Comments on: Showing Concern for People Doesn’t Mean You Love Dogs Less – Good for the Dog; Good for You

By: Max's Mom

Max's Mom — Thu, 09 May 2013 01:54:02 +0000

Every situation is unique but if my dog bites someone then I feel I am totally responsible. I think most of the time if you would admit to whatever you did wrong and apologize and just in general do the right thing most people are ok with that. Interesting you brought up the doctors. We had a situation and I won’t name the top dog at the hospital but bottom line is they screwed up, nobody died or anything but it was a rather significant opps, the head guy personally let us know they indeed DID screw up and apologized and had ideas so this error wouldn’t happen again and you could just feel the sincerity and knew he meant it and that was enough for us to know it would be corrected and end of story. Could we all have gotten rich? Maybe…could we face ourselves in the mirror after someone was honest and did all they could to fix/correct the problem no, of course not!

By: Peggy Frezon

Peggy Frezon — Tue, 07 May 2013 13:36:01 +0000

I’ve read recently about a family dog, a sheltie with no history of aggression, never bitten before, that nipped the granddaughter when they were left alone together. She needed 4 stitches and is healing fine physically and emotionally. The family admits they shouldn’t have left them unsupervised and that the 3 year old startled or hurt the dog. But the dog was taken away and scheduled to be euthanized. I feel that the family has taken the appropriate responsibility for the child and dog, and that the dog’s history and temperament should be taken into consideration–which it hasn’t. The family has even agreed to give the dog back to the breeder if it needs to be rehomed, where it would live on a farm with other shelties and no children. They have a change.org petition “Save Jack” and are appealing this in court, meanwhile the dog has spent months away from his family in a cage in a shelter. Not good for the dog, good for you.

By: Deena O'Daniel

Deena O'Daniel — Tue, 07 May 2013 13:10:21 +0000

Thank you for this very insightful article. The comments are very enlightening as well. I’ve never been bitten by my own dogs, but I did require 6 stitches after a very large 8 month old pup jumped up on me and came down with his teeth in my arm. I was greeting him for the first time, and of course I know how to greet dogs. We chalked it up to puppy exhuberance, but I’ve never trusted that dog since. It’s the first time I’ve ever been afraid of a dog, and he’s not good with people – they have to lock him and his sister up when they have friends over. I think the dogs are a disaster waiting to happen.

By: Human Rescues Dog

Human Rescues Dog — Tue, 07 May 2013 11:21:02 +0000

Fantastic, thought-provoking post as usual. I must admit, whenever I hear the dog bite stories, I’m immediately more worried about the dog than the human. But I think if I had been the victim of the dog-bite, the tables would turn. I had a recent incident when a dog ‘rushed’ me; it didn’t bite me, but even then, my heart was racing and it was not a pleasant moment. That gave me a taster of how frightening it must be to get bitten by a dog.

By: Molly The Wally

Molly The Wally — Tue, 07 May 2013 08:19:15 +0000

Dog bites are indeed serious. However accidents do happen. Have a terrific Tuesday.
Best wishes Molly

By: Maggie

Maggie — Tue, 07 May 2013 03:13:05 +0000

In reply to Pamela. There hasn't been a repeat, though I've been careful on our walks to put LOTS of space between us and other people. Lucas has always been reactive toward other dogs but extremely friendly with people, so I'm inclined to think/hope that was a one-time occurrence. In hindsight, I think there were numerous contributing factors, but it's still totally unacceptable behavior. So immediately after the incident, I signed us up for a reactive dog course. We just finished on Sunday, and I think we've made some big progress. However, at least in the short-term, I'm staying cautious and avoiding other pedestrians while focusing on getting (and keeping) his attention on me.

By: Pamela

Pamela — Tue, 07 May 2013 01:52:11 +0000

In reply to Dawn.

My childhood dog bit someone and I’m sure that my parents taking responsibility for him (although the “bitee” disobeyed a direct command to stay away from the dog) was what allowed Duchess to be rehomed as a guard dog instead of being put down.

Even so, losing my beloved dog broke my heart and I’ve never gotten over it.

I can understand how traumatized you must have been by your situation. It’s good that you and your friend were able to work things out together.

By: Pamela

Pamela — Tue, 07 May 2013 01:49:17 +0000

In reply to Maggie. And the truth is, the people who can best educate others about dog bites are people who spend lots of time around dogs. But no one will want to listen to us if we're always on the attack. I remember Lucas's encounter. Has the trainer provided any help? Have you seen a repeat of the behavior?

By: Pamela

Pamela — Tue, 07 May 2013 01:47:27 +0000

In reply to Jackie Bouchard.

My mom always taught me to apologize. Too bad we can’t teach our dogs how to say “I’m sorry” when they mess up.

Hope you never have a biting dog. It’s horrifying.

By: Pamela

Pamela — Tue, 07 May 2013 01:46:19 +0000

In reply to Sue.

It’s great that your daycare’s owner is a good observer and willing to work with you and Ducky. Many business owners would not bother to bring their creative thinking to resolving your situation.

I hope you’re seeing improvement in your work with Ducky. Given your earliest posts about her I can only assume yes. 🙂