My dog bit someone for the first time

[dddblueyes]

Hello! We have two mini aussies. One is an angel, the other barks a bunch but that’s been his only issue. We’ve been working on it but he still barks.

We visited a person who does dog sitting’s home today for a test visit for potential boarding. In our initial messaging she mentioned having a 9 year old, so I was clear my dogs haven’t been socialized with kids as we don’t know any. She said with the breed she wasn’t worried but we did the test visit!

Everything went great until the end. My dog started barking at the son, and I told him to stop. At home I would correct differently but with a kid I was quieter. She sat with kid on the chair, my dog sniffed but was nervous. Then she told the kid to move to the couch, and he moved fast and my dog lunged. I didn’t see the bite but he got the kid. Immediately had my s/o take both dogs outside, let her deal w/ kid. He didn’t grab on to the kid so I’m not sure how the wound was, but guessing he got some skin. I was so in shock.

We talked, she seemed fine, I apologized profusely. Later she texted me saying she’s getting a shot for the kid and wanted dog’s vet records, I sent over immediately.

I live in a strict liability state. Is there anything I should do legally? It was a test visit in someone else’s home. Outside of that obviously am going to invest in aggression training, I’m so overwhelmed but don’t want to take away from what happened either. Absolutely my dog (and therefore my) responsibility.

 

[mysticfred82]

@dddblueyes Two things: do you have your precautionary message you sent about not being socialized with children and her saying she wasn’t worried in writing? If so, save it somewhere. Secondly, dogs are rarely aggressive for the sake of it. Your dog was having a reaction to something, and that reaction was to be aggressive. Likely either wanting out of a situation and not knowing how else to make that happen, or just being really scared and panicked really suddenly. So you’ll want to find someone who can help you work on what caused the reaction — was it their kid moving quickly, did the kid lean over your dog when moving, or what was it? Try to write down every single detail you can remember about the incident, including everything leading up to it (both your dog’s behavior/body language and the kid’s actions). And make sure whoever you work with is not trying to inhibit your dog when displaying signs of discomfort. Dogs rarely go straight to biting unless they’ve been trained to suppress earlier warning signs or those signs have been ignored (and not saying this is purposely but a lot of people don’t know those early signs which can include whale eyes, yawning, and lip licking).

And, if it makes you feel better — better that it happened now when you were there than after the test visit and your dog was staying there and you were away and couldn’t do anything.

 

[dddblueyes]

@mysticfred82 I do have the message, thank you. I think it was the kid moving quickly, again not an excuse, but he did a frog leap from a chair to the couch and it was fast so my guess is my dog was scared. I’m glad it happened while we were there and found it wasn’t a match, though I’m so sad for their kid having to be the realization!

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@dddblueyes I don't know anything about the laws where you are, I just wanted to come here to say I'm so sorry this happened too you, I hope you, your doggo and that poor 9yr old are ok...

I feel like there are factors here on both sides, although the sitter was confident in the breed, when you put anxiety in the mix, nothing is certain. The child and the dog should have been introduced different, and I imagine you went into this expecting her to be the expert when it came to her son and dogs, she expected you to be the expert in your dog. You knew your dog hadn't been socialist with children before, she said that this is fine, because she trusted the breed. She may not have experienced a dog with anxiety/ reactivity before, or in a away that presented itself the way the dog does.

Can I ask, was he asked to move to the couch because the dog was barking at him?
Key tip if a dogs ever reacting to something- move the dog not the trigger.
If the trigger is a human, animal etc, it should be directed to remain completely still until the dog is safely restrained.
Best thing you came teach your children if they are going to be around dogs, be a tree, or be a statue.

I never used to worry about dogs being scared of me, or aggressive towards me, before I got had a reactive dog myself. The way I used to look every dog in the eyes and try pet anyone that showed interest... now I view every dog as as a risk and they way I will direct my children to interact with dogs will be very different.

 

[dddblueyes]

@imagebeastmarkbeast This is really helpful to know. I definitely trusted her judgment on introducing them. My dog has never presented this way either so that makes sense.

The dog had stopped barking so she asked him to move to see if my dog was good, this happened very quickly and my dog reacted poorly. We don’t know any children to have socialized with so I didn’t read the situation well either.

 

[davecb]

@dddblueyes I don't know what will happen legally but I have to say a dog sitter with kids, who accepts dogs who aren't legit kid safe dogs is not doing a great job.

Outside of that obviously am going to invest in aggression training,

How old is the dog and how long have you had him? I'll be blunt here: most of dealing with a dog who will actually BITE people is management. You won't make this dog safe 100% around kids.

Good solid management can ensure he will never bite a kid. A trainer who tells you that this dog will be safe around kids, no matter how much the kid is being a kid, is not being truthful.

 

[dddblueyes]

@davecb He is 2, we have had him since a puppy. He has never shown signs of aggression. We don’t know kids to socialize with so he never got that, though my other dog never did either.