Do I have a potential man biter.....

Well it finally happened. In that past 12 years I been with bulldogs not one pup/dog I have had on my yard had ever threaten a human. But today it has happen....

I was out on a walk with my boy Stewie and a close friend and neighbor of mine was having a family gathering so I stopped by when he flagged me down. He ended up having a drunk attendant (his uncle) who thought my dog was cute and kept pestering him.

I guess Stewie felt that this drunk man (who was staggering and kept trying to pet him) was not the "norm" so he went into an avoidence stage where just moved his head to avoid his petting. (Never had I have seen this happen with any of my dogs). I could tell my boy did not his vibe and because he was the uncle of a very close friend I did not say "My dog doesn't like you, get they F*** away". The man kept on trying to pet my dog making "kissing" gestures trying to hug him while staggering and falling on his ass. I tried to avoid the situation by leaving, but the drunkard followed attempting to pet Stewie. It was then when Stewie let out a growl/snarl and snapped at the man. I became infuriated and struck at the man myself (which I feel sorry for have doing as he was drunk and didn't have presence of mind) to get him to stop following us as I had never seen any behavior like this from Stewie (let alone any of my other dogs) before. I am now afraid that my boy will not trust humans and can possibly become a man biter.

In my 12 years with dogs, I have never had one growl or snap at a human. Today was my very first incident. I do not know if it was the achohol on the mans breath or his awkward moment (Staggering) towards Stewy that made Stewy snap...but he did. Stewy just did not like this man.

My question is this .... has Stewy become "damaged" by this incident? Will he have the chance of being a "Man-Biter"? I only ask this because I have never had a dog make a threatening action towards any human.

 

Re: Do I have a potentential man biter.....

i guess that time will tell ya if the dog is damaged or not, do the oposite, find fine friends to work on him in a positive way,

still there is the "drunk part" to be checked out, maybe you can ask a friend to drink a bit and pass by, not to opress the dog, just to pet him and check him again

 

Re: Do I have a potentential man biter.....

man you should of avoided that situation.... drunk people are the worst. i am sure he prolly was all loud and stunk. dont matter if you were close to the guy or not , you should have told him to chill out if he was reallly that drunk. gotta look out for your dog in those types of situations . kind of like a same incident with my dog happened. i was hand walking my male and i was crossing this playground and all these kids ran up to him (he had a toy in his mouth) . they all started hugging him , yelling , petting , just almost likie pestering him(they were just being kids), like 4 or 5 of em. i couod tell from his reactions that he was VERY uncomfortable so i got the heck out of ther.

 

Re: Do I have a potentential man biter.....

I think yall but to much stock in the whole human aggression thing it happens i always say they eventually find someone they dont like although you gettin aggressive was like throwing fuel on the fire your dog fed on that and probably went into protective mode.

 

Re: Do I have a potentential man biter.....

Don't know, must be somethin about the guy that your dog doesn't like. Any animal that is pestered by a stranger can become dangerous. But you should try to avoid situations like that but continue to socialize him with people. I got a female that was HA when she was a pup and up... but it was my fault for not socializing her, i just kept her at my moms house up north and she was only use to seeing like 2 humans for the first year of her life. She's fine now, if shes not running up to you for affection then she's just not paying u no mind... u know your dog better than anyone on here. I knew my dog wasn't really a man eater... no1 here can tell you how he'll turn out.

 

Re: Do I have a potentential man biter.....

Hmmm this is a hard one. Like what has been said only time will tell. I know if it was me i would do everything i could to counteract this behaviour = socialisation, socialisation, and more socialisation. Then hopefully take it from there given the results. Good luck!

 

Re: Do I have a potentential man biter.....

I wouldn't be mad at the dog. The dude was acting funny and the dog felt that vibe. I would say your dog was being protective. There's a couple people my dogs don't like and i don't blame them cause i don't like them either. If one of these guys get near my dog you can tell he would get tore up and my dogs are anything but people aggressive. These few people give me a bad vibe too. Trust your dogs instincts.

 

Re: Do I have a potentential man biter.....

Sounds to me more like a warning out of fear. A growl/snap without a bite is a warning for the offending person/animal to get away. If the warning isn't heeded, then an actual bite usually follows.

I would hesitate to say the dog was being "protective." A lot of times this term is bandied around kind of like the term "game." We know a lot of folks will say a dog is "game" if it acts DA but we all know DA doesn't always = game. By the same token a lot of people will say a dog is "protective" if it growls/snaps at a shady character, but an aggressive response to a person does not always = protection. Many times the dog is actually snapping/biting out of fear or stress.

The avoidance behaviour indicates the dog was not comfortable with the person. Furthermore the stress/anger the owner was feeling likely fueled the fire of fear/stress the dog was already feeling. Remember, our emotions travel down the leash like a telegraph wire. This leads me more to a conclusion the dog was fearful or stressed out, not "protective." The dog simply met his fear/stress threshold & as a result literally snapped.

This is not unusual among canines, even among APBTs. After all, they are still dogs & it's not like they can stand up on their hind paws & say "Hey buddy, back off. You're freaking me out." They will tell a person/animal to back off the only way they they're able - with avoidance behaviour & if the avoidance behaviour doesn't work, a growl/snap.

Did you notice any other stress indicators, such as yawning or licking of the lips or nose? When he avoided the man did he display the whites of his eyes? All these are physical indicators the dog is experiencing fear &/or stress. What about the position of his ears/tail? The position of the ears/tail can also be indicators of how the dog is feeling.

Really, we need more info on the body language of the dog before a determination of whether he'll be a man-biter can be made. But to me just from the OP it sounded like the dog was freaked out & responded the only way he knew how to get the "threat" away from him.

In closing, we as dog owners need to know the body language of our dogs. Rarely does a dog bite "come out of no where." 99.99% of the time the dog gives a warning through it's body signals, although sometimes these signals may be subtle, they're almost always there. If your dog is displaying fear or stress around a person, it's our responsibility as owners to remove the dog from the situation b/c once the dog's fear/stress threshold is met, the dog WILL react & it usually won't be in a nice manner.

JMHO ...

 

Re: Do I have a potentential man biter.....

not a manbitter at all,just didn't want to be pestard by someone he didn't know and the smell probally had a little to do with it also.

 

Re: Do I have a potentential man biter.....

Dogs can sense a chemical inbalance and thats probably what threw him off. I wouldn't read too much into it.

 

Re: Do I have a potentential man biter.....

I'm sure the man's odd behaviour, pushy attitude & strange smell frightened the dog. A dog growling/snapping at an unsettling person is not an unheard of reaction, especially if the person in question has been drinking.

IMO the question not is the dog a man-biter, but the question is does the dog have a solid temperament. For example, I have dogs (& I'm sure others do here as well) that it wouldn't matter if a drunk guy hung all over them, they would not offer to growl/snap. The worst they might do is lick them. lol.

IMO the dog was simply scared/stressed. I do not think he's a true man-biter. But he does appear to have a low stress threshold. This of course can be remedied with training, but a dog like this will always have to be watched like a hawk.

A visit to the vet may be in order as well. What with the man being drunken & scary for the dog, it may have just been the circumstances, but an exam couldn't hurt. I do not know if anyone here saw the episode of "It's Me or the Dog" featuring Jed the American Bulldog. He was being what his owners thought was "protective" (also turned out to be stress) but upon a vet's exam it turned out his low stress level was partly the result of a thyroid condition.

 

Re: Do I have a potentential man biter.....

yeah, having a bad temperment and wanting to chew someones face is a lot different. I think this is what was wrong my female, stress. She was easily stressed out in new situations even being in the vehicle, she didn't want to be touched in the car just because she wasn't use to it.

 

Re: Do I have a potentential man biter.....

This is a silly question comeing from someone who has 12 years in bulldogs.

 

Re: Do I have a potentential man biter.....

gonna sound like cesar right now but the dog felt the negative energy dude you became nervouse the dog became nervouse the drunk wasn't stable and the dog felt annoyed and then the need to defend itself/let the dude know leave me the F$#k alone jmo dont feel like everytime ur with that dog and another person hes going to bite b/c that equals bad energy and he may do it so just work with him and people

 

Re: Do I have a potentential man biter.....

I was thinking the same thing. 12years with any breed and you should know better. HMMM:confused:

 

Re: Do I have a potentential man biter.....

Sounds like the dog was just giving warning signs that he was uncomfortable.

 

Re: Do I have a potentential man biter.....

Like wardog said he was just being protective and didn't like the situation. Just avoid drunks and you will be OK. Alot of manbiters show no signs and even wag their tail happily until they get their chance; sort of baiting the prey in. These are the idiots you have to look out for.

 

Re: Do I have a potentential man biter.....

u should keep an eye but personal i wouldnt assume you have a man biter on your hands. Thats the dogs way of protecting himself. I have one who took til she was a year and to get used to my grandma. she walks with a can and really awkward. She just didnt like it bc she was different from everyone else. she never bit her but growl when she came around to pet her. alot of people would have made a mistake of culling or getting rid of her. she has always been great with people and now LOVES my grandma. nobody, dog or man, likes to be in strange situations. they can make u feel uneasy.

 

Re: Do I have a potentential man biter.....

exactly!!!

 

Re: Do I have a potentential man biter.....

NO NO NO you right You hit it on the nose, chemical in balance is the case the same thing happen to me a long time ago, something about a person that's drunk or the smell some dogs don't like:cool: