what do you do if your dog attacks someone?

I Was Wondering What Do You Do If Your Dog Attacks Someone Who Is Trying To Hurt You? If You Praise Him Then They Might Get The Impression That Bitting People Is "ok" But If You Punish Him Then He May Never Want To Protect You Again. ( My Dog Didnt Bit Anyone I Was Just Wondering In The Case Of An Event As Such).

 

well if the person is a threat to you i cant really think of a good reason not to let him know he did good by protecting you.

 

I agree with this dogman. If your dog protected you from danger, it means it felt something odd (odd = not right). Praise the dog.

Man, this should have been a "poll".

 

your dog should not be "attacking" someone unless u have commanded him too,, if u want a protection dog,,then u should train a protection dog,,not leave it up to the dog to use his head when to bite without any formal training.

 

Rep points to you.

 

If you are in real danger, and being attacked I wouldnt expect a APBT to do anything, but if they did-I wouldnt praise, or shun them. Any dog of breed will protect its owner if it has enough guts...but I wouldnt rely on it from a dog not bred for it.

 

While I agree with you for the most part catcher_T I still believe that there are dogs out there smart enough to use what they have when they need to. One of my dogs inparticular is uncanny in his sense of people. He judges people far better than ourselves because lies and BS don't phase him. He sees right through the bullshit. He has on two occasions made a noise about someone coming to my house. I was already questioning the people but they were friends of an ex of mine. Needless to say my dog sat right under my legs and watched the two people for quite sometime. He was alert and I could tell that they had no right to be in my house. They were never invited back since. I think he knew they were either up to no good or high on some sort of drugs. The second story involving the same dog took place one night when I was out with some of my friends. My ex loved to have him inside because he's one of the best housedogs I have and she obviously felt that he would do what he needed to if the time ever came. Well, this particular night someone decided to try and get into my house. She let the mutt out and he went straight to the back window and proceeded to jump on the sill and go crazy barking and banging off of our back window. I had always told my girl to let him into the house and go back into the room and lock yourself in. Grab the shotgun and aim it right at the bedroom door. If someone knocks on it, yell "Identify Yourself" as loud as possible. I knew what to say when she yelled that but if the whoever else got through the dog and didn't say anything or said it wrong, aim chest high at the door and fire as soon as the door starts to move. In this circumstance she had the shotgun and was watching out the window as someone jumped the back fence and ran right down the street. My dog had just saved my ex from burglery or possibly even rape. This same mutt to this day is my best companion. He's smart, a gamedog, and still has that same sense about him. He's great with everyone that comes over and I've never had a situation like that since. We live in the country now but regardless, I would never look at him differently because of how he acts. He's smart enough to know what to do and when to do it if he had to. He's my best buddy He's in my signature below.

Regards,

B

PS. You can bet your ass I cooked him a steak for breakfast the next day. Why the hell wouldn't you praise an animal that showed what he did? He's not human aggressive. There is a time and place for everything and you can't just say that about any dog flat outright. He might be an exception to the rule because I can think of the majority of my mutts would lick anyone that came into my house. I think this specific dog is just smart enough to know the difference. I speak to him like a young kid and he understands what I say.

 

I moved to the proper forum also.

Regards,

B

 

I definitely agree with B. I honestly believe my dog knows when someone is sneaky or whatnot. He usually is a quiet dog, but he barks when something is suspicious

 

Excellent post B. My female is the same way. She has that sense about people too. She's never bitten anyone, but she will growl or bark when she doesnt trust them, or thinks they are a threat.

 

If the person was attacking me or my wife he'd get a pat on the head, a "good job" and a treat. I trust him to know the difference between friendly and unfriendly. Of course my dog is super people friendly so his temperment in that regard isn't a question in my eyes.

 

Just for clarification, I use the term mutt very loosely I call all my dogs mutts when I speak to them but they are quite pure indeed.

Regards,

B

 

yeah, I agree, I think dogs have an innate, or 6th sense, if you will, when it comes to certain individuals.

I wouldn't advocate urging a dog to "attack" someone, but if any of mine "sense" impending dangerous individuals, and it turns out their sense was correct, I don't think I'd heavily praise it, but I wouldn't punish it either. A simple"nice job for protecting me", or what ever, will suffice, and then I'd let it go.
yeah a "poll" woul've been interesting.

 

Its a poll, have at it

 

I'm on the same lines as 14rock. In my head i would be " good job rip he's throte out " but you wouldn't want the dog do harm to a freind or person that was just kiding around or playing. So i'm inbetween yes and no.

 

I am having flashbacks of this same conversation,,LOL,,every dog on the planet needs to be trained for bite work if u want them to bite,,dogs will act on their own out of arousel of suspicion,,some dogs have more of a defensive drive then others,,those dogs are very easy to fire up for bite work,,they tend to be a little more dangerous not knowing when to bite,,when a dog uses his own head it would be great if he knew what to do and who to bite,,In a survey of home invasions (burglars) were asked the number one deterrent,,they all said dogs,,barking dogs,,it didn't matter what size.

B,,I bet I could get into your house

 

a dog protecting his pack.....and being human aggressive are two different things!

 

I am not trying to be smart,,explain the difference

 

if someone was to enter your home and have malicious intent to your family, wouldnt you protect them or would you just be a violent individual?

 

I have anecdotes about dogs I have owned. I had a female, she was part pit bull and I don't know what the father was. She was not trained at all(this was many years ago before I realized how smart it was to train your dog, I just had the dog for a "pet")...One night I was at a girlfriend's who lived out on the edge of town on some property..umm about two acres...and no close neighbors...Her washing machine was in a shed in back. We went out to put some laundry in the dryer and my dog started acting all weird...I started joking.."Oh someone is out here..and the dog pulled me around the house...she was on a leash...and sure enough...someone was out there!!!...a Peeping Tom...My dog didn't bite him, but she definitely scared him...like he had his hands in the air and said don't let the dog bite me. The dog didn't try to bite him, but she definitely knew he was up to no good...she growled viciously...She knew he didn't belong there....The peeping Tom ran away and I praised my dog...

Another time I was home alone at night in a house that was in the downtown part of the area I lived in. The house was on a hill, with a front porch at ground level and a garage/carport under the house in the back...
My dog Sparky (different dog) started pacing and whining and low growls, so I decided to investigate. I took a "home protection tool" with me and let the dog out. She ran around to the back of the house and started growling at a partially opened door that was the door to a room under the house..like a storage shed...I kicked the door open and there was some poor homeless guy who threw his hands up in the air and said..."Don't....." Well never mind what he said. Again, the dog didn't attack the guy. He was like the peeping Tom, no threat to me..not acting aggressively towards me at all...I asked the homeless guy to crash elsewhere...
In any case, I would consider this what I would want my dogs to do..protect me...and alert me... If someone actually attacked me...sure I'd want them to bite that person...I'd be biting them myself..lol.
Both these dogs were very nice to all people, licks and begging for petting and belly rubs...Neither was trained to do much more than sit, they sure as heck didn't heel..lol..and I wouldn't consider either of them to be high "prey drive" or agressive towards other dogs or just any old folks on the street. They sure weren't "game" dogs in any sense of the word...
Any dog I have I expect to let me know if someone is outside my house whether it is a pit bull or not. I just assumed that it's "natural" for dogs to alert you if a stranger is at the door...or even a friend if the dog hasn't met the person. All the dogs I've ever had barked at the door if someone (friend or stranger) came up. If I admitted a friend, the dogs were ecstatic, if I admitted a stranger the dogs would do the sniff thing...
I don't feel I need to have an agressive dog. I feel my two examples are like an explanation of "pack protection". But if someone jumped on me and/or hit me I'd expect my dog to assist me...heck, yes, by biting the attacker..and yes they would get praised big time....I'd be sorely disappointed in a dog that didn't protect me from physical harm.
Still I would never "sic" a dog on a person no matter how angry I was at them...as long as they kept their hands off me...then it's gonna be a fight...and my dogs better jump in on my side...