About Buddy

My name is Shannon. Our family adopted a 12 week old lab/hound mix puppy in April 2022. He looks almost completely lab except his longer ears and he howls like hound. He is now 18 months old. We are looking to rehome him. We have had issues with him biting and, he most recently bit our son's face. The 10 quarantine for rabies observation ended on Saturday. Buddy is generally an amazing dog that we all love dearly. Unfortunately, our kids are now afraid of him and don't feel safe around him. My husband and I are also very untrusting of him now. He first lightly bit our 8 year old about 6 months ago. My husband and I were not present. My children explained what happened and, we couldn't rule out the possibility that our daughter had accidentally startled him while he was sleeping and, snapping was his reaction. He hadn't bitten her hard and only left and surface scrape that barely broke skin. He was not otherwise ever aggressive so we were willing to give him another chance. About a month ago, he bit our son's best friend (13 years old) on the elbow leaving two small cuts/puncture wounds. We informed the child's dad and, they didn't seek medical care but treated it with antibiotic cream. At that point, we reached out to the rescue we adopted from for help with rehoming him. They were unable to help us except to say find a behavioralist to work with him. In the couple days we were researching that option, he bit our son. Both of these incidents were unprovoked and without warning and within two weeks of each other. He did not growl, bear teeth, or otherwise give warning before he bit. When he bit our son's friend, all the child did was close a pizza box that was on the table and, Buddy aggressively bit his elbow. The most recent bite on our son (12 years old) occurred while he was getting ready for soccer. Our son bent over to pick up his shin guard and, buddy attacked his face leaving multiple deep lacerations on both sides of his face. There was nothing of his even in the area to assume he was resource guarding. His food was on the other side of the house, there were no treats, and all his toys were put away on the other side of the room. It is very difficult for us to understand this behavior because 99% of the time, he is an amazing dog. He loves to play with kids. He waits for them and is executed to see them. He whines for them when they're not around yet bites them without warning or provocation. He fetches balls, catches balls or toys; he loves tug of war with his ropes; he sits and stays on command; he'll drop things he shouldn't have on command 'drop it'; he'll sit and stay while waiting for his food until given permission to eat it; he'll leave a treat on the floor when told 'leave it' until told to get it; he'll very gently take even the smallest treat without snapping at your fingers; when investigating things, that aren't his or that he shouldn't have, will walk away when told 'not yours'. He truly is a great dog most of the time. However, as much as it breaks our hearts, we can't leave our children in a place where they feel unsafe in their own home or where they're not able to safely have friends visit. We have to choose our children's safety and security over our dog at their point. We have come to a place where we have no choice but to rehome him. We are unsure how to help him any further. We've raised multiple dogs all in the same manner, save college years, I've always had a dog and, I've never had this issue. I don't know what we should've done differently or if there's anything we could've done differently. We have unsuccessfully reached out to multiple rescues. I don't want to bring him to our local SPCA because they have a very high kill rate but, we can't keep him so that's starting to seem more like the only option we'll have. We are now unfortunately also starting to be in a time crunch because we leave for vacation Saturday morning and really don't feel comfortable asking someone to watch him while we are gone.

Gloucester County
Franklinville, New Jersey