We took in a rehomeing JR. We love the breed , anyway she was wonderful but for one thing. She bite my daughter who was one years old. I was living in my family home so it wasn't up to me to get rid of her. And as she was a rehomer we did everything to sort this out ,months went by and yep she bite her again ,she was standing next to my dad and the dog just flew .my little girl wasn't shouting , she wasn't walking about she was simple holding on to my dad knees and he was talking to her. This time I had enough. But my dad said nope she has to go. Once was bad enough but twice .if It had of been my dog she of gone first time. But it wasn't. And she never growled once.
So I'm on the side of do not put up with a biting dog .even the rspca didn't want to take her because she bites. We had to put her outside in the day, And cage at night until they took her. My dad had got her from gumtree.
After a lot of digging it turned out her old home had a lot of Forster kiddies in and out. And she is now rehomed with a family who's son is 17. But u can't live with a dog who u spend all your time worrying and watching every dam move.
We now have rosa a black BSD mix. Who kissed the life out of my little girl the first time she meet her.
And she's just so loving . We all agreed we wanted Lauren to love dogs not be scared ,and now she loves to go see her grandad and rosa,morale to the story there's to many unwanted wounderful dog who don't bite who need homes .dont risk a biter ever.

i can only imagine having your family pet hanging on to your arm (lets not get pedantic over the 'lock' element) must be pretty terrifiying and i couldnt say what i would do in that situation and the fact that LM hit the dog well I wont condem her for that. Just because the bite didnt need stitches doesnt make it any less traumatic for LM. An animal they love and care greatly for bit them and would not let go unexpectedly.

Whats done is done and cant be undone. So going forwards as many have already suggested professional assessment is required (and for my money Id have thyroid blood test done as well as full bloods to be belt and braces) then a decision to either work with Est and understand the triggers and signals and how to make things better for all concerned or have him sadly put to sleep.

Perhaps LM is there anything you can recall that triggered the change in Est. You say he was fine and just changed 'all of a sudden'. At what point was this? What happened?

My basis for reply is not ideology . . . just experience of running boarding kennel. A few thoughts:

1) MOST goldies and Labs have easy friendly behavior. They are usually easy breeds to deal with as compared to, say, herding dogs, guardian dogs, terriers and bull terrier breeds. BUT you do hit the occasional exception. I had one goldie who came in for kenneling for about a month every year over a five year period. He was a grumpy sort. He growled at carers and would bite if you just bulled through your care routine and ignored his warnings. He did not get along with any other dog. He was fine with his owner. My present neighbors have a 15 year old Lab who does bite people with no proper dog signals. They keep her caged.
2. Recommending a 'behavioralist' is in some ways a cop-out. I have taken this route for kennel clients . . . seen them spend a lot of money and get little behavioral change. This was in Australia and there was a highly-accredited (PhD, impressive resume, etc.) behavioralist who did training sessions just down the street. I cannot feel good about the results that came from recommending him to boarding kennel clients.
3. once treatable medical conditions have been ruled out, I think a 5 yr old dog with a history of biting people, it is realistic to consider having the dog be p.t.s. or homed in a situation where there is little chance of anyone getting hurt. Working with a trainer/behavioralist is another option. But I think people need to be realistic about the costs, and the probability of success in using behavior modification approaches.

I would love to see any scientifically credible evidence that behavioral therapy of any sort works in situations like this. I would love to see National Geographic do two year follow-up studies on the dogs Cesar Milan works on . . . but I'd like to see the same done for positive-only practitioners. Personally, I suspect there's a lot of b.s. on both sides (or maybe there are more than two sides) of this argument. A lot of dog behavior seems to be wired very deeply, and change of engrained habits is not easy.

There are plenty of dogs with aggression issues who have been able to be turned around, just as there are some who cannot. I believe a dog should have the dignity to have the owners try to figure out what is going wrong instead of just marching the dog off to a shelter where it will die alone with strangers or to the vet office to have it put down with no other questions asked. If you're going to be a pet owner, you don't just go and kill your dog without trying to figure things out first. Having pets is a responsibility that doesn't only entail the good.

I've also had enough of reading how kennel boarders are the know it all's on here lately. You don't have to run a boarding kennel to know everything. There are plenty of other people here who have great experience here just as well.

It's all about what is more important. My father is severely disabled and neither he nor my mom can fight off an attack by a dog. He also cannot fight infections, so no dog bites are allowed. If the dog would bite me, he might bite my dad and I'm not risking it. The dog isn't important enough for me to even think about it.

Risk a large biting dog if you want, but I think it's stupid and would never even consider it. Dog bites, dog goes. I'm aware he is likely to be put down, but so be it. Dog bites his owner, dog cannot be trusted in a normal home.

I'm not talking about your family, I am writing in a general sense since I do not know people here personally. A pet is part of the family in my eyes, so they are just as important to me, not more and not less.

I'm just hoping you realize that you can't just go telling people they can't and shouldn't do things just because you wouldn't. People have their reasons and I think it's always solid advice to tell people to rid themselves of a biting dog rather than trying dangerous alternatives. I love these dogs, but not as much as my dad. They are part of the family and I'd not sacrifice them for a person I do not know but humans in this house come before dogs and it is the same in many homes.

If my brother punched me in my face for no apparent reason, the same would be done. He'd be dragged away by police asap and I'd try hard to make sure he did not threaten me by pressing charges immediately. Family threatening family simply should not ever be tolerated imo. Be it dog or person. It's dangerous to toy with a biting dog and imo should rarely be done in a home situation.

This thread is NOT about you and your family. You parade around posting your opinions non-stop, so others are entitled to that as well. Either way, doesn't seem like the OP is coming back anyways...surprise surprise.

I feel a bit sad reading that.

I've only skimmed through the thread but there's some good advice here.

Fingers crossed it all works out for you all.

Well it seems as if you never even considered that removing the dog from the home was something that should be seriously considered. That is strange since her father even recommended getting rid of the dog. This post is about her family, you have claimed to live alone but a biting dog in a family setting needs to consider the feelings of everyone. I can relate to that.

I personally think removing the dog is best, but other options such as potential professional help exist but imo for a dog this age and with history, I don't recommend it. Likely a waste of money, time, and effort. I think she will be back, she does not post often, anyway.

As for posting my opinions non stop... whatever. Posts like these ask for opinions and I give no more than the next. I merely hope everything works out for her and she does the right thing for her family.