1) I have heard that once a dog bites, it is hard to break them of it and once they bite they will bite again and again, is that true?

2) We are trying to figure out the reason for the biting. He had a pair of my pantyhose and was trapped under the bed with the pantyhose and we were trying to get them off of him. We did have him trapped because my husband was on one side and me on the other. We finally pulled him out and that was when he bit him. He then got trapped in a corner and my husband was trying to get the leash on him and he was growling and snapping at him terribly. Finally we were able to subdue him. He has growled at us on occasion but never to this extent.

We are now considering taking him to the SPCA. We really do not want to because he has become such a part of the family, but we are afraid of more repercussions like this.

Lastly, we had him groomed a few days before this happened and thought that he was acting strangely after that. Any help would be much appreciated. We do love him very much but do not want to live in fear of this happening again. Please Help.

A: I'd have him evaluated by the veterinarian to see if he has some sort of injury making him try to protect himself. It's possible an accident could have happened at the groomer. If you have had this dog since puppyhood and this was the first such incident, that points to special circumstances, not necessarily a hopeless temperament.

Other possible physical causes include 1) sore skin because his coat was allowed to form mats -- these sores can progress to the point of having maggots in them, and will certainly cause the dog pain when touched and 2) sore ears, a major problem in Cocker Spaniels. Grooming could have temporarily made these conditions more painful.

Have your vet recommend a trainer or behavior specialist to come out and evaluate the dog's temperament. Depending on how you feel after the evaluation, you'll need to get into training with the dog if you choose to keep him. You'll have to learn better ways to handle him that don't send him into a fight-or-flight defensive survival mode. At that point, a dog can't think, only reacts instinctively.

Dogs have different thresholds as to what pushes them to this point, just as humans do. You can improve the thresholds by such things as daily grooming and training -- but it has to be just the right kind of training. And you can develop other ways of handling the dog, such as calling him to you instead of cornering him. Again, that takes training, teamwork training for both owner and dog.

The fact that a dog has bitten once does not mean he will necessarily ever bite again. It depends on exactly why it happened, and whether you can change those circumstances so they don't occur again. Don't fight with your dog. Work with the dog so that you learn how to get him to cooperate with you. But first things first -- get a medical evaluation and a temperament evaluation, to see just what you are up against. I hope things go well.