WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BITE YOUR THUMB AT SOMEONE PROFESSIONAL
If your dog is high energy and can get aggressively distracted by his prey drive, then consider professional training in things like agility or treibball, particularly if your dog is a herding breed, although agility will work with any breed of dog that’s healthy enough to do it. Also combine discipline with the game - you don’t throw the ball until she sits and waits calmly for you to do it. This will satisfy her prey drive while keeping accidental human targets out of range. Instead of playing tug-of-war, refocus your dog by playing fetch. After this has happened once, it’s time to adjust the game. When a dog bites because of their prey drive, it’s frequently accidental - the dog was aiming for the rope toy and missed, hitting your hand, for example. Your dog will associate you with pleasant things, and so become far less likely to react with fearful aggression. At first, this may be a treat, but if you gradually switch over the reward to praise and affection, then you become the treat. Second, work on discipline by teaching him simple tricks, particularly sit and stay, using positive reinforcement. Increasing novelty for your dog will help reduce her fear. Once you’re both comfortable on the walk, work together to expose her to new situations, people, and dogs. This helps your dog get used to the idea that nothing bad is going to happen to her while you’re around and reinforces her trust in you. Your best trust-building exercise is walking together, provided that you are acting as a calm, assertive Pack Leader. But if you don’t build trust after an incident like this, it can happen more often whenever your dog is feeling insecure, and anyone can be the target. It may just be a one-time thing - you moved toward the dog too quickly, or sat too close to him while he was sleeping, for example. If your dog bites you because you scared him, then you need to build trust in the relationship. This leaves possessiveness, fear, and the prey drive, of which the first is the most serious and takes longer to deal with. Your vet can determine whether your dog is feeling pain, or if they have some other neurological condition that caused the unexpected behavior.
Dogs are very good at hiding pain, but if you touch a sore spot that they’ve been keeping secret, they can react instinctively with a warning nip. Is your dog in pain? If you’re bitten unexpectedly and none of the other three reasons apply, it’s time to take a trip to the vet. Is your dog a mother with puppies? Then respect their space and let the mother dog deal with her litter until she’s ready to let them be around other people.