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Dogs who don't bite.


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Please can people spam me with stories of their dogs (past and present) who have managed to get to a ripe age without starting to randomly bite/attack people/other animals. Or even stories of dogs who have had an unfortunate incident but went on to never have another one.

I know people only tend to post when things go wrong, but there seem to be an awful lot of those stories and I'd really like to read some posts of when things have gone right.

Our boy is a few days off being a year old. The puppy nipping seems a long way behind us now, and the only thing he growls at is his reflection when he wakes up and it catches him by surprise. But every time I read a 'gone wrong out of nowhere' story it makes me feel a bit nervous for the future.

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I'm currently living with my 5th herding breed dog, and 4th b. collie. NONE of them have bitten randomly. Gibbs, (only dog I have now) strongly prefers women to men, and has snapped at 3 men who approached him too rapidly. In each instance, I had just TOLD the man that he is skittish and doesn't like strangers. No blood, only made contact once. Now, he goes in the bedroom when I have repair people or male friends over.

T, the roommate, was very respectful of Gibbs when he first moved in. He even said to me, "I'll let him take his time". About 2 months after T moved in, I asked him if he could G out to potty while I was gone. T's reply ~ "He comes and gets me when he needs to go out". They'd worked it out just fine.

Both Tillie, (cattledog) and Samantha LOVED kids. Tillie and Buzz liked every one.  Sammie once fell in love with a little girl, about 4 yrs old. It seemed mutual. Sam followed the girl around the park, sat down when she sat down, and walked around with her for a while. 

BC personalities and sociability types are pretty wide. I've only had the 4, and learned with each one that they can be and are very, very different.

I agree w/what's been said already ~ it's never out of nowhere. The dog is always startled, feels threatened, or been physically hurt in some way, even if the human involved isn't aware of any of those things.

Ruth & Gibbs

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None of my dogs have ever randomly bitten anyone.  None of my dogs have ever bitten anyone.   One of them can be fear aggressive, one of them was previously an insecure, defensive, snappy thing, but none of them BIT PEOPLE or other dogs.  Growled, barked, bluffed, whatever, but no biting or physical contact.


Largely because, you know, it's not out of nowhere.  There are warnings and signs that the dog is uncomfortable and I got them out of there before they thought their only option for getting away from the thing making them  scared was to use their teeth.

 

...actually, I lied. We had a very old lab a very long time ago who bit one of my children who fell on top of him while the dog was asleep. Dog was mostly deaf and being fallen upon hurt.  H e didn't do real damage, and I didn't consider it some kind of aggressive incident. That's honestly IT. 

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My last bc bit me pretty good twice, neither broke skin but lots of bruising and swelling.

Both times weren't out of no where, and I never even thought of blaming her.

The first time I hurt her while I was cutting her nails, she didn't even bleed but I'd cut it pretty close. And she just reacted, no thought on her part, when I cried out in pain she immediately got frantically 'sorry' falling all over herself trying to soothe me. I calmed her down and we called it even, and we were both slow and cautious with nails from then on.

The second time was 1000% my fault. I let her out of the house, as she was stepping off the top step of our porch I saw a rattlesnake on the second step. I grabbed her by the hair/skin of her neck and butt with both hands and pulled her backwards toward me. I couldn't immediately let her go because she'd run right back down the stairs, so she got me as I got a hold of her collar. In her mind I had just brutally attacked her out of no where. She eventually forgave me, although it took some time to build that trust back up.

Other than that she never put her mouth on anyone. She charged a few people who startled her over the years but it was all bluff. Just lots of noise. She was farm raised, unsocialized and dumped at the pound at 5 years old. And then adopted by me and forced to live a very different life. She had every reason to not have a stable temperament but she was a good dog who must have had sound parents.

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I have never, in 70 years, had a dog that randomly bit anyone. But *any* dog could bite if provoked or by accident.

I do have a daughter who has had two dogs that were reactive and could not be trusted around small children but at least part of their issues were environment (prior to her getting them) and/or health/pain-related. 

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Buster, our first BC was a very gentle soul, even when he was afraid, he never bit.  Charley is a rescue that came with extra baggage. He is reactive at the vet's office, we give him tramadol before he goes.  We don't allow him near children after the first time he snapped, and we monitor him with the house cats, he becomes overly focused at times.

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I have one dog who is so bite aversive that even when you are hurting him - i.e. pulling burrs out of fur, cleaning a wound, etc, will turn and lick your hand , even while whimpering.

Not to say that he could not bite - any dog can.  But he is so gentle.

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