Last night Frank and I had the opportunity to work with a family whose 1.5 year old Labradoodle was getting out of control. They have two smaller children who had friends over. The dog had one of his bones outside and one of the kids ran by it and he lunged and snapped at them. Luckily, it did not break skin. That’s when they called us.
On each and every initial visit I pressure test the dog we are working with. By pressure testing, I mean I put them in situations that are most likely to provoke a bite in a dog that is aggressive. I would estimate that about 95% have no response at all. But like I always tell clients, I would rather take a bite to my hand than have a child bit in the face.
During the appointment, the dog was stubborn and a bit hard headed but otherwise responded well and I did not see any signs of aggression. Then it came time for the “peanut butter test”. I have the client give me a piece of bread with peanut butter on it. I introduce it to the dog and then put it on the floor. As soon as they go for it, I give them a lead correction to communicate that it is my food. Their eyes are on me at this point. If they move towards it, I move towards it and they back off. The dog in question backed off right away, went to a sit and then down without me saying a word. This was a strange reaction in itself, but I would soon figure out why.
Again, dogs have five things in life. Food, water, space, toys, and attention. They use these five commodities to establish pack order. They will often use them to bait other dogs into a confrontation to establish dominance. In the absence of other dogs, they will do it to humans. That is what this dog was doing. I baited him by placing it and correcting it. When I moved to pick it up, he made direct eye contact with me and snarled to expose his teeth. I continued to try to take it and he nipped me and broke skin. I continued to push it and he continued to nip, but did not break skin again. His eye contact was the first challenge, his snarl and exposing his teeth were the second challenge. When I continued to take the bread, he nipped. That was the third challenge. When I responded like a dominant dog by taking the nip and challenging him, I called his bluff. As I have written about before, very few dogs will actually give a full mouth bite. A nip is done with the front teeth and is basically a pinch.
Another dog would have responded to the look. Those that didn’t would have likely heeded the snarl, and a very few would have needed to be nipped. Once the dog realizes that humans will back up with just a snarl, he will continue to do it to control other things like space and attention. Imagine if you could get everyone to leave you alone by simply showing your teeth.
There is a high probability that he had snarled first at the child and the child did not see it and that provoked the nip.
Now that we fully understand the situation, we know how to proceed. Right now they are to do a Pack Leader walk everyday, remove all toys and bones, and will feed him by hand. They are also scheduling a follow up appointment.
If your dog is challenging you in any way, help is available. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that it will get better on it’s own.