u/Kittyo567

Well guys, my baby boy Bucky Barnes (who posted about before here) had a very huge behavioral issue last night in that he bit me in the face. He’s an extremely anxious and fearful dog. When I adopted him they couldn’t even get him to walk out of his kennel, they had to pick him up and carry him to my car (should’ve seen that as a huge red flag but I was just so happy to finally have a dog and companion to call my own). I’ve been trying to work with him and at his pace with his anxiety and fears of being outside. I know I had previously asked questions before about his anxiety and how I could maybe go about it. But when he’s outside he just shuts down and I’ll have to drag him yo get him to start walking again to go potty. Prior to last night he’s been a super quiet dog, and quite loving. He’s walk up to me in bed to cuddle, he lays on his back a lot, he finally started showing interest in the toys I got him. However last night when I was trying to get him off the bed to go potty, instead of dragging him of with the leash (which I hate having to do) I’ve been trying to kind of pick him up and slide him off which I’ve done before in the past no issue. But last night I guess I reached his threshold of the dragging and he snapped and bit me in the face. I got medical treatment for it so I’m good, but I’m keeping him in his crate for the foreseeable future and he no longer has been privileges until I can try and get him to start listening to me with just basic commands (because he doesn’t even really listen). I don’t want to give up on him and return him to the shelter yet, but I know this aggression is a serious thing. He definitely seems to have some type of trigger with his back legs and maybe part of his belly as a week ago my aunt was playing with him and play growled and was touching the back of his legs and he turned around and growled at her.

I got him a vet appointment to maybe pinpoint if he might actually be in any pain in his tummy and if I maybe pressed on something. And I will also talk about getting him some anxiety meds and what I can do for some type of training for him. I still love him and I grew very attached to him but I’m honestly a little nervous around him now as well. I know this was a super long post but I was just curious if anyone might have any advice for me as this is the first time I’ve ever dealt with something like this, and I don’t really have experience in training dogs.