MY 4y/o boxer just bit me...

Do I pull the trigger on him?

We have some company in the house. I grabbed his collar to put him in our bedroom because he was anxious and defiant. He growled at me and when we got a few feet from the bedroom he put my hand in his mouth. I yelled at him then brought him closer and he bit my hand. Enough to draw blood in 4 places. He is good most of the time, but a protective dog none the less. He has been my best bud for 4 years now. I am on the fence about putting him down myself or giving him another chance.

Opinions?

You need to put him down.....

my have been over stimulated with the company in the house...

This time go in the bed room and beat the holy hell out of him and then bite his ear. He thinks he is the alpha. Everything can be solved with the correct amount of applied vioilence. Next time shoot the fucker before he bites someone with a good lawyer.


And sorry I have been there.

I've owned three boxers and only one ever bit me. He pissed himself when I went hard alpha on him.
If he's been good up til now i'd give him another shot but it's your call.
I'd say put him in his place the hard way and see what happens.
Good luck man.

Don't do anything for a couple days. Think about it during that time. I doubt he intended to bite you.

If it wasnt't Christmas eve and family in town, I'd have put him down already. Man I was seeing red.

I'm calming down now, but I always told myself if that ever happened, That would be the end of any pet. Am I wrong or are there situations where your dog is forgiveable for biting you?

Just try to get him under control and be firm with him. If he ever does it again then off him.

dogs need to be corrected on the spot

Remedial training.

I agree, correct him but dont go too crazy. But once company leaves, start working with the dog on commands and such. Tell him what to do and command him and reward his good behavior and discipline bad behavior, establish alpha.

If I killed one of my dogs every time he bit me I'd have killed a lot of dogs over the years. To me there's a difference between trying to rip me apart and getting nervous/scared and snapping at me. The worst dog bite I ever had was from my dog. Bit me through a jacket hard enough to draw blood on the top and bottom of the forearm and the bottom one left a 1" scar. He was trying to bite my other dog and I got in the way.

I "push" my dogs sometimes. Take bones away from them, grab them by the collar when they are snarling at each other, sneak up on them when they are stretched out sleeping in the sun, etc. I've had them growl at me, turn their head and start to bite/snap me and when they see/smell me they get a real hang head, dropped tail look and I can tell they're sorry or ashamed they reacted the way they did. Dogs are like kids in my eyes/mind. If I had one that I couldn't trust around people I'd keep him locked up in the pen when other folks were around.

Again, no way I'd kill my dog for biting me by accident. Smack him upside the head, yell at him, force him to the ground and show him I was pissed and all, yes.

I did go hard alpha on him. He obeyed and cowered before me. Still, I never expected him to bite. He is 70lbs. and powerful as hell.We have been through two levels of obediance training.I'll think this through a liitle more sounds good right now

If a dog feels threatened enough, they may do that even to their owner. My rottie dod that one when she got into the trash ad grabbed a chicken bone. I tried to get it from her, and she snapped at me. I actually had her evaluated by an animal specialist, and that is what she told me. All other signs showed that she was not an aggressive dog. i.e rolling onto her back for complete strangers to rub her belly.

My 130 pound rottweiler bit me once. She was in a scuffle with another dog and I yanked her back. She turned and bit me. Extenuating circumstances and it never happened again. I didn't even think about putting her down.

WHen I was about 17 my dads GSD bit me, I grabbed him by the snout with both hands pushed him to the ground and bit is ear. Gave one quick yelp and after that he and I had an understanding..... god I miss that dog he was the best dag ever

I owned a Rottie that growled at my daughter. I went to correct him and he growled at me. I went inside and came out with a 1911 in hand. I got in his face and grabbed a hand full of collar, I startesd beating him across the head with the1911, it was talking for for me. His eyes were focused on the 1911, he never made a sound. He had a sore head for a couple days. Never another act of courage towards me or the kids again.

+1 for hope

Damn, thats a tough situation. As others have said, he could have been overstimulated and didn't really mean to bite you.


In any case, I hope his leg shoots straight up in the air when you walk into the room for the next couple days.

ETA is he showing remorse at all?

You weren't attacked, you were bitten. You can correct this behavior if you want to. You've spoiled him.

Kick the shit out of it

Strangers in his house....

My Boxers are highly protective when people are over.

If you went hard alpha on him then everything should be fine. Only time will tell if you went hard enough. I would continually work of asserting that you are the alpha from now on though. Regularly take food away and roll him once in a while and make him submit.

Jeeze, people, one bite under charged circumstances does not equal a death sentence. Nor does it equate to a pistol whipping.

Go hard alpha on him. If he gives you any attitude basically mashing him flat to the floor until you get the "I give up" sigh. Don't say anything, don't hit him, don't even get angry. The less emotional you are the more impact it has. You have to be careful lest you "cower" the dog––you don't want it to be over the top violent. If he struggles while you've got him pinned put an arm around his neck and squeeze but not too hard. If this starts to get out of hand as well, then apply pressure. I've never had to choke out a dog and make it see god but I have gone far enough to have them blow their anal glands. I've known a couple of people who have literally choked their dogs out––these were some serious, hard ass dogs. Way beyond what you've got going on.

Be consistent. CONSISTENT. Do not cut any slack or accept mediocrity.

Be extremely careful. You must have control of the dog's head lest you get more bit. Don't put the dog in a position where you need to put it down. Alpha rolls are totally out. Pinning to the mat is all you need. Do not take food/bones/treats away––that is unfair.

This does not sound like an insoluble problem by any means. I've trained under a trainer whose specialty is saving dogs who would otherwise get the needle. Your situation seems totally salvageable and comparatively minor as these things go.

Keep us posted on how it goes.

He is competely docile/humbled now. Time for more training I guess. He is the alpha of my neighborhood, but I have always been alpha to him.

He'll get a pass tonight. He is the last organism on Earth I would ever suspect of challenging me. Reasonable doubt and all/thread.

I do really love that dog

You're the problem and not your dog. I'm typing this with 18 dogs scattered around my office right now - German Shepherd, Pit Bulls, American Bull Dogs, Blue Heelers, Red Heelers, Boxers, Beaucerons, a snoring and farting Neopolitan Mastiff, Labs, etc etc... Dogs feed off of your emotional state.

I've got multiple scars from multiple dogs, most of the time I was doing something I know I shouldn't have or doing it in a way that I shouldn't have. My suggestion is watch some of the Cesar Millan shows - I don't agree with everything he does but he is one of the best I've seen. I still use the Alpha Roll on some of mine even though many people don't recommend it.

If you are quick to see red, probably the best advice I can give you is to keep in mind that your first reaction to anything will always be the wrong reaction.

Dogs do get excited and confused and make mistakes.

I have had boxers all my life , they are people dogs they have to be part of the family. but they do get hyper around visitors . The one i have now is 10 yrs. old. when he was 2yrs. We had company i had to put him up because he was hyped up. He nipped my finger and brought blood, At that time i grabbed his collar and busted his nose with my fist . that solved that problem. Boxers are very good dogs.

This!

If he fucks up again, really give it to him, yell like a mad man, even a rolled up newspaper across the beak. He'll figure it out, ya bite the old man, you get worked. No need to kill him.

Show him who's boss.

Boxers get a little freaky with strangers are around.
Very protective.

Mine bit my sisters bf today, but he's an asshole. He smacked her on the ass and duke laid into him.
Just doing his job.

Give him another chance.

Yep.

He was excited and just fucked up more than likely.

If he ever even acts froggy again, tune him up right smart and be sure he knows who's the boss.

*sings* "Macho macho man!! I want to be.. a macho man!" *sings*

If you're willing to talk to someone qualified to help you with an aggressive dog (and most who say they are... aren't), then feel free to keep the dog. Most of the "Show him who's alpha" BS that you get here will just make the matter worse.

But if you can't get appropriate help... yeah, it might be time.

You could start out by reading some books by Ian Dunbar or Patricia McConnell. Both work with methods that have, with actual scientific studies, proven to be effective, as opposed to what you get from most would-be dog trainers.

Even so, dogs are equipped with all of the equipment to be killers. And they do have all of the instinctual behaviors that allow them to be killers.

The reason that you and your family can be safe with 18 dogs around is due to one thing, and one thing only: Throughout the entire history of dogs and humans, dogs which attacked humans were summarily executed. It has, for the most part, been bred out of them. Most dogs simply would not bite their owner like that, even if the owner were agitated.

Maybe the dog has something mental going on. Maybe it's something chemical or hormonal. Maybe it's genetic. But in the end, dogs simply can't be allowed to attack humans just because the human was agitated, and you can thank the docileness of your canines to the fact that people stuck with that for the last 20,000 years or so.

The sad part is that when dogs are human-aggressive, people tend to do one of two things: Some will ignore it, excuse it, or otherwise not address it until it becomes quite severe. The rest will take courses of action that may seem reasonable, but which will actually make the situation worse. Both of those courses of action make things worse for the dog, the owner, everyone. The right thing to do is to address things correctly right from the start, before the behavior can be reinforced, knowingly or unknowingly.

Seriously? BAD DOG now, go sit in the corner and chew on a frisbee.

18 dogs scattered around your office right now? You need a girlfriend.... (Or a cat, or a girlfriend with a cat)

Especially when new people are around. Just need to get your dog in tune with you. If you're confident and maintain you're alpha, no problems.

It is true that dogs who attack humans should be put down (depending on circumstance good bite/bad bite) but we have to discriminate between attack and bite/react.

If a dog is put into a stressful situation that it is new to or has not been trained to deal with you can anticipate a higher probability of some error or other, shitting itself, curling up and hiding, freezing up, growling, snapping..etc..
This is one of the big reasons why people stress socializing animals, it gets them used to people and situations and lessens the likelihood of stress reactions in common interactions.

Not saying the dog in the OP was not socialized, but family get togethers on holidays are often more crowded, more exciting etc.. more stressful.

When he growled was the time to correct him, bring him back to reality. The OP missed the queue, and the dog continued down fail road.
We have all done similar although it may not have lead to a bite.

Even the well trained working dogs make mistakes in stress situations and their handlers miss queues.

Training a dog and making one obey is a lot of understanding their limitations and being able to anticipate and manipulate them, trying to guide/influence their actions and not just reacting to them.

edit-.. maybe kicking a dead horse with a more than likely resolved thread..

You don't put him down! WTF is wrong with you? You don't kill your buddy because he screwed up. Remind him who is boss. I can't believe you would even think about putting him down. He messed up.

Fuck that noise! Ho about not stressing a dog out by fucking p his environment.

Just read you're gonna give him another chance, good on you.

I treat dog training as a hobby. I own an imported Eurpean Dobermann who I self trained in obediance and protection. I have worked as a dog trainer here in NYC with dog shelters training only the worst of the NYC's Pit Bulls. I have rehabbed 100% of them and placed them all in forever homes. It is something I enjoy doing and do multipile times a day. I agree with the above poster 100%.

If you like to read, get Cesar's book "Cesar's Way", it is IMO the best book on dog training I have ever read and I have read hundreds. If you like instructional DVD's go to the best website on the net for dog traing Leerburg.com and order "Establishing Pack Structure with the Family Pet" DVD link

Ed Frawley, the owner of Leerburg, is a cagey ornery old bastard but he definitely knows how to raise dogs, especially tough working breeds such as the boxer.

I wouldnt put your dog down yet but I definitely wouldn't let him hang out with children unsupervised or even have him around guests no matter who for some time.
Put him in his kennel when guests are over and take him for LOOONG walks when they leave. Establish some good one on one time with him.
Leerburg says many gems in his videos (I own and rewatch 5 of them) but one of his best quotes is
"You want to be like the best boss you ever had. Someone who expected ALOT from you but paid you fairly and expected so much because he or she truly believed in you"
Ed Frawleys son, turns out, was also in the 82nd Airborne (infantry).

are there kids around? if so it's over for him.....no kids i "MIGHT" give him a 2nd chance.....might.....

Grabbing the collar is something that sets off a fight or flight thing in dogs. Go for just about any creature's neck and they will defend it vigorously.

No amount of physical retribution will ever make them comfortable with it and usually it just makes it worse because they will associate collar grabbing with an ass kicking.

Don't kill him.

I have Blue Heelers and only receive one or two bites a week, dogs will bite if stressed or in my case trying to pee before feeding in the AM, that's why they have those long teeth. You might want to try a small cat next.

One other thought, alto I'm top dog they will still test it occasionally, that's just the way they are.

in russia, you bite the dog!


I had one dog to bite me, she went passive and scared when it happened. (the dog might of thought: oh crap, I just did a really bad thing).


I can see where the boxer would want to protect his pack and you not letting him would cause an issue.

I do not think it is bad enough to kill the dog. It was a high stress issue,

You need to let your dog know who is the boss in the house.

The dog I resuced from the pound (puppy, 10 months old, 80 pounds), I had to get really tough on him to bring him in the pack. He is still being a struggle. hehehe but he is good with the kids and protects the house. Hes a keeper because of that.

Fear biting. Personally I wouldn't pull a trigger in that situation. If it happens twice I would have to. One time things happen, the dog was over stimulated and didn't fully understand what was going on. IMHO work him a bit make sure he knows you are the boss and go on with life.

Good decision.

A little over a week ago our Springer tore into a neighbors puppy (went out of our yard to do it). The next day he went after one of our other (very docile) dogs for no apparent reason. We've had him for 5 years, but I have two 5 yr olds - talked it over with the vet, put him down the next day. I will not have a dog I can not trust around my kids.

This.

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