I recently got a rescue puppy from a dogs home. She was, we think a Doberman cross. When we first got her the rescue said she was teething which is to be expected at this age (we’ve had puppies before). She was between 10-12 weeks old. We took her home and had her for two weeks. Did the crate training, did enforced naps, had a house line on her, did some training, taught her to sit, lie down, wait and she let us know when she wanted the toilet in this time. She was teething heavily, at least that’s what we thought it was. We redirected her to her toys, sometimes she would go and get her toys.
During the teething she would lunge at one of us when standing up or sat down and bite. My wife’s father was sat on the couch drinking his coffee and she ran over and bit him, he needed up spilling the coffee on the couch it hurt him that much. The bite she gripped on and then she applied pressures once hooked, on one occasion my skin bled, a few other times it left dints on my skin and my wife’s skin. She would randomly do this sometimes out of nowhere. My wife whilst she was in her playpen with her toys looked under the couch for something, she then climbed on her body, walked upto her head and began biting her hair and ears. We kept telling her no and yelping but she didn’t ever let go. I told my wife this is just teething as that’s what I thought. My wife messaged me one day whilst at work and said it’s been terrible the teething and all day. When on the house line she was lunging towards her trying to bite her most of the time. Even stroking her she would try and bite you and cuddleing she would bite your head and ears. On another occasion my brother looked after her whilst at work and he said bit him a lot and it hurt but I just said she is teething. There was one place outside on a box she would go and sit, she then would lick our faces then walk off but sometimes after the licking she would begin to bite. So I always thought it was just teething because she was showing some good behaviour. And when you picked her up and did a kissing sound she would lick your lips. So I thought there was some good behaviour there.
The other day we took her to the vets as her eye was a bit droopy and wanted to get it checked out. We took her and whilst there, someone said can I say hi to the puppy we said of course. She bit his beard straight away and then bit his arm. We said she is teething at the moment. We were then called in to see the vet. She said what can I do you for. So we told her about the eye and shown a picture. So she started a check on her eye but before that she wanted the puppy to smell her and get to know her to make it comfortable. She bit her hand straight away, locked on and applied pressure. The vet said ouch and took the puppies mouth off. She tried to cuddle her and she straight away began to bite her hair and face. We said oh she is just teething at the moment. Then after a few more bites the vet said, this is more than teething, it appears to be a behaviour issue. She said I have been a vet for 21 years and haven’t seen a puppy this bad before. She said this puppy in a few months will be 40+KG and this problem needs to be fixed now, this would need to be with a behaviourist, potential medication and complete firmness from ourselves. She also said I would not let this dog near children. We told her what she has been like at home with regards to the teething and that she is a rescue. She said I’m being honest with you, if it was me I would of returned the puppy yesterday and I’m sorry to tell you that. She said I’d heavily advise you to take the puppy back to the dog home. She brought a nurse in for a second opinion and they agreed. There a big brand Vet company aswell so quite reputable.
Obviously we were distraught from hearing the news and we have family members who come round with children and babies so we said we can’t risk it. We had a rescue last year for 2 years and we had to put him down to heart problems at 3 years old. He was the best dog anyone could ever ask for. After a year we thought we are ready now and then find this news out after two weeks honestly nearly broke me.
We rang the dogs home after the vets very upset and told them what the vet said. The guy on the phone said it’s just puppy behaviour and they need a lot of training but we said we can’t risk it and have to take the advice from the vets. We took the puppy back yesterday and the guy on the front desk was awful, told us a vet shouldn’t be saying that, she’s a puppy and she is teething. He Asked what vets it was and said we should look at other vets in the future. On the form it says did the dog bite you? My wife said well with the information we have been given I believe I have yes. The guy said well it was teething so that would be a no wouldn’t it. My wife was filling out the paper work crying and I was consoling her and I told the guy we have to take the vets advice as we have children coming to the address and can’t take the risk.
Today I’ve just been up and down all day about it. I seen Reddit posts like this and most if not all saying teething. They have put her back up for adoption on the website and in the write up it stated gets mouthy when playing. So I don’t know what to think anymore. We really wanted another dog but this bad experience has really hit us hard now, whereby we just don’t think we could do it ever again. I took a whole week of work to train her and my wife worked from home a few days into the second week to really build on it but we found out all this.
I dont know what to think. A vet is a professional and you should trust what these people say. If there are any issues with your pets, you go there for them to save them. We’ve had dogs go there before and they have been great. So I can’t discredit there opinion on this but at the same time I just can’t think a puppy can be this bad and I know they do teeth a lot. We also told some family and friends and some people with aggressive dogs who had to give them up said we made the right call which I’m sure they would do because of the trauma they have faced in the past, some had children also.
Has anyone been in a situation like this before?
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