Bichon Friese - New Home Needed - Bristol

Charlie is our 3 and a half year old Bichon Friese who we either need to find a new home for or unfortunately he will need to be put down.

Charlie has been bought up in a loving home with three kids but over the last 18 months or so he has started to nip \ bite people on the leg with out any warning, this use to just happen with strange males, this has just come to a head where he bit a person and drew blood, fortunately the person in question has not pressed charges as yet. We use to have no problems with children but he has also now gone for a friend of my sons.

We have looked into the possibility of having Charlie retrained, but we have been told by both our vet and two other dog behaviour specialist that as Charlie gives no warning before going for someone that training would be unlikely to work.

Charlie does not show any of this behaviour to my wife or me and I can groom him and play with him or do anything with him without him showing any aggression to me.

We are a busy house with people and kids going all of the time that could not bear the though of our precious dog being put down, we feel that if Charlie could be re-homed with a couple that have a some what quieter life then ours then maybe Charlie could live a happy life.

Charlie did come from a puppy farm in South Wales which does seem to be a route to a lot of Bichon Friese problems. He is good with dogs his own size but can be aggressive with dogs bigger then him, he really is a lovely, loving character that has given us immense joy over the time we have had him but his dark side now means he cannot be trusted around our kids friends.

Please, if you think you can help in finding a new home for our Charlie then please get in touch. It will break all our hearts for Charlie to be part of our family but we would much rather that then have him put to sleep.

The puppy farming problems seem virtually unstoppable. Best of luck in finding a home.

You can`t rehome a dog that bites. No Rescue will take him, and it`s simply passing on the problem.
The dog is not at fault. Dogs need to be trained.
Vets know very little about training - and if a behaviourist can`t see stress signals they shouldn`t be working IMO.
Have a read of Jean Donaldson`s book Fight! and also James O`Heare`s Dog Aggression Workbook.
In the meantime use safety gates to keep the dog away from visitors and muzzle him with a basket muzzle when out.
What qualifications did this behaviourist have? If you say what area you are in perhaps someone can recommend someone to help you.

I agree with C&D ^^^^^^^

If behaviourists can not come out and see stress signals they should not be doing the job

There are behaviourists that will/could help and there are links on this site for them....if it were me I'd give them a call, good advice from C&D in the meantime.

Sorry to be harsh, but this dog should not be rehomed.

I personally think that if you are not in the position to keep this dog, and humans safe, then the responsible thing would be to have it euthanased.