We adopted our Lab-Beagle mix, Cass, about 3 months ago. He is about 40 lbs and intact, though he has an appointment to be neutered soon. We took him on from a friend of my husband's. He informed us that the dog had a history of abuse but that he'd never had any major issues with aggression. In the three months we've had him, we've had some issues with him growling, and one incident where he lunged at my husband, but these are rare and 90% of the time he is very cuddly and an absolute sweetheart.
Today I took a shower and came back to find Cass on the bed. He isn't supposed to lay on the bed, so I tried to act excited and peppy to get him to get down. No dice. He kept sitting on the bed and staring at me. I told him it's time to get off the bed and patted his butt to encourage him to move. He immediately started growling at me, teeth bared, hackles raised, etc.
I backed away from him towards the door and started talking to him very quietly and calmly, telling him to calm down and that everything's okay. He kept growling at me and then after a second he lunged off the bed at me. He bit my arm and held onto it for a second before letting it go - it's not serious, but there was blood immediately. I've never had a dog attack me before, so I grabbed him by the collar to force his head away from me and kept trying to talk to him in a low voice to calm him down. He tried to bite me three or four more times, but couldn't get at my arm because I was holding onto his collar. I pulled him towards the spare room, which has his bed and food/water bowls in it, and shut him in there, which is where he still is.
I feel really awful about locking him in his room, because I know that isn't the best way to handle this, but I'm not sure what else to do and he scared the absolute shit out of me. It's been twenty or so minutes and my hands are still shaking. I'm scared to let him out in case he attacks me again. I went in there to fill his bowls, and he seemed to be calmed down and was trying to cuddle up to me, but I just filled up his bowls and left.
So I guess my question is, what do I do? Like I said above, he has lunged at my husband over being on the bed before, too. Usually I tell him it's time to get off the bed and he does it without a problem. I know part of this is because of how I handled the situation, and I'm willing to hear out advice about my behavior and how to rectify it so this doesn't happen again.
However, this is the second time he's physically attacked someone over being on the bed, and I'd like to know what I can do with him to help with this. Should I take him to the vet? Would trainers or behavioral vets help with this? We really do love him, and he's a sweetheart to us 90% of the time. We don't want to give him up, just want to find ways to help this kind of behavior. I am a very petite woman who is home alone with him most of the week, and this has made me feel very shaken and unsafe.
Any advice is deeply appreciated. TIA.
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from Pets https://www.reddit.com/r/Pets/comments/brs6ou/my_dog_attacked_me_how_do_i_go_about_handling_this/
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