AboutMadeline Friedman Expertise When you submit a question, let me know that you have read my bio completely by putting at the beginning of your question: "I have read your bio and agree to read and rate your response fairly within three days." Unless you agree to this Virtual Contract, your question will be rejected as I'll know that you didn't take the time to read my bio. Questions re: canine behavior AS IT RELATES TO TRAINING, tricks, and everyday behaviour and interactions and which are NOT related to possible medical conditions ARE WELCOME. I will AUTOMATICALLY REJECT questions of a medical nature which don't relate to training. Questions about itching, sores, oozings, pregnancies, and the like will NOT BE ANSWERED by me. My answers reflect research, extensive experience, and formal, ongoing, self-motivated education in the areas of animal science, hehavioral biology, and behavioural psychology. If you dislike my answer because I've been honest, don't blithely rate me 'down' or say I was impolite when I wasn't. When you ask me a question and get my response, you can expect an honest answer although it may suggest you have work to do. Such isn't a reason to take shots at me in ratings. I am always polite. Your question must make sense, be well structured grammatically and not require that I "decode" misspellings or sentences. If you would like to retain my services in the NYC, NJ, or Palm Beach Co., FL areas, please contact me for training. If I answer within the time frame provided by AllExperts, don't unfairly comment that I didn't answer your question quickly enough. If you have an emergency or feel your dog is behaving in a way which may compromise anyone's well being, call a vet immediately. If your dog dies or is euthanized after I respond to your question, don't lash out and blame me for your dog's death. If your dog seems ill get your dog to a vet ASAP and don't depend on any expert here to save dogs' lives within the generous time frame provided here to respond.
Experience Professional dog trainer and behavior consultant since 2002; professional dog portrait artist and professional painter for over 18 years. Professional State Certified Educator since 1992. Owner and operator of Innovative Reality Dog Training since 2002.
Organizations Was Animal Science Major, Rutgers University; Permanently Certified NJ State Educator Since 1992; AKC Certified Canine Good Citizen Evaluator; multi-species experience with horses, swine, agamids, with primary focus on domestic dog. Please keep questions related to dogs only in this forum.
Publications Chronicle of the Dog, Yankee Dog, local news writings, "Popular Dog" Series magazine - Housetraining issue, quoted in Tonawanda (NY) News, July 2007
Education/Credentials Master's Degree, plus additional undergrad college credits in psychology, and accredited college study in Animal Science.
Awards and Honors Published author on dog training and dog behaviour, and business aspects of dog training. F.I.T. "Commitment to Illustration and Excellence as an Illustrator" award. Second place internationally in Society of Illustrators international art competition. Jellybean Photographics Award (for illustration).
Past/Present Clients Over 2,000 satisfied clients since 2002.
Question I have three dogs in the house the shih tzu is the oldes.A weak ago the shih tzu bit my 15 month old in the face and today bit my 6 year old in the face. It is my wife dog and i will not let the dog around my 15 month old, I told her that i didn't want the dog here but she loves her dog and i don't now if i can brake of bitting in the face.Can you help me?
Answer Hello Chris,
In my opinion, a dog having bitten two children in the face is a very serious issue, one that warrants a paid professional trainer coming in to help you and work with you to resolve the problem, and probably most certainly a trip to the vet so that the dog can get a complete check-up as suggested by your veterinarian.
Do this as soon as possible, and in the meantime do NOT leave your dog and your children unsupervised for any period of time. Also, make sure your kids are told and shown rules about how to gently handle the dog.
If the dog has been around a long time and never bitten the children before, but is biting all of a sudden now, my thinking is that the sudden biting points to either a medical issue (pain or discomfort of some kind in the dog), or an issue with the children not being given instructions and limitations about how to treat the dog, and not being properly supervised with the dog, all of which need to be addressed.
Since you have a 15-month-old, my guess is that this child has recently become more mobile, suddenly walking perhaps, and has more access to the dog. More access to the dog means that your 15-month-old has more opportunity to cause distress or pain to the dog, of course unknowingly. But, 15 months of age is not too young to start teaching a child how to be gentle with a dog.
A professional coming in to help you can also give you strategies for protecting the dog, since children can't always be relied upon to handle a dog as gently as dogs should be handled. They simply don't have the coordination or the experience yet. So, protect your children - but also protect your dog. And, please do take him in for that vet appointment, particularly if he's getting older. Older means that he may be unable to tolerate as much stress as he used to be able to, and that may be one of perhaps several explanations for the (apparently sudden...) biting.
Hope this helps!
Best regards,
Madeline Friedman, M.A. at AllExperts
www.ny-njDogTrainer.com
