Has Your Dog Ever Bitten?

[Guest hankodie]

Hank: Still a puppy so he tends to be occasionally mouthy but is miles better than Odie was at his age. He only tries to do it now when he gets really really excited during games (which we then put to a stop until he calms down). He killed an earthworm the other day by pawing it to death but tends to leave all the other critters alone. Has never bitten any person out of aggression.

Odie: Had a bad nipping habit at one stage whenever we were playing games, again caused by excitement. She's grown out of this for the most part. Has never bitten any person out of aggression.

Both dogs have never bitten another dog, both have been rushed and attacked but just stood their ground and did not retaliate or snap.

Both LOVE to play bitey face. I was initially very worried about it as it's been a long time since I've had 2 dogs (and 2 vastly different breeds at that) but the trainer assures me it's normal. Both instigate this type of play though as Hank gets bigger Odie is starting to tell him when he needs to settle down.

[Zombie Bait]

Brembo is unfortunately reactive.

He has snapped at a few people. With one person he broke the skin and left a large blood blister. I have met with a behaviourist and after walking her through the situation that happened, she felt that he was being protective of both his home and me. I try and minimise contact with strangers with him, particularly men.

He has also "attacked" a dog that required surgery.

The next door neighbours dog and him used to fence fight. The dog next door also liked to dig and dug under the fence. It stuck it's face through the gap it had made and Brembo degloved it's face. I paid for half the vet fees and concreted along my side of the fence to prevent it happening again.

He has attacked a cat once. Brembo and Sierra were zoomying around the yard on dusk when a cat casually walked through the backyard. Both dogs actually collided with it before they realised there was a cat there. They then both gave chase and cornered it. We called the dogs off and the cat escaped but I do think he did some damage to it.

I manage him as best I can. I minimise his alone time with anyone but myself. I warn people that do have to spend time with him alone (vet, pet transport etc).

I don't socialise him with other dogs (although him and the current neighbours dog get along great, as in they both pretend the other one isn't there lol).

As far as cats or birds that enter his yard, I make no apologies. It's his yard and they should stay out.

I love my dog and I'd never get rid of him, but I do long for the day that I own a dog that isn't reactive.

Ams - I hope that Kimo is ok and I'm sorry to hear about your mastiff

[Sayreovi]

I did the poll for the worst dog, he was my first dog and was an aggressive little s**t.

He ended up being put to sleep after years of biting people, the final straw was that he actually attacked me, bit me on my face, enough that required several stiches and I now have a scar from it :/ Honestly he should have been put to sleep after the first time he bit someone.

He was very head strong, very dominant and had a naive 10 year old owner. Not a good combination.

None of my current 3 dogs have ever given me any reason to be concerned about being potentially bitten, and because of my experience, I did/do push them a fair bit to know their limits.

[koalathebear]

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Edited November 17, 2013 by koalathebear

[Little Gifts]

I answered with my heart girl. She's never bitten a person or another animal (can't even kill a mouse so not much of a vicious stafford!). In May this year she seriously attacked my shar pei girl over a large snake in my yard who was heading under the house where the dogs can't go. I really think the pei girl was nosy, got trapped in a corner and my sbt girl was in high prey drive mode and transferred her attack. I was sleeping in and heard the noise and thought they were just rough housing. Both dogs needed emergency surgery. It was horrible, horrible, horrible and I felt a lot of guilt not waking and intervening sooner. We put a lot of strategies in place and have had no repeat issues, not even close. After surgery both dogs interacted with each other as they always had (but under full supervision), shared my bed, etc. Neither had officially won or lost the fight so perhaps that helped. I have only recently let them go back to rough house style playing under supervision. They start and look over at me to see if it is ok to continue.

If my heart girl ever did this again, even if there was a reason, I would pts. No other dog needs to be hurt just because she goes a little crazy over wildlife (which she can't even catch!). I came close to losing our pei girl as one leg bite did hit an artery. The sbt also had her on her back on the ground and was going for her throat so in her crazy haze she meant business. We were all just lucky our pei girl was just as fit and strong.

[Blackdogs]

Thanks for your responses, everyone! I find these results very interesting.

For those saying the poll is useless, if the results answer the question "How many people have had dogs who have aggressed and to what severity" the poll does make sense, in my opinion.

I see a lot of dogs with a lot of behavioural issues, so I suppose to that degree, my own experience has been skewed somewhat. It's interesting to understand the extent to which the average person's dog aggresses.

The results have surprised me, to be honest. I expected fewer incidents because of the education level of those on the forum. I'm not stating this in a critical way at all, what I do believe is that just as with people, aggression is a natural part of being. It's not convenient and it can be treated in many problematic cases, but it exists to a much larger degree than many people acknowledge. I think that as long as humans and dogs continue to coexist there will be incidents in which both humans and dogs become injured due to aggression. It's a sacrifice we make for all the benefits we receive due to our mutual companionship. It doesn't mean we can't work to reduce incidents, but they will not doubt always exist and there shouldn't be such a stigma attached to them.

[wuffles]

Never bitten a person, never bitten a dog, but ate a chicken at the breeder's house at 6 weeks old. Vicious little thing. :p

[W Sibs]

Em has killed birds. Never bitten other dogs or human but I dont put her in situation where she feel she has too.

Skeeter wont hurt a fly. In fact he is scared of blow flies.. i am dead set serious.

[Simply Grand]

Thanks for your responses, everyone! I find these results very interesting.

For those saying the poll is useless, if the results answer the question "How many people have had dogs who have aggressed and to what severity" the poll does make sense, in my opinion.

I see a lot of dogs with a lot of behavioural issues, so I suppose to that degree, my own experience has been skewed somewhat. It's interesting to understand the extent to which the average person's dog aggresses.

The results have surprised me, to be honest. I expected fewer incidents because of the education level of those on the forum. I'm not stating this in a critical way at all, what I do believe is that just as with people, aggression is a natural part of being. It's not convenient and it can be treated in many problematic cases, but it exists to a much larger degree than many people acknowledge. I think that as long as humans and dogs continue to coexist there will be incidents in which both humans and dogs become injured due to aggression. It's a sacrifice we make for all the benefits we receive due to our mutual companionship. It doesn't mean we can't work to reduce incidents, but they will not doubt always exist and there shouldn't be such a stigma attached to them.

But I don't think the poll gives you enough accurate figures re. population vs sample, skewness, significance etc to draw any real conclusions. Interesting to read people's experiences though.

[sandgrubber]

Thanks for your responses, everyone! I find these results very interesting.

For those saying the poll is useless, if the results answer the question "How many people have had dogs who have aggressed and to what severity" the poll does make sense, in my opinion.

I see a lot of dogs with a lot of behavioural issues, so I suppose to that degree, my own experience has been skewed somewhat. It's interesting to understand the extent to which the average person's dog aggresses.

The results have surprised me, to be honest. I expected fewer incidents because of the education level of those on the forum. I'm not stating this in a critical way at all, what I do believe is that just as with people, aggression is a natural part of being. It's not convenient and it can be treated in many problematic cases, but it exists to a much larger degree than many people acknowledge. I think that as long as humans and dogs continue to coexist there will be incidents in which both humans and dogs become injured due to aggression. It's a sacrifice we make for all the benefits we receive due to our mutual companionship. It doesn't mean we can't work to reduce incidents, but they will not doubt always exist and there shouldn't be such a stigma attached to them.

But I don't think the poll gives you enough accurate figures re. population vs sample, skewness, significance etc to draw any real conclusions. Interesting to read people's experiences though.

Agreed. If you are trying to do statistics, read up on "Opportunistic Sampling".

[OSoSwift]

I have owned a few dogs over the years, never had one bite a person, I have managed to call a dog off biting a person.

One of my Dobes bit my other dog quite badly but it could have been so much worse, one of my current dogs gave me a $400 vet bill after biting another Whippet hard punching a hole through her nose into her nasal cavity and ripping out an incisor that ended up with the gum being sutured. There have also been puncture marks into my other dogs. Part of that is a lack of bite inhibition and a leader of the pack/fun police complex. The other part is whippets have thin skin.

All of the interdog aggression issues have been directly attributed to hormones.

[LisaCC]

I had to change my vote .

I just found a bird cornered and injured. Waiting for the WIRES lady to come out now. Thankfully the dog was too stupid to realise he could easily move what the bird was hiding under.

[Little Gifts]

I only found the poll difficult if I thought about it from the perspective of all our dogs. I just focused on my heart girl as that is by far our biggest and scariest incident. She showed me how unpredictable dogs can be when instinctual behaviour kicks in. She is irritatingly loving to every human of every age she ever meets and she has nurtured all but one foster dog we have had in this house (one went for her on his first night and got a wide berth after that), including our pei girl that she attacked. She has taught our pei girl so much and constantly looks out for her and calms her, keeps her warm, makes space for her on the lounge, keeps her amused when she is being a handful, etc. So it is hard to accept that such a flexible and giving dog has a terrible weak spot.

[Clyde]

Elbie - attacked and injured my pyjama pants when he was a puppy.

I hope your pyjama pants received appropriate counseling....

I've been bitten, other people have been bitten, wildlife been eaten, stock (farm pets) been eaten. All different dogs, all managed appropriately after their first sin.

[Guest donatella]

I had to vote Fatal Attack on the 'other animal', RIP cockies, bugs, insects and geckos

[Trisven13]

I HAVE owned a dog (or at least had the care and responsibility of) a dog who attacked a person. The dog was a Dobe X who I had been doing obedience with Steve Austin with. Steve Austin had also had private training with the dog, paid for by my brothers who owned the dog. A friend of mine was visiting and the dog, without warning that I saw (bearing in mind this is 14 years ago and I was less experienced) lunged at the girl's face. I saw him lunge, kicked at him (all I could do in the moment) and it slowed him some but she had bruising above and below her eye and loose teeth that required dental work. He was pts the next day. Steve Austin later told me that he wasn't surprised and had warned my brothers that the dog posed a danger but they had neglected to tell me when they left him with me.

I have owned dogs who have had barnies with each other but never anything major.

A number of my dogs have, at various times, killed chooks.

[halfthewords]

Jag

person: no

dogs: no, he is incredibly submissive and very good at sucking up :laugh:

other animals: no

Carl

people: an unknown number of bites when he was living at the rescue shelter I worked at. He was super fear aggressive back then. once he was lying on the floor with my sister and she leaned over the top of him to turn the page of a newspaper; he got her face, but it was more of a snap, no marks left.

dogs: he had one scrap with Jag recently while he was really hyped up and jumping on the trampoline. Jag slammed into him during zoomies and Carl gave him a bit of lip, but no damage done.

other animals: never, he thinks he's mother goose. He'll nurture kittens, baby birds, possums, you name it. :laugh:

Mischa

people: bit my sister's friend on the face when the friend picked her up and tried to lean in to kiss Mischa's face against my advice.. it punctured skin and it bled. She deserved it. :)

dogs: nup, she couldn't give half a stuff about other dogs.

other animals: yes, sadly. RIP many birds, lizards, geckoes, and her worst enemy, bees

[Blackdogs]

Thanks for your responses, everyone! I find these results very interesting.

For those saying the poll is useless, if the results answer the question "How many people have had dogs who have aggressed and to what severity" the poll does make sense, in my opinion.

I see a lot of dogs with a lot of behavioural issues, so I suppose to that degree, my own experience has been skewed somewhat. It's interesting to understand the extent to which the average person's dog aggresses.

The results have surprised me, to be honest. I expected fewer incidents because of the education level of those on the forum. I'm not stating this in a critical way at all, what I do believe is that just as with people, aggression is a natural part of being. It's not convenient and it can be treated in many problematic cases, but it exists to a much larger degree than many people acknowledge. I think that as long as humans and dogs continue to coexist there will be incidents in which both humans and dogs become injured due to aggression. It's a sacrifice we make for all the benefits we receive due to our mutual companionship. It doesn't mean we can't work to reduce incidents, but they will not doubt always exist and there shouldn't be such a stigma attached to them.

But I don't think the poll gives you enough accurate figures re. population vs sample, skewness, significance etc to draw any real conclusions. Interesting to read people's experiences though.

Agreed. If you are trying to do statistics, read up on "Opportunistic Sampling".

I already stated that it would be skewed because of sampling, but then I thought it would be skewed in the opposite direction, so I think that says something in itself.

DOL polls don't really provide for collecting technical, scientific data and neither does the forum. I still think you can take something away from the results here, however.

[koalathebear]

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Edited November 17, 2013 by koalathebear

[OSoSwift]

The other thing is you asked if people had EVER had a dog that had done this, this, this etc. I am quite sure most people have become better educated as they have gone on, I certainly have. So whilst they may have owned a dog that has, for example, bitten someone, it may have been their first dog. A couple of dogs down the track that senario may well never happen.