My Rough collie has bitten my son ,

please please can anyone give me some advise , we are considering having him uthanised , we got him from a proper breeder and i rang her to tell her and she wasnt really interested please help ..

 

How hold is the dog, how old is the son what was going on when he was bitten

 

Welcome to the forums, Im sorry its under such circumstances though . Has your dog ever bitten or shown aggression before?
Have you had a vet check him over to see if hes hiding signs of pain?

 

hello everyone. my name is valerie samantha. i have a collie and a westie, can anyone help me how this forum works, i need to find someone who can advise me. our rough collie has bitten my son hes 25 but it was fairly bad and im wondering wot anyone else would now do , please help x

 

Hi, sorry to hear this, the important thing is not to panic, head over to dog chat for the best advice and opinions- outline exactly what happened with the dog and your son. A lot of factors can affect this, the dogs health, the way your son may have moved- if he startled the dog by accident, for instance. Welcome to PF, sorry your first few posts here are about something less positive

 

I read on another thread her son is 25. What was happening at the time? Does your dog know your son? If you can give us more info it will help immensly how old is the dog etc...

 

Things to consider are: What precipitated the bite? How old is the dog? First consider whether perhaps the dog has something medically wrong that could be causing him pain, so get him checked out by a vet.

He could be getting old and going a little senile, so we would need more information on that. Don't worry, it could be a one off, but there is always a reason when a dog bites, even if it is not an obvious reason.

 

I have replied to the other thread

http://www.petforums.co.uk/dog-chat/272244-my-dog-has-bitten-my-son.html

 

Please read my reply on your other thread. Do I take it then that this is a young dog, perhaps even a puppy? I cannot believe that you are thinking of having a young dog pts because of one incident, so please come back and give more details.

 

My Collie nipped a young girl in my back yard, turned out totally innocent the dog was actually trying to pull her away from something and nipped through her shirt. So a full description of what was happening can make all the difference in the world. I never even got mad at my dog as she was trying to prevent an accident in the making...

 

Exactly. Dogs always have a reason, even though it might turn out to not be a logical one. That is the first thing to discover.

 

hy there ty so much all of you for showing interest im at my wits end.i got my collie from a breeder in kent and she does come on this forum.
we paid her £600 for him and i have loved him from the 6 weeks when we got him, hes called marley,
he is 4 years old , is groomed by a groomer every 6-8 weeks to kp his coat beautiful and i brush him every 2-3 days inbetween that. he lives with me , my partner al, and our little 13 year old westie.
from the time he was 1 year old or even before that he was showing his teeth, he likes a lot of fuss and from that he will suddenly show his teeth so we stop. we have learnt to recognise the signs. in the last 3 years he has nipped quite a few of freinds n family nothing severe, but none the less hes dun it.
sometimes the person went to stroke him or bent dwon to him or was just sitting in a chair stroking his head.
my son danny came to live with us for a few months and this was about 2-3 months ago so its not like afew days ago.
we have been living in our caravan for the last 7 years so this has always been marleys home. he is let out lots and has a big garden.
and is loved dearly.
last nyt we all heard some shouting outside our van so we went into my bedroom to listen, (being nosey) then we came bac into front room, i sat down on the sofa one end and danny on the other, marley came up to danny and he leaned over to pat him then marley sunk his teeth into dannys hand, danny tried to pull away but marley wudnt let go until we jumped up to stop him.
the bite was quite bad, so now . we are all very upset i have cried most of today, we have an appointment at our vets in the morning for advice but are terrified he will say he shud be put down. this will break my heart . i hope my info has helped some of you to help me. i did ring the breeder this morning and sed it mite be something in the genes of the collies u are breeding but she wasnt really interested ....

 

If you have never had him professionally assesed by a behaviourist and dealt with the problems when they first started, it could be purely behavioural without the appropriate behaviour modification and training problems especially when they first start to become an issue they can and do exacerbate. So you may find he does have purely a temperament/behavioural problem.

On a check on collie health some lines apparently can be known for poor temperament particularly apparently excessive shyness, anxiety problems can lead to what appears to be agressive reactive behaviour.

There is also several health problems known in the rough collie, also though like epilepsy which is a neurological problem, also hypo thyroidism that also is on the list and can cause behavioural problems and aggression, and as its mentioned under Rough collie health it cant be that unusual or rare. Also Heart problems, and we did actually have a thread once where another breed suddenly bit a member of the family and he turned out to have heart problems.
Other problems like liver issues can also cause changes in behaviour too.

First off I would get him a through check up including an orthopaedic exam, as pain and discomfort can make dogs reactive and aggressive. I would personally also have hemotology and biochemistry blood tests to make sure there are no underlying health problems, and as hypo thyroid is mentioned on collie health have a full thyroid test panel done, to rule that out as well. Which is a separate specific blood test.

If he gets a clear bill of health and there are no underlying physical diseases/problems that are causing it then next step would be to get in a behaviourist for a full temperament assessment and behaviour modification programme to deal with the problems if it is behavioural. If the behaviourist after assessment does say though that its fixable the whole family will have to follow the programe to the letter as it wont work to modify his behaviour problems otherwise.

CAPBT - COAPE Association of Pet Behaviourists and Trainers will find a behaviourist in your area, best thing is to speak to a few first. Otherwise vets can usually put you in touch with reccomended behaviourists.

 

I wuldn't rush in to anything. Get your vet to rule out any medical reason and then ask for a referral to a behaviorist.

 

Forgot to add the link on collie health
Learn About Collies | Herbal-remedy-for-hypothyroidism-in-rough-collie

Although I would ignore the mention of herbal stuff to help with hypothyroid if he did have it, the only way is thyroid hormone replacement therapy in the form of tablets to replace it and solve the problem.

 

thank you so much for your replies can u keep them coming, the only thing i will say at the moment is that i rang some behaviourists a couple of years ago after another issue, and we was told it wud be about £600 just to i dont think the insurance will cover tests for to do with behaivousee him, then more for further visits, and im afraid we dont habve that kind of money, and all these tests at the vets will cost hundreds, he is fully insured by the way, and has been castrated. i dont think the insurance will cover tests for behaviour problems

 

Firstly, it shouldn't cost anywhere near that much money. Secondly if your vet refers you to a behaviourist (and a proper one may not see him without a vet referral) the insurance may well cover it.

But you need to be very careful as at the moment, any idiot can call themselves a behaviourist so you need someone with the right qualifications. Start with the vet and see what he has to say.

I think myself that your dog has been allowed to get away with whatever he likes, he has been subjected to some row outside and possibly associated that with your son. Collies can be temperamental, but you need to be sure it is not medical to start with.

 

It won't hurt anything to take your dog to the vet initially, it should only cost a consultation fee ... with some vets this may even be free to do.

Then you will get a better idea what you're looking at.

It's a difficult situation you're in. You say the breeder posts on the forums, if you know their username why not try PMing them via the forums and alerting them to this thread? They might be more helpful this way.

 

I would also advise ringing the (( Rough Collie Rescue )) for advice or if you decide to rehome.

Our Rough' has never ever come close to biting us despite having been mistreated before we adopted her but she is protective and has barked at my husband in the past if she thought he was doing something to hurt me (he wasn't, he was just messing about!).

I fully agree with getting him checked out thoroughly health-wise and take it from there.

 

thanks for the l;ast reply, im afraid my cursor must have jumped about and jumbled my writing up a little. im glad u cud decifer it. i had marley on my own for the first year of his life, then my partner came to live with me and not long after he was sittin on the sofa and he just went to pat his head then all of a sudden marley had jumped up at him showing his teeth , he didnt bite him but he shwoed aggression,and now my son danny has come to live here for a wile, (hes been here 2-3 months tho already) hes had a go at him the first time it was nipping , but now this time its far more. butttt hes never attacked me ...