# My puppy bit me by accident



## Ally's Mom (Apr 10, 2012)

Hi everyone! I've been a silent reader of this forum since we first got Ally almost 7 months ago! I've gotten a lot of good advice and answers to questions I had from reading other threads, but I didn't see anything similar to what happened to me tonight and I wanted some opinions.

I gave Ally a rawhide bone tonight and she was chewing it up no problem. Whenever I give her one of these I am always careful to watch if she breaks any small pieces off and if she does I will take those away so she doesn't swallow them. Tonight she had gotten a good size hunk off and I went to take it away from her, but she tried to chew it faster/swallow it before I could. I had my hand in her mouth and she bit me by accident; I really don't think she even knows it happened. It is a decent sized bite and broke the skin, but I've taken care of it (washed, hydrogen peroxide, neosporin, and bandaids).

I just wanted to know if I should be worried about this? The fact that she bit me I mean. She's never shown me any kinds of aggression before, but she is a vocal player, i.e. she growls a lot when playing with her toys, but if we say let go she releases immediately. I am already working with her on being less possessive of her bones and she is not possessive of anything else including her regular food or treats. We can take away everything from her no problem and on a normal night her bone too with little issue. I appreciate any feedback anyone has to offer!!


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## sfalan (Apr 10, 2012)

You should yelp when bitten. She needs to know she hurt you. 

I'm not a big fan of rawhide. It might be controversial, but I prefer the Nylabones.


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## Charliethree (Jul 18, 2010)

Consider it just that - an accident. Sometimes we get our fingers where they don't belong and we pay a 'price' and learn our lessons. I picked up a small stick to toss for my girl Kaya, she quickly clamped down on the stick, catching my fingers between her teeth and the stick. She punctured my fingers, and it hurt like crazy, but I have no doubt that it was a simple accident and have no reason to think otherwise.


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## JeffP (Jun 30, 2011)

As long as there was no growling or baring of teeth, I'd consider this a non-issue.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

If it was truly accidental, there's nothing to worry about. I would work on soft mouth skills with her to help her learn how to be gentle around human hands, but there's certainly nothing aggressive about going for something desirable and carelessly getting a hand instead.


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## cory (Aug 23, 2010)

This happened with our Dakota once. We were cleaning up from dinner and dropped a leftover rib on the floor. Dakota pounced on it and I pounced on her and stuck my hand in her mouth. She proceeded to try and chew and gulp it down as fast as she could and bit down on my hand. I thought she had broken my hand because she had chomped down so hard. I did yelp from the pain and she immediately jumped back and was broken-hearted by what she did. This was my fault because if I had just yelled "leave-it" or "drop-it" it would have slowed her down a bit.
This was a complete accident on Dakota's part and she is now a therapy dog and I have absolutely no concerns with her at all. 
I think your little one was just trying to get the piece down before you could take it away and like Dakota probably had no idea that your hand was in her mouth.


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## Ally's Mom (Apr 10, 2012)

Wow... Really, thank you everyone for all the great responses. I really appreciate getting others feedback on this. I've grown up around dogs my whole life, but Ally's the first one I'm raising on my own so there are always questions and concerns. I will take this in stride though and just keep an eye out in case of any future instances!


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

> I went to take it away from her, but she tried to chew it faster/swallow it before I could


^ This (to me) sounds like she anticipated you taking her nom-noms away, and she was frantically trying to eat it before you could take it away. She was clamping down.

I'm sure it was an accident - or she caught your hand by accident, but she still was clamping down. Which means that there is a high likelihood that this will happen again unless you are careful. It could even get exasperated if she learned that chomping down and ducking works to make you back off. 

I don't advocate "dominating" dogs and I don't really care if a dog is dominant or not. Any dog needs to learn that if he has something in his mouth that he should not have, you have the right to take it away immediately. 

That said... I would say with your dog, you need to really make sure she knows that when you take that bone away, she is going to get something awesome instead. Always trade and keep the "I'm taking what you have away" be a positive experience, even if you are reaching into your dog's mouth.


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

My Danny did that to me a couple of times when he was younger and he got something super yummy. There was no aggression or clamping down, he was just trying to eat it as fast as he could, before I could take it away. 

It's not happened again and I actually feed him raw every other night and generally have to hold his piece of chicken for him. LOL. He waits for me to pick it up and hold it for him and I have no fear of his intentionally or accidentally biting me. 

He does have a very strong "leave it" now, but if he sees something really tasty on the floor or on a walk, he will sometimes still try to grab it. He lacks impulse control in many areas.


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## Ally's Mom (Apr 10, 2012)

Thanks Megora, I appreciate the input and I do agree with you that she was definitely thinking that she could get away with it if she could just put it away fast enough. I do think if instead of running over and trying to grab it I had said leave or drop it she would have and come over for a different treat, but it is just that I handled the situation wrong. I will remember to always have something to trade in hand in case this happens again! And fostermom my Ally is normally the same way! =) If I am holding something in my hands for her to eat I have no fear of her biting me accidentally or intentionally either... I think this really was just a bad handling on my part!


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## Aislinn (Nov 13, 2010)

Dakota did the same thing at the lake once when she found a dead fish. She has a fairly good 'leave it' command, but that rotten fish was just too good in her mind. My son was closest and went to take it as she clamped down. We did a refresher course with some tasty treats, though if she finds another dead and rotten fish, she may still not want to give it up. :no: What is it about dead things that our dogs love them? Sigh...


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

It's really important to practice "leave it" and retrieve to hand with low- and mid-value items constantly. Even though my boys are grown, I have them hand me toys, and then I give them back with praise and some excitement. It's a game we play consistently. The result is that if my dogs pick up something dangerous or disgusting, I can have them hand it to me. I was so proud when Jax was six months old and picked up a dead starling, marched right over, and delivered it to hand. I was equally grossed out, but it was good to be able to take it from him so he didn't eat it.

He was quite the shark mouth at that age, so I'm glad I didn't have to try to steal it from him.


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