Dog biting randomly, drawing blood.

Hi there (first time post but help is desperately needed!)

Me and my girlfriend recently adopted our first dog together (my girlfriend having a family dog with her parents), a border collie we called Digby. He was 12 weeks old when we adopted him, and he is now coming upto 20 weeks old. Everything with him is fine apart from two things, food possession aggression (with chew treats, bones, rawhides etc) and random, unprovoked aggression, both towards my girlfriend.

We are doing well with the training with regards to the food possession aggression, my girlfriend is the one who feeds him and she now can hold these treats while he is enjoying them. However, more recently on two occassions, Digby has took to following my girlfriend around our house, when she has realised he is sat behind her waiting, she will stroke him and say hello, telling him he is a good boy etc. The first time it happened my girlfriend said he looked timid, like he was scared or worried, he followed her, let her stroke him but then growled and went to bite her face, luckily, she retracted in time. Tonight when I was out, it happened again, this time he didn't growl and managed to bite her lip, taking a small chunk away.

We don't want to rehome him as we love him and we are both attached so much, but we don't know what to do. He does not act this way with me what so ever.

We understand he might see himself as above my girlfriend in "the pack", but he listens to my girlfriend and obeys commands from her, infact, he is more likely to listen to my girlfriend, then he is with me.

At the moment my girlfriend spends nearly all day with him, as she has some time off work, which she will be returning to in a few weeks.

Any ideas are welcome, and we are willing to try anything to help us enjoy our time with Digby.

Thanks

I would ask for help and advice from where you got the puppy from if possible? Dog rescue? For a puppy this age to take a chunk (however small) out of someone sounds quite serious.

I totally understand your concern and worry with your pup, and it does need to be sorted out sooner rather than later.

May I ask where you got him from? If it was one of the larger rehoming organisations then there will be free back up help in the form of a behaviourist and perhaps you could contact them tomorrow. If it was a small concern then you may not have this support available, and you will have to pay for the necessary help........because necessary it does seem to be unfortunately.

Such unprovoked aggression in one so young needs to be stopped now. As Digby is a BC he will need endless stimulation both mentally and physically, and sometimes when these needs are not met problems can arise. Is he left alone for long periods?

Digby was from Leigh Cats and Dogs home near Wigan/Manchester. I will phone them tommorow but as they are a small organisation I doubt they will have a behavourist (as much as I'd like them to!).

He is rarely on his own at the minute, he did suffer from seperation anxiety but we worked on this early on and now he can be left for a few hours. We do take him out for long walks, my girlfriend had him out for around 3 hours (with rests) earlier today.

Again thanks for the help!

hi
im sorry your having a hard time

..dogs do not have 'unprovoked aggresion' there will of been a trigger,you just dont know what.
at 5 months your both still getting to know each other.
i would advise a trainer and behaviourist.

...for him to bite the 'face' your girlfriend may of been bending overhim or giving him direct 'eye contact'...something you shouldnt do to a nervous dog
can i ask what you have done regarding his 'resource guarding' issues?

He sounds to have found himself a loving caring home - I really hope that you can resolve this.

From what i can gather she was stood over him, as at the time she was getting something from a bag which was also on the floor. The thing that is strange is that on both occassions he as followed her before the event.

to help with his possession aggression my girlfriend has been feeding him out of her hand with his regular dog food, being near his bowl whilst he is eating, preparing his food for him (not me at all). With treats is where the problem lies, but we are trying to get him it let my girlfriend hold it while he chews it, we are also making him "sit" and "give paw".

Thank you, I hope so to and will keep you updated!

So sorry to hear that your having a problem.
I think the trigger may well be something your girlfriend is doing...unknowingly.
Sorry if this sounds a little off cuff, but I thought that 1) this pup could well do with both of you feeding etc I realise that your girlfriend is home all day but Digby IMO needs time out from her.

I have four and I am home all day but I do encourage time out from me, I personally do not like the following me around, we have a 9 month old from a rescue which we took on at 16 weeks, she had a habit of doing this so now she is encourage to ''lie and wait'', so if I am in the garden and she follows I point to the back step and tell her '' lie and wait'' which she is getting now 100%.
Dogs do not particularly like being bend over there could of been a ''eye contact'' which your girlfriend was completely unaware of, dogs respond to our body language moods and the sounds of words...they do not possess our language understanding or our human logics.

Having him out for 3 hours does not help with ''sharp behaviour'' in BC's, he can get as much with 15 mins in the garden if the mental stimulation is correct. He may well need jobs for instance, pulling out the washing from the washing machine after its done, reward being a treat, or getting the pegs and handing them to her whilst she hangs out the washing again another job where he needs to prove his thinking obilities. I think I can understand her wanting to get him over food aggression but if it was me I would be more inclinde to do swops rather than hold a chew whilst he was eating it, for me this may will only heighten his agrssion as he gets older, being male and the finding his status in the pack. I dont really agree with hand feeding dg food either although I know some do.

We have a 3 year old male here who had similar tendencies when he was a pup, not allowing me or anyone passed his food dish etc I encouraged him to ''move away'' treat ''OK you can have it'', now I can move his dish if I need at anytime.
If you get a reputable behaviourist they will teach your girlfriend which is what is required how to read Digby and what triggers.
I would suggest you get involved too as Digby needs to know where he is in the household as to his status, do not ignore the signs as BC's can be nasty if not nipped in the bud.
And encourage Digby to ''move away'' reward with a treat as the sign your girfriend saw ''timid looked like he was afraid'' may well of been miss read by her and it could of been ''Im going to go for you'' ....head down ears flat etc.,

Wishing you all the best, this can be resolved

Wonderful post Youngstevie........I agree with all of that.