Archie has bitten me.

[Archie bean]

Thanks everyone for your replies. The hugs and support mean so much. Yes, we have seen a behaviourist and work really hard on excercises for trust building and ways of removing items of contraband. It has been going really well and to be honest I think I am more to blame than Archie today. He is a possessive dog. I doubt that there is anyone out there who could change his character and I just have to accept it and learn how to deal with it. Part of fixing the problem is removing temptation and then working on solving the problem in a controlled way. I haven't just put things away in the hope that he will miraculously stop all by himself.

Today I failed to follow ANY of the rules. I didn't ask him to drop the picture, I just grabbed at his collar. He then grabbed me. BUT, I am determined to see the positives. He had one tiny fragile finger in his mouth. He could have bitten through to the bone, he could have broken it or possibly even bitten it off. He didn't. The wound came from me pulling my finger out. Don't get me wrong, I know he shouldn't have even touched me but it could have been so much worse. I am not scared of him. I do get nervous if he gets hold of something though. When I say I am on eggshells it means that I always have to know where he is and what he is doing because he is incredibly destructive.  It can be unbelievably tiring sometimes. Like I said, today was a really bad day and I dropped my guard. Tomorrow is another day and we will pick ourselves up and start again. 

[Karma]

I can truly sympathise with you - and I know to some extent how you are feeling.  Honey isn't as possessive as Archie, but she has always taken pro-active management and some level of avoiding potential issues.
And she has, accidentally, bitten me when I tried to pick up a ball and she lunged for it.  After that I felt so utterly deflated and fed-up - I don't think I even posted here about it, as I was just so demoralised that after all the work we had done, everything seemed worse than ever.

But we carried on.
And I have to say, the dog we have at the minute, is a much more pleasant dog to walk and live with.  Over the last couple of years, she has calmed down a LOT - she is less stressy around other dogs (with one-or-two exceptions), she retrieves her ball to hand most of the time I ask (which I don't over-do, but make sure I do a couple of times a walk) - and most notably, she lives with 2 children who leave cuddly toys around, pick up HER toys, and even occassionally hit out at her (ok, it's only the older one doing this at the minute - the younger one has grabbed fur on the odd occassion though - and to be clear, both children are actively prevented from doing this....) - when I look back at how stressed I would feel after a particularly difficult walk, it really feels like we have a different dog.  I'm not complacent, and she isn't a dog I would ever trust 100%, but she is fun to walk and fun to live with! 

So, yes, there is every hope that he you will not always be walking around on eggshells - but as others have said, rather than just managing the behaviour, you really need the help of a behaviourist to help address the behaviour.  We had excellent advice from the behaviourists at our dog training school who suggested ways to combat the problems, and these really helped (along with excellent advice here and my own research...). 

ETA - I wrote this before seeing your reply.  Glad you have a plan to work on the behaviour - and, yes, in time these small steps WILL make the difference.  Archie may well always have a tendency to be possessive, but with the right support it is entirely possible that you won't always be walking on egg-shells. 

[Lovely]

I'm sorry things have reached this stage but i also agree with Rebecca23 you have to think of yourself too. It's my belief that once a dog has reached the stage where it is seriously attempting to or actually has bitten you, and health problems have been ruled out, it's a case of the dog being dominant in the relationship or attempting to be dominant. I know alot of people will think i'm old fashioned but i don't believe that avoiding a dog cos it's growling or giving it treats when it finally gives something up is going to help. I'm not an advocate of any form of physical punishment by any means, but tiptoeing around archie is not going to help. A behaviourist could be good if you find one who is well qualified in dealing with aggression. I know i probably sound hard, i'm not, but i do know what it's like to be seriously bitten by a dog and it's not behaviour  that can be tolerated. Dogs need to understand their place in the house, they are not at the top, and they need to understand they are dogs, not humans, and i think they are happier as a result. Good luck, i really hope things can get better for you both, as archie doesn't sound like he's happy in himself either.

[Spoiler]

Tomorrow is another day and we will pick ourselves up and start again. 

Thats the spirit!  My Harvey has some serious issues which means we have to adapt. I am jealous sometimes of people whose dogs are relaxed and obedient, and I do sometimes feel down after an "incident". But now Harvey's coming up to 3 and things are improving but I have to work at it constantly. This forum is great for providing support and understanding, and I can see how upset you were. But it was a freak situation and as you say, pick yourself up and start again 

[cdpops]

Glad to see your second post! It's amazing how quickly we reflect and forgive 

[LilahLoo]

You already sound more positive Emma - sometimes just having a vent about something helps us get things straight in our head and gives us a bit of strength to deal with a situation.

[jaybee]

I'm glad you seem a little less stressed now Emma. I really hope with the help of the behaviourist you can continue to move forward with Archie. It must be very hard. Keep us up to date.

I do hope you have some sort of escape too. Dealing with Archie's issues on your own, combined with your work must be draining. Take care of yourself, you must look after yourself too.

[Jonnydog]

So sorry you've been bitten Emma, especially as it's hurt your hand. I hope it's okay for the concert on Saturday!

I think you're still winning with Archie. You've been working really hard with him, I know, and taking lots of precautions to prevent his trigger situations occurring. But sometimes you make a mistake and pay for it. It can be very difficult to get on top of guarding behaviour. Keep up the good work.

 

[Ruby Tuesday]

I think that today happened because of a very specific set of circumstances but generally you obviously have worked so hard with Archie and you have both come so far.

I'm sure another visit from a behaviourist would be helpful so that this doesn't escalate again, but from reading your posts in the past, I think you and Archie are meant to be together.

I hope your finger will be ok for the weekend. x

[Pearly]

I think that today happened because of a very specific set of circumstances but generally you obviously have worked so hard with Archie and you have both come so far.

I'm sure another visit from a behaviourist would be helpful so that this doesn't escalate again, but from reading your posts in the past, I think you and Archie are meant to be together.

I hope your finger will be ok for the weekend. x

Emma - just read this thread and I'm truly sorry that the circumstances lead to the incident you described.  There's lots of sound advice on here already but I have to agree that I think it would benefit both you and Archie to go back to the behaviourist again - if only to discuss what happened and what went wrong/why and rebuild some trust and confidence in him.

I know how much effort you've put into Archie and how upset you must be this evening.  He's a lovely boy and was so tolerant of Pearl [the bad tempered one on holiday ] that I find it strange that he has this other side that is so destructive!

Hope your finger isn't too stiff or sore for the weekend,

Jx

[Patp]

Emma

Just sending you lots of 

I have no advice but do agree with some of the others who say that you cant walk on eggshells around him.  But on the positive side, best it was you who he had a hiccup with, than one of your pupils. 

I would get the behaviourist in to deal with this specific issue to immediately ignore the object dropped.

Then when you find out .... LET US ALL KNOW!! 

Jinley sends Archie a big hug as well as he must also be feeling wretched.

Pat x

[Jenz]

Hi Emma

I have read alot of your posts about Archie since I joined COL, he is very lucky to have you as an owner I think, you are very patient and sounds like you are doing a fab job with him. 

I got bitten yesterday for the first time by Jenson, I grabbed his collar to pull him away from the front door when we had a delivery and to my shock he turned around and bit my arm.  He did not break the skin simply bruised it but I felt shocked and betrayed by my dog to be honest, he had never shown an issue with his collar being held before - now I know 

I hope your finger heals ok. 

[Archie bean]

Aww Jenz here's a  for you. It's such a shock isn't it? I'm sure Jenson was just as surprised as you and it was just a momentary lapse. Thanks for the support. It means so much. 

[JohnK]

Emma
I feel so sorry for you in that position, I have had 5 cockers and 1 springer and never had any possession problems with any of them. Sadly, Brodie did have these issues and whilst he did not actually bite any of us, he did catch us with his teeth and could be very nasty. One day I took him out to the park on his own, with a new toy, but when I tried to get it to throw for him again, he became very angry and made really vicious lurches towards me. I was really scared and nothing I could do would appease him. He got so bad at home, we had to remove all the toys as he would attack Minnie and it wasn't fair on her. After being great on our walk on his last Sunday, chasing and returning balls, he became very agitated when he wasn't given his biscuit at the papershop as the normal staff member was not in. He then had a real go at my 29 year old son, my wife and finally me. I had only had him 5 weeks, from Caessr, but he had been a failed prison dog and I don't know if that was his problem. 99% of the time he was such a good dog and so well trained.

I had never been frightened of a dog before, but Brodie really scared me, at this point I contacted the rescue and they suggested they have him back and have him assessed. Sadly, they assessed him as having rage and he was PTS. If I had known of this site at that point, I would have handled things differently and had him checked for thyroid and other medical conditions and booked him in with a behaviourist, because in my opinion the good times were much better than the bad.

My two now are the softest dogs you could imagine, I can take anything off them without a mutter, but I only take things off them if they are not supposed to have them like sticks or similar. Also when I feed them I have always been able to go near their food as they know I will not take it away from them.

Sorry to waffle on but really wanted to share my experiences and give you some support and encouragement to continue with Archie.

[Archie bean]

Hi everyone. I just wanted to let you all know that I was able to do the concert yesterday. It went really well and the finger survived. When I got home I went to fetch Archie from my Mum and she said that he was the best behaved he has ever been. She finds him quite hard work but yesterday he was a star. Even displaying a perfect whistle recall when tempted to chase two deer. 

Things are back on track thanks to getting a top up of advice.