Help!! Dog snapped at my son

[seekingeden]

@cristian1980 Surrender to a no-kill animal foster group who can train him before he gets re-homed.

 

[tacocat]

@cristian1980 Sorry you are going through this OP. It could be worth consulting with an experienced behaviourist. In the meantime sounds like the dog wants space so you should create some physical separation between dog and baby.

 

[shane658]

@cristian1980 Honestly the dog had to have given a clue beforehand but if you dont know what to look for you probably missed it. Saying that just to put into perspective being a child is in this who is to young to understand it is best for the dog to rehome it with someone that has more expiernce . Not trying to say you did anything wrong but if you dont read the dog right there could be more triggers. This dog may be alright once his issues are addresses but that will take someone that knows how to addresses them. Dogs dont get angry they get triggered and that escalates to anxiety and without knowing the trigger and how to calm the dog and address these issues you would be setting up your dog for failure with you child posiably being hurt. Here is the issue with sending the dog to be trained most dogs can be trained basics but still still a exhibit a outlier behavior that can only be addressed by understanding the immediate situation. Throw in this could be a excitable dog it would take expierence to immediately counter. Iam not even saying your dog is highly excitable because it could be the dog is just isnt socialized to humans enough to be around kids.
For instance have you ever seen a mother dog snap at one of her young could be the dog telling the child to settle down. This is not apropreate behavior but in a dogs world its discipline? Then it could be the dog has claimed something and defending it? It's not a simple acesesment but being a young child involved to great of a risk for you to handle without someone expierence to help you.

 

[hkwh2019]

@cristian1980 Honestly IMO very young kids should never be in a dogs’ space like this. Kids are weird to a dog and move quickly and unpredictably and sometimes even very friendly dogs can be put off by young kids. Add to this the fact that young kids cannot read dog body language and you have a recipe for disaster. If you keep the dog he and your son should not be interacting freely until your son is older. Even then they should not be unsupervised.

Your dog was expressing that he is uncomfortable with what happened. He may have shown more subtle signs that were missed (facial expression, body tension, displacement behaviors, etc). I can’t tell you just from this post if this is a dog that will be okay around kids in general, but a warning growl/snap with no contact says to me this was a warning to say “hey I don’t like this”, not necessarily aggression. He’s telling you he is out of his comfort zone.

Do some research on dog body language and observe him closely when your son is around (absolutely do not let the baby close enough where a snap is a possibility). Many dog behaviors that come across to us as friendly and happy can actually be displacement or appeasement behaviors from a dog who is anxious or unsure. Book a consult with a behaviorist if you’re able (like an actual behaviorist not a trainer). They will be best able to asses your individual situation and tell you what your options are.

Kinda side-eyeing a lot of the comments here suggesting BE for this dog. I am a huge proponent of BE in a lot of situations but this isn’t one of them unless there’s more going on than the post indicates. Dogs are allowed to have boundaries. He may not end up being a good fit for your home or a home with young children (many dogs aren’t) but a single snap with no contact is not BE material.