even looked at him and I was to far away to get him as he litrelly ran for the man.

Why would he have done this? What will the autoritys do?

Will castrating help? He is 1 year old lab and well tempered with kids/females/younger males. My dad refuses to get him castrated, I WANT him done, he just refuses to let me take the dog. It's so frustrating!
 
I would not only get him castrated, but also, for his own sake muzzle him.

If the man didn't even really look at him, and this was in a public place, yet the dog attacked his face, then I think the man is perfectly within his place to complain, and argue that the animal should be PTS - sorry!
 
What they said - especially about the behaviourist.

A well balanced dog should not be growling at people in the home so clearly there is a problem here (not attacking people goes without saying!).

Labs are big dogs and although they are mostly (!) gentle they have the potential to do damage. You need to get professional advice asap.

Why on earth would your dad be keeping such a dog entire - he is not breeding material with this kind of behaviour!
 
As the others said, you have to take some action now to deal with your dog. The chap is totally within his rights to report him, he doesn't have to have been bitten if he was worried he might be bitten it is enough. Have you taken him to training classes? The growling at people in the house is not acceptable and should have been corrected as soon as it started. Contact a behaviourist asap (then if the police do get in touch you can show you are making every effort to stop this happening again), and in the meantime keep him on the lead at all times. And imo its crazy not to get him castrated, even if he is the best constructed labrador in the Uk his temperament is not suitable for breeding ! Good luck, I hope you are able to improve his behaviour and no further action is taken by the man who he attacked.
 
What they all said, especially MM. If my dog had done that, I would be seriously considering PTS - I wouldn't want there to be a next time.

Growling in the house is certainly not on, there is no way on earth he should be procreating (mine has been castrated, among other reasons, because he used to be dog aggressive) and you should definitely get a trainer or behaviourist in.

Hope something works out for you.
 
Just to be awkward here, I would talk to a behaviourist before going for castration. If the agression is a result of a lack of confidence, then castration could make the problem worse - testosterone could be the only thing giving the dog any confidence at all, and taking away is likely to make the dog far more insecure and therefore increase the aggression. Don't know whereabouts in the country you are, but I would recommend Sarah Heath as a behaviourist - she does a lot of work for vets, and gives us all our behaviour lectures at uni.

If the aggression is a result of over-confidence or an attitude problem, then castration is probably a good idea, but IMO it is worth a chat to a behavourist first. At placement this summer, a new graduate vet told me he had been severely told off by the behaviourist for castrating a dog with aggression - it was nervous to begin with and the castration made it ten times worse.

Apologies for contradicting all the very experienced people (sorry Mum!) but this is what they are teaching vet students nowadays!
 
Ye Gods, are you going to come home and tell me how to train the dogs now
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If I recall the behaviourist who gave you lectures last year told you things I have been saying for years.
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Altho have to say that kind of makes sense with Bud, whose aggression is def from lack of confidence and castration didn't make a huge difference to him, although training did
If the OPs dog ran away from her and up to the man he attacked I don't think I would consider him nervous, biting when cornered yes but not actively seeking out someone. I will shut up now and let Cayla and CaveCanem deal with you
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Difficult situation and I think you need to be prepared that this could turn ugly.

For your sake and your dogs, from now on, muzzle the dogs on walks, keep him on a lead at all times in public places, when you have visitors put the dog in another room.
 
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Ye Gods, are you going to come home and tell me how to train the dogs now
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If I recall the behaviourist who gave you lectures last year told you things I have been saying for years.
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Altho have to say that kind of makes sense with Bud, whose aggression is def from lack of confidence and castration didn't make a huge difference to him, although training did
If the OPs dog ran away from her and up to the man he attacked I don't think I would consider him nervous, biting when cornered yes but not actively seeking out someone. I will shut up now and let Cayla and CaveCanem deal with you
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It is fear agression. When we got him he had never been socialised and was scared of everthing, he just never got over the male fear. The guy was also standing outside out doorway so my dog may have been running home as he often does.

I have been told it will just be a he said/she said as no damage was done to the man, so I'm hopeful.
 
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As the others said, you have to take some action now to deal with your dog. The chap is totally within his rights to report him, he doesn't have to have been bitten if he was worried he might be bitten it is enough. Have you taken him to training classes? The growling at people in the house is not acceptable and should have been corrected as soon as it started. Contact a behaviourist asap (then if the police do get in touch you can show you are making every effort to stop this happening again), and in the meantime keep him on the lead at all times. And imo its crazy not to get him castrated, even if he is the best constructed labrador in the Uk his temperament is not suitable for breeding ! Good luck, I hope you are able to improve his behaviour and no further action is taken by the man who he attacked.

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This was so out of character though! He has been to obedience training and passed (had no issues with men there so trainer couldnt do anything about it). He growls at visiting men but usually hides in his crate/ignores them, not the ones who live here. I took him out today and he is back to normal.
 
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I would not only get him castrated, but also, for his own sake muzzle him.

If the man didn't even really look at him, and this was in a public place, yet the dog attacked his face, then I think the man is perfectly within his place to complain, and argue that the animal should be PTS - sorry!

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Yeah, I agree, he should complain about my dog but as this is the 1st time anything like this happened (and this is a dodgy man) I don;t think he should be put to sleep - I have seen far worse dogs who really attack and cause damage. He's only 1, work can be done and I really don't think you would give up on your own dog that quickly. He's fine with other dogs, females, children, horses, cats - men just scare him.

I also didn't see the start of how it happened as we were just turning into my street and he shot off round the corner. I think I exaggerated a bit reading back, I was just so angry with the dog.

He's a sweety usually.
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Being a newbie here I probably shouldn't be commenting, but I can't help myself
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As a one year old adolescent, he's in full swing with hormones and having not seen this behaviour from him before certainly doesn't mean it's only going to be a one-off.

There are four things you need to address here - and forget obedience classes/training as that's got little to do with general behaviour:

- First - how is he interacted with in the house? Do you and your family interact with him as a pack member, or is pack theory and dog psychology not applied?

- Second - you have no way of knowing why he decided to launch himself at that man (there are so many possible reasons), so until you get his behaviour understood and under control he absolutely needs to be muzzled and on lead in public (and under control with visitors in the house). This is for his benefit more than anything. The Dangerous Dog Act states a person only has to be in fear, not even physically bitten, for a dog to be seized and an investigation conducted.

- Third - despite his behaviour, he's not necessarily an 'aggressive' dog. His behaviour's definitely unacceptable and out there at the moment, but dogs rarely behave aggressively for absolutely no reason and, unlike people, aren't malicious. The onus is on you/your family to find out where things are going wrong and rectify them.

- Fourth - your dad needs to understand that having an intact male dog can be dangerous for the dog. Unless you're planning on breeding, there's no reason why any dog should be left unneutered (my opinion only), and more importantly how would your family feel if your boy went charging off after the scent of an in-heat bitch in the area? No matter how much ob training you've done, sometimes the urge to mate is just too strong and you risk your dog running in front of a car, getting lost or getting in trouble for doing what, frankly, comes naturally. I know there are plenty of people who keep intact male dogs perfectly successfully, but once those hormones kick in it's not something I'd risk.

As I said, I'm new here, but please do feel free to PM me if you want any advice - gun dogs aren't my area, but I've had many years training large working breeds. If the man doesn't press charges consider this lucky as dogs are routinely PTS for far less. You and your family owe it to your dog to sort this out without him endangering his own life or someone's safety.

Good luck!
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Why on earth would a dog with known aggressive tendencies be off the lead in a public place? IMO it's the owners that need shooting not the dog.

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What??????? It doesn't have "known agressive tendencies" It usualy ignores men in public. 3 walks a day for over a year and he has never done anything like this on a walk. MEN IN THE HOUSE - HE GROWLS!
 
Sorry, growling at anyone unprovoked is still not acceptable in the home or anywhere else.

You have been given some very good advice on here, again some good advice from Pookie, I hope you are prepared to follow at least some of it, from some of your more recent posts you seem determined to make light of what happened after some of our comments.


As you said, work can be done, he is young, I hope you get on top of it.
 
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Being a newbie here I probably shouldn't be commenting, but I can't help myself
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As a one year old adolescent, he's in full swing with hormones and having not seen this behaviour from him before certainly doesn't mean it's only going to be a one-off.

There are four things you need to address here - and forget obedience classes/training as that's got little to do with general behaviour:

- First - how is he interacted with in the house? Do you and your family interact with him as a pack member, or is pack theory and dog psychology not applied?

- Second - you have no way of knowing why he decided to launch himself at that man (there are so many possible reasons), so until you get his behaviour understood and under control he absolutely needs to be muzzled and on lead in public (and under control with visitors in the house). This is for his benefit more than anything. The Dangerous Dog Act states a person only has to be in fear, not even physically bitten, for a dog to be seized and an investigation conducted.

- Third - despite his behaviour, he's not necessarily an 'aggressive' dog. His behaviour's definitely unacceptable and out there at the moment, but dogs rarely behave aggressively for absolutely no reason and, unlike people, aren't malicious. The onus is on you/your family to find out where things are going wrong and rectify them.

- Fourth - your dad needs to understand that having an intact male dog can be dangerous for the dog. Unless you're planning on breeding, there's no reason why any dog should be left unneutered (my opinion only), and more importantly how would your family feel if your boy went charging off after the scent of an in-heat bitch in the area? No matter how much ob training you've done, sometimes the urge to mate is just too strong and you risk your dog running in front of a car, getting lost or getting in trouble for doing what, frankly, comes naturally. I know there are plenty of people who keep intact male dogs perfectly successfully, but once those hormones kick in it's not something I'd risk.

As I said, I'm new here, but please do feel free to PM me if you want any advice - gun dogs aren't my area, but I've had many years training large working breeds. If the man doesn't press charges consider this lucky as dogs are routinely PTS for far less. You and your family owe it to your dog to sort this out without him endangering his own life or someone's safety.

Good luck!
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Thanks.
1) My brother wrestles with him a lot. We are in control in the house though, he goes to his bed, waits beofre eating his food - though I haven't used dog psychology so I'm not sure.

2) Since thinking over everything, - the man was standing outside out gate so as he ran round the corner and ready to run through the gate he must have spotted the man and freaked out, (takes him a while to notice things) Though there are always kids playing outside who he loves and they love. so it's deffiently only men, though I will deffiently not let him play with the kids/let them near him any more just in case.

3) I agree, he's not an agressive dog. I asked the dog trainer if it was aggression and he said the growl he did when males were in our house was just when he was fearful and I can't remember what he said, but he said that shouldn't be confused with agression.

4) How can the man prove my dog did this? no-one was around and the dog didnt physically harm him. Will they still act on it?

And thanks. More help than some people....
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I will PM you if I still have trouble with him. - I really think it was a 1 off panic, why was the guy standing by my gate anyway? He was a little drunk so maybe he won't remember the incident anyway.

I'm still shocked he did it, he was back to normal again today and I guess i'll buy him a muzzle, lab in a muzzle - not seen that before.
 
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Sorry, growling at anyone unprovoked is still not acceptable in the home or anywhere else.

You have been given some very good advice on here, again some good advice from Pookie, I hope you are prepared to follow at least some of it, from some of your more recent posts you seem determined to make light of what happened after some of our comments.


As you said, work can be done, he is young, I hope you get on top of it.

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I am prepared to follow some of the advice - Pookies answer was very helpful and I just replied to her/him, but I know growling in the home in wrong and he shouldn't do it but the dog trainer from when I went to obedience said it was nothing to worry about as he was just showing his fear.

When I volunteered at the animal shelter, many of those dogs growled when I first met them and none of them were considered a danger. I don't agree a growl can always be considered agressive, its not like he showed his teeth etc.
 
OK, I am glad you are going to work on it, and again, I hope it works out.

However I disagree that fear-based aggression is 'nothing to worry about', fearful dogs can often be much more unpredictable than plain old aggressive dogs, I have seen it myself.

It is important to recognise the triggers - I find a lot of people move in to correct the dog after the behaviour has been executed by the dog - learning to read the dog and stop him BEFORE he has raised his hackles or uttered a noise works so much better - you know your own dog and so will know what I am talking about.

When I was dealing with my own dog, I had to start the command/correction on the 'look' he was giving - not after he had started yelling his head off at the other dog. By then, correction can act as agitation and make the problem worse.
 
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OK, I am glad you are going to work on it, and again, I hope it works out.

However I disagree that fear-based aggression is 'nothing to worry about', fearful dogs can often be much more unpredictable than plain old aggressive dogs, I have seen it myself.

It is important to recognise the triggers - I find a lot of people move in to correct the dog after the behaviour has been executed by the dog - learning to read the dog and stop him BEFORE he has raised his hackles or uttered a noise works so much better - you know your own dog and so will know what I am talking about.

When I was dealing with my own dog, I had to start the command/correction on the 'look' he was giving - not after he had started yelling his head off at the other dog. By then, correction can act as agitation and make the problem worse.

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Ok thanks. The trainer told me it was nothing so I never thought much of it. If a male comes into the house we usualy put him in his crate (we do it about 10 mins before so man doesn't = crate) or should we leave him out? After he has settled down we let him out and he goes on his bed and is fine unless the male stands. Though wierdly, he would play tug of war with one of them and as soon as the game was over he'd freak out again and run to his bed or crate.
 
God, might he have got a kicking or something as a puppy?
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I really don't want to advise you about letting him in or out of the crate as I haven't seen the situation through my own eyes, my dogs live outdoors and I haven't really used a crate for a dog with security issues.

Maybe someone else could properly advise.

(And Pookie, don't be daft, of course newbies can post! Welcome
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)
 
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God, might he have got a kicking or something as a puppy?
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I really don't want to advise you about letting him in or out of the crate as I haven't seen the situation through my own eyes, my dogs live outdoors and I haven't really used a crate for a dog with security issues.

Maybe someone else could properly advise.

(And Pookie, don't be daft, of course newbies can post! Welcome
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)

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Well, we got him when he was 6 months old, he was to wimpy to be a hunting dog. When we got him he was scared of EVERYTHING! Took him ages to get over his fear of dogs, he would lie down and refuse to move if we saw another dog and after we got over dogs he got used to everything else, just not bloody men! It's possible he got kicked or hit or something as a pup, but we got him as an unsocialized 6 month old who had never left his garden so he's much better than he was.
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From my experience with my own dog .... who is dog aggressive .... Sometimes the crate can be a god send, Sometimes it can cause the dog to become more agitated and feel like they are back into a corner so to speak and can not get away ....So they therefor they " go all guns blazing" towards ....be it a dog , man , child whatever it is they are fearful of .

You really need to get an experienced dog handler in .....

Hope your dog can get the help it needs to sort out this pretty major problem .
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From my experience with my own dog .... who is dog aggressive .... Sometimes the crate can be a god send, Sometimes it can cause the dog to become more agitated and feel like they are back into a corner so to speak and can not get away ....So they therefor they " go all guns blazing" towards ....be it a dog , man , child whatever it is they are fearful of .

You really need to get an experienced dog handler in .....

Hope your dog can get the help it needs to sort out this pretty major problem .
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Thank you. I will get the yellow pages out tommorow and see if I can find one. My dog loves his crate, if I keep him up to late he whines to go in! I my old obedience class do 1 on 1s but I don't think that will be much use. Would it be better getting a male dog trainer?..
 
Just contacted this guy: http://www.dogslistenup.co.uk/index.htm
He looks good and travels quite far so I'm hoping he isn't to expensive. Just sent an email with whats happened/the growling with males in the house so now I'll just wait for a response.
Now just need to buy a muzzle tommorow.
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I have just found 4 more websites for my area. I didn't know there would be this many. None of them have prices, anyone know a rough price?
 
Oh dear sounds like he did his usual run home and was maybe blocked by what he percieved as a threat......but all the same it could have been a very different situation.
Ditto what everyone has suggested, and indeed in regard to fear based aggression, it is definately the most dangerous, as the dog is doing what comes naural to remove the threat in the most efficient way it knows how.
Obs u can take on board all comments and indeed put them into plan but aggression is a complexed issue and needs to be tackled effectivly as not to exasperate the problem.
His crate is fine as a place to put him in before your guests arrive, for him then to be released without any fuss once the guest is seated and the commotion of entering has subsided, but as a barrier it will only heighten aggression, so u will basically get a kennel guarding effect, so aslong as nobody attempts to bend down to the crate when he is in or attempt to stand over it (as in a stranger) otherwise he will protect his space ten fold.
Also take note of your guests body language and ask them not to give any direct contact/talk/or attempt to reach out to him to encourage him over and to turn their body to the side of him as not be be to threatening, also when he displays aggressive behaviour he must be reprimanded by a family member not the guest, not physically but definately a firm NO, and as suggested a good solid firm routine indoors with everyone singing from the same hym sheet The key is when in your company he should learn to feel more comfortable when in the company of strangers and know what is expected of him and when u are not there or u are out and he is running loose u have to take precautions to make sure todays incident never repeats it's self.

Good luck finding reputable trainer to guide u one on one, it's workable, we have dealt with many a rescue dog with such issues and we will never fully understand what/how the past has affected them but we have gone on to rehabilitate and rehome, he is still young and you sound like you want to work with him
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Don't know, maybe try PMing CAYLA or Porkie for more advice on that end.

Well done for taking prompt action, keep us posted
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I tried a few times to get on today but it's slow and I also have a new dog in thats a bit of a wild child to train........it's been fun
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esp the forward rolls she does when she does not agree with my instruction
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I must try and video it on me phone
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Oh and the first morning she decided to wake me at 6am
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............day 2 she decided a lie in was the better option
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Edited to add....feel free to PM me Jake........I will help all I can.
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Oh dear sounds like he did his usual run home and was maybe blocked by what he percieved as a threat......but all the same it could have been a very different situation.
Ditto what everyone has suggested, and indeed in regard to fear based aggression, it is definately the most dangerous, as the dog is doing what comes naural to remove the threat in the most efficient way it knows how.
Obs u can take on board all comments and indeed put them into plan but aggression is a complexed issue and needs to be tackled effectivly as not to exasperate the problem.
His crate is fine as a place to put him in before your guests arrive, for him then to be released without any fuss once the guest is seated and the commotion of entering has subsided, but as a barrier it will only heighten aggression, so u will basically get a kennel guarding effect, so aslong as nobody attempts to bend down to the crate when he is in or attempt to stand over it (as in a stranger) otherwise he will protect his space ten fold.
Also take note of your guests body language and ask them not to give any direct contact/talk/or attempt to reach out to him to encourage him over and to turn their body to the side of him as not be be to threatening, also when he displays aggressive behaviour he must be reprimanded by a family member not the guest, not physically but definately a firm NO, and as suggested a good solid firm routine indoors with everyone singing from the same hym sheet The key is when in your company he should learn to feel more comfortable when in the company of strangers and know what is expected of him and when u are not there or u are out and he is running loose u have to take precautions to make sure todays incident never repeats it's self.

Good luck finding reputable trainer to guide u one on one, it's workable, we have dealt with many a rescue dog with such issues and we will never fully understand what/how the past has affected them but we have gone on to rehabilitate and rehome, he is still young and you sound like you want to work with him
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His crate is in the room next door to the kitchen/living room so guests are never in the same room as him so he settles down. Some guests still try and touch him even though I tell them not to, - he's on his bed they peer over him I try to make them stop but they have the attitude of "whats a lab gonna do?". That christmas time last year, he seemed to back away a bit but his growling increased.

I'm glad I posted on here as I was ready to brush the incident off as a fluke. Do you think after we have got a trainer that can help, he can ever be trused off lead around males again?

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Edited to add....feel free to PM me Jake........I will help all I can.
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Thank you for your reply.
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I will PM you before I try anything stupid, like a loose dog and visitors!

 
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