Reply to Help: dog snapped at DS' face

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
OP,

It depends on so many factors!

1. Safest solution: get rid of the dog.

2. Most difficult solution: research dog behavior and psychology, modify dog training and educate other members of the household to handle dog differently. PP had great advice about getting the dog used to poking, handling, petting, interference in general. It will take many more months of vigilance, and you need to be constantly aware of pack instinct. The dog must NEVER think it's superior to your kids or anyone else. There are may practical rules you can in place to make the dog understand everyone is above him and untouchable.
http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/articles/grouchydog.htm
The whole site is full of valuable info.

3. Most dangerous solution: do nothing.

[/quote]

I agree that option 2 can be an option in certain circumstances.  We did something similar when my rescue dog snapped at my child, with success, but there were a lot of differences between our situation and OP's.

1) My youngest was 10 and much more able to follow directions about dog safety than a 7 year old.

2) My dog is much smaller than a rottie or a lab so far less likely to do life threatening damage to a child.   One thing we did was made rules that the dog was never on the furniture, and kid was never on the floor in the same room as the dog, unless dog was tethered or crated.  Dog was too small to reach kid's face in those circumstances.   A rottie can easily jump and reach a 7 year's old face/neck or knock a kid down in play so this strategy wouldn't work.

3) For several months, dog was either crated or tethered to me whenever he was in the same room as my kid.  He certainly wasn't cuddling on the couch with the child a few hours after the incident as OP describes, which makes me think that OP would not be successful at keeping the separate.

4) We took dog to the vet and found a medical problem (Urinary tract infection) that was both treatable and painful.  Vet felt that it was likely that once the pain was treated the dog would go back to his previous behavior.

5) While my dog did snap he actually backed up a fair amount before snapping, not right in the face, so it was a pretty clear warning and not attempted bite.  In the situation, DS came in the room and found dog on the bed, where he wasn't supposed to be.  He ordered dog down, and dog growled.  He then reached for dog's collar and dog backed away to the far corner of the bed and then snapped.  DS then came and got me.  [/quote]

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