Lab Biting

Question
Hello, I have a male 2 year old Lab German Shepard mix.  Being a Lab, hes always wanted to bite.  By biting I mean playful biting or holding things in his mouth. I have trained him not to bite which took me about 5 months. (I got him at 10 weeks old).  The other day he got into the garbage and had a bone I went to take it from him and he bit me HARD. He broke the skin and bruised my nail badly. I punished him by crating him, and of course screaming at him, I also used a water gun.  My question is, is this dog now considered dangerous? Or is this behavior normal because I took the bone? he's never been visious and hasnt been since that day.

Thanks,
Corey

Answer
Protecting its food is a primary drive motivation. It is normal behavior. Obedience training includes teaching the dog that the food is YOUR FOOD, not the dogs food. One instance is not normally a reason to out the dog. There are also good and bad ways to take items away from a dog.

In dog training, the method is NOTHING IS FREE. The dog is taught it has to persome some "work" to get anything. Sit, stay, etc, before it gets treat, toy, food is a part of obedience training. Using a toy or other item and teaching it to fetch/give/drop and respect for your authority as provider makes you the pack leader.

If I am going to take something away from a dog I have not trained, I turn in the same direction as the dog and take it forward with my right hand while I hold the dog with my left hand and usig the word GIVE or DROP. If the dog tries to bite, I can push my hand into its mouth and tell it NO CHEW or NO BITE. That protect me from a bigger bite and the dog gags and decides that it doesn't want whatever is in its mouth. Most people just try to pull the object our and that triggers the PREY drive and the dog is encouraged to bite harder to prevent loss of its prey (food).

For nipping dogs we use lemon juice (see my many other posts on this). A squirt in the mouth and the dog gets rid of what it had to lick out the bad taste. A few dogs like lemon juice, so use bitter apple, hot sauce or whatever food the dog doesn't like. This also works if a dog lunges to take toys/food while using the EASY, NICE or WAIT command.  

I would suggest you find a local trainer to assist you in training the dog not to bite or nip.

Regards,

Henry Ruhwiedel
Westwind Kennels LLC