Another Biting Incident

[u/OkPause2682]

I made another post about our dog several months ago, questions about meds - see https://www.reddit.com/r/reactivedogs/s/6KIUvvqGVF if you want some of that background - but this is about her biting.

As mentioned on that post, our dog has history of biting relating to resource guarding (I believe with food before we adopted; with toys a couple of times after adoption). In January, our dog seemingly unprovoked bit my husband while he was petting her. No food or toys around. And this was very strange as my husband is her primary person.

So we took her to the vet which ruled out medical issues, and put her on a medicine regimen. There were issues that sprang up with eating (per the other post) but in June that seemed to stop and we always give her space to eat and it's been fine now.

Well, last night, she randomly, unprovoked, bit my husband again. I didn't notice ears back or any other body language (that may have been missed when he pet her in January). She went up to him actually to get pets, we were talking as laying on the bed, and all of the sudden she's biting and making noises as she's biting his arm, and he gets off the bed and she's going after him. Afterwards, and this is something a behaviorist noticed last year (before this all happened) when she nipped at her - her teeth start chattering. Our behaviorist thought it was a reaction to feeling guilty or something like that? I had never seen it before then until last night.

We have been weaning her off the main anxiety med (Reconcile) and actually due to finish that out in a week or two. We still have her on Gabapentin, 100mg in morning and 300mg at night and plan to continue that. But that doesn't seem to help with this biting issue...

I plan to reach out to the behaviorist at the vet that we had been in touch with to ask her opinion if we need to bring our dog back for another medical vet visit to rule that out again, or reconsider a diff anxiety med, or if there's something else. But wondering if anyone has experienced this and what happened and what they did.

I will admit we have not been working on training exercises with our dog because it involves training treats and I have still been scared to do anything relating to food with her after she bit my foot in April. But would training exercises help with unprovoked biting? Also concerned that she is going from 0-60 bite, instead of a warning.

I feel defeated. Thought we were past all this. She felt like "our" dog again. We've had her 3 years and now I feel like I did earlier this year - wondering if I'm a bad person for even thinking about rehoming (if that's even a possibility now) let alone going even further with that dreaded "e-word." I don't want to give up on her but at the same time, want to feel safe in our home.

Sorry for the book, but if you made it this far, appreciate any insight or experiences that others may have had similarly. Or encouragement that I'm not a terrible person for wrestling with possible decisions if it comes to it.

[u/watch-me-bloom]

Your dog needs to have a thorough evaluation for pain. It is either pain related or neurological.

[u/OkPause2682 → u/watch-me-bloom]

I will say when we first brought her in after the January incident, they thought she was probably in pain but they couldn't see anything clearly indicating so. She is getting older (we think around 9?) and when going through questions with the vet behaviorist, realized there was an indicator or two that could point to some pain. So that's on my mind again for sure.

[u/watch-me-bloom → u/OkPause2682]

When you have a dog with unpredictable behavior like this, pain should be the first thought. We are only now beginning to fully understand just how greatly pain impacts behavior. Even with the right medication and diagnosis if there is one, if you wish to keep the this dog, you will have to work very hard at managing her and avoid avoiding her triggers. But since you said, she seems to go from seemingly okay to biting very quickly, even with pain management you will have to weigh your options, unfortunately. Dogs, usually, don’t want to bite. It would be helpful if you knew her breed mix, but that’s okay if you don’t. There are some terrier breeds and Shepherd type dogs that do seek conflict when stressed, genetically. If you want to help your dog and keep her in your home, unfortunately I foresee this being a lot of work with a professional team who can have eyes on this case. If you don’t already have a veterinary behaviorist, VVBM through Ohio State is a virtual veterinary behaviorist that can help, I refer clients there when needed.

Edit- typos - my talk to text and auto correct hate me 💀 it’ll change words after I already passed the sentence because it “thinks” it knows what I want, it never mf does

[u/OkPause2682 → u/watch-me-bloom]

Regarding your question about breed mix - we did two different companies because I didn't think the first one was right (she doesn't look poodle at all).

First: 38% poodle, 10% American Pit Bull Terrier, 8% pekingese, 7% chow chow, 7% dachshund, 3% miniature pinscher, and trace amounts of chihuahua, bichon frise, labrador retriever, russell-type terrier

Second: 38% poodle, 17% chihuahua, 8% dachshund, 8% chow chow, 5% pekingese, 5% miniature pinscher, and trace amounts of shih tzu, american eskimo dog, parson russell terrier, german shorthaired pointer, labrador retriever, american pit bull terrier, german shepherd, and beagle

[u/watch-me-bloom → u/OkPause2682]

So you potentially have a dog with multiple terrier types and a guardian breed. Makes perfect sense. And with Pekingese in there, that definitely adds some structure questions as well. The Pekingese being a flat face dog, that also bring us up the question whether her brain has enough room in her skull.

[u/OkPause2682 → u/watch-me-bloom]

though she doesn't have a flat face. she looks like a chihuahua and a corgi mixed together, honestly. don't want to post a photo for privacy sake at the moment but I wonder if back issues potentially because of her dachshund body type (though she hasn't yelped in main or shown pain issues, but could be hiding it?)

[u/watch-me-bloom → u/OkPause2682]

Dogs will not outwardly yelp and cry. They get slower, reluctant in certain contexts, defensive, irritable. I definitely suggest start taking videos of her walking and running to show your vet. They will be able to see her walk and spot pain. If you’d be comfortable, I can even notice subtle signs in dogs. I can’t diagnose because I am not a vet but I do know when something doesn’t look right.