My dog bit me this morning while sleeping :(

 Sounds like resource guarding to me. In this case the resource being the bed. Good call on not allowing him up there. He needs to earn the priviledge of sleeping on the bed. I would also eliminate the couch  also. Google NILIF (Nothing in Life is Free). It sounds like you've got a good idea about the problem. Good luck and keep us posted.

Please do NOT be more dominant.  Yes, keep the dog off the bed....bed, furniture, etc, are EARNED privledges.  But don't go all dominant on him or you may end up with a worse situation.

Honestly, I might bite someone who woke me up by kicking me in the face.....

glenmar

Honestly, I might bite someone who woke me up by kicking me in the face.....

 

Yes... not that your dog should bite you, but honestly, you kicked him in the face. You certainly didn't intend to do that, but you did, and for some dogs, biting someone who is aggressive is not an abnormal behavior at all. You might want to teach him to sleep on his own bed or in a crate, then you won't kick him. My dog usually sleeps in my bed, but sometimes I move around too much, and he will go sleep on this floor or on his own bed. For my dog, this is a choice, but for yours, I probably wouldn't let the dog choose. Then again, he might be happier to sleep somewhere where he doesn't have to worry about being kicked (I know you didn't mean it, I thrash around a bit too).

 

 I sleep with a dog and two cats. None of them sleep near my feet, except the kitten who lives to attack anything that moves. That being said, he still loses bed privledges IMO.

He's been following me around all day and clinging to me lol.  I won't hold it against him but he is still not allowed on the bed for obvious safety reasons.

Did you WAKE him by kicking him? Or was he mad because you kicked him? Big difference in my book.

 

You mentioned he seemed very clingy after being disciplined. Chances are pretty good that he is concerned about the change in your attitude.It is fairly common situation. When someone adopts a dog , brings it home they feel wonderful about knowing they did a very good thing. They offer Love and companionship to the pup/dog and it gives it back. The opportunity of encorporating the new personality into your Life is a great feeling and a work in progress. Since we all change to one degree or another as we grow up and then continue in the aging process.

He had forgotton about the bite and your initial reaction within a very brief time. Dogs do not carry grudges for something that happens by accident. They may rethink repeating the action , but it is not in a "I can't trust that person not to stick their foot in my face because she does it on purpose" way.  Instead they are more of a "The sofa/dog bed/favorite corner of the house is much less chaotic so that is more to my taste".

If he got on your bed and refused to get down when told to, or curled his lip when you tried to put him off. That would be a problem of a different type.

It is more likely that the clingyness you noticed, is because you went from sleeping with "your baby boy" . To the normal reaction we all then to have when someone we love hurts us. We hold ourselves differently,  our tone is even changed. We may not see and hear it but your dog, ( unlike some boyfriends and husbands   ) will pick up on the hint of withdrawl in a heartbeat.  He knows when you are anxious, angry, happy, sad, or just withdrawn because you are working something out in your mind. Loving and depending on you, amplifies that knowledge causing him to feel the need to do "something" to make you feel better.  I have dogs who cling, become clowns and my favorites the ones who simply lay next to me a silent, solid wall of caring that does not demand attention . Just makes sure I know they are right there should I  need them for anything, anything at all. 

We have 6 Rhodesian Ridgebacks from 5 months to 13 years.  They all exhibit the kind of behaviors I touched on. They would all love to sleep on our bed with us as well but it is by invitation only at our home. I have many nice dog beds scattered around the room.  The only resource Guarding in our house is done by the 2 leggers!  I also, at random, have them sleep in their crates.  They know they are Cherished and Loved. But even with a King Sized Bed having 5 dogs from 40 to 95 pounds is a recipe for me to wake up exhausted from just trying to stay on the bed! Thankfully one boy sleeps with my daughter, leaving me the other 5 to supervise.

I'm sorry I forgot if you mentioned his age? Even young dogs can have some medical issues with arthritis and joint problems.   It might not be a bad idea to have the vet give him a good once over to assure he is not in need of care that would prevent things from becoming worse. Many pet owners are unaware something as simple as a thyroid level that is off, can make a normally loving and gentle dog aggressive.

 Keep us all posted on the steps you decide to use to change things up a bit making sure he is happy and every one is safe. Good Luck!!

You mentioned he seemed very clingy after being disciplined. Chances are pretty good that he is concerned about the change in your attitude.It is fairly common situation. When someone adopts a dog , brings it home they feel wonderful about knowing they did a very good thing. They offer Love and companionship to the pup/dog and it gives it back. The opportunity of encorporating the new personality into your Life is a great feeling and a work in progress. Since we all change to one degree or another as we grow up and then continue in the aging process.

He had forgotton about the bite and your initial reaction within a very brief time. Dogs do not carry grudges for something that happens by accident. They may rethink repeating the action , but it is not in a "I can't trust that person not to stick their foot in my face because she does it on purpose" way.  Instead they are more of a "The sofa/dog bed/favorite corner of the house is much less chaotic so that is more to my taste".

If he got on your bed and refused to get down when told to, or curled his lip when you tried to put him off. That would be a problem of a different type.

It is more likely that the clingyness you noticed, is because you went from sleeping with "your baby boy" . To the normal reaction we all then to have when someone we love hurts us. We hold ourselves differently,  our tone is even changed. We may not see and hear it but your dog, ( unlike some boyfriends and husbands   ) will pick up on the hint of withdrawl in a heartbeat.  He knows when you are anxious, angry, happy, sad, or just withdrawn because you are working something out in your mind. Loving and depending on you, amplifies that knowledge causing him to feel the need to do "something" to make you feel better.  I have dogs who cling, become clowns and my favorites the ones who simply lay next to me a silent, solid wall of caring that does not demand attention . Just makes sure I know they are right there should I  need them for anything, anything at all. 

We have 6 Rhodesian Ridgebacks from 5 months to 13 years.  They all exhibit the kind of behaviors I touched on. They would all love to sleep on our bed with us as well but it is by invitation only at our home. I have many nice dog beds scattered around the room.  The only resource Guarding in our house is done by the 2 leggers!  I also, at random, have them sleep in their crates.  They know they are Cherished and Loved. But even with a King Sized Bed having 5 dogs from 40 to 95 pounds is a recipe for me to wake up exhausted from just trying to stay on the bed! Thankfully one boy sleeps with my daughter, leaving me the other 5 to supervise.

I'm sorry I forgot if you mentioned his age? Even young dogs can have some medical issues with arthritis and joint problems.   It might not be a bad idea to have the vet give him a good once over to assure he is not in need of care that would prevent things from becoming worse. Many pet owners are unaware something as simple as a thyroid level that is off, can make a normally loving and gentle dog aggressive.

 Keep us all posted on the steps you decide to use to change things up a bit making sure he is happy and every one is safe. Good Luck!!

I asked if you woke him up or he was just mad because you kicked him for a reason.  About a year ago, I got bit BIGTIME in my head of all places, by Gibson of course.

He was sound asleep, curled on his bed next to my DHs chair while he was watching TV, the lights were off, it was darkish in the room with just the light of the TV.  I was in the computer room down the hall, on the computer reading that my friends Great Dane had just died..... and started crying and needed to hug my Gibby.  MISTAKE!!!  I got down on the floor and went to kiss his head, MISTAKE!  He jumped, bit me and ran ( expressing his anal glands along the way ) across the room, all at the same time.  I was soooo lucky it was my head and not my face, not even sure how that happened...maybe I was faster than I thought.  I bled for a long time, in two spots. I would not go to ER as my DH wanted me to, because I knew that was going to be a reported dog bite and that was NOT going down on record from something that was my fault.      I researched after that, there are dogs that bite when they are woken up,,,, one dog that actually killed a cat in the house that walked over him while he slept, another that caused major damage to his owner that he slept with every night.   I also read in another place what to do if you have a dog that startles easily from a sleep like that, ways to get them used to being bothered.  I believe with Gibby, it was he just happened to open his eyes from a deep sleep, to a face within an inch from his. What a stupid thing for me to do!   BUT that said, we no longer watch TV up in the loft without a light on.  Trying to make Gibby not fall into that deep of a sleep.

Think I woke up him up from kicking him, but there are so many things that could have caused it. One is that we used to have a great dane lab mix and before we had to rehome him he would always climb all over poncho (our dog) and piss him off and there is the chance that poncho might have thought for a minute that i was the lab mix when he woke up.  So many things.    Anyways he is 2 years old so i am sure that there is nothing wrong with him physicially because other then sleeping he is fine and playful.     he is doing fine today probably doesnt even remember it.

If it never happened before, and if you woke him up, it sounds like it was just a reaction to being waken up... by kick in the face method... not to sound bad or anything, haha. I know I wouldn;t react very good if someone hit me when I was sleeping... I am very cranky when I am woken up unexpectedly. Dogs are the same way. So it was probably just a reaction, not on purpose or anything.. and he was most likely clinging to you because he felt bad that you were not letting him on the bed anymore, and he's trying to gain it back. :)

The dominance theory has largely been disproved anyway, so I'm hoping you won't think that being stern is the way to go with this dog. In fact, aggressiveness on the part of owners has been shown to make aggressiveness in dogs worse. This is the PPG statement on dominance: http://www.petprofessionalguild.com/DominanceTheoryPositionStatement and this is a link to the study: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090217141540.htm. Some dogs have an incident like this and never have another - the likely scenario being that he was just startled and responded out of fear. However, the more likely situation is sometimes "resource guarding" because dogs regard resting places as an important resource. In that case, the book, "Mine! A Practical Guide to Resource Guarding in Dogs" can offer you a lot of insight into dogs that do this and how to handle them so that no one gets hurt, including the dog.