My dog has an infected paw. We went to the vet immediately when I found this out and he is currently on antibiotics and a pain medication to alleviate some of his discomfort while he heals. For reference, he is a 75 lb. Yakutian Laika (similar to a husky). We are on day 4 of his medication.

I informed my roommates immediately when I found this out at the vet and told them that they cannot play with him while he’s healing. However, one of my roommate was petting him last night near his injured paw and he bit her (did not break the skin). He is usually so docile and friendly, so I am concerned. I have his vaccine and health certifications posted on the refrigerator for everyone and have had him professionally trained before he had turned 1. He is about to turn 2 in October.

She is really angry with me, understandably, and requested that I just lock him in my room for the next week. This is impossible for me to do since he is a large dog and we live in a city. He has free reign of the house aside from the 3 and 4 floor (where her room is) and the living room. I don’t know what else I can do, but locking him in my room and punishing him for reacting while he is in pain doesn’t feel right to me. I trained him using positive reinforcements and I am very against negative reinforcement training, but she wants me to “punish” him. How should I go about this?

He only has 6 days of antibiotics left, so he should be fully healed soon. We will then be returning to the vet for X-rays to confirm there is not a foreign object lodged in his paw somewhere (the vet used a magnifying lens but could not see anything- other than it looked like a chemical abrasion or an abrasion caused by little pieces of glass).

This roommate also moved in two weeks ago and is relatively new to the house.

TLDR: My normally friendly and well trained dog bit my roommate while he’s healing from a paw injury and I don’t know what to do. I have the means to board him and am willing to do anything to alleviate the tension / make my dog feel comfortable, but I’m afraid he will see this as punishment and I really don’t want to disrupt his life while he is already in pain.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated- thanks all ❤️

UPDATE 8/24: We found a great solution that works for us temporarily and my roommate has actually been really understanding about it. He has free reign of the house during the day, but I am just going to gate him to stay with me in my room in the evenings while she is cooking downstairs for an hour or so. It’s an easy fix temporarily and all parties are happy!

We also went on a walk yesterday afternoon and he was able to see some of his neighborhood dog friends that he hasn’t seen in a while, so everyone is happy!