Hello I bought a black lab puppy for my husband two months ago He is normally very calm and sensible. training has been going well. We also have a two year old male shitz su. Both male dogs play fight quite a lot with the roughly once a day one dog barking/growling at the other because one has played abit too rough. Wednesday this week My son who had just finished eating a sausage, unbeknown to me went outside and sat down on the grass with the puppy without adult supervision. The puppy came over and starts licking round my sons face and my son let the puppy lick his tongue. Son grabbed the puppy buy the back of the neck to Get the puppy off him. The puppy then bit my son at the side of this nose and a little bite on his finger where his hand was near his mouth. Whilst this took place the puppy made an awful growling noise. There were two small incisions which were deep but didnt bleed much. I am thinking this may have been more of a nip, similar to the how the two dogs play flight but would really like an experters opinion. The puppy has a very good pedigree and was bought from kennel club breeders who have been breeding working labs for over 20 years. My husband shoots and we have plenty of space to excercise the dog. We have now put in place some new ground rules for our children and the dogs to reduce the chance of this Ever happening again. Really worried All constructive advice appreciated along with any links to sights which may help Thank you in advance one worried mother
Re: Four month old working lad bites five year old son in face Morning, I am not a behaviour expert but do have a working lab of 5 months and twin boys age 6. I don't think the dog is a fault here and I personally would not worry about him being aggressive. It was not a purposeful bite, just a normal reaction to a situation that was bound to end up in trouble. You just need tighter supervision of pup and son.
Re: Four month old working lad bites five year old son in face Welcome Laura The new ground rules are a good idea. Sounds like the pup was treating your son like another pup. Maybe your son needs to learn not to put his face near the pup's? (But maybe the nip was enough of a lesson!) Similar happened to my son, who was much younger. My fault. I was at a friend's house. Her Bearded Collie pup nipped my son (18 months) in the face when my son crawled under her. I knew much less about pups then! My son still has tiny scars round his nose, but the pup was just being a pup and grew up to be a fine dog. My other son was nearly four and the incident rather traumatised him, he has been wary of strange dogs ever since.
Re: Four month old working lad bites five year old son in face Accidents can happen when children play together.
Re: Four month old working lad bites five year old son in face Welcome to the forum I think that the rules you've established sound good and are the way to go. Your pup was pulling his punches - without much effort he could've made that bite so much worse, if he'd wanted to. So while he drew blood, he did show some restraint... I think that with good management you can avoid a repeat. I'd also be thinking about how to help your son relax around your pup. I know your son is really young, but can he participate in training in some little way? I would be dishing out the praise and rewards to your son for any positive interaction or relaxed behaviour around the pup. I'd also include in my dog training sessions periods of time where the dog is rewarded for lying calmly in the vicinity of your son. This will help both the pup and your son to relax around eachother. How is your son doing after the experience?
Re: Four month old working lad bites five year old son in face Hello there, a very warm welcome to the forum. I hope your son is ok. I also wouldn't be too worried about this - apart from, as you have already done, put in place some rules for how young children play with puppies. This article might help generally with some ideas for ground rules: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/how-to-play-safely-with-a-labrador/
Re: Four month old working lad bites five year old son in face Hi and welcome I agree with everyone else that pup wasn't at fault. Unfortunately with younger children, they need to be supervised at all times as they are unable to read a dogs body language like we do. Well done for putting in ground rules. Maybe you could get your son to teach the pup to sit or lie down?
Re: Four month old working lad bites five year old son in face Oh it's so easy,it only takes a second of not watching when there's little ones around for something to happen it's easy done. Nothing really for me to add ,just to say I hope your son is ok and this is just a blip on his relationship with his puppy x
Re: Four month old working lad bites five year old son in face Hi Laura, welcome to the forum. Sorry you first post is because you are stressed about this. I agree with the others re your plan - most sensible. Your pup is still young and lots to learn. I do hope your son is okay and he hasn't been put off dogs. jac
Re: Four month old working lad bites five year old son in face Hi there, and welcome here! I'm sure this was very upsetting for you! Glad your son is okay, as Rachel says, if pup wanted to really hurt him he certainly could have. The number one rule for dogs and kids is no unsupervised time time together, as I'm sure you know. But as this incident shows, sometimes it still happens, and with unfortunate results. So it is a good idea to have those ground rules and to make sure everyone understands the importance of following them. Good luck, I hope things settle down around your house and that your son and the pup can be best of friends again!
Re: Four month old working lad bites five year old son in face Hello and welcome from me and my dogs . When we got our Lab as a puppy, my grandson was only three years old, he visits and stays with us a lot . He had been used to our previous adult dogs but had no experience of a puppy . We set out very strict rules from day one , and even though Sam was a gentle calm puppy , we never left the two of them alone for a minute as accidents do happen , espcecially where food comes into play . I`m sure that this was just an accident, try and move on from it , guildlines for puppy and your little boy too and all should be well
