My rescue dog I've had for 2 months still snapping at me? Can I do anything to resolve, so she isn't fearful?

Question

She's a mutt who I know was abused by her previous owner, Now I pamper and spoil her.. I take her fishing daily, we go on walks, I cook her food on the stove, cuddle and love her to pieces. However, when she is laying down, if I go to pet her at all, she will give me the "look" which is terrifying, then yelp loudly and bite at me. I believe my hand going above her body frightens her, and she reacts like animals do, impulsive, without thought. She always seems remorseful afterwards, but it's like each day she has to learn who I am again. Like Drew Barrymore in that movie 50 first dates. We go through the same thing day after day. She bites at me, I yell at her, then we ignore each other for about an hour and she comes out all happy and wants to play, I forgive her and life goes on. She's cranky when she's sleeping. Is her fear of my hand common for dogs? Regardless if she rips off one of my appendages or face she will remain in my home until her natural death, so I wish I could resolve this, as I would rather that didn't happen.

Answer 1

You are making the major mistake of trying to push her into trusting you.



LEAVE HER ALONE, she's fear biting. She needs to be left alone until SHE comes to you - this is not done in 2 months with some dogs, especially ones that have been abused.



Every time you touch her or try to hold her, it reinforces her fears. She is HAND SHY -- don't touch her unless it's her idea to come to you - that will happen in due time, but at her rate, not yours.



Don't "cuddle her", don't put your hand in her face or anywhere near her.



I've had 2 dogs like this, one so traumatized she hid under the bed for 5 months, was a year before we could pet her and longer before she finally decided to come on lap for pets. She's o.k. now, very loving, but will never be totally trusting with everyone.



Last year I took in another fear biter - had bitten 7 people. I left her alone, just let her realize she was safe and did not need to defend herself. I never picked her up or tried to cuddle her.

After a year, she's the first one on the couch next to me, but I still have to lure her into her crate at night with some liverwurst on a plate in front of her and say "come, on, let's go beddy byes" - she comes eventually,g ets the liverwurst treat when she's in the crate.

She now sits on my lap, but I still have to block my other dogs with a hand or foot in front of her when she eats a treat - and I don't pick her up when she has herself pressed against a wall - that's her fear, being cornered and having things taken away from her.

She gets better all the time, a little doll, very spunky, but she had to be a fear biter in order to survive in the miserable place she used to live.



Have patience, let her come to you, don't touch, don't push her --- just provide the food, speak calmly, NEVER SHOUT AT HER or get angry, that just sets her back to when she was hurt by angry humans --- don't yell at her, worst thing you can do.



Take it easy, let her come on her time --- can take much longer than 2 months, but will be worth it when she trusts you and no longer needs to fear you.



I'm glad you took this scared, abused dog in and want to give her a good forever home --- wish there were more people with your kindness and empathy.

Answer 2

I've been through this before and I give you so much credit and praise for sticking with your dog!! I know how tough it is to work with this kind of behavior, but you almost have to put yourself in her shoes. After being through a situation like that she is going to be a lot less trustful of humans, even if you are the best to her, you're still a human. And it will take time! Lets say you move to a whole knew town across the country where you have no family or friends. The people might be very nice, but after only two months how accustomed to this new place are you really? Now take that feeling and add her backround of abuse to it. I think you are doing the best anyone can do, and only time will do the rest. Maybe try a different approach to the biting cycle everyday though.. it sounds like it's only becoming routine, and if she's expecting it, it doesn't help much to scold her, since she already knows it's bad. Research different ways of fixing a behavioral problem, and try them out until you break the "50 First Dates" cycle =] The best of luck to you!

Answer 3

I think it's clear that the dog cannot be trusted and has MANY issues. The food and toy aggression could be worked with but it's a little late now. The biting of children should NEVER have been tolerated and he should have been in serious training, but even that could be helped. I know this time the bite wasn't physically serious/life threatening, but imo ANY unprovoked bite is a serious one. Any dog that will bite with minimal/no provocation is not a candidate for rehoming or adoption. The only options are to enroll in serious aggressive dog training (which may or may not work) or euthanize the dog. I know it is tempting to try and train the dog, but it will be excedingly difficult and time consuming and like I said, may or may not work. The thing with training a dog like that is, what's on the other side of a failure? If the training doesn't work you will know because he bit again. It's your choice on whether or not you can live with that, but I/my family could not. My family adopted a 100LB+ dog that turned out to have food aggression, dominance issues, and NO bite inhibition, so we did the only responsible thing we could and had him euthanized. It was absolutely heartbreaking, but he was a danger to us, to other people, to our dogs and to neighborhood dogs and animals. Good luck with this very difficult decision, I'm very sorry you are in this position.

Answer 4

If you know she was abused and doesn't just have a bad temperament, then you also know she has trust issues. So why on earth would you persist in bothering her when she's lying down when you know she doesn't like it?



Yelling at her is making the situation much worse. All she's learning is that you aren't to be trusted. It's not teaching her anything, so she isn't going to get any better.



Back off. Build a positive relationship with this dog - do things with her - teach her obedience for starters which is great for building a bond as long as you go about it correctly (NO yelling). Lots of dogs hate being disturbed when they're sleeping, you need to warn them first. And your hand coming down at her from above is seen by her as an aggressive gesture, at the very least, get down to her level.



No, her fear of hands isn't common for dogs. It's a common fear of dogs who have been hit.

Answer 5

Well you must change your behavior in order to change her behavior. You may want to do some research on reading dog body language and learn some calming signals that you can use to your advantage when approaching her. Is there any reason you must put your hand over her body if this frightens her? You need to do things that will build her trust in you. When she is laying down just sit beside her and let her come to you, be patient with this exercise don't look directly at her you can read or something and please don't yell at her. I think the walks fishing good food and cuddles are all great and wish you good luck with this sweet pup.

Answer 6

It's fear aggression. Part of it is your "humanizing" her responses to you. For both your sakes, you should find a behavorists and get training. You can be "alfa" without yelling at her and ignoring her (which the dog doesn't "get" btw). And yes, don't pet her from above, always come at her lower than her head. When a dog is lying down or sleeping, they are very vulnerable, you should remember that and maybe just leave her be until things "settle" more with her?

Good for you for taking on a rescue with issues. She's lucky to have you :-)

Answer 7

Okay , love alone will not work and giving her food you cook does not make her understand that you love her.

What you can do is not put your hand near her when she is laying down. Allow her to just lay down and do not disturb her. When she gets up , let her be the first to come for affection, not you.

Abused dogs do not like to be touched because the touching means the hurt will follow. when touched by the abusive owner, it hurt and the dog will never forget it.

What you do is you show her that you will not touch her till she wants you to.

let her come to you for petting, not you to her. this shows her you have no disire to touch her. With out being touched, she has no fear.

Again let her come to you for petting and she will soon see that you will not hurt her.

Remember loving the dog does not work, you have to let her tell you when it is okay and she will soon change.

Do not touch her when she is sleeping, sleeping to her is her peace and you take that away when you go over her.

Remember, let her make the first move, and then you follow. Give her time to over come that fear.

Answer 8

Don't spoil her, treat her like a dog. This is important. A spoiled dog is full of behavioral problems. Nobody is saying you can't love your dog and play with her, but stop spoiling her. Feed her a quality dry kibble or preferably a raw diet. Cooked meat is technically not even good for us, let alone our carnivorous dogs.



Google NILIF training and consider a behaviorist that's used to working with abused and aggressive animals.

Answer 9

Stop the spoiling and treat her like a dog. 2 months isnt that long for her to get used to you anyway. Becuase you are nervous around her as you dont know if she will snap it makes her more likely to as she doesnt trust you. If you were feeling nervous about, say, surgery and the surgeon came to you and said "ive only done this procedure once before but im sure I'll be ok once I get into my stride" wouldnt it make you more nervous??? be confident around her and show you are not scared

Answer 10

I would think that resisting that first petting would be the best thing to do. Let her come to you and don't disturb her sleep. Maybe she just needs things done on her terms.

Answer 11

don't pet at her when she is in her space and please don't scold her for being scared and lashing out the only way she knows how. let her come to you when she needs petting. you're a hero from rescuing her! it takes time to be accustomed to a new friend in the home, good luck :)

Answer 12

Yes. She's just scared, calm her down more.