Hi LB,
hope you are feeling better about things today. I have just read through the whole of this thread and just want to reassure you that although it may feel you are being 'got at' in a lot of ways but from an outsiders point of view it doesn't come across that way at all.

You are getting some great advice here, take time to re read it and try to take it on board for both your sakes. Keep in mind members are not having a go they are just very concerned for you and Jake and really want to help you.

However I do understand that none of the members who have advised you were actually there at the time so you feel they are perhaps interpreting the situation differently from yourself and that is why it is so very important as others have already said to get someone out to see you and your family interact with Jake at home they will then be best placed to help you.

The only other thing I would like to add is please get a collar on him with ID tag, not only will it help as others have said but have you thought about what would happen if he escaped from your house/garden at anytime and ran off I'm sure you're aware of it is a legal requirement for a dog to have a collar with ID in a public place but also by wearing a collar with ID hopefully if it did happen he would be reunited with you much quicker rather than the sad possibility of not at all.

I really hope you manage to get everything sorted out with Jake and wish you all the best.

i know i have felt that way too in the past. been a little overwhelmed by the replies and walked away from it but have then realised that i need to change the way i am thinking/doing stuff.

it's so emotional when something like this happens, and words can be misread or come across as cold and unfeeling when more than likely that wasn't the writers intent.

I agree , this is an extremely important point to make, which I also mentioned...(easy to miss when a thread gets this long)





I agree with both of you, When Lozzi, has time to take it all in,and digest all the advice given, hopefully she will understand that we are trying to help.

It it imperative that Lozzi realises that what went on before , cant continue, she has to change her aproach to Jake, she can still love him as much , there is no need to change that.

Just an example, when Millie was a baby,I used to carry her everywhere, I would pick her up, hold her like a baby, back facing the floor, legs in the air and her chin tucked under mine, she loved it, she would go to sleep for hrs like that.

Then one day, I did as usual (she was a little older) and she gave a low grumble... so that was it, I knew she no longer wanted me to do this..

So now we still have our cuddles, I allow her to climb up on the sofa, she sticks her backside on my knee and throws herself back into my arms, so we still have our baby cuddles, but we (or I ) have adapted them to her level of "liking"

So my point is, things change, we cant always think, "why cant I still do this or that" as it was OK before,,, the fact is its not OK now, and now is what you need to deal with.

IF you insist on keeping things the same, as the above quotes point out... it wont end happily.

Sorry Jackbox, I did miss it

And it is easy to get caught out. It happened to me with stumpy when she nipped the gas man. I knew she was scared of him but I dealt with the situation very badly as I underestimated just how scared she was and what she would do.

But I learned from it and made sure that I never put her in that situation again.

Hope you feel better today Lozzi, Hows Jakes Skin?

I haven't been keeping up with Dogsey over the past couple of weeks (trouble with snow and sheep!) so haven't had a chance to read this whole thread. I will do as soon as I get a chance, but just wanted to say how sorry I am that Jake has bitten, but I am sure that you will be able to get the situation under control and ensure it never happens again.

Thanks everyone, I understand people are trying to help and give advice. I appreciate it, I really do. But some of the posts, to me, have been written very harshly, and when someone already feels terrible about what has happened, to read them just makes it much worse. I spent so long on Friday crying about what happened, I cried the first time it happened but then he was just like normal so I was then ok. but then when it happened again, I cried for hours. I didn’t get to sleep until 4 in the morning, and even then I was crying. I then woke in the morning, and cried some more. Then my bf came round to see me, he gave me a big cuddle and I just broke down. the sweetie had gone as got us some cakes though so I made us some tea and we just sat and had a wee chat before I headed off to work.

I’m still trying to take everything in, and im still in shock coz I never ever thought jake would do that. so getting so many replies has been very overwhelming and I have had a lot to think about. There is a lot of advice to think about, and I need to take time to decide what is the best way to go about this.

I understand this was my fault, but I didn’t see any obvious warning signs. He was lying down, but wasn’t lying particularly close to the ground and wasn’t stiff or anything like that. his ears were normal, he didn’t growl, he didn’t bare his teeth, he didn’t lick his lips, he didn’t do anything like that. I know there must have been something, but I missed it. im sure lots of people will have missed a warning before. Im no dog expert, I have grown up around dogs (even when I haven’t had a dog all my family do, so have spent a lot of time around them) and I have loved dogs since I first saw one. my dad even tells me a story of when I was 4, I constantly pestered him to get a dog, but he always said no coz my mum was allergic (she has got better with age lol) so i asked if we could get one when she died terrible I know, but I was only 4. so I have spent a lot of time watching things with dogs and reading things, so I do know things that way but actually owning a dog and training them etc is a lot difference, and that is something I am new at.

Owning a dog is a learning experience, and im sure even the most experienced on here have at some point, experienced problems at the beginning. Everyone has to start somewhere, and I accept the things I have done wrong with jake, but I am learning. I think with dogs it can be a case of trial and error. Some things will work for some dogs but not for others.

I also feel defensive when it comes to my relationship with jake. I think we have a good relationship, we do a lot of things together and he does generally always listen in the house. Just coz he didn’t on those two occasions doesn’t mean that is a common thing for him. he was told twice, earlier that night to get off the couch and he did it. that is what he is normally like, no dog is perfect and I think very few dogs will always 100% respond to a command as soon as it is said. Even my old boy sam, who was amazingly obedient didn’t always listen 100%.

There is also that I don’t think he is challenging me. I know many people disagree with me, but I know jake and in the house he is very submissive. He hasn’t tried it again, nor shown the slightest sign he is about to. it also came out of nowhere, yeah he can be challenging on walks, but I think a big part of that is coz he is so reactive that the sights and smells just get too much for him so he doesn’t want to listen or for me to spoil his fun by taking him home. Some people have also referred to previous threads I have had about his behaviour, but the only thing I can ever remember asking about was recall… which is something I am working on with him. that’s the only real problems I have had with him. he has been his usual cuddly self since it happened.

are you trying to tell me im aggressive??

But I only restrained him so I wouldn’t get bitten, I wouldn’t do that for any other reason. As soon as I was able to, I put him in his crate where he could calm down and I wouldn’t get bitten.

I use lie for lay down, I started using ‘lie down’ when he was a pup but thought I would make it more simple for him, so I dropped the down. and using ‘down’ to get him off of furniture etc wasn’t an issue then coz he was too small to get on it in the first place

hugs to you lozzi. i know you will take the best advice for you and your boy and that you will do the right thing for both of you.

it is such a learning curve with every dog we have and anyone who says they have nothing else to learn regarding dogs behaviour is a fool.

i've every faith that you will sort this out and jake will be all the better for it. xxx

But you don’t know the reasons why he reacted the way he did, so I hardly think it is fair to say that it must be true judging from his reaction. It could be a number of things, the pain and discomfort he is in being a big one. which would have nothing to do with being tapped or picked up. and I can say, that he definitely doesn’t mind the tap.

I have said what happened with my niece he lay down next to her with a bone, she turned and stroked him and he growled at her. That was it, that is what happened. we were worried it could escalate further since she is only 2, so wanted to do something about it. We then just got her to feed him, and give him treats, so she became a source of food and good things, and upped her position to him, she became the provider of food, not someone to be worried would take the food.

What other threads have I started? I have had ones on his recall, but that’s all I can remember. The advice has been good, but when someone is already feeling terrible and guilty about things that have happened, reading how some people word it can come across as very critical even if it isnt.

He saw a vet at the beginning of the week, she believes he has a mite and so gave him ear drops and stronghold. I haven’t got a second opinion yet, but his ears have just about totally cleared up and although his eyes still look really bad, they are looking better to what they did the other day. I would have preferred her to do a skin scrape just so I knew the right thing was getting treated for coz it could be something completely different.

He does have a collar, but he only has it on when he goes for a walk. I definitely wont be putting him down, I would only ever consider that if it was a serious bite which it wasnt. I had a slight cut on my finger, but it doesn’t take much to cut your finger so I think if it had been anywhere else then it wouldn’t have been like that. and he didn’t break the skin on my face, it was just a bit bruised. If he really meant to hurt me, he could have done a lot more than that. he wasnt doing it to just be aggressive.