Quote:
Originally Posted by ArmaniMan  Agreed! No one was advocating for a dog to go around and bite people. However, if someone new came into my house, treated my dog badly, and then grabbed it up from behind- I would expect them to be slightly more understanding if the dog did bite them. EVERY dog has a breaking point, the best behaved dog would bite if put in the right situation. Obviously, the BF found Olivers breaking point. |
Well said, I agree. It's definatly NOT ok for a dog to bite anyone, but the thing is also - yes, every dog has it's breaking point and this is a mill rescue, so even more so. None of my dogs bite,
ever, but I'd be willing to bet that if someone new came to our house for the first time and startled one of them by grabbing them from behind, they would definatly at least turn around pretty darn quick and possibly snap or growl. Now, if it was myself or dh doing it, that wouldn't happen. The thing is though, no one is going to come into my house and do that to one of my dogs, they just know better, they approach them properly for a "guest" in our home and the dogs then gladly welcome them.
OP - I think you need to talk to your bf (if he stays your bf
), you need to explain to him that Oliver had a very tough life and is still getting used to a normal "dog's life", so he needs to cut him a little slack. Of course, you should definatly correct Oliver, you don't want him to think it's ok to bite whenever he's not happy (I remember your thread about your unexpected room mate, that's not getting any better?
), but at the same time, the bf needs "correction" too. Stopping Oliver from (peeing on the floor was it?) is YOUR job, not his, it's not his dog and Oliver isn't used to him so he's not going to listen to him anyway. He needs to sit back, make friends with Oliver, and let you handle any training. I think Oliver's reaction was normal and although it does need correction, he'll get there with time and consistancy. It definatly is NOT an indication that you are a bad mom or that Oliver is unhappy.