I purchased a started 1.5 year old, english pointer. He was shy at first but after spending a lot of time with him, he is coming along nicely in the field and at home. In addition, my 3 kids pet him a lot. He has plenty of room to run all day and is not kenneled. For some reason he will lay wherever I park my truck while at home. Which is fine but I started to notice pieces of plastic and cable wrap in the yard. I finally figured out he is chewing on protective pieces under my truck. The shock collar and watching him from the window seems to be taking care of that problem. Now for whatever reason, he is starting to snap at my daughter from time to time when she tries to pet him. I have no idea why and worked with her and him in the yard, playing with a ball. Hopefully to help him learn she is a good guy. Still every once in a while he will snap. No one else, just her. Any ideas? Other than that he is a great dog with a good personality.

I have an idea. The next time he snaps at your daughter, pick him up by the ears and beat the sht out of him. Make sure he knows that's not acceptable behavior. If that doesn't work give him to someone who just wants a kenneled bird dog and not a pet.

Snapping at a person is from fear or dominant behavior. Be very careful about letting the kids approach the dog alone. A shoulder stroke is much less likely to be seen as threatening than a sudden movement around the head or ears.Could be where she tries to pet him and how fast she moves. He may be afraid of her. He may be trying to dominate her--you don't want to allow that.

Stand with her, tell her NOT to pat him on the head, slowly reach over his back and stroke his shoulder. Have her do the same. He needs to understand she isn't going to surprise him or hurt him. She needs to learn that you need to be careful and calm when you approach a dog.

She will eventually get bit if you don't nip the occurrence in the bud now. He has to be taught now that an explosion will happen each and every time he makes any aggressive moves towards her. I would never trust him around any kids from this point forward. Too much risk. Buy her a pet.

3 kids and a dog that snaps at them???? I guess when the bomb goes off you will say " I had no idea he was like that"

"started 1.5 year old"

I doubt the dog was socialized to children as a pup, nor would the dog have had a chance to bond with your children. Beyond hunting or obedience, I am a strong proponent of machine gun exposing a dog to every type of person, animal, sound, and situation possible before they are 6 months old. They are like a sponge during that first 6 months.

"was shy at first but"

Add with that statement added, I bet it is fear aggression, guarding food and toys, annoyed by children wanting to hug, play, spray water on him, tug and pull on him when he is tired, etc.

You may or may not be able to fix it, but until then my suggestion for now is your dog needs to have his space when sleeping and eating. Hands off by the children during this time. With a barrier separating him from them if possible. If he is guarding toys, take the toys away when the kids are around him. Have a crate or bed that is his personal space to escape the children especially if he is guarding a family space or piece of furniture now. And the children need to honor his space. If other children are around that don't know the rules, he needs to go in his crate or kennel while they are there.

If this is something that came on suddenly and was not a problem before, a checkup at the vet would be in order. If your dog has a pain or not feeling well, it is natural for a dog's instinct to become defensive when touched.

Also, if your daughter wears a strong perfume, have her stop wearing it for a while and see if your dog's reaction to her changes. Long shot, but I did experience a situation once with one of my dogs visibly irritated by something someone was wearing.

Good luck.

Was he collar conditioned, before you used the ecollar to keep him from chewing on the truck?

I'm not against ecollars. I use them on all my hunting dogs.
Only asked because it started after the use of it.

call CC setters and get a great family pet that will be a great bird dog!

I know what everyone would suggest if this was a pit bull. Dog bites are serious business and not to be tolerated on any dog. JMO Especially now that you have made it known you are concerned about it.

Pretty much what others have said. I'm sure the dog had been in a kennel its whole life. Pointers can be great pets, but I have seen just as many that were kenneled their whole lives be pretty aggressive dogs. It has a lot to do with how they are raised, and it sounds like this one hasn't been around children/people much, and may never come around to kids. I would keep an eye on it for sure, and either put it in a kennel, or find another dog.

Not sure I can get this to load.
It's a dog bite from a birddog. This is my arm and happened June 30th. Its required surgery to repair the tendon, and may require more surgery later.
Please don't take chances with your kids.

[img]https://texashuntingforum.com/forum/pics/...352340867649233[/img]

Ouch!

That's terrible. I hope you put that dog down and didn't pass it on to someone else.

If this dog is snapping at a little girl I still think it could be stopped by a good beating. I've never had a pointer that was mean to people but I don't think I'd take a chance with one around a little girl that snaps. My young boys are jackasses and I've only had one bird dog growl at them. That wasn't tolerated and about 60 seconds of NO and being slammed around by the ears, that bitch never growled at them again. You need to get control of that bastard and teach him the only reason he's still alive is because you let him.

I owned the dog for 8 years. He hunted with us 7 months out of the year. Lived in the house as part of our family, and even slept in the bed next to my husband.
I'll never know the reason something didn't fire right in his brain that day, and he turned on me.
I would never pass this on to another person. He was put to sleep the next day.
The picture was only to show the amount of damage a birddog can do.

Man Kindall. That stinks. You did the right thing but I still know it hurts.

Sorry, i've been in the field a while. I probably should have noted my daughter is 14 and tough as nails. As stated above, I told her to knock the crap out of him if he did it again. I'm a firm believer in making sure our dogs know who is dominant in the house. Interestingly, she never had to pop him and he has never done it again. He is coming along nicely in the field and at the house. I'm not sure what he had going on for those few days. Thanks for all the comments.

WOW, just WOW...sorry kindall...that is a tough situation all the way around.

To the OP...glad the pup is coming along nicely and is behaving at home!