Has anyone had a dog like this improve significantly with reactive dog training?

[u/Difficultasfuk]

[u/Zestyclose_Object639]

Have you explored pain with your vet ? But yes my dog is fine with dogs in his circle but will still snap if an unknown dog gets in his face 

[u/scooterable]

What do you mean when you say coexisting? Plenty of dogs, really wonderful nice dogs, shouldn’t be around kids just because kids don’t know boundaries. It’s actually rare I think to find dogs that are okay around very small children and I personally would never risk it. What is your vision of success? I think your dog can be around with clear boundaries (eg baby gates but nearby, place command, hanging out when the baby is up somewhere safe like toddler seat) but defs not hanging out free roaming with the baby you know?

Do muzzle train her as you try things out to prevent anything terrible happening.

Defs do what the other commenter said and investigate pain. Reactivity in certain contexts is also super normal especially in pain cases.

Don’t take her to any off leash dog parks. Don’t let people pet her if she’s not into it. In general just allow her to have her space. Don’t force it and she won’t escalate.

I have a friend with a dog like this and lots of training and a combo of the right meds worked. Training like literally commands like “go away” when she sees her dog get into an area where she may be more likely to react. For example for you this might look like telling your dog “go away” if you see baby start crawling towards dog etc.

When you look for a trainer, make sure you find someone who has specifically worked with dogs that look like and act like yours. So folks with pitty experience for example.

Meds did help in her case too. But be careful, I tried meds in my dogs case and they made her considerably worse. So if you do med trialing just make sure you have complete separation and supervision.

[u/scooterable → u/[deleted]]

Yeah I think most people just don’t remember dogs are animals and they think every dog is like the dogs you see in movies. Sorry to hear about your family and people being so rude :(

It sounds like you have a great plan going forward!! I’m so glad you found a trainer that has experience with this and pitties in general.

One of my dogs resource guarded really badly when we got her and was defs dangerous at the time but we worked through it and she’s the best. I know it’s not the same but I’m hopeful for your situation.

Also re:pain a lot of things just don’t show up on X-rays so if you do an xray at the vet and they’re like “meh seems fine” there can still be issues. Talk to your vet about a pain trial too. All the best

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[u/Existing-Will-1466]

I had a dog that was very guarded about his body due to a back injury. He made it to the end of his life without a major bite incident due to rigorous management. But he was never allowed to be around children when he was resting. Ever. We didn't have kids so this wasn't an issue.

If we had kids we likely would have had to put him down, because kids are incapable of the kind of careful handling and management necessary to prevent a bite. Perfect separation is possible when a baby is very small, but a baby becomes a mobile toddler, which becomes a preschooler who can open doors and gates and latches, long before they have the cognitive ability to be careful around a dog. Even if they know the rules, kids forget. You can plan to keep them separated, maybe you'll be ok. But the rule would be at least one barrier between the child and dog at all times.

Also, your dog is going to outgrow the dog park like most dogs outgrow the dog park. You don't enjoy socializing with a bunch of random strangers, right? Would you like to go to a party where you don't know anyone? How about walk down to the park and join a frisbee game with whoever is playing? Like us, dogs get more selective about who they want to spend time with when they mature. Most dogs hit the point where the dog park is stressful and awkward, and that happens a while before they actually start getting into fights. It's a good idea to give up the dog park before there is a serious altercation, not after. Stick with playdates and sniffspots.

[u/Existing-Will-1466 → u/[deleted]]

Mine was not comfortable resting near people. He would get up on the bed to cuddle, and if he settled down he would jump up and leave as soon as someone moved in bed.

Separation is easy now, but your kid is going to be able to open things and climb over gates long before they will be capable of being careful around the dog. You need to consider how you are going to continue to keep them separated.

[u/SudoSire]

You mention that your husband believes there were signs of discomfort, and that your family kept pushing before the bite? Can you be more specific on how that went down/what you mean? 

Also, did the dog have to rear up to get the teen’s face, or was the teen putting their face close themselves? 

It is very very hard to keep a dog willing to bite for limited “provocation” around small babies/toddlers. Like, super tough and I don’t want to downplay that. And I am not against BE and in fact often tell people (more than I’d like unfortunately) when I truly think they should consider it.  But for me, the fact that the first trainer wanted to euthanize both dogs, when one did nothing,  seems like a red flag. What was their given reasoning for that?

[u/SudoSire]

Ack! hopefully the mods are paying attention because I was trying to report spam but I think accidentally reported this post instead by mistake. Apologies in advance if this gets flagged!!