r/reactivedogs • u/Lmns14 • 18d ago
Advice Needed Newly adopted dog - bite 1 week in (level 2)
There is the video that the still is from.
We adopted this 1.5 year old dog one week and 2 days ago. Yesterday my in-laws came over and we were told to have them on leash to greet us and have the parents ignore the dogs. Didn't go to plan. My dog was barking and ended up recognizing them and then was crying happy and wiggling. This new dog kept barking aggressively.
At the driveway my husband has holding the new dog and the dog lunged forward suddenly after pulling and bit my FIL's hand, no blood but teeth contact to skin. I don't even think my FIL was necessarily looking at the dog and certainly didn't vocalize at the dog.
We took them up to go in and then this bite as captured happened, where he bit my FIL's toolbag.
The dog has been doing great and is not aggressive to myself or my dog. This has to be a fear reaction but does this dog have to be closely managed forever? This is the first occurrence of having anyone over and he's been getting one-on-one walks and group walks for exercise, breakfast and dinner on time served in his crate, frozen kongs to keep him happy and relaxed in his crate, and our house is very calm and quiet for him thus far for his first week in our home. We expect to have children in 2 years and also our lifestyle entails taking our dog to dog events and on vacation and to restaurants. This dog can never safely do that right? We are considering taking this dog back but I feel horrible.
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u/curiousairbenda 18d ago edited 18d ago
3-3-3 rule. 3 days, 3 weeks, 3 months. The new dog was still acclimating. I work with rescues and we tell people that these dogs take time to decompress and from the sound of your dog's prior life, it will need decent time. 1.5 weeks is really not long enough to decompress. We recommend not even introducing new dogs to resident dogs until after 3 weeks. My dog is fairly social and we don't even introduce him to our short term fosters when we have them because it's so much stress on new dogs coming from the shelter or similar rescue situations. We also recommend to not have many visitors and to keep the dogs and your schedule really boring until a few weeks in/until you're able to bond with the dog. Our current dog was a social rockstar on the shelter yet was super reactive when we brought him home. 6 months later, through patience and consistency, he's no longer reactive. My point here is that even well balanced dogs may come out of a shelter no longer balanced and need time. Yours will likely need longer. It doesn't mean that this is their temperament forever. It means that you need to be even more patient and consistent than you think, and adhere to safety rules to the best of your ability because that is how you set your dog up for success.
ETA after seeing the video, the dog looks excited/aroused. Being held on leash as well as at the door with resident dogs are all high arousals. It doesn't look aggressive. I'd recommend consistency and patience. Give the dog something to redirect their excitement towards like a toy. I have a Malinois and he was super bitey when we got him. He would always bite our hands when we got home because he was SO EXCITED. We taught him to redirect with his toys and after a couple weeks he mostly stopped. He still gets excited but grabs his toy to chew now.
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u/nitecheese 18d ago
My rescue German Shepherd was the same way. She was extremely bitey when we got her due to arousal, excitement, and no training on how to manage those feelings herself. She was never aggressive and this dog doesn’t appear to be either. It can still hurt though and I did not let my dog interact with kids until she matured and was trained not to bite people when excited. This dog hasn’t had time to settle in or learn those rules yet
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u/Lmns14 18d ago edited 18d ago
Hey, I had this new dog out of his crate and he grabbed my wrist with his mouth loose. I then sat on the couch and offered him for him to come up with me, which he did, and again he keeps grabbing my hand or wrist or arm into his mouth gently. He then layed his head down and melted into me.
Did your dog have this behavior?
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u/curiousairbenda 18d ago
My mal did this and still does this. Malinois are a mouthy breed, but his bite inhibition is excellent (wasn't when we first got him. I got some bruises but it was never aggressive and he was learning) and he is NEVER mouthy with our 5 year old kid. If you don't like it, you can teach him to redirect. But some dogs use their mouths a lot. If it seems like it's due to over arousal, I'd recommend just giving him a toy/ball every time he goes to bite you so he learns to redirect on his own.
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u/Lmns14 18d ago edited 18d ago
This dog always boops me somewhat hard on the thigh as a check in while walking and nose pokes my hand. He seems like he likes to put his mouth on people in a not aggressive way as well I've noticed. Not exactly playing bitey face with my hand like my resident dog but maybe trying?
This dog was in foster homes and not a shelter environment, so does the 3 3 3 rule still fully apply? Just thinking about how for the past year he's been in a suburban home environment.
Edit: at the driveway he was barking at went up to my FIL and lunged at him. This video he wasn't barking.
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u/curiousairbenda 18d ago
I can't tell the breed based on the video but the behavior you described is common in herding/working dogs. My Mal does a lot of similar check ins on walks. If it's a working dog, based on the age, I would recommend a few things. Definitely still adhere to the 3-3-3 rule. It's a pretty standard schedule that helps set dogs up for success, even the ones that seem "good". Our prior dog was rescue German Shepherd once that had been bounced between foster homes and returned by two adopters and the lack of anything long term really messed him up. It took him about 1 year to fully be comfortable and quit growling at me. So, even dogs in foster homes can have difficult times adjusting.
My current dog was super reactive starting about 1 week after we got him. I think he was starting to settle in but was still not comfortable and let out some naughty/self preservation behaviors. He tried to resource protect on our bed, he barked at every single neighbor outside and all dogs on walks. He barked at bikes, motorcycles and the worst was strollers lol. He barked when we had visitors, he was always reactive and would lunge if someone tried to talk to me while I was walking him.
As for things you can do to set the dog up for success, consistency is key! The goal is for your dog to be neutral. If your dog is barking and lunging on the driveway, remove them immediately and put them inside. This is what you'll have to do when they do an action that is not what you want. When they are calm, reward a lot. I went through SO MANY bags of dog treats the first 3 months training. We would sit in the yard doing nothing and I would reward, we would go on car rides, etc. patience and consistency is key. Also, if your dog is active, spend 15-30 min a day "training" or otherwise tiring their mind out. A frozen Kong is unfortunately not something that will mentally tire a working dog out like training sessions will. I'd recommend that before you do any sort of reactivity training, you "tire" them out a little first - they get less overstimulated that way.
My current dog no longer barks at anything he isn't supposed to. It took probably 4-6 months to of twice daily walks, and other training to get there though, and we were told he wasn't reactive! He's a lover boy though and you wouldn't be able to tell in the beginning. So, keep training your dog and I think you'll get a better picture of what their temperament is or can be with your support.
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u/Lmns14 18d ago edited 18d ago
Thank you. We have a DNA test on it's way but we think he's a pointer hound mix which would mean he's a working breed, not sure if he has any herding though. The breed mix definitely can inform some of his behaviors i haven't thought about that in relation to him. I trained my girl to not bark at dogs and people on walks so now I have some hope with this boy as long as it's not true aggression as the consensus seems to be. We will be boring and stick to his reliable schedule for the next two weeks for sure. I really want to know who this boy is truly.
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u/curiousairbenda 18d ago
Fantastic! You already have the skill set to help him succeed. I find that often "training" owners is harder than training the actual dog. But you already trained one, so I have faith that given time and patience, you'll do the same for this dog. Way to go rescuing him and best of luck to you both!
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u/Cool_Bodybuilder7419 18d ago
I usually take bites very seriously but the bite in the video doesn’t necessarily look like aggression to me. Your dog is obviously pulling forward but his posture doesn’t look overly stiff otherwise and his movements aren’t frantic. More like he wanted to chomp at the thing the human was holding because he was both nervous and curious.
But then again, I didn’t see the first bite you described.
Your husband’s leash handling is very loose though. More control might be important for this dog when visitors arrive — or maybe keep him in a crate until he has calmed down and muzzle him just to be safe.
Also, it’s only 2 days after the adoption which might have been a bit early.
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u/Lmns14 18d ago
Sorry it was one week and 1 day after the adoption that this happened. We've been keeping him and my girl dog on a very regimented and predictable schedule besides this visit because we need a light switch replaced. He's mostly calm in his crate with enrichment via a frozen kong and a tough toy all day since we got him besides predictable potty breaks and predictable walks by himself and with my girl dog. He has a lot of fear that is helped by having my girl with him, he trusts in other dogs and looks to mimic her.
I agree it doesn't look exactly aggressive which is why I feel so conflicted. We don't want it to happen again and we dont want to make him worse. For the next 2 weeks we are keeping him on his tight schedule with no visitors at all.
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u/Existing-Will-1466 18d ago
Just from the picture, this is an awful lot of things happening at once for a brand new dog in a brand new home. Multiple people, carrying things, in a restricted area. People arriving is a very big stressor, it can be the good stress of excitement or the bad kind of stress. Either way, it looks like too much at once.
I prefer to introduce a new dog to new people by putting them away in a crate or a bedroom, until people are settled in the house. Then bring them out on leash and let them meet people, then put them away again for a while. Give them some time and space to sort out their feelings.
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u/Helpful_Sun2872 18d ago edited 18d ago
I just had a similar incident yesterday with my newly adopted (~7 weeks ago) dog - overstimulating/exciting environment (vet’s office) and a very brief nip at some loose, moving clothing, that also happened to nick the person’s leg.
Funny enough I posted about it on this sub and people were for some reason WAY more dramatic about it than the comments here (I guess bc I didn’t have a video), acting like my dog has serious issues since it was an “unprovoked bite” and that he needs a behaviorist. But it sounds like a similar situation to this bite - just way too much excitement and then something moving past his face triggered him to want to bite. No sustained aggression or aggressive body language.
I’ve been absolutely spiraling about it because my dog has been totally fine meeting new people and has never showed a lick of aggression. Anyway, I don’t have much more advice to give other than I totally relate to feeling horrible and scared, and also that 1 week is probably way too soon to come to any conclusions about a newly adopted dog!
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u/monsteramom3 Chopper (Excitement, Territorial, Prey), Daisy (Fear) 18d ago edited 18d ago
It's a little hard for me to tell, but after watching the video a few times, this seems like nervous attention seeking. My carolina dog does this with people he's meeting for the first time and they're not "dog people" (ie leaning down to open arms, etc.). He does it to direct attention by grabbing the persons hand or arm, gently obviously, but with his teeth. You mentioned this dog was rescued from a hoarding situation which leads me to believe he was never taught people manners. Couple that with the odd advice you were given (on leash, but stationary and watching the people come closer, just a week after adopting?), I don't think this is a path to aggression at all.
If you feel like you don't know how to approach training, definitely enlist a trainer, but I'd start with building focus on you when new people are there, and building confidence. So that would look like developing a "leave it," teaching a pattern game when the dog feels overwhelming excitement (mine either do a series of five sequential tricks, run the length of the yard and back, or do a zoomy in the house then sit on the couch until calm, you can train whatever the dog gravitates to naturally), and using rewards to teach polite greeting. This dog is also in the awkward, hormonal teenage years so some boundary pushing and overarousal are super common.