My dog just attacked my fiance. I made a post earlier about him not eating after coming home from…

What was your husband doing when the dog attacked him? How old and how big is he?

@thatbeachyblonde he was kneeling by him, petting him. He was talking to him and he pointed to his food and said he was going to need to eat. He sat down and the pup jumped up and started biting and scratching. My dog is almost 3 and about 55 pounds.

@gorgeousmay42217, Maybe food aggression?

@thatbeachyblonde he has been home for three days and hasn't had a problem with either of us moving his bowl in front of or next to him or pulling it away or putting it back etc. I don't know, maybe.. I don't know what to do about it though. It's worrying me more because he has never had an issue with anything ever, has always been good with people, kids, men, women, cats, dogs etc. Never shown any signs of anything. I don't know if it was a fluke or if he's going to do it again, because he got my fiance all over his arms and legs with teeth and nails.

@gorgeousmay42217, That’s definitely scary. A dog that big could potentially do some damage to a baby. 😕 Maybe consult with a trainer and get their opinion?

@thatbeachyblonde we are calling around but everywhere is closed so we may have to wait til tomorrow.

@gorgeousmay42217, Maybe he was just having an off day. In the foster home were there other dogs? Maybe he acted that way because in the foster home he had to fight for food? Just throwing out ideas. Could be way wrong.

@thatbeachyblonde there was one small dog there. I don't know, I really hope it's something that can be worked out though. Will be getting as many professional opinions as possible tomorrow.

@gorgeousmay42217, Best of luck to you and your pup! 💕

@thatbeachyblonde thank you :)

@gorgeousmay42217, maybe that small dog had small dog syndrome and bullied your pup. 🤷🏼‍♀️ That’s definitely concerning given you haven’t had any issues till now.

@mrs.ray2016 we are going to be making a bunch of calls tomorrow, I just hope it doesn't come down to something awful or that we have to give him up. I left him with someone I thought I could trust and he comes back like this and that's not all, his nails weren't clipped and he has missing hair in weird shapes and places. She was also feeding him things that he can't have (dairy and grain). She lives three hours from us and so we only saw him through video chat but we were always told he was happy and being cared for and I don't know what to think now. I know she neglected caring for him properly atleast for the last part of the time he was there and I'm so mad to think she may habe actually been hurting my baby.

@gorgeousmay42217, yeah I’d be pissed myself. Be careful what you say to the trainer or whoever you take him to. They may automatically say get rid of him without actually trying to figure out what’s going on. I told my doctor years ago when I was like 3 or 4 that my parents dog bit me. I was young and didn’t know pets need space and obviously the dog was old and had been used to being the only baby around so she was jealous and nipped me. Well the doc told my parents either you get rid of the dog or I’m calling cps. I feel bad that happened because of me. And the dog ended of dying of leukemia or something not long after. 😢 So be really careful what you say.

@mrs.ray2016 I've been working on exactly how I want to word and explain everything for the exact reason. We had that issue with a dog we had when I was still living at home, there were just too many kids around her petting her while she was sleeping and then they all jumped up at once and scared her and she bit one of the neighbor girls. I don't want to assume this is something that can't be fixed etc.

@gorgeousmay42217, yep. Better to not think the worst until you have to. If you have to. Our pets are our babies besides our actual and it’s always hard when there’s an issue.

@mrs.ray2016 they are our babies, but I know I have to put our actual baby's safety above all else. I'm sure I'm not sleeping tonight I'm so anxious.

@gorgeousmay42217, yeah that’d be me too. I don’t sleep well under stress.

I gotta say growling at 3 separate people is 3 red flags! That doesn’t mean you can’t fix it, I bet a trainer could help a ton. I did a few private sessions with a petsmart trainer and it was so helpful. I can certainly understand the fears there, especially with a baby crawling around the food bowl. Kneeling can also look threatening to animals—It looks like the person could spring up at any moment. Sitting Indian style is the least threatening because there’s no way to move quickly or pounce. Maybe try that? Really hope it works out for you guys and pup. It sounds like he’s more anxious than aggressive, which is something you can work with. Good luck!

@stem he's only ever had problems with those three people (Two of which were mean to him and one was mean to one of the kids in the house and he got defensive of him). I think he is just anxious as well if not genuinely scared of something. We are looking into the training. Due to the attack being recent a lot have turned us down, which I so not understand at all. Thank you so much for your suggestions! ☺