Bite the Hand that Feeds

[Natalplum]

This morning Mick bit my husband. He just put his food down and my husband thought he was eating to fast so he gentle pulled him back when Mick snarled showing all teeth and then took a chunk out of his arm. I am completely devastated. Has anyone experienced this before and what can I do to NEVER let this happen again.

[tanza]

There are many threads on resource guarding that you should be reading… Of course also, did Mick know that your husband was there with he tried to pull him away? And honestly, I feel that action was setting both of them up for a problem.... especially if he didn't know he was there (and also never having that done before)....

Here is one link
http://www.basenjiforums.com/showthread.php?t=3006

[lvoss]

This sounds like resource guarding. The eating fast is a sign of it, then when your husband grabbed Mick it just confirmed to him that someone was out to get his resources (the food).

The link that Pat provided has a good discussion.

I would really recommend getting the DVD The Language of Dogs, http://www.dogwise.com/ItemDetails.cfm?ID=DTB875P, it sounds like Mick gave a lot of signals that he was going to bite before the bite actually happened. Learning to read those signals will really help to prevent situations where Mick feels the need to escalate to biting.

Some things you can do to prevent this situation in the future. If you are worried he is eating to fast, one recommendation I saw for slowing the pace a dog eats at is to put a tennis ball in their dish so they have to keep moving the ball out of the way to get to the food. You probably should also feed in the crate, so that he is less worried that any people around may take his food.

You are going to need to work on the resource guarding, a good source of information is the book Mine, http://www.dogwise.com/itemdetails.cfm?ID=DTB740