Our family just adopted to shelties and one of them is deathly afraid of men and my son.My son was loving on the dog and then it out of nowhere visiously attacked him and left a gash on his head and arm.Being new dogs and since they came from an abusive home i don't want to get rid of him et.SInce I am going to give him some time to get his act together i was wwonderig if you had any tips to stop the biting.

THank YOu

     Your sheltie is AFRAID of men, and boys have the scent of a "male".  He was probably beaten, teased, and maybe even starved by a male person.  So, he really has no reason to trust your boy, yet.  In the sheltie's mind, if one male will beat on him, then ALL males will.  KEEP YOUR BOY AWAY FROM THE SHELTIE at this time!   You must first, let the sheltie get to trust  him AND you.   You can do this by YOU being the one who always gives him food and water, and your boy feed the other one (where the fearful sheltie can see him do so, BUT CAN NOT GET AT YOUR SON.( like through a fence).   It might be best to NOT let your boy hug or snuggle on the other one, either, or the fearful sheltie might think your boy is harming the other one and attack.   You must also be SURE that the other one WANTS that kind of attention, or she could fear being harmed too.  When you are sure the fearful sheltie has gotten used to things without   "expecting" to be hurt,  then you and your boy could take turn-about feeding and watering the two.  But it would still be wise to not let  your son do this, where the fearful sheltie could get to your boy.  Training them would would be a GREAT help( if you do it without yelling, hitting or punishment of any kind.)  Use tiny treats, and PLEASE be dilligent and repetitive.  It may take time, but the results are well worth the trouble.