# my puppy bit my neighbor



## Sam001 (Jan 3, 2011)

I need advice 

I've been lurking for a while and just decided to join thanks to what just happened.

I've a 9MO West German shepherd, we were outside so that he could relief himself, I noticed he was kinda ramped up, he wanted to play, started jumping at me and nipping, he was excited. Today I wasn't able to exercise him because the vet told me not do it ( he has some kind of worm which name I don't remember and just today we started treatment).

Anyways, after he did everything he had to do 3 neighbors were near my house, I was with my mom and we went to say hi. Actually my mom was the one that went to say hi. I didn't get near them because I knew he was kind ramped up instead I made him sit and this is where my neighbor came near me and helios jumped at her and tried to bit her, he failed, i made him sit and still my neighbor was there i guess shocked and he jumped again and i pulled him to me and made him sit again i heard this "growling" tho i've heard it before since he's so vocal, when we settled I saw that she had this lil bruise but still a bruise so he indeed did bit her....

After he bit her he saw me with those wild eyes he has when he's playing with me.. I feel so guilty....... My puppy knows this neighbor, she has petted him,she has played with him but still he did this.. 

Before that this other neighbor approached my car to say hi and he didn't care he just sniffed her and that was it.. and at the vet everything was fine i don't understand why he did that, what triggered that bite...

I feel devastated.....

Is this some kind of Fear aggresion?

:help::help::help:


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Welcome to the forum.

He could be going thru a fear stage. How do you "play" with him? A tug game or fetch wears a pup out over wrestling with no toy to target.
Was he hackled, growling or was he just ramped up in a play mode? 
Whatever it is, I would step up the NILIF and don't set him up to fail again. 
He needs to be under control from now on, or you could have a bite report on his record(or worse) 
Where in the body did he bite? What was her body language showing as she approached him?
Do you have him in obedience classes or other structured training?


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## Sam001 (Jan 3, 2011)

He's very aloof btw ..if someone say his name he don't even pay attention to the person , he's not a snuggle kind of dog, he is like "mom,that's enough love...let's just play"..

Tho, there are persons he doesn't like when he's inside the car and he will start barking and there are persons which won't make him bark..

and when we're walking I've noticed that he'll start this deep staring at whoever is near us so I have to distract him , it's not with everyone just some people.


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## vat (Jul 23, 2010)

It sounds more like he was just over excited as you explained. You need to work more on his manners and his meet and greet with people. I am guessing that part of this was he just needed to release some pent up energy and unfortunatly your neighbor was the brunt of his over excitement.


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## GSD_Xander (Nov 27, 2010)

vat said:


> It sounds more like he was just over excited as you explained. You need to work more on his manners and his meet and greet with people. I am guessing that part of this was he just needed to release some pent up energy and unfortunatly your neighbor was the brunt of his over excitement.


^^^I agree


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## 1der_girl (Aug 16, 2006)

Did he start heartworm treatment? It's the only worm I can think of where the vet tells you to keep them quiet durring treatment...
Anyway, it sounds to me (and I'm NOT an expert) like he's a young guy, still a pup, and he needs to learn manners. Has he been to obedience class?


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## BowWowMeow (May 7, 2007)

Does your dog have heartworms? You mentioned the vet telling you that had to keep him quiet because he has "some sort of worms" and that he just started treatment.


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## Sam001 (Jan 3, 2011)

onyx'girl said:


> Welcome to the forum.
> 
> He could be going thru a fear stage.
> Was he hackled, growling or was he just ramped up in a play mode?
> ...


Thanks.

I saw no hackles, he did growl but I've heard that growl before when playing or maybe it's just me making excuses.

I do NILIF,my mom sometimes thinks that im overreacting with NILIF.. and I won't..actually i didn't notice any sign in his body language..so when she came near me and he jumped at her i was kinda shocked..

He bit her arm , and im not sure..it was dark 
He has gone through obedience classes, he knows sit/stay/down/ and heel knows a few tricks such as play dead/watch/paw/beg


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

How were you playing with him before it happened?


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## Sam001 (Jan 3, 2011)

vat said:


> It sounds more like he was just over excited as you explained. You need to work more on his manners and his meet and greet with people. I am guessing that part of this was he just needed to release some pent up energy and unfortunatly your neighbor was the brunt of his over excitement.


That's what i thot but at the same time i didn't want to make any excuses...and my other neighbor told me that too.. though the other neighbor told to my other neighbor that got bit that she should had backed off and that she knew it was aggresion that some dogs when mature don't like some people.. i was just speechless... i started to distract him making him focus on me while on heel while my mom was there with them.. AND GOD there had to be this neighbor im pretty sure that by tomorrow everybody will know what happened today.


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## Sam001 (Jan 3, 2011)

1der_girl said:


> Did he start heartworm treatment? It's the only worm I can think of where the vet tells you to keep them quiet durring treatment...
> Anyway, it sounds to me (and I'm NOT an expert) like he's a young guy, still a pup, and he needs to learn manners. Has he been to obedience class?


No, it's not heartworm,I will check in a while what was the name of the worm.. and yes he has been through obedience classes he's actually really aloof so im always paying attention to his body language.. and yes he indeed needs to learn manners.. sometimes **** try to play rough when visitors are in my house, im always with a toy so that i can distract him till he relaxs:crazy:


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## paulag1955 (Jun 29, 2010)

vat said:


> It sounds more like he was just over excited as you explained. You need to work more on his manners and his meet and greet with people. I am guessing that part of this was he just needed to release some pent up energy and unfortunatly your neighbor was the brunt of his over excitement.


I agree, too. Shasta is the same way. When she's excited, she even greets us with jumping and snapping. When we approach other people, I make sure to have her under firm control.


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## Sam001 (Jan 3, 2011)

onyx'girl said:


> How were you playing with him before it happened?


LOL... I was running with him in the grass in a heel position and he kept staring at me when i noticed that he started to jump I quickly picked up a stick and made him sit LOL and then he went to poop, i called my mom so that she could see the improvement in his poop because he had diarrhea when we came back he had still the stick in his mouth i told tim leave it and thats when we went near our house and the neighbors were there, though he didn't wanna leave that stick behind........Maybe If I had let him keep the stick maybe that wouldn't have happened


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## Sam001 (Jan 3, 2011)

BowWowMeow said:


> Does your dog have heartworms? You mentioned the vet telling you that had to keep him quiet because he has "some sort of worms" and that he just started treatment.


 No, not heartworms we noticed thanks to his diarrhea and him being underweight and not gaining weigh even though he was eating like a demond


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## Sam001 (Jan 3, 2011)

paulag1955 said:


> I agree, too. Shasta is the same way. When she's excited, she even greets us with jumping and snapping. When we approach other people, I make sure to have her under firm control.


 yes..my puppy sometimes does that when he decides to no longer remember that he has to sit when greeting us


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Sam do you ever use balls or tug toys to play with him? sticks are dangerous and not much to target. I would get a couple of nice strong balls on strings and a two handled tug, that will help him get his energy out and you can use it to your advantage while training. This site has nice quality ones, worth the price. www.hallmarkk9.com
http://www.hallmarkk9.com/gappayballonstring-large.aspx
http://www.hallmarkk9.com/gappaysynthetic2handletug3x25cm.aspx
www.elitek9.com has training toys, too.

I would also recommend getting back into some type of structured training with your boy! Track him with his meals, that will work his brain if you have to keep his body on rest.


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## Sam001 (Jan 3, 2011)

oh..after the bite he just sat there.. watching me and thats when i started to distract him and i remember him wanting to play tug with his leash..


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## paulag1955 (Jun 29, 2010)

Shasta loves her Kong ball on a rope. She loves toys that squeak.

Kong Company DKO77497 Squeaker Ball with Rope


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## Sam001 (Jan 3, 2011)

onyx'girl said:


> Sam do you ever use balls or tug toys to play with him? sticks are dangerous and not much to target. I would get a couple of nice strong balls on strings and a two handled tug, that will help him get his energy out and you can use it to your advantage while training. This site has nice quality ones, worth the price. www.hallmarkk9.com
> Gappay Ball on String - Large


Yes, i use balls , tugs,ropes, giant tennis balls i know that sticks are dangerous i also read that here but i needed something fast and thats when i picked up the stick, i had left the toy in the garage since i only took him out because he wanted to poop but i made him leave it after a while, he just had it in his mouth, trotting with pride:blush:


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## Sam001 (Jan 3, 2011)

onyx'girl said:


> I would also recommend getting back into some type of structured training with your boy! Track him with his meals, that will work his brain if you have to keep his body on rest.


 That's a good idea, i also play Sit/stay with his toys, i made him sit/stay i throw the toy and i wait till he makes eye contact and i give him the release command, i hide his toys so that he can fetch them but with his meals will be more fun


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## Sam001 (Jan 3, 2011)

paulag1955 said:


> Shasta loves her Kong ball on a rope. She loves toys that squeak.
> 
> Kong Company DKO77497 Squeaker Ball with Rope


I've one toy that is similar to that tho the ball is not like that and he loves it..

he also loves this kong ball but since it bounces so much i only use it inside the house, i havent found a safe place yet to throw it


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## Sam001 (Jan 3, 2011)

Another thing I've this fursaver collar that I stopped using for a while (i stopped using it yesterday) for one martingale collar that i've in my house because i read that the dogs can associate the correction to the person/dog and not the behavior.. and sometimes he'll start staring at someone and i think that in this case that theory can cause a bad association to whatever is making him do that..


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## Sam001 (Jan 3, 2011)

oh ..another thing came to my mind the first time he jumped at her and failed to bite when i pulled him he got my jeans so isn't that some kind of redirection? thanks to the fact that i couldn't let him bite her at first he redirected his "aggresion" to my leg? 
I really don't know, I keep picturing what happened out there trying to see if im missing something


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Redirecting his bit to you, yes it is. 
He needs to learn he cannot just bite because he is frustrated. Has he bitten you before because he gets so ramped?
I have Onyx carry a ball so she won't herd/ nip the other dogs.
If their mouth is stuffed it takes away the need to bite something!
Have you considered trianing him in SchH? I bet you'd both have a blast!


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## vat (Jul 23, 2010)

Could have been redirected. When Max gets really ramped up or bored he will nibble on me. Not really biting but nibbles like he does our other dog when he wants to play. I have to remind him I am NOT a dog and he can not nibble on me. Your dog is also about the age the butt head stage starts. Ramp up your training and exercise when the vet gives the ok. In the mean time look for games that make him use his mind and think.


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

Onyx will "fleabite" my other dogs when I'm playing with them. She never does it to people. 
My border/golden use to do that to my sister when she came over, they were affectionate bites, nothing to do with fear or aggression.


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## Sam001 (Jan 3, 2011)

onyx'girl said:


> Redirecting his bit to you, yes it is.
> He needs to learn he cannot just bite because he is frustrated. Has he bitten you before because he gets so ramped?
> I have Onyx carry a ball so she won't herd/ nip the other dogs.
> If their mouth is stuffed it takes away the need to bite something!
> Have you considered trianing him in SchH? I bet you'd both have a blast!


He has nipped me but i don't know if you would consider it a bite? how can I teach him not to bite thanks to the fact that he's frustrated? do you mean by correcting him or how?

When you have onyx carry a ball have you teached her to do that? or do you just give her one ? I've read that some people have teached their dog to pickup a toy in order to stop the nipping. I usually have to motivate him so that he can keep it in his mouth but he'll usually come back and drop it by my feet:smirk:

Yes, I've considered training him in Schh, when he was a puppy(3MO) i went to a club BUT by that age he wasn't motivated, not at all... he'd get bored of the rope after a while or wouldn't hold it enough, but he started being toy motivated when he turned 7-8MO now he won't let go whatever he has in his mouth if i play tug with him.


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## Sam001 (Jan 3, 2011)

vat said:


> Could have been redirected. When Max gets really ramped up or bored he will nibble on me. Not really biting but nibbles like he does our other dog when he wants to play. I have to remind him I am NOT a dog and he can not nibble on me. Your dog is also about the age the butt head stage starts. Ramp up your training and exercise when the vet gives the ok. In the mean time look for games that make him use his mind and think.


Yes i've to do that too, "remind him" LOL. Though I've noticed that when I say "uh uh" or "No" he will let go which gives me time to redirect him to a toy, when he was younger he could careless about "No":blush:


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## Sam001 (Jan 3, 2011)

_Ancylostoma  that's the name! aka hookworm... I can feel the ribs/hips hes underweight and although he ate like a demond he wasn't gaining weight so we went to the vet today.._

_ATM he's lying down next to me and he doesn't want to eat i guess thanks to what I gave him today..the vet prescribed him a few things.. I've only been able to gave one of the pills in order to give him the other stuff that the vet prescribed him he needs to eat so im here waiting ..._

_and YET he has TONSSS OF ENERGY.. I wonder how hes going to behave after treating him_


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