Why is my dog like this?

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poiuytrewq

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To begin, Dog is a 4 year old lab. The sweetest most loving dog, I'd trust him with my life. If he has to have anything nasty done (ie- injections or something that will hurt by the vet) I know 100% i can hold his face and he will not bite me.
The first about 2.5 years of his life he was brought with a child. They were fine together, never any cause for concern. One day completely out of the blue the dog snapped and bit the child. As far as i can tell the kid just walked past (I had my back to them at the time)
When i was checking the child was ok, this involved removing his trousers and giving hugs etc (child was 2.5/3 years) The dog started snarling. I obviously told him off and put him in my car out of the way. Ever since I've avoided him having any contact what so ever with children just incase.
No one really believes me (because the dog is so lovely) but i really see another side to him and will never let him be in the situation he might bite.
So today, I was out riding and got back home to see we had visitors with two boys. Both used to dogs and slightly older. Maybe 6 and 11 ish.
I instantly shouted to o/h to make sure my dog was shut away and was told he was. I stayed out sorting the horse but when they left o/h said that the dog had been fine with the kids, wagging his tail and happy to be stroked (this made me mad!) until apparently the kid turned and walked away, then the dog snapped.
Why? I just don't get it. I thought it was fear and was convinced the first child had done something to him but to be ok until the second childs back was turned is just horrible.
Needless to say o/h has now seen with his own eyes and agreed never to risk it again... I'm so pissed off that he let this happen today, luckily no contact was made and the child didnt even notice.
Any one able to shed any light as to why he's doing this? I think both times he's gone suddenly from behind as the child leaves.
 
I have a fear biter who used to snap only once a person had turned his/her back on her. I believe she waited until she felt safe from a possible counter attack by the person as in being hit or kicked back. She would retreat sharpish if the person turned around and faced her. I only know this because I enlisted the help of a friend when she arrived as a confirmed but not dangerous 'snapper' to see how she would actually react to a stranger. (I had muzzled the bitch and my friend is still talking to me). We enlisted the help of a very experienced behaviourist who turned her around but I still muzzle her in public to be 100% sure she can never get into trouble. You never know when an idiot is going to try and dive onto your dog without warning to give her a 'cuddle'!

It sounds as if your dog is feeling towards children much the same way as my bitch used to feel towards strangers.
 
A dog that bites a retreating 'threat' is insecure, what a lot of people would call a 'sneaky' bite.
My first port of call would be the vet to rule out a pain or neurological issue. Although if he is not behaving this way with adults then I'd say he obviously had a bad association for whatever reason. Children are loud and fast moving and some dogs just find that too much.
 
CorvusCorax said:
A dog that bites a retreating 'threat' is insecure, what a lot of people would call a 'sneaky' bite.
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yep, one of my collies was like this-not only with kids but always with kids if you see what I mean. he could never be trusted with kids but with adults in the house it was sorted -far more difficult to outside when you can't control everything.
 
He's lovely with adults which I suppose is why my partner didn't take me seriously. It's no problem to keep him away from children, he's happy to stay home in the school holidays which is when kids are at my work place and usually I just shut him away if we have young visitors.
 
I agree that this is fearful behaviour and I think you are doing the right thing by managing the situation for your dog and not putting him in a position where he feels he has to take action against the perceived threat.

A wagging tail does not just denote that the dog is happy or comfortable it can mean many things including fear, insecurity or a warning.

You can train behaviours to perform when the threat is present but I think this often just masks how the dog is feeling and is not as reliable as management. You can change behaviour with training but I don't think you can change emotions.

Like Planete describes, you can train your dog but not other people.
 
Do you think as he is disabled he is worried about being trodden on or squashed and perhaps a child has done this to him, accidently, before?
 
Clodagh said:
Do you think as he is disabled he is worried about being trodden on or squashed and perhaps a child has done this to him, accidently, before?
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I think this could be right yes. It would make sense. Although on one hand he's quite often trodden on or squashed as he does tend to get under people's feet trying to say hello.
He is actually perfectly able to get out of the way (demonstrated by horses walking past!)
I was just quite shocked that he did it when the kid walked away, the above explanations are spot on though. I didn't like to think he was being sneaky
 
It's not sneaky/conniving in the human sense.
They dog may see a person or thing that it thinks might hurt or cause it harm. Something it may fear or just plain dislike.
But it is not 'big' enough in it's own mind to take the threat on face to face...so does it when the threat is retreating.
If we want to humanise it...when someone does something when your back is turned you trust them less than someone who does it to your face. Whether fear driven or not it isn't acceptable and the safest thing is to limit interaction with children, which is what you are doing.
 
No worries. It's scary when we see dogs behave like this but at the end of the day they can't talk and they explain how they feel in different ways, and the best way for people to stay safe is to prevent situations from happening in the first place.
Google 'appeasement behaviours' and check out if there's anything he might have been doing that may have looked 'loving' or 'cute', but could actually mean he may be worried and is trying to warn you that he isn't happy.
 
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