Dog bite??? - Page 1

Hi
I am stil in shock over this. My male German Shepherd that is 15 months old just bit my 17 year old daughter. What took place is this-I let him in from being outside in the yard, he was outside with my other male playing for about an hour,so I was bringing him in and was going to put him in his crate for the night,he did not want to go in so i was going to get him a treat and let him hang around the house for a little while,well my daughter pushed himnot hard or mean in his butt the dog bit her 3 times I did not even know this was happening until she yelled "MOM HE IS BITING ME" I mean he did not bark ,growl nothing i thought he was just sniffing her. He has NEVER shown any meaness or anything of that sort. If anything he is like a big goofy dog,the least likely to hurt anyone. WE had him since he was 12 weeks old. He is a family dog kept in the house,crate only at night for bed, we walk him play with him. I just do not understand this and do not know what to do. he broke the skin on her leg her arms and other leg are fine. right now he is outside. We are all so upset,I do not know what to do with him. he knows his commands has been to training,this just not like him .please any advise will be needed.Did anyone else ever had this happen with your German Shepherds?  One more thing he is not fixed and we do not breed him we have a female that is 5 years old ,but she is fixed. thanks for your help in advance. I am so upset,oh and just to let all of you know I am 46 and since I was a kid we always had German shepherds so I am not new to this breed.

From what you said, the one thing I can pick out as a potential issue is that you said he didn't want to go in his crate.  In my house, there is no such thing as "dog doesnt 'want to'..." They have to do things, period.  And going into the crate is one of them, you should not have resistance with a trained dog.  If you, or family members, cannot make your dog do minor everyday things he doesn't want to do, that is a problem.

When you say she pushed him it was not clear, do you mean she was playing with him?  Bumped into him?  Or was she trying to push him into the crate?  What type of relationship do they have, and have there been other incidents?  How bad was the bite, was it nipping or biting causing scratches or puncture wounds, was there any hold to it or just a quick nip? 

You will need the help of a professional dog trainer who is a behavior specialist.  The daughter who got bit may need to work with the dog.  Knowing commands is only the beginning to a "trained dog".  You want to counter these behaviors now before the dog is older or has more incidents.