Cuchulain

At this point I am just grateful she has acknowledged liability for the expenses. As I am currently out of town attending my uncle's funeral I will sort out the details with her when I get back. Max is in kennels and I will phone this morning to check on him but I'm sure he's fine, it's me that's a wreck! My intention is to sort out my expenses first and then tackle the club. I have agreed to wait until the head instructor returns from her show for the matter to be dealt with and I will honour that agreement. If I am unhappy with the resolution I will consider my options. Thank you all for the support and advice.

I have just received an email from the owner of the dog. She says she was unaware that her dog had attacked or bitten anybody. She has offered to pay his vet bill for which I am grateful.

In reply to your post oakway: I AM NOT LOOKING FOR SYMPATHY - Let's just get that out of the way. Accidents do happen - I do not dispute that. I query "accident" when Max is the 3rd dog bitten by the same off-lead, uncontrolled and vicious dog. I have been unable to contact the owner - the club is being very evasive in supplying contact details. At the time she showed no interest in either Max or me and has until today not offered an apology to the instructor concerned or the club. She has made no attempt to contact me either. Since she calmly joined the class after the incident I don't believe she was embarrassed at all. I have emailed the club 3 times (once while Max was still at the vet, once on Sunday night and again on Monday morning). I have spoken with the Secretary who declined to give me contact details for the owner. The matter was passed from the Secretary to the Chairman to the head Obedience Instructor (who was giving the class I was in). This instructor has requested I wait 14 days before she can deal with it as she is going to a show. I was, and still am, worried that this is going to be swept under the carpet and I am going to be left out of pocket for something which is not my fault. I consulted my lawyer on Monday while there for another matter relating to my business and was advised to email the club, clearly stating my expectations and intentions and to see what response I get. I have done this and to date have still not been given the information I requested. In the mean time I have paid the vet and the "extra-care" costs at the kennels where Max has to stay while I attend my uncle's funeral. Edited to add: Thanks to those of you wishing Max well - he seems to be recovering fine.

Sorry guys, I didn't mean to start a war. At the club I attend there is more than one class on the go at any one time. In the breed class there are children of I would guess 12 or 13? I'm not good with ages In the agility class there are also youngsters of the same sort of age and in the puppy class there have sometimes been younger children together with a parent. In my class one of the dogs is sometimes handled by a 14-year-old who is significantly smaller and lighter than me. In all honesty the dog probably wasn't aiming for me but for Max. The reality is: I was bitten. The attack on Max was deliberate, violent and unmistakably aggressive. A smaller dog would certainly have been more badly injured. Had one of younger club members been involved I'm sure the injuries would have been a lot more serious than mine. Luckily for me I was wearing "browns" - for the non-South Africans out there browns are the hard-wearing virtually indestructible army uniform of the old SADF and I was saved from having my skin broken. My pants show evidence of the dog's teeth, as does my left calf. While I understand many clubs do not allow children on the premises, at the club I attend children are allowed to accompany their parents and I have seen toddlers at the club house. (I don't want to really get into that whole debate!) On the day of the attack there was at least one child under the age of 10 on the grounds. (His grandmother is the instructor in my class.) At the time of the attack that particular child was in the club house. The dog, however, was off-lead and totally out of control - it could have gone to the club house or any of the other classes being run at that time.

Lilli, I was also bitten. Had it bitten a child with the force it bit me I believe the child would have been quite badly injured.

I wrote a formal letter of complaint yesterday while waiting for Max to recover and followed it up this morning with another letter spelling out exactly what I expect from the club and the owner of the dog. I have heard nothing further from the club. Basically from the club I have requested a ban on both the dog and owner - especially since this is not the first time this has happened. From the owner I want ALL my vet's bills relating to this attack paid. I want the kennel surcharge for a dog on medication and extra care paid, and should it be necessary to get a qualified behaviourist in to help with sorting out any issues arising from this attack I expect her to pay that as well. Now all I need is an address DON'T MESS WITH ME OR MY DOG!

thanks guys - Max seems OK. Now that the pain killers have kicked in he's not limping. He was friendly to 2 dogs at the Vet when I popped in to pick up some food for him and get Darren (our Vet) to say hi and make a fuss of him without "doing" anything to him. He doesn't like the barking in the neighbourhood and is showing some fear but I just carry on playing with him in the yard and I am trying not to show any reaction to his reaction - if you know what I mean? I don't have any friends locally with friendly trustworthy dogs. My puppy school instructor from the club has 2 wonderful gentle dogs but she will be away until Tuesday next week at a show in Durban. Tomorrow he has to go to the kennels and he's never been to kennels before so I hope that doesn't make things worse. I have to attend a funeral in Grahamstown (about 2 hours from where I live) and it isn't possible for him to come with me. This will be a whole family reunion thing (we only ever see each other at funerals these days!) and I will only pick him up on Friday. I'm not really happy about leaving him now, but I have no choice. I have consulted a lawyer and things will be dealt with in the proper manner She chose the wrong person to mess with as I don't back down! I do hope that some good will come of this and that the club deals with aggressive dogs more assertively in the future.

Yesterday Max and I were attacked by an off-lead totally out of control Anatolian Shepherd. I am horrified! The attack happened at the Port Elizabeth Kennel Club while we were in an obedience class. The class was just lining up to begin and Max was sitting at heel next to me when this huge dog appeared from behind us. I managed to get between Max and the attacking dog but unfortunately the damage was all ready done. I left the class, with Max walking on 3 legs and NOBODY in the class even asked if Max or I were OK. When I'd walked the 500m to my van one of the club members who had witnessed the attack from the clubhouse came over to check on us. Max had a small, but gaping, wound on his left front leg and was carrying his left hind leg. Nothing was life-threatening! We were lucky! I immediately left the club to travel home to Jeffreys Bay having phoned my vet to say we were coming. (It's a 45 minute trip) Max required a GA to inspect the damage properly and to clean and stitch it. There was a small puncture into the muscle with a laceration of the skin but, thank the gods, no major damage. I have some interesting-looking bruises on my left calf where I got between them! What upsets me immensely is that the owner of this dog never bothered to check if either of us was hurt. She never said a word, never apologised, just joined the class once she'd got her dog under control. When I got home, while Max was still in the hospital recovering from the anaesthetic, I emailed the club requesting contact details for the owner of the dog - they are now ducking and diving and avoiding giving me the information I have requested. Talk about passing the buck! The secretary passed the problem to the chairman who passed it onto the head obedience instructor and I still don't have the information. So far the bill is over ZAR1000 and I expect there will be more to come. Max is 10 months old today and I am terrified that this experience will affect his ability to interact with other dogs. Until yesterday he was a friendly out-going dog who saw everybody else (dog or human) as a friend and potential playmate. Today when I took him out to wee, he was scared of the dog next door looking over the fence. Further investigation this morning reveals that the owner and dog have had 2 previous warnings at the club and the agility instructor has banned her from agility training sessions. Thank you for listening! I am still so very angry about this. Surely a dog with a previous history of aggression should not be allowed at the club? Especially not off-lead! I honestly don't think I'll be going back to the club as I am afraid. They don't appear to take the safety of members and their dogs very seriously. What if it had attacked somebody smaller than me? What if it had attacked a smaller dog? What if it attacked a child? I guess what I'm really asking is: am I over-reacting? EFS

Been stopping by everyday to check on you Jed. I haven't had much to say because I'm not really good with words and everybody else seems to have said what needed to be said so much better than I could ever say it. You're never far from my thoughts. I'm working on my quilt contribution which I hope to have in the post by the end of the week and Max sends big sloppy Ridgeback kisses. EFS - Trace

Just a quick update Aside from a 02:00 toilet call (on the coldest night of the year so far) and a very noisy tummy Max seems fine

Thanks belgian.blue I ended up phoning my vet because I was worried - he said if Max is sick or acting oddly (how you tell with a RR I have no idea as he is "odd" all the time!) to bring him in.

I no longer have the original packaging and Max found 10 or so incense sticks and was chewing on them. I removed them, they were gobby but didn't seem to have bit missing but I can't be sure. Are these things toxic? Google has been of little help and it is a public holiday over here ...

Just popping in to say hi! It's overcast and we're all hoping for rain here in Jeffreys Bay. The drought is hitting us hard. I was glad to read the good news. Max sends his love (I've told him no head butts yet!) I'm off to work now, I'll pop in again later. * lights candle * grabs a coffee before ducking...

Candle lit...Jed you are never far from my thoughts... I've lost the quilt thread ... please could somebody post a link (sorry to be a PITA) thanks

Count me in!

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: Great news! *lights another candle in thanks*

Just stopping by to check on Jed. I'm so glad there's been some improvement *lights candle* *finds something yummy to eat and a place to park my bum*

Hiya Jed, just popped in again to check on you love! ... *lights another candle* *sits next to Harminee*

Happy birthday, Julie. I hope you have a wonderful day!

Thank for the update, Toohey. Jane remains in my thoughts and prayers, as do her dogs, especially TBCSITW.

Thanks for all the help with the international payments. I have opened a Paypal account but it will take a couple of days to verify. As soon as it's sorted I will make a donation. Sorry for the delays.

OMG! I'm speechless, words fail me. Jed, my thoughts and prayers are with you. Julie I have emailed you WRT a donation. If anybody knows how to do an international EFT I would be grateful for the help because I haven't a clue where to begin.

I'd like one, but I can only pay by CC or possibly PayPal

Sorry guys, we've been AWOL on the forum for a bit. I've been really busy but Max and I have been walking on average 3 times a week on the roads and pavements (30 minutes or so, morning and evening) and twice a week on the beach (only one walk on beach days LOL). I'm probably going to cut back on the 2nd walk in the winter as the days are too short to fit it in - I'm planning on doing more obedience training though because I can fit several short sessions in during the day (between jobs - the joy of being self-employed)

I trust my dog's judgment implicitly. If my dog reacts like that to somebody, I take heed of the warning. There was something about that bloke that your dog felt uncomfortable/uneasy about, he/she was just letting you know. I know I'm inexperienced as Max is my first dog but he hasn't been wrong about a person yet. The first 2 people too whom he has reacted negatively were people not to be trusted. I discovered this when commenting on his reaction to a colleague and it was pointed out to me that both the people concerned have a bad reputation around town for dishonesty. The 3rd person is my dad's gardener whom I've never liked or trusted. Max positively hates him and goes mad on a Thursday when he's here to work. I try and organise to be away from the workshop for the day because Max gets so upset. Even after Wellington has gone home Max patrols the garden, growling and muttering for at least an hour.