I just don't know what to do.

I have a confession to make. I love my dog. I seriously do. But I've been bitten by him now on an almost daily basis. It used to be just me. Now he's expanding out:

After working with Noah for several months with a trainer and a behaviorist, I thought I was seeing improvement. Recently, my four year old nephew came over. He and Noah are usually buddies and have never had any problems. After a day of play, Noah walked over to my father and laid down on the couch with him. My nephew walked into the room and without warning, Noah rushed over to Dean and bit him on the hand hard. There was no was no warning growl, no stare, no air snap, nothing. Just a growl AS he bit Dean's hand. It was completely unpredictable and everyone was shocked. Luckily, Dad was able to get Noah away quickly (I wasn't home) and his bite didn't break Dean's skin. Still, I hate hearing this, it makes my heart drop. I immediately called my stepsister and apologized asking if Dean was okay. He was. (In fact he wanted to come over and kiss Noah goodnight. I told him that's gonna have to be a big, fat no)

Another incident: He used to be excellent at the dog park....until last weekend when he pinned a puppy to the ground, gripped onto her neck and wouldn't let go till I came over. The puppy wasn't hurt. Someone brought a dog toy to the park....Noah took the toy and even when a pack of dogs chased him for it, he wouldn't let go of the toy. A woman tried to take the toy, he air snapped at the woman. I took the toy. We won't be going back. :( It seems like Noah's world is getting very small, but I must put people's safety first.


I do love Noah. I was so excited to get a dog and have us be together, but I never expected it would be like this. Your dogs don't...do this do they? My old dog Happy was never like this. Ever. Kids could CLIMB on her and she would just sit there with her tongue lolling out of her mouth and wag her tail. (of course, I never let the climbing continue, but in the 12 years I had her, she never hurt a fly. In fact, she whined once when she killed a ladybug. True story. I had to comfort her and bring her home from our walk)

I'm bringing Noah to the vet today to talk about his behavior and (hopefully) see if there's any root cause with this. He's definitely not around kids anymore. Makes me sad. I'm just stumped. There's moments where he's so loving and just snuggles with me on the couch. Or he sits by the door waiting for me right before I come home from work. As I type this, He's snuggled under his blanket, in his crate next to my bed, where he always sleeps. We played ball happily last night. But you just never know with Noah. It changes in a bipolar instant.