Many times when caring for our dogs, whether in training them or playing with them, they bite. Sometimes it is a playful nip from us grabbing them while they are playing and that bite is quick and generally not painful.
But other times we might be feeding them or attempting to take something from them and we get growled or snarled at, maybe with full teeth showing and threating to do more damage.
My relative owned a chow. She was attempting to trim it's toenails and accidently cut into the quick on one foot. It started bleeding and she forgot the danger of when a chow smells blood. She reached toward the dog to see how bad the cut was and her dog of whom she had owned for 8 years, attacked her.
Her husband heard her screams and got the dog off of her and in a pen. Her arm required 12 stitches and her leg 10 stitches. If her husband had not been home, she fears the result would have ended her life, for the full grown chow was much to strong for her to ward him off.
The dog was put down.
Have you ever heard of a dog attack or had your own experience or been threated by one by your dogs? If so please share here.
Biting dogs is quite a problem. I was attacked by a friend's rottweiler when I was a little girl. He tried to tear out my airway. Since then I have a terrible fear of big dogs. After I got married, my husband got us a German Sheppard, I was a little skeptic at the start, her being a big breed after all , but she turned out as the friendliest dog ever, and she is amazing with my children. about two years ago, we got another German Shepard, He and my son are inseparable. They sometimes tend to take you by the hand when they want to show you something, but they have never bitten anybody, and even play with my cats.
I had a Boerboel Foxhound cross that was another story in its entirety. We lived in a security complex and the kids in the complex teased her over the walls and threw stones at her. This made her very aggressive towards children. when my daughter was born everything went well until she started crawling. The dog started growling at her and showing her teeth. One day, she actually bit my little girl in the face for na apparent reason, my girl had to get stitches. I just could not get myself to have the dog put down, because some irresponsible human kids damaged her psychologically. she now stays with an old lady in a retirement village and they are fast friends. I visit her from time to time and she seems really happy. There are no kids around to bully her or make her feel uncomfortable.
(03-04-2013, 11:56 AM)4sweed Wrote: My relative owned a chow. She was attempting to trim it's toenails and accidently cut into the quick on one foot. It started bleeding and she forgot the danger of when a chow smells blood. She reached toward the dog to see how bad the cut was and her dog of whom she had owned for 8 years, attacked her.
Have you ever heard of a dog attack or had your own experience or been threated by one by your dogs? If so please share here.
I, too, have my fair share of battle scars. Back when I left Buchi with my sister, he had less contact with humans and less corrections when he did something wrong. A couple of years later, when I came back to spend some time with my sister, he was aggressive and dominant. He would growl at the person holding a clipper or those who are trying to touch him. He didn't have dog friends either because they isolated him.
At first, he just growled at me when my hand went close to his bone... but then, he bit me. It did not bleed fortunately, but that experience made me a little hesitant to hold him again. Nonetheless, I started to correct his behavior and he's doing okay now.
Chowchows do have a higher bite rate than other dogs, statistically speaking. Nonetheless, I do hope they did not have him/her euthanized.
(03-04-2013, 05:26 PM)Yatte Wrote: Biting dogs is quite a problem. I was attacked by a friend's rottweiler when I was a little girl. He tried to tear out my airway. Since then I have a terrible fear of big dogs. After I got married, my husband got us a German Sheppard, I was a little skeptic at the start, her being a big breed after all , but she turned out as the friendliest dog ever, and she is amazing with my children. about two years ago, we got another German Shepard, He and my son are inseparable. They sometimes tend to take you by the hand when they want to show you something, but they have never bitten anybody, and even play with my cats.
I had a Boerboel Foxhound cross that was another story in its entirety. We lived in a security complex and the kids in the complex teased her over the walls and threw stones at her. This made her very aggressive towards children. when my daughter was born everything went well until she started crawling. The dog started growling at her and showing her teeth. One day, she actually bit my little girl in the face for na apparent reason, my girl had to get stitches. I just could not get myself to have the dog put down, because some irresponsible human kids damaged her psychologically. she now stays with an old lady in a retirement village and they are fast friends. I visit her from time to time and she seems really happy. There are no kids around to bully her or make her feel uncomfortable.
Wow, I commend you for choosing to give the foxhound another chance. It is bad when animals end up being unstable due to factors we cannot control. I do hope your little girl is okay.
You seem to have a bad streak of luck with dogs. I admire your positive outlook on things. Getting bitten by a Rottie can be such a traumatic experience. I, myself, would definitely have second thoughts getting another dog.
But then again, I didn't give up on Buchi (my Shih Tzu) either so I am glad you gave the German Shepherd your husband got the benefit of the doubt.
At first they did not want to put the dog down, but everytime my relative got close to her dog it would snarl and show it's teeth. They did not trust it anymore, and they loved the dog, but with grandchildren coming over they really worried that the chow might hurt someone else.
It took a long time for my relatives wounds to heal and it was really hard for her to put the dog down. Sometimes you have to do, what you don't want to do for the safety of your family.
My dog, Misha, has never bitten me. She's a rescue and she came from a horrible situation, so it would be normal for her to be skittish and afraid at first. She's nipped at other family members in my household, but even from the first day that I brought her home, she's been stuck to me like glue and she's never tried to hurt me. She's a Basenji mix, and from the research I've done I've seen that Basenjis typically do this little "nibble" where they affectionately and gently chew at things, mainly fabrics like blankets or clothes. Misha likes to nibble on my blankets, my jeans, even my hair if I'm laying close enough, and though many Basenji owners train this behavior out, it's totally harmless and really quite silly and cute! As for actual biting, the only time I've ever seen her get that violent was in a fight with our other dog Brooke, which started over an accidentally misplaced paw. (Misha only has 3 legs, and amidst the playful jumping between her and Brooke, she somehow managed to scrape just too close to Brooke's eye, inciting a snarling reaction.) We pulled them apart quickly, and even then, the second they both realized who was holding them, they calmed down. Never once did they strike at either of us.
I think most of the time it's a dog's background that makes them nervous or prone to biting their owners. For example, Misha tried to nip at my brother the first few days we had her, and she's never liked any of the men in our house or that come visiting. We think she might have had an unpleasant run-in with a male figure before we adopted her that might have caused this. However, she's started warming up considerably to my boyfriend after about a year of knowing him. I think it's just all about their history and the way you treat them, and that most behaviors, including biting, can be stopped if the dog is just cared for, loved, and treated correctly!
When my husband first told me his friend was going to give him a chow I was terrified. I'd heard so much about how unstable they were and that they bit even their masters so my eldest son and I researched a lot on the internet. When we got cha-cha at 3 months she was already quite strong and would nip our youngest son who was 5 years old at that time. We started with lots of techniques you'd read on the internet like separating her from the family when she nipped, or spraying her with water etc. We were frustrated and did not know what to do. We chanced upon the show "Dog whisperer" and we learned a lot. We learned that you also had to see to the dog's needs before you could even start to teach it. We needed to exercise her daily and set rules for her. You need to call the dogs attention while she is preparing to do the deed you don't want done rather than when its already been done. The most important thing we learned is to be calm and assertive when dealing with the dog. When our youngest son learned to do that things started to improve. We also made sure we exposed her to a lot of people while she was growing up so she's used to them and won't get too excited unduly which may lead to biting. WATCH that show with Cesar Milan and Good luck!
I used to take my german shepard, Toby, for walks on a leash. One day we were walking up the road to the ball field, (this was out in the country,) and no one was there.
As we turned around to go home a neighbor's beagle ran across the field from it's home and attacked Toby. He bit Toby, on the legs. I was trying to push the beagle away from Toby, while holding on to the leash and my dogs tail.
Well after several minutes of Toby getting bit, he just grabbed the beagle by the middle with his teeth and shook it. That did the trick and the dog took off for home yelping the whole way.
The beagle's owner tried to blame my dog for the attack and said his dog was hiding under the house and would not come out. I wondered how he knew his dog had fought with my dog, unless he had provoked it to attack my dog.
Toby was ok and was my hero that day, as he could have really hurt that other dog but chose not too.
One of our dogs bit me by accident once. I think she was just waving around and her tooth accidentally caught me. To be honest, I did not even realise what happened until afterwards. She did once bite my dad when he was walking her but that was also somewhat accidental. This particular dog really did not like other dogs at all. She saw another one on the other side of the road. As soon as she saw it she went crazy and just tried to bite anything near her. It just so happened that my dad's ankle was in front of her so she bit that. I think he still has a scar from it! She never liked other dogs and would always try to attack them if she saw them. We don't really know why she was like that. Perhaps she thought that she was a person rather than a dog. Our other dog was nothing like that and never bit anyone. She was very gentle. We did have one dog who would bite but only if you annoyed him. He once bit my mum when she went under the kitchen table to hit him for snatching something from the table.
From hearing all these stories it makes me wonder if some breeds of dogs are more likely to bite than others. In Florida, and many other areas around the country pitbulls have a bad rap. It used to be only some dogs were noted for being prone to bite if nervous or provoked, such as the doberman's or the rottwilders, or chows.
But anymore many other breeds have be added to the list. Do you think it is the breed of dog or just the way the dog is treated that makes it more likely to bite?
(03-10-2013, 02:23 PM)4sweed Wrote: I used to take my german shepard, Toby, for walks on a leash. One day we were walking up the road to the ball field, (this was out in the country,) and no one was there.
As we turned around to go home a neighbor's beagle ran across the field from it's home and attacked Toby. He bit Toby, on the legs. I was trying to push the beagle away from Toby, while holding on to the leash and my dogs tail.
Well after several minutes of Toby getting bit, he just grabbed the beagle by the middle with his teeth and shook it. That did the trick and the dog took off for home yelping the whole way.
The beagle's owner tried to blame my dog for the attack and said his dog was hiding under the house and would not come out. I wondered how he knew his dog had fought with my dog, unless he had provoked it to attack my dog.
Toby was ok and was my hero that day, as he could have really hurt that other dog but chose not too.
That sounds absolutely absurd. I can't believe he had the audacity to blame you when he himself did not see the fight, nor did he witness his beagle's predisposition. It's obvious that the beagle has a nervous, anxious and unstable tendency. He should know that dogs who feel insecure are more prone to biting and attacking.
This is why it's difficult when owners aren't educated or informed. Just because Beagles tend to be friendly and approachable, doesn't mean that their owners can't influence their behavior.
Good thing his dog was a small (or medium-sized) breed. Imagine having Doberman or a Saint Bernard (just for size reference) running towards you...
Glad to hear about Toby's good temperament. It's obvious that he simply put the little dog in its place.
At the time the owner made a big deal out of it claiming Toby, had really injured his dog and he was going to sue us for damages and vet bills, and on and on. He, the beagle owner has the whole farming community upset with his big mouth. In the end he dropped the whole subject, because his dog had left his property to attack a dog on a leash, and it ran back home with no problems.
It made me realize the lengths some folks will go too, to cause problems for other people. After that I walked Toby, only on the farm to avoid another such accurance. It seems like some only think of sueing someone else instead of just trying to work out differences. Has anyone here ever had something like this happen to you?
None of my dogs have ever bitten me. I had a foster border collie a few years ago that had some pretty big issues and would sit and snarl at people and sometimes snap, never actually bite, for what seemed like no reason. We had her for months before rehoming her and never really understood what was going on in her head, bless her.
My dog, Charlie, sometimes has a problem with not knowing the difference between a playful bite and a painful one. We play around a lot and she nibbles on my arm softly. Sometimes, though, she gets way to excited and it starts to hurt. I pull my arm out of her mouth and I use a tone to make sure she knows that what she did was not okay. Then goes back to playful nibbling!
There was one time that she bit my house help. Charlie has a sharing problem which I'm trying to get her to kick. At times she plays around with you but there was one time, Charlie had a bone and she dropped it. My helper picked it up to give it back to her but I think Charlie thought she was trying to take it away from her and bit her 3 times. It never happened again after that. But sometimes we do worry whenever takes off with one of our slippers or shirts and we try to take it, because she starts to growl.
Believe it or not, out of the 16 years I had her, my oldest dog only bit me once. She would sometimes bite other people, but for the longest time that was one thing she would never do to me. I was the only person who could pick her up or give her a bath, for example.
The only time she did bite me, she was really old by this time and was laying on my parents bed. I was trying to get her off because they wanted to go to bed, and she made it clear she wasn't going anywhere. She was really old at that point, and it was probably pretty painful to get picked up - so I could see why she snapped at me.
My Yorkies have never bit me. Prissy is VERY playful so when we are just playing around, she will put her mouth around my arm or hand but she never bites down with her teeth. I even notice that when she wrestles around with my other Yorkie, Peanut, that if she has her mouth around one of his legs that she never bites down.
Prissy is very protective though and if my husband is just playing around and he hits me on the arm or leg or something, Prissy will start barking, growling, pounce on him and snap at him and just barely graze her teeth over his hand. Almost like a warning like "Don't make me hurt you". :-)
