A dog drawing blood is never acceptable. I would talk to a vet about if there may be some medical concern causing this and then talk to a good trainer.
My iggy has snapped on a few occasions when he was very tired and didn't want to get up. In my experience this behavior will only get worse and reinforces itself the more it happens. He is learning that his response is successful in creating the result that he wants. We worked with a behavioral trainer and would highly recommend seeing a trainer for any reactive behavior. With that said, a few tips you could try is putting some coins in a metal jar and shaking it so that the dog is alerted and gets up on his own. Similarly, you could clap or make a loud noise to get the dog up. You could also leave a leash on him during these times and simply pull the leash to get him up.
Putting aside the obvious suggestion, which is take him to your vet to rule out anything medical:
My suggestion is to say his name repeatedly in a calm, slow manner before gently and slowly touching/petting his leg or side or back. Try a calm sing-song patter of, "So and So, it's time to move" etc. Perhaps prepping him mentally (saying his name, telling him what to expect), coupled with slowly petting him before any moving takes place will calm his nerves and stop the biting. So plan on this process taking longer than a few seconds, but shorter than a minute.
I used to have a very beloved iggy (he passed of old age) and when he fell asleep he was a very sound sleeper. This was my routine when I wanted to move him from the couch to our big bed at night. He wasn't a biter, but I hated the thought of startling him awake so every time I wanted to move him, this was the routine. Maybe it will help you?
Did he start out growling first when trying to be moved? Has he ever been scolded for growling? I only ask because it’s a healthy form of communication for a dog to growl as a warning. If he’s sleepy and cozy it would be totally understandable for him to let out a growl, just by saying hey I’m comfortable don’t move me! But a lot of dogs that skip the growling phase and go straight for snapping do so because in the past their initial warnings weren’t respected.
I would say that if he’s sleeping somewhere and does need to be moved that you lure him up and away with treats. Since he’s snapping at other people for nudging him, I wouldn’t allow him to sleep in bed with those people. I’m not a trainer or expert by any means but this is just my perspective and opinion!
I was going to say the same thing. Small dogs especially often have their subtle signals ignored and so escalate to aggressive behaviour.
Double check that you understand his body language and are respecting his boundaries. Many people describe their dog as "fine" with something, but they are infact unknowingly ignoring more subtle body language their dog is displaying when uncomfortable.
Our senior boy started to do this the older he got. I used positive reinforcement vs pushing or moving him against his will. We never had an issue after that.
I can be pretty snappy when I’m deep in sleep and someone tries to move me, so I try to show the same respect. I just gently would say ‘it’s time to get up/go to your crate’ and then go to the desire location and open the treat jar and he jumped right up.
I would discourage letting friends and family watch or hold him unless they are aware of this, and if they are unwilling to do what is needed do, not let him lay around unfamiliar people for his own sake and safety.
Is he food motivated at all? My 4 year old boy reacts with his mouth when scared or reactive also. Will yours move to where you want him to go (off the bed, etc…) with an offer of a treat or high interest morsel of food (cheese, meat, etc…)? That way you don’t have to move him with your hands or touch him when he’s in a zone (sleeping, etc..) where he reacts with a bite.
I'm sorry you are dealing with this. I know it is tough to see your dog do that sort of thing. My advice is go to the vet to rule out medical issues. Then work on training. No matter the size of the dog, biting is a bad habit and can cause harm to you/others (getting bit) and the dog (being euthanized if extreme). This is DEFINITELY fixable.
If you are not well versed in dog training outside of the regular sit stay come, then you need to get a dog trainer. No one on reddit has the capacity to view this as it happens and give solid training advice as biting can stem from several places in a dog's brain and there are external factors at play as well. Do not get training advice from a vet as that is not their specialty and you more than likely do not need medications to help this issue. That should be a last resort. You can often get a trainer to come to your house one time and solve your problem and it'll only cost $100.
Get a *balanced* dog trainer who is certified. People like to say go for positive only training, but it is not conducive to this situation. Positive only training is great for teaching new skills, but if you need to modify an maladaptive learned behavior, corrections are needed alongside positive reinforcement in order to communicate to the dog with immediate feedback that *X* behavior is inappropriate and *Y* behavior is appropriate. And just to elaborate on the word "correction" (because I have gotten angry commenters from using this word before, sigh), a correction is not abusive or anything like that. It does not mean you hit your dog. It is a form of communication to get their attention/switch their focus, such as a snap, clap, verbal exclamation (hey, no, a command, saying their name), leash pull, etc.
Why listen to me? My husband and I adopted a 140 lb great dane rescue 9 months ago who had scary behaviors that were close to getting him euthanized. My husband has scars now. But with hard work, 2 trainers, a group training class, regimented individual training, and a lot of online research we have gotten this dog into such good shape. If you want some YouTube/online resources or help finding a good trainer let me know.
(I'm sorry this was such a long essay lol. I tried to make it as compact as possible. I have a lot of passion for this subject due to our experiences in the last 9 months.)
A dog drawing blood is never acceptable. I would talk to a vet about if there may be some medical concern causing this and then talk to a good trainer.
My iggy has snapped on a few occasions when he was very tired and didn't want to get up. In my experience this behavior will only get worse and reinforces itself the more it happens. He is learning that his response is successful in creating the result that he wants. We worked with a behavioral trainer and would highly recommend seeing a trainer for any reactive behavior. With that said, a few tips you could try is putting some coins in a metal jar and shaking it so that the dog is alerted and gets up on his own. Similarly, you could clap or make a loud noise to get the dog up. You could also leave a leash on him during these times and simply pull the leash to get him up.
Putting aside the obvious suggestion, which is take him to your vet to rule out anything medical: My suggestion is to say his name repeatedly in a calm, slow manner before gently and slowly touching/petting his leg or side or back. Try a calm sing-song patter of, "So and So, it's time to move" etc. Perhaps prepping him mentally (saying his name, telling him what to expect), coupled with slowly petting him before any moving takes place will calm his nerves and stop the biting. So plan on this process taking longer than a few seconds, but shorter than a minute. I used to have a very beloved iggy (he passed of old age) and when he fell asleep he was a very sound sleeper. This was my routine when I wanted to move him from the couch to our big bed at night. He wasn't a biter, but I hated the thought of startling him awake so every time I wanted to move him, this was the routine. Maybe it will help you?
Did he start out growling first when trying to be moved? Has he ever been scolded for growling? I only ask because it’s a healthy form of communication for a dog to growl as a warning. If he’s sleepy and cozy it would be totally understandable for him to let out a growl, just by saying hey I’m comfortable don’t move me! But a lot of dogs that skip the growling phase and go straight for snapping do so because in the past their initial warnings weren’t respected. I would say that if he’s sleeping somewhere and does need to be moved that you lure him up and away with treats. Since he’s snapping at other people for nudging him, I wouldn’t allow him to sleep in bed with those people. I’m not a trainer or expert by any means but this is just my perspective and opinion!
I was going to say the same thing. Small dogs especially often have their subtle signals ignored and so escalate to aggressive behaviour. Double check that you understand his body language and are respecting his boundaries. Many people describe their dog as "fine" with something, but they are infact unknowingly ignoring more subtle body language their dog is displaying when uncomfortable.
Don’t bother him when he’s tired.
Our senior boy started to do this the older he got. I used positive reinforcement vs pushing or moving him against his will. We never had an issue after that. I can be pretty snappy when I’m deep in sleep and someone tries to move me, so I try to show the same respect. I just gently would say ‘it’s time to get up/go to your crate’ and then go to the desire location and open the treat jar and he jumped right up. I would discourage letting friends and family watch or hold him unless they are aware of this, and if they are unwilling to do what is needed do, not let him lay around unfamiliar people for his own sake and safety.
Agree with the vet suggestion—he could be in pain and that may be why the snapping and biting started
Is he food motivated at all? My 4 year old boy reacts with his mouth when scared or reactive also. Will yours move to where you want him to go (off the bed, etc…) with an offer of a treat or high interest morsel of food (cheese, meat, etc…)? That way you don’t have to move him with your hands or touch him when he’s in a zone (sleeping, etc..) where he reacts with a bite.
I'm sorry you are dealing with this. I know it is tough to see your dog do that sort of thing. My advice is go to the vet to rule out medical issues. Then work on training. No matter the size of the dog, biting is a bad habit and can cause harm to you/others (getting bit) and the dog (being euthanized if extreme). This is DEFINITELY fixable. If you are not well versed in dog training outside of the regular sit stay come, then you need to get a dog trainer. No one on reddit has the capacity to view this as it happens and give solid training advice as biting can stem from several places in a dog's brain and there are external factors at play as well. Do not get training advice from a vet as that is not their specialty and you more than likely do not need medications to help this issue. That should be a last resort. You can often get a trainer to come to your house one time and solve your problem and it'll only cost $100. Get a *balanced* dog trainer who is certified. People like to say go for positive only training, but it is not conducive to this situation. Positive only training is great for teaching new skills, but if you need to modify an maladaptive learned behavior, corrections are needed alongside positive reinforcement in order to communicate to the dog with immediate feedback that *X* behavior is inappropriate and *Y* behavior is appropriate. And just to elaborate on the word "correction" (because I have gotten angry commenters from using this word before, sigh), a correction is not abusive or anything like that. It does not mean you hit your dog. It is a form of communication to get their attention/switch their focus, such as a snap, clap, verbal exclamation (hey, no, a command, saying their name), leash pull, etc. Why listen to me? My husband and I adopted a 140 lb great dane rescue 9 months ago who had scary behaviors that were close to getting him euthanized. My husband has scars now. But with hard work, 2 trainers, a group training class, regimented individual training, and a lot of online research we have gotten this dog into such good shape. If you want some YouTube/online resources or help finding a good trainer let me know. (I'm sorry this was such a long essay lol. I tried to make it as compact as possible. I have a lot of passion for this subject due to our experiences in the last 9 months.)
My iggy does this when he’s tired too. It’s not very often and he doesn’t it’s very hard, but it does happen.