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I would videotape his interactions with the dogs. If he does finally get bitten, I would want video proof that it is his behavior that is bad.
Here is another approach - sign him up for an obedience class with one of the dogs. Fill the instructor in on the problem. This way you have someone who i not part of the family telling him how to interact with the dog. It might help him see how he should be behaving.
Ooh....I like the obedience class approach! I know just the trainer I could set him up with. She can be a bit "rough around the edges" if you aren't used to her style. I absolutely love her!
The fact that the boy has no clue about personal space with dogs or even humans is interesting. That he has no friends, just hangs around the house, etc. maybe telling you something. That you have to keep telling him things and it's not sinking in, is even more telling.
Is he on the autism spectrum ? Sounds like he may have Asperger's. Often the personal space thing is a big clue as it's common with that. Do a quick search on Google - " aspergers-personal space"
You might want to have him tested, then get ideas from professionals about how to clue him in on appropriate behavior.
In the meantime, I would make it a household policy, to separate him from pets. Either with barriers or sad to say, by not getting any more fosters. If this kid is going to live with you, he will get bitten eventually. The dog will suffer for it for sure, the kid's mom will be after you, etc. I would also not let him volunteer at a shelter. One shelter dog biting him, may well mean death for that dog. And you already know how much damage a dog bite can do to a face.
I may have missed something, but where is your boyfriend in all this? Is he backing you up? You need to impress upon both of them that this is serious business. A serious bite to the face could make that dog considered unadoptable regardless of the circumstances. If your bf is looking the other way, downplaying it, or just not wanting to deal with it, that needs to change. If it carries over to other issues in his son's life, that needs to change also, or you may be facing some other unpleasant problems too.
I would crate the 17 year old, but I'm not really good with kids.
I think the obedience class and trainer may be a good approach. Sometimes you have to train a human with the same tactics as training a dog, praise and rewards when they do good, removing them or the distraction when they are bad.
If you're good with dealing with dogs that have issues, you need to project that same sort of confident leadership towards the kid, but better yet, as others have suggested, do it with his father. If daddy dearest fails to take it seriously, he's disrespecting your authority (so it's no wonder his 17 year old boy does, and *that* will certainly get worse).
As a foster mom, your obligation is to the dog(s). If your home environment is posing a risk to the welfare of the dog, you need to remedy that situation by ending that risk -- the father & son get a wake up call to respect you, or either they move out or you move out. Otherwise, you have to return the foster dog where it will probably be killed, and then you can only foster easy dogs that will put up with the BS in your household.
The dog clearly has a good foster-mom, but not a good foster-family nor a good foster home. You have volunteered to be responsible for the dog & need to assert more control in the home, or move out with the dog.
I specialize in fostering aggressive dogs, and I know that if one of my foster dogs bites someone, it's not the dog's fault, it is MY fault & I would have failed that dog, with my actions resulting in it being killed if a bite report was filed (if I'm lucky, I'd be able to adopt it myself to save it's life, but I already have several of my own & one more means no more fostering).
I know, you love your boyfriend, blah blah blah, but you posted in a forum about dogs, not your love-life & relationships. I care about the dog. The kids needs a major reality-check, but instead of the dog biting his nose off, I just hope he smarts-off to the wrong person & gets thumped. You need to make-up your mind -- fostering needy dogs, or continuing to live with two immature boys that don't really respect you.
I suppose you could try psychology towards the kid -- when he sticks his face into the dog's face, tell him that you just saw the dog eat excrement outside, or (if a male dog) you just saw him lick his balls, then ask the 17 year old if he's into that sort of thing.
Another thing you could do is print out this response of mine & let them see it.
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