# my dog just bit someone



## kaisermay2010 (May 9, 2011)

sorry for the long post....
I'd like to start off this thread with some background, i have an 11 month old red and black gsd. He is from germany(his father was a Sch3 and mother was a Sch1) and i have had him since he was 7 weeks old. He has been to the normal obedience classes, you know 12 weeks with other puppies and owners, and since then i've been taking him to the park with other dogs and people. He is intact. 
Recently he has begun to bark at everyone, people across the street as well as people ringing the doorbell. I don't mind when he barks if someone is at the door, but he does this weird thing where he will meet someone and accept them and lie down, but 5 minutes later if they move out of sight and reappear he will bark. 
It all culminated with the time where a lady was walking by house and he ran halfway to her and barked, she turned around and ran away. He ran after her and "bit" her, she was old and i feel like it was barely a nip but she says it drew blood. It was unacceptable he would do something like this. Right after this happened another lady walked by, he barked but the lady said she would like to prove that not all dogs were evil(or something) and came over and petted him. He was fine.
I was wondering if anyone could speculate why he would bite an old lady walking by, and also if you had any suggestions as to what i should do. 
all help is very much appreciated.


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

when he bit the woman, was he on a leash and under your control or was he loose? You say he chased when she ran. Keep in mind, this is also a HERDING breed. If he even nipped her and you say she was older... well there is just a lot that is missing from the story seriously.


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## DJEtzel (Feb 11, 2010)

You should leash your dog and NOT let him run up to strangers for starters. Especially when you know he's exhibiting such strange/dangerous behaviors. 

The second thing you should do is hire a private trainer to evaluate your dog to see if this is all play, based on fear, real aggression, etc. and give you a plan of action and help you train the bad behavior away.

A third thing you can do in the meantime is up his exercise? How much is he getting now? Remember that a tired dog is a happy dog.


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## gagsd (Apr 24, 2003)

Please keep in mind that you are on a public forum.... Might want to not give the lawyers fodder.


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## Lucy Dog (Aug 10, 2008)

Sounds like a herding behavior, not an all out aggression attack. Though not acceptable, it doesn't sound like it's aggression.

With that said, hoping you don't get sued this time, always leash when other people around so this doesn't happen again. This is a must.


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## KZoppa (Aug 14, 2010)

kaisermay2010 said:


> KZoppa-he was not under my control, it was a perfect storm kinda thing where he managed to jump our four foot fence and there was a lady. When i said she was older all i meant was that i could not judge the force of the bite because it does not take much to draw blood from an 80 year old woman. Im happy to fill you in on anything else you would like to know.
> DJEtzel-we jog around 2 miles twice a day, but i guess an increase couldn't do any harm. Thanks for the private trainer idea, i hadn't thought of it.
> gagsd-the lady called me back and said she had filed a report with animal control, however she said i had been very nice, so i HOPE she will not pursue any legal action.


 
sounds like you need to look into a higher fence. I second the private trainer and upping the exercise. How is he doing with mental exercise? It does sound like a herding behavior but the barking what seems to be randomly, could be any number of things. Fear, boredom, needing further mental stimulation training, possibly learning a search behavior to occupy his mind?


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

Ok animal control may require you to quarantine your dog even if you have a valid rabies certificate. It depends on where you live. So be prepared for that. 

I had to when my dog did NOT bite someone but he was scratched when he swung his arm into my dogs face. Freak Accident over 20 years ago - the man even said to the doctor that the dog did not bite him - but I took him to the doctor because with old folks you don't know and the doctor called animal control. 

I felt terrible - he was diabetic and had a horrible time getting the hand to heal and it was a surface scratch on one side.

You are lucky that is ALL your dog did. 80 is a prime age for breaking a hip.

I would get someone NOW to help you get it under control. It does sound like prey behavior and a dog that is at the age where it can be nipped in the bud. So I would not freak out about your dog but if anything comes of it you want to have full documentation that you have an issue and are facing it head on. And you want people to back you up that the dog does not have a seroius agression problem (assuming that is the case)


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## GermanShepherds6800 (Apr 24, 2011)

I would bring in an experienced GSD trainer to study the dog. We on the internet are unable to give you correct reasoning behind your dogs bite and of your dogs behavior by you who are not an experienced person reading your dog and describing it to us. First question is how is a puppy imported underage? Flight from Germany is not allowed at that age. It is important that a puppy remain with its litter mates until the crucial phase of learning with them and gaining confidence is finished. Your description can lead to the dog being a fear biter or the dog could simply be confused by his need to protect during his maturing age and not having proper guidance through what is allowed and not allowed. 

Why is this dog running loose in front of your home? Why is this dog running loose near where I assume there are roads?

I suggest you learn quickly how to give your dog a task, keep the dog under control, and get a trainer to instruct you with this working breed before this dog gets further into issues.


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## GregK (Sep 4, 2006)

kaisermay2010 said:


> I was wondering if anyone could speculate why he would bite an old lady walking by,


Because when she started running from him, she became 'prey'.

Like everyone else is saying - more training will solve this dilemma. :thumbup:


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## Elaine (Sep 10, 2006)

kaisermay2010 said:


> Recently he has begun to bark at everyone, people across the street as well as people ringing the doorbell. I don't mind when he barks if someone is at the door, but he does this weird thing where he will meet someone and accept them and lie down, but 5 minutes later if they move out of sight and reappear he will bark.


This is definitely aggression, but not of the good kind. This dog is either fearful and/or territorial and/or just plain unstable.

Nowhere in here did you mention any consequences for your dog for these behaviors or any attempt to deal with it before it escalated to biting the poor woman on the street.

You are totally responsible for what your dog did by ignoring these early problems and then letting your dog run loose for whatever reason where he could and did bite someone.


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## debbiebrown (Apr 13, 2002)

wether its fear or a civil type of aggressive behavior, keep in mind once these things are rehearsed it becomes learned behavior........i would get with a professional private trainer and start working on this......and i would not leave him unattended or off leash at all, to do this at this point will just set him up for failure.......it may be a simple as teaching him appropriate behavior around people.........lots of Obedience and learning how to handle situations, etc.....


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## mspiker03 (Dec 7, 2006)

Also want to add that at 11 months old, he is probably entering his teenage butthead years and it would be a good time to step up the leadership on your part. My intact male started acting up around a year old in ways that he hadn't previously. We worked through it (with a trainer), but it took awhile of consistant training. I feel it is a constant deal - we never let our guard down even though he has mostly overcome his teenage issues (his were vs other dogs, not people). It also made us learn his limits and we have learned to respect them.


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