Sammy snapping

Right the missus was sat on the settee and my daughter came down stairs and was stood next to sammy who was led on the sofa, sammy kept looking up at my little girl and my missus was joking saying he wants a smoochie, my missus then bent over to kiss his head and before she could do that he turned around and snapped at my daughter. I have no idea why he would do this and we are all shocked and upset. He loves the kids to bits and always been good with them....there was no warning growl or anything just turned around and snapped at her. Any advice would be great as i am clueless as to why he would of done that. And it obviously needs addressing cause i need my children to be safe around our dog.

sorry to hear this, I haven't dealt with this before but I would get him to the vets just to rule out anything medical first.
Hopefully someone will have more advice soon.
Big hugs xx

Too serious to give advice ona forum, find a good local behaviourist---through a vet if possible. Your insurance might even cover the expense. Worth paying to ensure your childs face.

Meanwhile put a trail lead on Sammy (a line without a looped handle) and if he gets on the sofa gently remove him without any eye contact .

Be careful with your child and others around him.

rune

he's brill with the kids cant fault him, i know he has a cut on his pad on his paw which is getting better but does bother him, my thinking was she was leaning over him and didnt like it, as he was sat on the settee and she was stood at the side were the arm is leaning over, and the missus was cuddling and marding him, so my theory is he felt intimidated, he didnt go to bite more of a warning snap.

Oh no how worrying for you. I do sympathise.

I would also advise a behavourist quick smart if you can.

When there are kids involved I would take no chances.

And I would also keep him off the sofa from now on but like Rune said if he gets on take him off very gently with no eye contact and having a lead on him to do so is a wise idea.

Hopefully you can nip this behaviour in the bud with a little help xx

He ISN'T brill with the kids----he snapped at one----that is very serious, especially with a large dog. You have no idea what he learnt from what he did. If he learnt that it worked then he is likely to do it again in a different situation.

He has no right to warn a human off a sofa!

rune

My first dog growled at me when he was on the sofa and I wanted him to get off. I found that banning him from the furniture and also asking him to do things for me eg. sit, down before I did anything for him worked well. He was about 9 or 10 months at the time and going through a cocky phase. I would be asking advise from a professional though, good luck.

I meant he is brill with the kids at all other times, he loves them to bits...as they do him!!! you are only judging the situation from what i am telling you so you sort of dont get the full picture hearing it second hand. Yes this is a serious situation and we are addressing it as such. If you knew our sammy you would know how soft he is and friendly with people, especially our family. We will be contacting an expert to help us deal with this, and he will be no longer allowed on the furniture and he wont be in that position again. If he had bitten her it would be a completly different story believe me, but hopefully we can sort this out and move on from it and prevent any other situation arising like this again.

Sorry - how can you say that? He was not 'brill with the kids' in this instance was he? And it wasn't some stranger - it was your own small kid!

I could 'fault him'. Fault him for snapping at my child!

I'd like a pound for every time in my life I've heard a dog owner say (after the dog displayed aggressive behaviour 'Well ... he's never done that before!'

Do not take chances with small children. Do not assume it will never happen again.

Our posts crossed.

If you'd said 'at all other times' when you said brill with the kids it would have read differently.

If you'd said in the beginning that

'We will be contacting an expert to help us deal with this, and he will be no longer allowed on the furniture and he wont be in that position again.'

Instead of just asking for advice and saying he was brill with kids. You'd have no doubt got different responses!