Geez all of you dog people are frightening. Get rid of the friend? Really?

OP, I hope you make arrangements for your dog to be secured when you have guests or kids' friends visiting. As someone who was mauled by a relative's senile dog when I was a little bit older than your kids, I can tell you that it scarred me for life but also the same for everyone who witnessed the attack and the aftermath.

And no (anticipating the obnoxious comments of the dog owners on this thread who immediately blamed the victim in the OP's case), I didn't provoke the dog. Nor did anyone sue. But I will never understand someone who prioritized an animal over family and friends. Whatever your dog's triggers may be, you can't expect others to anticipate them or protect themselves adequately. So make sure that dog is locked up when you have friends or family around.

And by the way whatever your friend who was bitten may say, she will never have much faith in you after this. Rightly so. I'm not bashing you OP, but you should understand the other side of this.

OP, I know you already got your answers, but I just want to encourage you with your decision. I think training is going to be necessary, but you should also really keep an eye on things. Is the dog getting older and thus more sensitive? Have you seen the vet about any possible conditions or pain?

Our family dog snapped at my 1 YO a few years ago, and I still have no idea what really happened. The kid was being a bit obnoxious, but nothing out of the ordinary, and the dog was extremely patient. I suspect that the kid started to lose his balance and grabbed onto the dog's ear and scratched it.

We kept the dog and never had another incident. It was a total fluke. The dog did not go after the child and immediately stopped after he realized the kid was not hurting him anymore. It didn't really break the skin -- just some scratches. But it was scary.

I think you should make sure to keep the dog away from guests in the future, just to be on the safe side. And make sure your kids know in particular to be careful around him with food.

If there is an option to give him to a loving family of only adults who know his history, then I would definitely not look down on you for doing this. It may be in everyone's best interest. If you ended up having to put him in another room all the time, he's not going to be happy and may get more snappy with time. Just do what you feel is best. GL!

Anonymous wrote:I still have him. My husband is on board with me, so we are trying some more training.
I learned my lesson posting here, people make all kinds of assumptions about you. Like the one about how I don't really want the dog, didnt participate in the training. I've had dogs for over 20 years and this is the only dog I've tried to do everything right!
Lab rescue would take him if I so choose. I'm not getting rid of him because he's been my best friend for 3.5 years!

OP, don't feel too bad about the nasty answers. I hope the training will work. anyway, I hope you get rid of the friend. I think only a total idiot would try to stop somebody else's dog, in somebody else's home, eat food. I have had dogs for 39 years and I would never ever do that to a dog that is not mine, in his home, even if I know him well