When a gentle dog snaps

There have been times when I have been on the floor or on the bed playing with Pereg and she has air-snapped - maybe once or twice accidentally lightly connecting but without hurting and with no malice intended.

Late this afternoon she started nagging for her evening RMB meal but it was too too early so I gave her a recreational bone to keep her occupied for a while. When I decided she had had enough we did the usual "swapsies" where she lets me have the bone for a very few tiny treats.

All was fine. I took the bone, re-wrapped it and put it back in the freezer, then went to pick up the piece of oilcloth on the floor where she has bones, both recreational and RMBs, so that I could wipe it. And she snapped and caught my right forearm hard. I know she did not mean to hurt me but she did, and I am ashamed to say that I pushed her hard away from me. I did not hit her, just pushed her away so I could pick up the piece of oilcloth.

I know I did not hurt her because she came straight up for a cuddle, so why do I feel so guilty about pushing her hard away from me?

Incidentally my forearm has tooth-shaped buises but also in three places her canine teeth [two upper and one lower from the looks of them] punctured my skin deep enough to cause quite an amount of bleeding. Nothing that a good wash with soap and hot water would not clean, and only three Bandaids required.

So why do I feel so guilty about having pushed her hard away from me? I did not hit her, I would never hit her, but I did push her away. Maybe I should have just left the piece of oilcloth down? But she was not near it and only rushed up when she saw me go to pick it up.

I wish I understood why dogs do what they do, even when they do not intend to hurt.

I'm not sure if dogs can feel guilt but, if they can, I'm sure Pereg feels a whole lot worse than you do! I certainly wouldn't worry about it - she will have forgotten it by now - if there was even anything for her to forget in her doggy world!

Malka you didn't do anything wrong.Pereg's reaction must have shocked you and I imagine most people's response would have been the same.You meant no harm any more than she did,slight misinterruption of the situation maybe on her part,or just seen through a dogs eyes.
Once I was sitting on the sofa with my legs up,Lacey was lying on the floor under the sofa,I thought she was in her bed.Anyway I went to get up,swung my legs round and kicked her up the face with my foot...the look on her wee face broke my heart and I felt so bad about it.
Hope your arm is ok

Bella loves all her rugs whether those she sleeps or plays on or her special little black bath rug she eats her chicken wings on.

She HATES me moving them at all! She goes nuts - I end up dragging a rug with a dog hanging off it over to the verandah or washing machine. I sometimes have a job to shake her off before I shake the rug! And sometimes think she is going to launch herself over the verandah as I shake it!

I doubt I will ever 'push or hit' Bella unless by complete accident (as per Eileen) as she is so tiny that I cannot imagine any circumstances that would make me do it. It would be like hitting a tiny baby!

I know a while back she did not like me to take up her empty food bowl after her first meal, but almost guarded it until she was convinced that there was not a crumb left, so I just ignored the dish and that only lasted maybe a week or two. Since then I can pick up her empty bowl once she has finished eating with no problem. She will even let me move her bowl [I do not have much room here] when I need to get something out of the fridge and her bowl is blocking the way.

And she agreed to the "swapsies" - it is a regular and accepted thing that she will only give up a recreational bone when she is ready and will do "swapsies". Might sound daft but that is the way she and I do things, right or wrong.

So when she went for my arm when I went to take the oilcloth away to wipe it, I do not know why. She had already given up the bone a few minutes earlier and knew there was nothing left, but she really did hurt me and I automatically pushed her hard away from me. But I did not hit her, not even a slight flip with the back of my hand. I just pushed her away.

We have since been laying on the floor together having cuddles so all is OK. She is the gentlest, sweetest dog imaginable, but for some unknown reason she did not want me to take that piece of oilcloth away. Just as she went through that phase with her empty foot bowls.

And I guess that if my arms were not so skinny and stick-like it would not have hurt so much, although those canine teeth of hers really punctured my skin,

Well I think you should bear in mind that she hasn't been out for a proper good walk for a very long time. My old GSD used to get proper grumpy if not taken out for good long walks. Lots of dogs get 'antsy' when they don't get proper exercise. And restricted to the house and yard it could be that she has very few distractions and places greater importance on the things she 'does have' like her bowls, mats etc.

No, the bowl thing was months ago. And I take up this piece of oilcloth every evening after she has had her RMB supper [or, like today, a recreational bone], so it is not as if she is not used to me taking it up, wiping it, then putting it away for the next time. And she does not seem to be the least bit bothered about not going out as she is a bit of a lazy booger at the best of times.

Shortly after what happened I put the oilcloth down again for her evening meal [a whole frozen pilchard which I had bought fresh from the fish van]. She ate it and then there was no problem with me taking the oilcloth up to wipe it.

But on the other hand she is still only on Day 9 so is quite possibly not back to normal yet, although I never know what is "normal" with here these days.

I love the fact that you are feeling guilty for reacting because your dog bit you. What are you supposed to do? Sit there and let her carry on? On another note, my son has epilepsy and his drugs make him moody and bad-tempered. Would medication for dogs have a similar effect?

Who knows whether it is the condition or the medication - I mean a dog cannot tell you how they feel. And maybe it had nothing to do with it, but this is just not like Pereg as she is the sweetest most gentle dog normally. Her behaviour with the empty dishes a while back appeared out of the blue and then disappeared just as quickly, and this was the first time she had ever objected to me taking a piece of oilcloth measuring approximately 75cm x 75cm away to wipe it.

The minor problems I had with clipping her claws a couple of weeks ago had nothing whatsoever to do with her condition, and her air-snaps were just that when she had had enough. This was an intentional snap - bite if you prefer to call it that although I think that had she really meant to bite then it would have not just left bruises and three tooth punctures. But it was not just an air-snap that just happened to catch.

But I know she did not mean it and she made it perfectly clear as soon as it happened that she did not mean to hurt me. And I know that I did not hurt her when I pushed her away so hard. She is a bit too solid for a hard push to hurt!.

I just do not feel happy at the way I automatically reacted to her, although it was a reaction to pain, not to the fact that she had snapped at me. I should not have done it. Not to my beloved Pereg.

You're going to make me cry soon. You are the best, most loving owner there could be. Pereg has a serious neurological condition. As I say, I only know with humans, but the medication slows down the electrical impulses in the brain to try to stop them misfiring. Recovering from a big seizure is like trying to reboot a computer. It takes a while and he is very confused until he is fully "rebooted". I am only telling you what you already know but forgive yourself because Pereg already has.