Rescue dog snapping

Question
"Dear Madeline, I have read you biography and I promise to read and rate your response within three days.  I understand that your time is valuable, that you are most likely spending at least 45 minutes of your time in response to my question, and I understand too that when questioners read and rate your responses fairly that you make random donations to animal shelters to help homeless animals.  In the interest of being appreciative of your time AND helping shelter dogs and cats, I agree that I will rate your response and give you fair feedback."

I adopted a year old Saint Bernard from a rescue today and he snapped at me twice.  The first time was when I gave him a biscuit and he dropped it and I picked it up.  That was probably food aggression and I should have known better.  But the second time I was just patting him and he went to bite.  There was no reason I could see.  I don't know much about his background except that he was in a foster home and the foster didn't mention any problems.

What could be causing this?  Should I return him to the rescue?  Or should I work with him to correct this and if so, what should I do?  Thank you in advance for your time.

Answer
Hi Kate,

I appreciate your taking the time to read my bio and agreeing to the virtual contract in it.

At this point, it would be speculative on my part, at best, to try to guess what may be causing the second snapping incident.  I couldn't begin to know without seeing the dog and/or having a more detailed history about him.  

I would suggest you contact both the foster again, and the rescue, to find out if the dog was behavior evaluated, and other details which may lead you to more information.  

As well, perhaps the rescue offers trainer assistance to people who rescue dogs who are experiencing this type of situation.  I don't know what experience you have with dogs that display aggression, so I can't counsel you as a volunteer not knowing what your level of experience is with aggression or your potential capability to do so, both financially and experience-wise.  If you plan on keeping him, I would contact a trainer with significant canine behavioral experience asap. You can ask local vets for a name, or search the Internet in your local area.  If you know others who have worked with a dog trainer, it would be helpful to ask them.  Personal referrals are usually the best.  I would inform the rescue and see if they will pick up some of the cost, explaining that you are motivated to keep and work with the dog, if, indeed, you are.

As to whether you should return him, that's a personal decision you need to make based on how safe you feel with the dog, your motivation to work with him, and your level of experience in dealing with dogs with such issues.  Understand that dogs tend to deteriorate behaviorally if they get passed from home to home, and the more time they spend in a shelter environment.  As well, and I don't mean to put pressure on you, but you should be aware: many shelters will euthanize a dog returned for biting or snapping.  However, your safety and well-being need to come first, and if you're concerned about what may happen to the dog, ask the rescue what they do when a dog is returned for snapping behavior.  Sometimes a staff trainer will work with the dog, and include you in the training.  At a time when the trainer decides the dog is safe to adopt out, the rescue may agree to return the dog to your care and ownership.

I don't know the dog's age, but if he's on the young side, training and behavior work bodes quite well for him, and for you.  If he's older, I would look into a possible medical condition which may be causing pain, and which would lead a dog to snap, ranging from joing pain, especially since he's a large breed; hypothyroidism; ear infection (to name a few); and, have a vet look into all the possibilities after informing the vet about what has occurred.

I would agree that the first instance of snapping sounds as if it might have been resource guarding.  As for the second, if the snapping was very close in time to, such as immediately following, the guarding incident, and/or the guarded item was still in the dog's view, it may have been a "spillover" snap resulting from that because the dog hadn't recovered yet from the initial guarding incident.  Barring that possibility, I couldn't really offer any guesses about the second incident without having seen what happened and knowing much more.

Hope this helps, and best of luck.  I hope you don't give up on him and choose to work with him.  Thank you for going to rescue for a dog.  People who do so help raise awareness about rescue organizations.

Madeline, Volunteer at AllExperts