Got bit for the first time

[Labradorks]

I would say that you should definitely get a trainer involved. You say she bit you, others say perhaps it was probably an accident. There is a huge difference between the two and I, personally, would not try to downplay the situation on a message board, not knowing what has actually happened and not knowing the dog's temperament. It's great that people here have had dogs that tolerate mouth grabbing, forced opening, etc., but doing rescue I have seen the gamut of temperaments in Labradors and what can happen with collar grabs, forced mouth opening, etc. My personal belief is that I just don't do it regardless of temperament, but waaaayyy more important than my personal training philosophy and taking my own dogs' temperaments out of the equation, is the fact is that some dogs will learn to bite or gulp when handled this way.

[zd262]

I unfortunately do have to grab stuff out of Bubba's mouth frequently because he eats a lot of stuff that he absolutely shouldn't and is dangerous (where I live has a heavy homeless population so there is just garbage everywhere), and his leave it and drop it are not good, especially when it comes to food. Luckily he "tolerates" it, but I also wouldn't be surprised at all if he tried to bite me one of these times and feel like it's a risk I'm opening myself up to and have to understand going in.

And also definitely have to ditto the "trying to get a better hold on the object and accidentally caught your hand instead". This is why I don't let Bubba play with kids who are holding sticks, etc. He wants that stick and he might not notice if there is a hand in the way of it.

[Annette47]

I force the puppies' mouths open if I have to remove something, but it's more of a curling their lip up to pinch it on their teeth until they unclench on their own. Honestly, I have to say that when I have been bitten (always on accident), I slap heads. It's instinctive, I don't think about it. Sometimes it's a backhand into a nose. It's not enough to hurt, but enough to kind of startle and shock them. The puppies are also learning "leave it" and "AH AH AH" which usually at least stops them in their tracks. Leave it usually involves removing an object and then tossing an appropriate toy to lighten the situation.

Most likely your bite was a last ditch effort to bite and grab what you were removing and your finger got in the way. Jed gets anxious when we do group cookies and he something snaps a finger instead of the biscuit which hurts just as bad since he's a strong adult dog.

Don't over think it, just work to prevent future incidents by putting things up and away.

I agree with this post completely.

[greagre]

Thank you all for your suggestions and comments! I felt so sad last night but now I feel much better. I think my dog kind feels my mood and kind of knows what she did was wrong. Today so far she has performed so well. She still stole my slippers a couple of times this morning but once I said "drop it", she dropped it immediately. She responded to our commands very well today. We will keep strengthening her training on drop it and leave it. We hope this was the first time as well as the last time. Also, we will change our trash cans to those with lids this weekend.