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Dog biting

munchingzombie — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 08:53:50 -0800

Why has my perfectly nice dog with no history of biting suddenly doing it? Please help me save my face. I feel a little awkward asking my vet this question, so I thought I would ask all you wonderful people. Ben is a Newfie/Retreiver mix about three years old. He has always been a very loving dog who just melts if you pet him, which is his favorite activity when not sleeping. So, he has no history of biting or snapping.

We moved to a new apartment a month ago; any anxiety he felt surrounding the move dissipated within a few days of moving. But in the last week he has snapped at three different people on three different occasions.

1) The first was a six year old girl who was over with her parents for a BBQ. She was acting a little frightened around Ben and thankfully he just jumped up at her and bonked her nose.

2) Later when everyone left we just had two friends over. A friend was playing with Ben and he snapped at his face but thankfully missed. The friend had played with Ben before and the dog did not seem in an odd mood at all.

3) Then, this morning we had just returned from our morning walk. Ben had played with a few dogs, which is not uncommon. He was laying down on the floor and I bent down and was petting him in the same way I have done countless times. Then, snap. I have a puncture wound under my nose and on my chin.

Why might he be doing this? He has never bit anyone or anything (he even sniffed a live squirrel without taking a taste) and then three times in one week he does it. Before and after he does it he is perfectly placid. No bursts of aggression of playfulness. Just Ben on second, snap the next, and back to normal the third.

Any additional information you guys may need yours for the asking. Any suggestions on how to handle the situation would be very appreciated.

Thank you hivemind.

Cat! I'm a kittycat. And I dance dance dance, and I dance dance dance.

booksandlibretti — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 13:28:16 -0800

CatFilter: What useful command should I teach my indoor cat next? I'm not a big fan of stupid pet tricks -- this guy isn't going to need to jump through flaming hoops, to roll over, or to pick-a-card-any-card, so I'm looking for semi-useful stuff to teach him.

He's a plumpish adolescent neutered male, kept inside only. He already knows his name, and jumps up (to my shoulder, the bed, anywhere else I indicate) on command.

I'd like stuff that's not completely opposed to his cat-like nature, if possible. Also, his little mouth is too small to carry slippers, remotes, or newspapers.

How can I stop my dogs from stripping our tree? And how can I save the tree?

RustyBrooks — Sat, 16 Oct 2004 06:43:08 -0800

How can I keep my dogs from pulling large strips of bark off our tree, and how can I keep said tree from dying now that it's missing much of it's bark? We have a cypress tree in our back yard. It rained for like a week straight here (Dallas Texas) last week and so a) the dogs were all cooped up all week and b) the tree's bark was soft and pliant. The dogs discovered what fun it is to tear off 4 foot long strips of bark and play tug-of-war with them.

So now the tree is missing about a 2' wide by 5' long patch of bark. it's about a 20-30 year old cypress (just a guess, may be older). I'm afraid this will kill it.

Is there something I can treat the tree with to protect it's insides without the bark? Will this thing, or something else, keep the dogs away?