Help - my 3 year old labrador just bit someone...

I'm completely shocked and confused.
My 3 year old Labrador has just bitten someone we know in the village having never shown aggressive behaviour before.

He runs around outside a lot during the day (in a very excitable manner, he's an overgrown puppy) and we have a gate at the bottom of the drive that is set back from the road. When we're around, we invite people to say hi to Archie through the gate with cheers of 'oh he's fine, he's just very excited and over friendly, he just wants to play.' This again happened today and when the person came to the gate, Archie's tail stopped wagging, and then a very quick growl and a bite. It took a fair chunk off the knuckles which makes me think that he approached with a fist. I didn't see this but this is a report from my Dad who was there.

It is very out of character for Archie and we're shocked and upset that this has happened. We're not worried about liability or anything like that - my first reaction to this kind of thing is not oh God we're going to get sued but, is the victim OK, and what the hell do we do about our dog and prevent this from happening again?

1. There was a short growl before the bite. This means it was not a misjudgment/accident by an overkeen dog that still behaves a bit like a puppy
2. He's has never shown aggression before
3. He was not shouted at at the time because Dad was just in complete shock and attending to the victim so Archie has gone unpunished. Any telling off now would be unassociated.
4. The visitor did not approach in any kind of threatening manner - we can't work out why he lashed out like this.

I guess my question is, what the hell do we do now? Is this a blip? Or do we have to take measures because our dog has had a fundamental change in behaviour?

I would stop encouraging strangers or anyone saying hi through the gate ...with the dangerous dog act it only takes one person to report another incident and it could cost you your dogs life. ...
Very odd that he growled and then bit immediately. ...
Try not to be too upset ...just dont put him in that situation again ...
Hope your dad is ok

(I'm not a behaviourist just a dog owner*) This is a sensitive topic, so I'm going to try and explain as best as i can for what to do from here onwards. So from your post you say you allow people in the garden and the dog is fine with it. You could stop people going in the garden, your lab could have been trying to protect someone or something. I will link a picture in and it is the canine ladder of aggression and this can help in so many ways in situations as these, if you find @JoanneF ‘s post *body language* then you can read about some dogs body language. Is Archie neutered? As he is three years old sometimes having a dog neutered it can be beneficial. If Archie is neutered, what age was he neutered at? I would also recommend booking Archie in at the vets as there could be an underlining issue to the behaviour seen today. Biting and Snapping are two very different things. Biting is something where there is a long held grip and can do some damage but not much. Snapping is usually followed by a growl. But despite this, your dog from today’s behaviour can be put under the Dangerous Dogs Act, I’m guessing you took the man’s contact details? If so you can try and speak over the phone and try and sort out some arrangement. I wouldn’t think you have public liability for your dog do you? If not it is a good thing to have. It does come as a shock but try and keep a clear head. But get an appointment at the vets, you could mention at the vets about what has happened and see if they can offer some advice. I really hope this helps, if you need anything please just message me. –Violet

As has been said, make sure that he's not put in this situation again. Gates can be a trigger point, and there may have been something, goodness knows what, about this man that really upset him for some reason. Maybe even a static shock off his hand.

I'd also definitely get him checked over by a vet. I know someone whose child was bitten by a retriever who had no history of aggression and it turned out that the retriever had an abcess in a tooth.

Is it at all possible that there have been some signs of aggression previously that could have been missed? Sometimes growls can be so soft they are really just a slightly noisier breathing - and sometimes if my dog's taken a dislike to another dog when on lead I can't hear a thing but can feel a vibration coming through the lead. Is there any behaviour he's shown previously that might give a hint that he's been uncomfortable in the past?

If a vet check shows nothing, it might be worth calling an experienced behaviourist in to observe him closely. But be aware that you would need to be very sure of their abilities - if anyone says anything about dominance, status, being alpha, look elsewhere.

Also, I would get him used to wearing a muzzle - if he bit a second time it could go very badly for him so this is to protect him as much as other people. You weren't able to predict it this time so you don't know if and when it might happen again.

How bad was the bite? Bad enough to need medical treatment? And how did the man respond? Do you know if he plans to take any action, or he did accept that you couldn't have predicted this?

It's horrible when this happens, particularly when you are so sure that your dog is 100% friendly. But it does happen - any dog can bite in certain circumstances - and it is possible to move on.

Firstly, thank you all for your advice.

Violet Turner said:

your post you say you allow people in the garden and the dog is fine with it.

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By going in the garden, I mean up the drive. Delivery drivers and postmen etc come up the drive to knock on the door. Both my mum and dad are active helping around the village so we often have visitors pop by.

I'm definitely going to get him checked over by the vet. Over the last couple of days I have noticed him scratching a lot, he seems to be itchy. I can't find any signs of anything unusual but it might be related.

Yes, Archie is neutered. I can't quite remember but we went on our vet's advice with this.

The man lives across the road and we know him fairly well. He seemed to not be too put out by it and tried not to make a fuss but we did advise medical advice as a precaution. It was a snap, there was no hold or anything like that. Dad was embarrassed of course as he had waved him over in the first place.

JudyN said:

Is it at all possible that there have been some signs of aggression previously that could have been missed? Sometimes growls can be so soft they are really just a slightly noisier breathing - and sometimes if my dog's taken a dislike to another dog when on lead I can't hear a thing but can feel a vibration coming through the lead. Is there any behaviour he's shown previously that might give a hint that he's been uncomfortable in the past?

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When coming across other dogs that he doesn't like or don't like him, he usually cowers a bit, tail between his legs, bum down and hurries away. He's never confrontational and I've not seen him be the one to bark first. It's also rare for him to bark back. He gets the message quickly!

I do think something upset him but I can't work out what so it makes it hard for me to stop it happening again.

My view is a dog's behaviour is always erratic- they're living beings. You will probably never work out what happened this time. But what you can do now is manage his environment. No more interactions through the gate and to be honest we've never allowed any of our dogs free access to the front where delivery people etc come onto our property. I remember actually seeing the paper-boy hurdle the fence pursued by my mother's corgi. After that there was a side gate fitted with a lock. What you are doing by keeping visitors away from your dog is protecting them but also protecting your dog. Dogs like people make mistakes- but it's the dogs that get punished pretty harshly by the law.

The above advice is all good - I just would like to highlight these two pieces of very contradictory information.

hannah141 said:

oh he's fine, he's just very excited and over friendly, he just wants to play.'

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hannah141 said:

When coming across other dogs that he doesn't like or don't like him, he usually cowers a bit, tail between his legs, bum down and hurries away.

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I realise in the first quote you are talking about people and in the second about dogs but it makes me wonder if he is uncomfortable with his environment being entered.

So go with the advice above - vet check, muzzle, protect his environment and be hyper vigilant watching his body language.

You say your neighbour is ok with the situation...So I would say a bunch of flowers or a bottle of something he likes by way of an apology would be in order. Then ask him about what happened, explain that you are not trying to shift blame or say he did anything wrong just trying to make sense and prevent it ever happening again. You never know he might be able to offer a clue as to what went wrong.
Then as others have said see a vet just in case and now is the time to put prevention measures in place to make sure Archies life is not put at risk by anyone else getting bitten.

hannah141 said:

By going in the garden, I mean up the drive. Delivery drivers and postmen etc come up the drive to knock on the door. Both my mum and dad are active helping around the village so we often have visitors pop by.

I

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I take it you mean he is allowed to run in the front garden and greet and meet people, you have to discourage this from now on, you need to try and find the reason, a vet check will be good, but from now on I would never allow him free run in the front garden , this is a warning you have got away with, don`t let it happen again. if he is in the front garden put him on a lead, don`t give him free roam to go up to visitors...if you have a back garden leave him there, or in the house. there could be a thousand reason this happened, he might have been startled , felt threatened and so on, it might be worth his eye sight being checked. but what ever the reason take steps for it not to happen again.,