I'm terrified and don't know what to do...

My dog was just in town with my other half and he bit a man. They were waiting outside a shop for a friend and someone had just walked past and stroked our dog from behind, making him jump and growl at this man. Then another man came out of the shop and walked over saying hello to stroke him. My dog lunged and bit him just above his elbow. He went through the man's coat and broke the skin. It was unprovoked.

The man was a dog-lover, but said he would have to report it so my other half waited and spoke to a policeman. He isn't pressing charges, the policeman said he needs to wear a muzzle if he's around people.

My dog is nervous and has reacted to men in the past, but not for about 5 months. This feels out of the blue. We rescued him 11 months ago from a family just before they put him in a pound, he was 3 months.

We have made an appointment with our vets for a behaviour check and they can refer us to a behaviourist. We are also having him castrated.

I just need some advice and also the truth about whether this is avoidable in the future or not.

Thank you.

There is much that could be written here and no doubt some good folk on here will. I prefer not to, I think its difficult to give behaviour advice over a forum, not knowing dog or owner etc. What I will say is this -

No matter what behavior correction/ training etc you may or may not do with this dog, if it were my dog, I would never ever allow ANYONE to stroke the dog ever again, without the dog having shown a sign it wants to say hello to the person, even then, I would never trust the dog 100% for the rest of its life. People should respect a dogs personal space and as the dogs owner, its up to you to make that happen.

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Fere libenter hormines id quod volunt credunt

Well you've done the right thing in seeking professional help and advice.

Without actually seeing the dog it would be impossible to answer your question as to whether this behaviour is avoidable in the future.

I'm really sorry and I hope that a qualified behaviourist can help you and your dog.

I would wait and see what the behaviourist recommends and, as Ceearott said, protect your dog from people who invade his space from now on. Wishing you the very best of luck.

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No it wasn't, you gave yourself explanation why it happened:

Your dog felt cornered, he couldn't run away so he attacked. How to avoid it? Keep your dog away from shops and crowed places, do some muzzle training - it learns dog to accept a muzzle but remember that a dog can hurt even if he is wearing muzzle.
I have the same situation with my Halle, she is afraid of nervous people and I will pet you/I won't pet you because I'm afraid of you/or maybe I will... Problem is that she ignores most of them, so doing bar open/close is impossible to do.
Bar open/close- you are feeding your dog when he sees stimuli (thing he is afraid of - dogs, people) and when stimuli gone you stop feed a dog. This way he learns that dog/person is good thing because around them good things happened.
You can try to do this with your dog.

More details you can find here:

Click to Calm: Healing the Aggressive Dog Karen Pryor Clicker Book: Amazon.co.uk: Emma Parsons: Books

Is good idea to find behaviourist, but if his advices will sounds wired and you won't agree with them (ex. choke chain) run away very fast.

So sorry for being so chaotic I have the same problem with Halle and today wasn't our best day and I have enough.

Lots of maybes but to throw a guess into the ring based on stereotyping the dog is a cute type that was popular as a pup so bred for quick sale/profit without litter socialization, passed to a family that wanted the quick fix pup-pleasure but no training effort expended and they wanted rid of the dog when it wasn't as passive and cute as a Generation Game Fluffy/Cuddly Toy they bought.

Even unknown a dog carries a history that you would be wise to consider and gauge by body language from the first incident.

Introduce the muzzle with a food reward in the mouth part, but before even that step when the dog is calm bring out the muzzle for the dog to sniff and look at, the first meeting should not be when you are trying to strap it on. If there is a piece of cooked sausage waiting every time the muzzle comes out you will have little trouble with it.

(you can get muzzles that allow panting and drinking)

Now find if you can feed a treat with the muzzle on and look at finding stooges that can s l o w l y be introduced to the dog, allow the dog to sniff the person (no activity, eye contact or action from the person) then the visiting stooge offers the treat. The dog will probably not be interested (maybe) in taking the treat from their hand - but if stooge is seen giving treat to you and then a treat to your OH, the dog will understand that the visitor is the source of nice things. (you and OH will need to mimic eating the oh so tasty thing!) .

If a dog is nervous or fearful by nature, then they are usually more reactive to certain situations anyway. Sounds like the first person obviously spooked him, and before he had a chance to recover he was confronted by the second while his stress levels were right up. I notice you said he was in town, maybe he found the situation already stressful, and the sudden being spooked by being stroked from behind was too much. I would keep him away from stressful situations until you have seen the Behaviourist so she can assess him. If he does have to wear a muzzle though, he will need to be introduced and habituated to it first, you cant just strap one on especially if he is a nervous dog.

Behaviour caused by nervousness or fear can be modified on a lot of occasions, Ive done it, it is something that isnt fixed overnight and can take a long time. Whether the dog will be totally bomb proof at the end of the day only time will tell. You are doing the right thing get the behaviourist to see him and take it from there, meanwhile dont put him in situations for the time being that are going to stress him, or set him up to fail. Without seeing and getting to know the dog no one can give you a 100% straight answer on the internet of course.

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