Bianca bit ME!
by Angel
ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
Hello everyone. While I was out shopping today my mother-in-law stopped by to visit my husband and gave our dogs bones--rawhide bones[bad]. When I came home I immediately took the bone from BriAnna and Annie, who, BTW, gave me the bone with no problem. When I started to approach Bianca she started growling at me. I said, "Bianca, give mommie the bone". She growled even louder at me. I than took the bone from her, well, I had to kinda pull it gently from her because she had a very strong grip on it. She was growling the whole time and after I had the bone she stuck her head out at my hand and bit me--real hard. She even broke my skin slightly. I am so hurt. I am not mad at her, I am just sad that she bit me. I spoil my girls rotten, and despite that they are very good girls. They listen well, come when called, sit and stay on command, and are perfectly potty trained. So this really shocked me that she bit me. She has never been aggressive with me or anyone before. She will be three in July and I've had her since she was eight months old. Has anyone else ever had this happen? I told her she was a bad girl and she stayed in the kitchen all day today. Did I do something wrong? I only took the bone from her because rawhide is so dangerous and I called my mother-in-law and told her to never give my girls anything except Nylabones. But now after I read the post on Nylabones I'm not sure what to give them. Thanx!
DISCUSSION:
Maggie tried to bite my husband once. I had bought her a pig ear home. She just loved it. Well, my husband wanted to play with her, so he decided to take the pig ear away to do this. She growled at him and tried to bite him. It scared him to death. Out of shock, he hit her. She dropped the pig ear and then was put in her house for a while. I cried. My husband felt awful for hitting her, but it was a reflex. She really came after him. But, that has almost been two years, and I am glad that it happened. Maggie has never done anything like that before. She won't even touch anything that smells like that pig ear did. She will always remember how much trouble she got into. Poor baby. When she gets a hold of a bone now(which she shouldn't have) I just tell her to drop it. And she does. If your baby had never had anything like that before, she really thought it was something she didn't want to give up. At least, that is what Maggie thought. Maggie is a good girl. She just got a little crazy that day. Don't worry, you did they right thing.
Jennifer & Maggie
Angel, I guess it was just a case of never interfering with a dog and its food, not her fault and, certainly not yours. Next time she is chewing something you would rather she not, distract her in some way, then when she is otherwise occupied take the object away and give her something appropriate to chew. Her reaction to you taking the bone was natural and not at all vicious. Dont worry, she has forgotten all about it, I am sure :)
Sandy and Puff
Angel, this may make you feel better. Baxter, who is the most gentle, loving, sweet, kind, giving dog I've ever met had the same reaction when I gave him a pig snout once. It happened maybe about a year ago. He was on the center cushion of the couch while my husband was on the side. I was bringing a towel to put under him (Baxter, not my husband) so he didn't make a mess. WELL, when I reached down to move him and his pig snout, he growled and showed me his teeth. I felt like, "Who are you and what have you done with my dog?" My husband reached over to try the same and got the same reaction. We got the snout away from him with him growling and snapping (didn't bite - maybe cause we were fast). We very sternly and meanly said what a bad, bad, bad boy he was and shame on him. Believe me, he KNEW we weren't happy with his behavior. Well, needless to say, he spent the evening on the floor exhanging dirty/hurtful looks with us and the snout spent the rest of it's life in the trash along with all the other "goodies" like that I could find. Baxter had never, ever minded me taking things away from him before - didn't matter if it was a toy, food or whatever, and that is what made it so shocking. I'll admit it, it hurt my feelings too. Well, nothing like that has ever happened since, and he returned to being the great little wonderball I knew and loved. Seems like a bad dream now. I'll be interested to see Anne's input on this one.
Marie
I just thought I would add that I have never had this problem with Jack. Whenever he has something that I want I fight him for it. I will stick my fingers in his mouth, poke, prod and do what ever it takes to get it back. He grwols real loud but has NEVER bitten me. I usually use a cookie to get him to drop what he has. Ever since he was little I would do this and he growls to tell me he is mad but never bites. My 2 year old nephew was over the other day and dropped a gum ball on the floor and Jack got it. He began to chew it until I jammed my fingers in his mouth to get it out. He was really mad at me until he got a treat in return. Just thought I would share this.
Chris and Jack
Angel, Other than scolding her and ignoring her for a while, I don't really know how you should handle this. I just want to lend moral support. I can imagine how betrayed you must feel. But I think it was just an instinct thing and it will probably never happen again. Sometimes my husband and Angel will go to bed before me and when I come to bed, Angel will growl if I move her. It really hurts my feelings, sort of like if my child would say "I hate you." Try not to feel bad. You know Bianca loves you and she knows she did something bad. Hopefully, someone will have some good advice on how this should be handled so it doesn't happen again. Sandee
anonymous poster
Angel, we had the growl and bite experience too. Lucy picked up a chicken bone outside a year or so ago, and when I took it from her she growled and snapped at me. I was so shocked that I SCREAMED--not even a "no" just a good old people OWWWWWW scream. I think I just terrified her. She looked at me like I was crazy for all the noise, but also knew she did it--she tucked her little tail. Anyhow that was the first, last, and only time she did it. I didn't punish her at all excep for talking a blue streak about what a bad baby she was and how could she do that to me and what would happen if she ever did it again (knowing me, that would be nothing, but I've got her buffaloed!!) Anyhow, try not to take it personally--to her it was "fresh kill" and she just was overtaken by her pack instincts.
cathy brown
Misha bit me a few months ago, and boy did it shock the hell out of me!! I was soo hurt :( and couldn't understand how she could do that. I spoil her rotton and smother her with affection. She
was chewing on her paw really bad and wouldn't stop when I told her to, so I tried to pry it out of her mouth and she turned around and bit me! It seemed soo viscous, I was totally shocked! It hasn't happened since, but I know how you feel its very upsetting.
anonymous poster
My Chloe May acts the same way with a bone. I have found that if you let her chew it for a while then she is done with it and doesn't care if you take it. I never give her rawhide etc. She needed something to chew on to help losen her baby teeth. I found small round soup bones at the meat department at the store. I boil them and remove all the fat etc. she loves it. After a few hours with the bone she hides it -- a day later it is laying on the floor and you can walk over it -- pick it up etc. and she doesn't care. She knows the word BONE very well.
annie & chloe
Hello again. Bianca hasn't left my side for one second since we let her out of the kitchem last night. She looks up at me and puts her ears down and when I'm sitting on the couch she gives me kisses the whole time. She knows she was bad. I can see it in her eyes. Thank you all for responding and sharing your similar experiences. It has helped me a lot:) I think it was an instinct thing on her part. She had a bone and I took it and she attacked me. If in the future anything happens likes this again, I will use something like a treat to distract her. Take care!
Angel
Yes, my Bailee has done exactly the same thing twice!! It makes you feel dreadful - the first time I was so shocked, I did give him a little smack on the bottom and then he went into shock. The second time - I was very cross and I picked him up and put him into the laundry for 10 minutes and then did not speak or acknowledge him for several hours. This nearly killed me because I'm forever chatting to him. Well, it did the trick and I'm positive he felt sorry - he kept coming up to me and poking me with his nose, placing toys at my feet etc etc.
Christine
Hey y'all , your dogs are not aggressive, but they are showing signs of .....here we go again....CODDLING!! Ellie has growled at me before...even snapped...when I was brusing her and brushed a spot that hurt. She repeatedly did that on the same spot. Found out a groomer had hit her there.But, never mind that...history now. I put her in *BOOT CAMP*...every thing she got, treat or food, she had to sit or down for it. Everytime she wanted petting she had to sit first and then I only petted for a few seconds....no fondling or over petting. I treated her like a dog instead of like a baby...this went on for 3-4 days. At the end of the period she was like a new dog! And I went back to some of my spoiling ways, but I try to keep it in check. I'm working with a rat terrior now whose owner was going to put her to sleep because of constant biting. When I got there I wasn't *allowed*...by the dog...to cross the room. When I left, she was taking food from my lips. She needed to realize she doesn't have the power she wants. The owner had coddled her for the first four years of her life and wasn't even allowed to touch the dog's crate. (I did!) Some dogs you can coddle forever and never have a problem, but not a terrior!!! Some other dogs in general shouldn't be coddled...so much. You know who they are!
anndhudson
Hopefully this will be a one time thing with her. Personally I would try it again to see the reaction, but carefully. The reason I say this is that for their protection you need to be able to take things away without having another treat handy. This is why...we once had a German Shepherd, he was a sweety too, loved everyone. We lived in a country where people would throw poisoned meat over the fence to kill dogs. For his protection he had to learn to never eat anything anyone gave him, and he had to learn to let us take anything from him. We started that training when he was a pup, since we knew he would be a large dog. And we did, we could take meat from him, we could take a bone from him, and we could even make him not touch the female dog when she was in heet!! Of course, we don't think of these things when our little babies are pups! But I did with Taffy, maybe because I thought that someday there may be something I need to get away from her quick. They need to learn. I bet Bianca does feel bad, but maybe see if she has this reaction again.
Robin M.
reply to sandee: my sweet Dolly will normally growl at me if i even stretch my legs over to "her" side of the bed, and i found she often will do it while snoozing on the couch. what i've figured out is that she's probably at least partially asleep & is just reacting normally to a strange movement near her-don't take it personally! :)
as for taking things away from dolly, she loooooves chew flips, but when they get real small i worry about her choking & it's almost impossible to get her to give it to me, so last night i just got a piece of puppy jerky (her favorite stuff in the whole world) and as someone else said, they can't keep it in their mouth & chew their treat too...then i'll replace it with a new flip & all is forgiven....good luck!
ps...i think we assign so much humanity to our darling malteses that we sometimes forget that they are still animals.
Patty
Clover's just really really vocal - he growls and growls at you and wqill run away if you wants t okeep his bone - but on good, stong, "Drop it!!" and the game's over. I don't think he;d bite, he's just real vocal.
Karen & Clover
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