RE: Dog nipping clothes as owner arrives home

Ben Ogden — Fri, 13 Nov 2015 09:37:31 GMT

[quote user="shakira free miles"]

Hi guys,

I have an owner coming to see me tomorrow as her dog has started to nip her every time she comes home. It is a 2 year old female neutered staffie. She lives with 2 other older dogs. She is nipping the owners clothes, jumpers and ankles of trousers.

Any suggestions?

She has also started to snarl and show her teeth to the oldest dog whom is 12 years old when ever food is around, a new behaviour? She is also always begging for food, which owner reports she doesn't give in to.

Referral is not an option for this, and costs need to be kept to a minimum sadly.

Id really appreciate any feed back on this.

Thank you,

Shakira Free :) xx

[/quote]

First and foremost I think you need to put to the owner that this patient has more than one behavioural problem occurring and although they may be interlinked in some way or another it's not going to be resolved in a 10 minute consult.

Also the welfare of the patient must be considered and before she starts any behavioural therapy she should have the dog examined by a veterinary surgeon to rule out any underlying disease process or ailment.

From this point a training program can begin. I would give her first aid advice RE the behaviours that risk injury and proceed with the exam. If you gather some information on the dog perhaps we can formulate a training plan?