Jax's bad behavior

[babsterrojax]

Sat. I took Jax to Chow Hound to get him microchipped and he went in there all happy and loving as usual. He played with the ladies that was doing the microchipping and when she stuck him he was fine then all of a sudden when she stopped he snipped her leg. No warning at all. I was stunned. He has never done this before. One lady had him around the neck and the other lady came up behind him and done the microchipping. She is the one he snipped on the leg. He didn't hurt her it was like a warning. It disturbs me alot so I wanted to ask you your opinion.

[RealPitBull]

How old is Jax again? Is there any history of him biting, growling, snapping, etc? Has he been to this place before, or met these women? Is he well-socialized?

My first inclination is to say this was a stressful situation for him and he'd probably been dropping missed hints the entire time. It's not a good thing, as Pit Bulls as a breed are meant to show human-submissive behavior even under grave stress. However, the good news is that he could have done serious harm if he wanted, but he didn't.

I need more information, however.

[babsterrojax]

Jax is very well socialized. He has never been aggressive before. He has never been there and did not know these people. We have only lived here a few months. Sat. when this happened it everyone , he never growled or anything. He was loving and kissing on these ladies when he came in. The nip was just that a nip, I took it as a warning. The more I thought about it though the more it bothered me. Jax is 20 months old.

[RealPitBull]

Ya know, I think a dog is entitled to a get out of jail free card if he has always been the model citizen save for ONE (IMO) minor incident.

I would however perform a little damage control in this situation and get Jax back to the scene of the crime and see how he behaves - bring along lots of his favorite treats and reward the heck out of him - lots of reinforcement for ANY good behavior whatsoever. Not only is this good training, it's also forming good associations and helps him learn good things happen at Chow Hound (and similar locations). If you can recruit the ladies who helped chip him, all the better - let them interact with him gently and calmly, offer him food rewards, and so on. You can take this process anywhere, actually, and I'd strongly suggest it.

Also, boning up on some handling and People Skills training is always a good thing. We do lots of things to dogs that are really scary, uncomfortable and even painful, and then expect them to never lift a lip in response - least we can do is prepare them for such situations so they have some kind mental euipment to deal with them when they occur. A really awesome article on this very subject comes from Kathy Sdao.

Here it is: www.kathysdao.com/articles/training-handle.html