Dog biting family member

[qtwns]

Have you ever had a dog bite a family member? How did it happen and what did you do?

 

[Goofyluver]

My dog bit my father once several years ago when he was simply reaching to pet her. She bit his finger and broke through skin. He called me at work and told me, and I was very upset. I won't keep dogs who bite. It was so unlike her (she had never bitten or even hinted that she would before) that I called the vet and asked to bring her in.

It ended up that she had a very high fever and she was very ill. We took care of her illness and she's never done it again.

 

[DawnM]

I would not keep the dog, particularly if it had bitten a child.

 

[snarlingcoyote]

Well the first thing to do would be to take the family member to a doctor. If it was a true bite, not a nip or a warning, it may have hurt the human. Many dogs have really powerful jaws. We just have to watch our two taking down rib bones to see that.

I'd want to know the circumstances of the bite and the health of the dog. WHY did the dog bite? If someone was threatening me, even a family member, our dogs, especially our GSD, would take the person down, no questions asked, and I wouldn't blame her for it. (Nor would the legal system in our state, as a matter of fact.) If the dog was sick, Goofyluver pointed out, it probably was miserable. I'd get the dog treatment then. If someone was hurting the dog, I wouldn't blame the dog, if the bite was appropriate for the hurt being put on the dog.

If it was due to a bad temperament or how the owner treated the dog, that would be a different matter entirely.

Really though, we need more information. This is like asking if you think the police should have the right to hit someone. Without more information, it's just not a fair question.

 

[worm761]

I was bit by my boyfriends brother's dog. It was a pretty bad bite and was through two layers of clothing. We were at his parents house and his brothers dog was there. We were visiting and had brought our dogs with us. Two unfixed male dogs are not a good mix. Luna had never gone after any other dog. We have a bull mastiff/rot mix and a pekingese. Luna felt threatened by our big dog though Oz had done nothing. When Luna went for Oz, Sheba, the little pekingese, decided she didn't like it so started after him. I grab Sheba and Luna turned on Sheba since she was trying to attack him. When I saw Luna's jaw coming at my face I put my elbow up to knock him to the side. This would work with my big dog Oz so it was just a reaction. His jaw came down on my arm. Hurt like heck too! I can't blame the dog. He was protecting his home. It is what dogs do. We learned to find a sitter for our dogs when we go north now.

 

[kmccain]

My dog bit my father once several years ago when he was simply reaching to pet her. She bit his finger and broke through skin. He called me at work and told me, and I was very upset. I won't keep dogs who bite. It was so unlike her (she had never bitten or even hinted that she would before) that I called the vet and asked to bring her in.

It ended up that she had a very high fever and she was very ill. We took care of her illness and she's never done it again.

There is usually reason.

What are you going to do with it? Take it to the local shelter? They are full of nice dogs that make a mistake. Please take responsibility and do not dump them.

 

[CF'er]

We adopted a dog from a shelter. About a week or so from when we got him my daughter was on the floor getting a piece of paper out from under a desk. We didn't know that the dog had hidden a raw hide under the desk. She got too close and he bit her.

We were going to return the dog to the shelter but my DD was adamant that we not. We just kept an eye on him when he had food or treats so that he wasn't able to hide them. I think it was also being in a new situation. It has been several years ago and he has never bitten anyone since.

We did take the dog to the vet and he agreed with our decision to keep him.

 

[Uncle Remus]

I had a dog that bit every single friend I had 'n all my family members, he was a great dog.

 

[Lehuaann]

We've not had a dog do that, but my gma's demon dachshund bit both of our children; once on my DD face near her eye while she pet him (when gma came to visit us on vacation) and the other time completely -unprovoked- on my sons arm almost requiring stitches (while he was visiting my parents house).

Gma is the type you can't talk to and played denial about the first one (DD) saying that he only jumped up and scratched her. The second time (DS) there was no denying what happened. My DH was furious to the point Gma was crying/apologizing.

All we could do *to keep the peace* was tell Gma her animal was banned from our houses/family.

Btw, this was several years ago when the kids were younger and the only reason we could think that he did this was because he doesn't like little children.

 

[qtwns]

Well the first thing to do would be to take the family member to a doctor. If it was a true bite, not a nip or a warning, it may have hurt the human. Many dogs have really powerful jaws. We just have to watch our two taking down rib bones to see that.

I'd want to know the circumstances of the bite and the health of the dog. WHY did the dog bite? If someone was threatening me, even a family member, our dogs, especially our GSD, would take the person down, no questions asked, and I wouldn't blame her for it. (Nor would the legal system in our state, as a matter of fact.) If the dog was sick, Goofyluver pointed out, it probably was miserable. I'd get the dog treatment then. If someone was hurting the dog, I wouldn't blame the dog, if the bite was appropriate for the hurt being put on the dog.

If it was due to a bad temperament or how the owner treated the dog, that would be a different matter entirely.

Really though, we need more information. This is like asking if you think the police should have the right to hit someone. Without more information, it's just not a fair question.

I simply asked about others' experiences, not opinions: "Have you ever had a dog bite a family member? How did it happen and what did you do?"

 

[VAfamily1998]

We've not had a dog do that, but my gma's demon dachshund bit both of our children; once on my DD face near her eye while she pet him (when gma came to visit us on vacation) and the other time completely -unprovoked- on my sons arm almost requiring stitches (while he was visiting my parents house).

Gma is the type you can't talk to and played denial about the first one (DD) saying that he only jumped up and scratched her. The second time (DS) there was no denying what happened. My DH was furious to the point Gma was crying/apologizing.

All we could do *to keep the peace* was tell Gma her animal was banned from our houses/family.

Btw, this was several years ago when the kids were younger and the only reason we could think that he did this was because he doesn't like little children.

Since you say your the bite to child was "almost requiring stitches", I assume that means you took him to a doctor or ER? I thought ERs/Dr.s were required by law to report dog bites?

Did animal control investigate?

 

[dakcp2001]

Do you like that family member?

If you were a dog, would you have bitten that person? Meaning.....what did they do to get bitten? Was it unprovoked? Did they sneak up on him, scare him, spook him, pull his tail, take something out of his mouth etc? You are going to have to explain a little more.

Overall I tend to like dogs better than people and side with them most of the time. Some people need a good bite now and them to remind them they are out of line. At least in my family. For the most part when someone gets bitten it is cuz they did something to startle or scare the dog. If it was totally unprovoked I might have a different opinion.

 

[dakcp2001]

I had a dog that bit every single friend I had 'n all my family members, he was a great dog.

 

[ncmickeyluvr]

Several years ago, my sister's Golden Retriever bit my niece (her daughter). Dniece was about 12 or 13 at the time, she's 17 now. It was 4th of July and we were just about to start a cookout at their house. I was one of the first guests there. Dsis asked her children to put the dogs in an outside kennel before the guests started showing up. My nephew got the female and my niece got the male. He didn't want to go in the kennel and niece made the mistake of cornering him. He bit her hand. He immediatly let go and ran for his kennel.

Not 5 minutes later, we heard the first boom of thunder. This dog is very afraid of storms and has to be medicated. There wasn't even a visible cloud, so no one was anticipating it. It was a very fast moving storm.


I went with my sister and niece to the emergency room. There were several punctures. One quite deep at the base of her thumb that's a scar now. She got a nice shot of antibiotic in her hip and a good scrubbing of the wound. They said that they do not suture animal bites.

They still have this dog. He's 12 now. They actually have 3 golden retrievers. My children are around him but everyone is very aware that he's not as well socialized as their other 2 dogs. We always remind them to not go near his food or toys. He was their first big dog and they definitely made some mistakes with his training early on.

PS. this dog has not been in that kennel since. If there is company his is either in their laundry room or in their camper with the AC on. My BIL is always the one to make sure that he is safely away from the crowd well before the guest arrive.

 

[miralys]

My dogs never bite, but my parent's little dog bit me once. They got the dog, a rescue dog, when I was away at college. Came home for a visit, and was alone with the dog in the living room. Noticed she had something in her mouth, and not thinking, reached down to take it from her. The bite wasn't bad, it shocked me more than anything else. It was totally my fault, and never happened again.

So I guess it depends on why an animal bites in my book. Biting out of fear or illness is different to me than biting out of agression. Just my two cents.

 

[goofy!]

Not one of my dogs, but my dog's mother bit me in the face, requiring 35 stitches.

I blame it entirely on myself and the owner of the dog and our total stupidity of "forgetting" what breed we were dealing with.

Our breeder had sold a ***** to a local guy with breeding rights. I had been on a waiting list for one of this breeder's puppies for 3 years. (They don't breed that often, it is a rare breed, and their puppies are much sought after.) It was fate that the litter with an available puppy happened to be local and not in the breeder's home state. So, when the puppies were 2 days old, the breeder told me to go see them.

I had visited the ***** before and she was wonderful with a great temperament - one of the reasons this breeder is so sought after is that her line of dogs have very stable temperaments in a breed where the dogs can be rather "tough."

I would need to write a novel to explain the way this breed thinks (not a typical "want to please your owner" breed) to then explain why what we did was so contradictory to the way the breed thinks and that we were being totally stupid. I walked into a house of a hormonal dog with a 2 day litter with a camera in my hand. Dog felt threatened, jumped up and grabbed my face and then dropped down. It was a warning bite - she could have ripped me apart if she wanted to. But one bite and she dropped down. Unfortunately for me, this breed has huge teeth bred into them to fight wolves and bears.

Off to the ER I go for 35 stitches. And yes, I did take one of her puppies who turned out to be the best dog we ever had. We just lost him not too long ago due to old age.

But our dog was a sweetheart and the mom was too, except for when she was a hormonal, protecting her litter dog. Although for both of us, it was a wakeup call to never again be lulled into forgetting what kind of dogs these are because they are 99.99% of the time the gentlest of all dogs. There is that .01% of the time that their true breed can come out And I went on to get a second dog from the same breeder who is sitting at my feet, and am waiting for the next litter for my next puppy.

 

[lovesmurfs]

Have you ever had a dog bite a family member? How did it happen and what did you do?

Here's our issue. We've not had a problem since, and so we really do think it was the feral cats next door.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2498729

 

[kacaju]

Yes, I did nothing.
Our older dog was sleeping and had his bone next to him. DD17 went over to him and tried to wake him up by patting his sleeping head. He must have thought it was one of the younger dogs trying to take his bone and he nailed her finger. Lesson learned...do not try to wake a sleeping dog by patting his head.

 

[MichelleVW]

Yes, I did nothing.
Our older dog was sleeping and had his bone next to him. DD17 went over to him and tried to wake him up by patting his sleeping head. He must have thought it was one of the younger dogs trying to take his bone and he nailed her finger. Lesson learned...do not try to wake a sleeping dog by patting his head.

My older Golden is like that. He's never actually bitten anyone, but we know when he's laying down in the corner he doesn't want to be bothered so we just give him his space. If we were to go over to him we would probably get a "I don't like you over here" growl, but if we call him to us, he trots over happily. So everyone that comes over is warned to leave the old man alone if he's laying down and if kids come over we just put him in the bedroom.

 

[tvguy]

Wow, I read your thread title wrong.

"Dog biting family member" brought up the mental picture of some person biting the dog!