[Alvin]

I have a basset hound that bites my friends and neighbors. I got eddie oct 09. He came from a young family in brooklyn,ny. They could no longer take care of him. He was almost one yrs old at the time. His owner said he was perfect no biting,barking or other issues. He was good for the first few days then started nipping people that come over or that are in the hallways of my building. I have punished him each time and have started putting him on his back when he does it. I have also started useing a muzle when we go out, because my neighbors are afraid of him. I love this dog and dont want to have to get rid of him. I have been to the vet six times since ive got eddie. Because of the ear infections that have got much better. Other then that no health problems.

 

[Alvin]

Oh I also have a pit mix.

 

[opus]

Why are you putting the poor dog on his back? That's a terrible ting to do to a dog who could be fear aggressive or territorial.

 

[Alvin]

I dont know what eles to do. people in my building wont get on elevator with us. I was told putting him on his back will help. Im not slamming him on his back and most people say im to easy on him.

 

[opus]

I can understand how distressing it is to have a dog that bites, but putting him on his back won't make any difference, and may actually make his aggression worse. You've got to get to the root cause of his aggression and work with him from there. I think most dogs respond much better to positive reinforcement than to physical force. Distraction, reinforcement, reward for the good behaviour, things like that. Is he neutered?

 

[Esther]

in his defense, I have heard that this is a way to make them submissive.
i don't think i'd do it... but i HAVE heard that some recommend it.

either way, this could get interesting. haha

 

[Alvin]

Yes he is neutered. and I hate doing it and will stop. I dont want to make it any worse. The family I got him from didnt take goodcare of him and I think they just locked him in a cage and left him there. He had bad ear infections and his nails must have been four inch long. Now nails never need triming because we spend a lot of time outside. He only bites in my hallways, elevator and apt. hes not so bad at dogrun or park. Thanks so much for your help

 

[opus]

in his defense, I have heard that this is a way to make them submissive.
i don't think i'd do it... but i HAVE heard that some recommend it.

either way, this could get interesting. haha

It's that bloomin' Ceaser Milan, he has everyone alpha rolling their dogs, forgetting that dogs are not wolves and a fearful dog doesn't learn anything from being rolled only to fear the roller.

 

[opus]

Yes he is neutered. and I hate doing it and will stop. I dont want to make it any worse. The family I got him from didnt take goodcare of him and I think they just locked him in a cage and left him there. He had bad ear infections and his nails must have been four inch long. Now nails never need triming because we spend a lot of time outside. He only bites in my hallways, elevator and apt. hes not so bad at dogrun or park. Thanks so much for your help

4 inches! Yikes. Opus has long nails, but 4 inches must be like claws. He probably hasn't had much socialising, poor thing. With patience and reward, you can totally make him a new dog. Best of luck with it though.

 

[Alvin]

Do you know some things I can try? He is better in,some ways. The vet thinks hes a different dog. It worse in my apt hallways. So must be territorial.

 

[Alvin]

Once your in my apt and he bites you your his best friend.

 

[opus]

Well, Mikey T is probably your main man for this, but anecdotally, when Opus – as a young dog– went though a period of agressive behaviour around 'his' home, we turned visitors into 'food bringers'.
Our friends were used as guinea pigs (poor generous people). We would clip a lead onto Opus and they would knock on the door, or ring the bell (variety helps). Opus would then explode and go barking like a looney towards the door and we would follow ( calmly, no yelling to be quiet, no rushing). At the door we would insist he sit, and give him a treat and praise when he did so, then with our foot on the lead we gave Opus a command to stay and – still with foot on the lead in case he played deaf– we would open the door and speak to our visitors in a calm manner and if Opus stayed put and was not barking, then and only then the visitor would offer him a treat while we were all 'ooh goooood boy!' (Like most bassets Opus is very interested in food)

By the time we'd done this a number of times with various people Opus' entire demeaner had changed at the ring of the bell; he began to associate bell/visitor/just about anyone who called with 'sit stay treat'. It took less than a month to do this, but my husband and I were consistant. Sit, stay, treat. And as you might be able to see from my other posts, he's 15 now and has been an absolute gem for the last 12/13 years of his life. ( he was a gem in the early days too, but by golly it took a lot of work)

I hope this helps some, it is as I said what worked for me, but perhaps other folk might have different ways to calm a biting situation. Good luck, and don't give up, you can do this.

 

[Soundtrack]

Mikey should be along with his excellent links, but basically this is not the sort of thing that can be solved online, you need to be working with a professional who can actually observe you and the dog.

 

[Alvin]

Im gonna try it. Thanks so much !!!

 

[Alvin]

Does anyone know a trainer with basset experence ? In the NYC area

 

[Mikey T]

It worse in my apt hallways. So must be territorial.

Most dogs that bite do so out of fear. In a more enclosed space there is less room for the dog to escape hence it only option in the fight or flight response is fight. So it could have nothing to do with being territorial and simply the dog has learned in close confines contact with a strange human is more likely,

 

[Mikey T]

Does anyone know a trainer with basset experence ? In the NYC area

you do not need a trainer you want a behaviorist and not some itrainer calling themselves a behaviorist as well you want one that is certified. bassical there are two types ones that are vets and can perscribe imedication if need be and thoses that are not

find a board certified veterinary behaviorist

E’Lise Christensen Bell
DVM, DACVB
Veterinary Behavior Consultations of NYC
NYC Veterinary Specialists
410 W 55th St
New York, NY 10019
United States
office tel: 212.767.0099
office fax: 212.767.0098
[email protected]
http://www.nycvetbehavior.com
I accept media inquiries
Dr. Christensen has been attending cases in NYC since 2004. Patients are seen at NYC Veterinary Specialists (Manhattan, Queens, and Brooklyn) or at their homes in Manhattan. She works closely with referring veterinarians and appropriate behavior modification support team members to help families meet their goals with their pets. Dr. Christensen welcomes outreach opportunities with veterinary and training conferences, community groups, and the media (print and television).
Ellen Lindell
VMD, DACVB
Veterinary Behavior Consultations, PC
6 Brenner Ridge Rd.
Pleasant Valley, NY 12569
United States
office tel: 8454737406
office fax: 8454545181
[email protected]
http://www.lindellvetbehavior.org
I provide legal consultations

Directory CAAB but it apears to have issue at the moment

some thinks you need to do/consider in the mean time. and imporant information for the behaviorist.

1. what does the dog do before bite behavior , situations/locations lunging forward etc. where what how why and when of all bitting incidents

2. why do you need a muzzle to prevent the dog from biting if you have control of the dog on a leash?

3. how severe are the bites
a standard scale has been developed to judge the severity of dog bites, based on damage inflicted. The scale is:
* Level One: Bark, lunge, no teeth on skin.
* Level Two: Teeth touched, no puncture.
* Level Three: 1-4 holes from a single bite. All holes less than half the length of a single canine tooth.
* Level Four: Single bite, deep puncture (up to one and a half times the depth of a single canine tooth), wound goes black within 24 hours.
* Level Five: Multiple bite attack or multiple attack incidents.
* Level Six: Missing large portions of flesh.


the more sever the bite the less likely behavior modification will be successful not because a more ferious biter is any harder to retrained but that moral, ethic etc limit what type of training one can do and put people in potential harms way,
!.

 

[Mikey T]

Mikey should be along with his excellent links

there simply is not enough information to even begin to understand the behavior of the dog. All we knows is it bites without some explaination of contect of the bite how the dog was reaction just prior to biting , the setting what the bitten person was doing etc it would be purely speculation and a crap shoot on providing something even remotely useful.

even my fear commnets are base purly on statitics of bites in general not this particular case and when dealing with a specifice dog what is the case in dogs in general is really unimportant what is important is this particular dog

 

[bubbad]

This is yours Mikey go to town. I will roll puppies but it doesn't work so well with an adult dog.

 

[Alvin]

well its been a year and a half since i started this thread and its been a time of ups and downs.
first eddie has gotten much better!!! to help his bitting people in the elevator and in my hallways i had to started putting a mussel on him during walks, vet visits or when some one came over to visit. i had to do this to make my neighbors, friends and vet feel safe, i hated doing it. that lasted 6 mos and he stopped lungging at every person we went by, so i removed the mussel very slowly and would give him lots of good prase when he had a good " meeting" with other dogs or people. he still will lunge at people some times, in key spots like elevator and by my front door, only on way home tho never on way out. ???. i was super consistant with it and never let him go to far on his own. i also inrolled both my dogs in doggie daycare one day a week just to get as much sociallizing as possible. he was kicked out in the begging but after a few weeks off/suspention he has not had an issue there in over a year. my vet also now treats him with out the mussle as well ( even ear scopes !!!). she tells everyone his story saying she could smell the ear infection when i walked thru the door and how i had to keep him musseled in the beginning. as for the ladys in my building they were not as easy to convince of his changes, so i followed the advice of a member (opus i beleive) as crazy as it seemed, i gave the ladys of my building treats and every time they seen him they gave him one. one lady even came to my door knocked, then would give him a treat. he now loves these ladys and especially the one who came to the door. this helped sooooo much thanks opus!!!!!! he knows whos at the door now by sent, so its eather good or bad deppending on who it is. ie. treat lady or delivery boy .
his helth problems are much better as well. after lots of vet visits with ear infections, ichy skin/ paws, anal glan problem and lots of cash later a food change to Wellness whitefish and sweet potato seems to have done the trick. he has issuses with chicken. i didnt belive it at first because there were no changes after the food change and so i was discuraged untill i cut out scambled eggs ( chicken proten). skin and ears are not a problem now with good food and a twice a week eare cleaning.
i cant tell you how much everyones help was on here. i just had to let everyone know and update.