Being bitten.

[cati]

Graceanne: I agree actually. Especially with a German Shepherd. They're great dogs but are hyper-protective. You have to protect your animal, as well as your neighbors, cause it would be a tragedy to have to have your dog put down because he was trying to protect you from a non-existent threat. This is also true of pit bulls, dobermen, and rotweilers. So often they bite thinking they're protecting.

Exactly, who knows what's going on in the dog's head.
Our dog has the best temperament, you could do absolutley anything to him and he wouldn't bat an eye. I shouldn't say "you" we can mess with him, no one else really has....
I read an interesting if not shocking letter at one of the animal behaviour websites just this morning, about a family who had a shepherd dog and wanted one of their friends up at their summer cottage to get to know the dog since this neighbour was a regular visiter at their cottage. The owner instructed the other man to rub the dogs chest (which they usually like) in greeting. To make a long story short the dog attacked the poor guy, he needed 17 stitches to repair the damage. Sheesh!

Thanks everyone for your replies. Seems more people have had "bad experiences" with dogs rather than good ones.

 

[cati]

Oh geeze Netzach, I know you weren't being unkind. Big dogs (and little ones) can seem very scary and just as you said can attack without provocation.

 

[cati]

Once I was out walking my littlest sister. I was 17 and she was 1, and in her stroller. Someone was coming out of their yard and their dog got out - kinda a medium sized dog and came running straight for my sister - who was at face level with the dog. The owner was chasing the dog - it was a well known biter but normally they did a very good job keeping it behind the fence. I got down on face level with the dog and said 'i will break your fucking jaw'. The dog yipped and ran back in her yard. LOL

Good for you, that's what you have to do!

This same lady next door had a similar experience when she lived in Holland. She had just dropped her small children off at school and was walking back home when this German Shepherd came out of no-where and attacked her. The dog's owner told her she had likely frightened the dog and so he bit her in self defense. WTF?

 

[Primalex]

1) German Shepherds are very territorial. And what they think is their territory is usually not at all related to what you think is your territory.
2) It was stupid to tell a stranger to rub the chest of a German Shepherd because he likes it. You like getting fucked hard, too, this doesn't mean you want that every stranger does it to you. (Disclaimer: I know, here some will want this. Let's talk about the average woman out there..).
3) In my humble opinion your only chance is a proactive one. There is a record of your dog biting someone now and if he does it ever again and they question your neighbor and realize that you knew your dog bites and didn't do anything about it, then you are in real trouble.

 

[LadyC]

This doesn't have anything to do with BDSM except for someone being bitten.

MISLEADING TITLE

Agreed.

 

[cati]

1) German Shepherds are very territorial. And what they think is their territory is usually not at all related to what you think is your territory.
2) It was stupid to tell a stranger to rub the chest of a German Shepherd because he likes it. You like getting fucked hard, too, this doesn't mean you want that every stranger does it to you. (Disclaimer: I know, here some will want this. Let's talk about the average woman out there..).
3) In my humble opinion your only chance is a proactive one. There is a record of your dog biting someone now and if he does it ever again and they question your neighbor and realize that you knew your dog bites and didn't do anything about it, then you are in real trouble.

I somewhat agree with you Primalex. The only saving grace in this whole thing is that his incisors have been worn down by constant chewing on tree branches, roots and tennis balls. Some people have the dogs teeth filed down by their Veterinarians, some people say it's inhumane. I for one think it's a great idea if you own an aggressive dog. But our dog hasn't been particularly aggressive.

You talk about a "record" of my dog biting someone. You mean a personal record? and just who is going to question my neighbour since she said she wasn't going to call the police (my initial worry). She and I discussed that part. As I said in an earlier post we have been neighbours for over 2O years.... good neighbours and I sincerely hope this doesn't change that. Although a member of this lady's family might look into it, which I doubt, but it could happen.
I'm not sure what you mean that I haven't done anything about it? What would you like me to do in your humble opinion? Put him down? You say my only chance is what, being proactive?
We have owned this dog for 8 months. Every situation is a new one for all of us. These were unfortunate circumstances and as I said it will never happen again..sheesh

What I am going to do is this.
The dog won't be allowed in the backyard while this woman is gardening. We are putting in a higher more solid fence, which we had planned to do this summer anyway (I think I said that in an earlier post).He is ALWAYS on a leash when he is taken for a walk and he obeys members of our family 99% of the time. There was no time for anyone to react or be proactive in this situation.
In addition, most dogs of any size that have come in contact with are 100 times nastier than he will ever be and he is not nasty. He is not a guard dog nor an attack dog but has always been around all sorts of people for most of his life...he's a well socialized people dog.

I agree that he is territorial and very protective, of me especially.

I'm probably reaching here, but isn't there a difference between his grabbing onto her leg with his mouth and actually "biting" her thigh? ie. penetrating the skin with his teeth?
Shows restraint in my opinion.


But you're right I did ask for suggestions, I have yet to hear anything really positive....I take that back I did receive a few words of sympathy from a couple of people. Thanks Graceanne.
(Where is Caesar when you need him?)

 

[cati]

Quote:
Originally Posted by cati

This doesn't have anything to do with BDSM except for someone being bitten.

MISLEADING TITLE
Agreed.

Oh sorry... perhaps I should have titled it "my dog tried to bite my neighbours leg off" yet she couldn't reach orgasm.
....would that be better for ya?....would that clarify things.....more clear for you or do I have to spell it out for you people who are sooo easily mislead... hmmmm....all clear now?
(done in her best Stewie Griffin voice.)

Unless of course some idiot actually has a "dog bite fetish".

sigh....so easily mislead poor things.

 

[Netzach]

[/I]

I somewhat agree with you Primalex. The only saving grace in this whole thing is that his incisors have been worn down by constant chewing on tree branches, roots and tennis balls. Some people have the dogs teeth filed down by their Veterinarians, some people say it's inhumane. I for one think it's a great idea if you own an aggressive dog. But our dog hasn't been particularly aggressive.

You talk about a "record" of my dog biting someone. You mean a personal record? and just who is going to question my neighbour since she said she wasn't going to call the police (my initial worry). She and I discussed that part. As I said in an earlier post we have been neighbours for over 2O years.... good neighbours and I sincerely hope this doesn't change that. Although a member of this lady's family might look into it, which I doubt, but it could happen.
I'm not sure what you mean that I haven't done anything about it? What would you like me to do in your humble opinion? Put him down? You say my only chance is what, being proactive?
We have owned this dog for 8 months. Every situation is a new one for all of us. These were unfortunate circumstances and as I said it will never happen again..sheesh

What I am going to do is this.
The dog won't be allowed in the backyard while this woman is gardening. We are putting in a higher more solid fence, which we had planned to do this summer anyway (I think I said that in an earlier post).He is ALWAYS on a leash when he is taken for a walk and he obeys members of our family 99% of the time. There was no time for anyone to react or be proactive in this situation.
In addition, most dogs of any size that have come in contact with are 100 times nastier than he will ever be and he is not nasty. He is not a guard dog nor an attack dog but has always been around all sorts of people for most of his life...he's a well socialized people dog.

I agree that he is territorial and very protective, of me especially.

I'm probably reaching here, but isn't there a difference between his grabbing onto her leg with his mouth and actually "biting" her thigh? ie. penetrating the skin with his teeth?
Shows restraint in my opinion.


But you're right I did ask for suggestions, I have yet to hear anything really positive....I take that back I did receive a few words of sympathy from a couple of people. Thanks Graceanne.
(Where is Caesar when you need him?)

'cause from a legal standpoint there's nothing positive to be said, unfortunately. Hence your only chance is to make sure that nothing whatsoever happens again. This woman may not be so relaxed about it again, and if it's another person they may not be that relaxed about it or care about the nuances of whether the dog broke skin or just bruised them up. I think people are just dealing in realism. The idea of keeping him out of the backyard while she's around is a good one, but I think you need to keep a closer eye on him interacting with anyone outside your family- you also might consider a vet visit to rule out health issues, sometimes behavioral issues have underlying physical cause. It would be awesome if they could just talk.

I know that puppy class was the reason that my friend was able to keep her dog, nothing has happened since, and she's very happy with him - a good class can really help, even if you're pretty good on your own, which she was - he went from well trained to excellently trained.

 

[rida]

I once had a dog: German Shepperd/ Alsatian mix. Since he was a puppy, he showed very strong protective instinct: not only toward us, but toward anybody he perceived as weaker. I still remember when as a no more than 2 month old ball of fur went to stand between a mom scolding her son (no spanking, just a raised voice) ans started barking at her. He would be incredibly sweet with children: they could literally pull his whisker and he would just drool happily.

He would bark if someone tried to enter the property. And he barked when the dog next door had her puppies. But other than that, he was even scared of the cats.

But he ended up biting a kid. It was the kid's fault, but we still had to give him away.

I was walking him. And as always would make sure to walk far from people, and even change side of the street to avoid passing near people. He was a big dog and could look scary, so just because he was good, I never assumed it was safe to walk by strangers with him. But one day, while paying the usual precautions, a kid (about 7 or 8) ran away from his mother side and toward me and my dog. And as soon as he was next to the dog, let out a loud scream almost into the dog's ear. The scream scared us both, and my dog reacted the only way a scared dog would: turned around and grabbed the kid's flailing arm. Being the smart dog he is, he realized right away what he did was wrong and let the kid go and basically flattened himself to the ground, ears down, totally ashamed, with me yelling at him (mostly out of panic, I confess).

It was totally the kid's fault and the mother saw him. I even made eye contact with her, before the kid ran away and she didn't show any apprehension for the dog, but still I was going to cross the street. It was winter and the kid was wearing a heavy coat so the teeth didn't even scratch his skin, and not even his coat was ruined. And yet, she got all mad with me and I think filed a complaint. Nothing happened nor any fine was charged, but my dog got totally scared of kids after that. And we decided to give him away. We found him a nice place, where he could run freely and not have to worry about children.

I still feel bad for my dog, and sorry for what he had to experience.

 

[cati]

Hi Rida...yeah it's getting a bit scary for big dog owners to be sure. We need to be so careful. Thanks for your post.

 

[cati]

Netzach, well what I meant as "positive", bad choice of word, was a viewpoint from a pet owner who has had the same experience with their dog biting someone, empathy for what I'm going through right now. That we, the dog owners try to be as careful as we can be, until something unpredictable happens.
No, you're right of course, there is nothing positive to be said about the situation. Thanks.

 

[Bi_Kitty]

But our dog hasn't been particularly aggressive.

In addition, most dogs of any size that have come in contact with are 100 times nastier than he will ever be and he is not nasty. He is not a guard dog nor an attack dog but has always been around all sorts of people for most of his life...he's a well socialized people dog.

I agree that he is territorial and very protective, of me especially.

Just because you don't consider your GSD a guard/attack dog doesn't mean that it isn't in his bloodline. The breed has a personality marked by direct, fearless willingness to protect what it considers its "den" (i.e. house, car, and property in a home situation) and "pack"(i.e. human family in a home situation) that comes from here.

You talk about a "record" of my dog biting someone. You mean a personal record? and just who is going to question my neighbour since she said she wasn't going to call the police (my initial worry). She and I discussed that part. As I said in an earlier post we have been neighbours for over 2O years.... good neighbours and I sincerely hope this doesn't change that. Although a member of this lady's family might look into it, which I doubt, but it could happen.
I'm not sure what you mean that I haven't done anything about it? What would you like me to do in your humble opinion? Put him down? You say my only chance is what, being proactive?

The chances of a dog biting someone are MUCH higher if they have previously bitten before. If you GSD does bite someone else in the future, if they go to the hospital (which if I was your neighbor I would had gone to get a tetanus shot) or just report it to the police, chances are when they come to pick the dog up and are asking you and your neighbors questions concerning the dog will see that has bitten before. And I would think instead of just holding if for 10 days or have ever long, they will put it down because it has a history.

We have owned this dog for 8 months. Every situation is a new one for all of us. These were unfortunate circumstances and as I said it will never happen again..sheesh

What I am going to do is this.
The dog won't be allowed in the backyard while this woman is gardening. We are putting in a higher more solid fence, which we had planned to do this summer anyway (I think I said that in an earlier post).He is ALWAYS on a leash when he is taken for a walk and he obeys members of our family 99% of the time. There was no time for anyone to react or be proactive in this situation.

That's good that you have plan on putting the fence up.

I'm probably reaching here, but isn't there a difference between his grabbing onto her leg with his mouth and actually "biting" her thigh? ie. penetrating the skin with his teeth?
Shows restraint in my opinion.

No, the police still consider that biting, or at least they do here.

 

[cati]

It sounds like you have alot of experience in this sort of thing.
I appreciate your posting.

 

[graceanne]

Was dolf at all helpful?

You said you don't want to put him on a rope, but you were considering a fence - how're those plans going? Beyond that, maybe an obedience class would be helpful. if your dog comes when you tell him to, PERIOD, then you'll have a lot less worries and potential problems.

 

[cati]

Hi Graceanne,

Thanks for asking, I did a search on her name and I found her and all , but I couldn't message her... I guess her PMs have been deactivated? Anyway I joined a discussion group called "Leerburg" something... ( I can't see the name from here *s) Anyway they are very serious bunch of people, believe me...whoa. They had all sorts of questions about the dog's general behaviour.

An obedience class was the general response to my situation, also training for me as a dog owner. One person suggested an "invisible fence" which I have heard of but know very little about.
Geeze what a hassle this all is...who knew?

One gent expressed his views this way... he has several GSD's. "I have "working" dogs and I expect them to bite, rather than think they won't. So yes he's proactive.
Over the years he has learned to read his dogs signals for every little thing.

Chuckles....You know what I've finally learned from being in and out of these forums Graceanne?
If you are going to start a thread, be prepared for all kinds of replies, some good, some ho-hum and others that are simply abrasive. Thanks for popping in...hugs

 

[WriterDom]

http://www.cesarmillaninc.com/newsletter/sessions.php

Online classes start next month.

 

[cati]

Oh wow ! I'm glad I popped in to check this thread.... thanks awfully WD

 

[graceanne]

I once had a dog: German Shepperd/ Alsatian mix. Since he was a puppy, he showed very strong protective instinct: not only toward us, but toward anybody he perceived as weaker. I still remember when as a no more than 2 month old ball of fur went to stand between a mom scolding her son (no spanking, just a raised voice) ans started barking at her. He would be incredibly sweet with children: they could literally pull his whisker and he would just drool happily.
.
.
.

I still feel bad for my dog, and sorry for what he had to experience.

Some people, I swear. I am SO careful with my children and strange dogs. They know not to even APPROACH a dog without mine or the owners permission. And even then they know to be calm and let the dog smell their hand, first. I mean, this is just basic common sense, here.