Got Bit By A Dog.... Lost It.

[Jet]

I don't think dogs take on our personality so much as they read our energy and mirror it back to us. Take Jerron (my BC/GSD X). She is a very sensitive dog and when I got her I was not doing well (she was a well intentioned but badly timed gift). Because I was an nervous, anxious wreck she became one too. Everything I tried doing in order to help her become a more confident, well adjusted dog failed...exorcise and training did nothing. However when I started working on me she made great strides. When I did better she did better. And it is still like that today...if I start to go downhill she will let me know by her behavior long before I ever see it in myself.

FatHead is another matter entirely. We are his third home (not including his birth home). He was originally purchased by my brother's upstairs neighbor to be trained as a fighting dog. From the age of 3.5 weeks (pups are taken young so that they miss bonding and don't learn things such as bite inhibition) he was hit, kicked, beaten and burned. He was physically and psychologically tortured. Both dog on human and dog on dog aggression was encouraged. He and other young puppies were put together and encouraged to "fight", the one who acted the most aggressive was praised and rewarded.

Several weeks after he was originally purchased my brother's girlfriend found the pup outside cowering behind some bushes. When she tried to take him home the neighbor's wife basically begged her to keep the dog because she was afraid her husband was going to kill him.

Unfortunately my brother is far from mentally stable and does not make a good dog owner. He loves dogs and gets on with them pretty well but he really has no understanding of how they work and he has serious anger issues. At the time he was also heavily into drugs (I did not know this) and I believe that also affected the way he delt with the pup. Basically he would ignore everything the pup did until he got so stressed, pissed off, overwhelmed (or whatever) that he went completely over the top and abused the dog.

When FH was about 10 months old my brother asked me if I would keep him for a while. Once he was at my house I had him neutered and micro chipped. Once he was chipped in my name I told my brother he was not getting the dog back under any circumstances. It has caused hard feelings but the truth is I don't really give a rat's behind...Hell would freeze over 10 times and I would not consider it.

FH still has "issues" but he has made tremendous progress. There was a point where I really thought I was going to have to take him in and have him put down. I wasn't sure he would ever be able to overcome his crappy puppy hood and the things he missed out on.

Try teaching a Bulldog to trust you enough to drop whatever they have in their mouth after they had teeth pulled out for hanging onto the leash.. Try housebreaking them after they have been left to pi** and sh*t all over the house for months. Try playing with a dog who has never been taught bite inhibition or socializing a dog who can't read another dog's body language. Try walking a dog who has never been exorcised or walked on a leash (or even worn a collar).Yeah, trust me...it is an all around not so pretty picture.

Most issues I see in dogs stem from things like improper training (either too lenient, too harsh or inconsistent), boredom, human error (not understanding the animal they have), and poor breeding. Occasionally you will see a dog that has issues just for no reason other then it happens sometimes (I have a friend who has a very well bred GSD who is low confidence. She has worked tirelessly with this dog and she has made improvement and gained confidence....but she is not and never will be 100%).

 

[Jet]

Something else is that I never expect my dogs to be anything but dogs. It is my job as their human to help them get along in a human world and to protect them so that they do not feel the need to bite another dog or human.

Example: my brother also has a small dog named Jake. Now Jake is pretty good dog and has been with my brother for years. A couple of years ago Jake bit a small child in the face. Didn't do any damage and the mother of the child was not upset in the slightest. My brother on the other had was pissed...he feels that no matter what the kid did Jake should have not growled or snapped.

This kid was repeatedly poking the dog in the eye. And while I was not there I can pretty much guarantee that Jake gave the kid plenty of warning and told him many times over that he didn't like it. Of course the kid didn't know that and no one was paying attention or correcting the situation so the dog eventually bit the kid. Not the dogs fault and it doesn't mean he is a bad or aggressive dog. What it really means is that his human did not protect him and he felt the need to take matters into his own hands.

A dog is a dog and when push comes to shove they are going to act like dogs....

 

[Kim]

Thanks nj. LOL

My experience is in trying to undo the damage caused by bad owners. I have a lot of experience with neglected and abused dogs. If dogs by nature didn't want to please us humans there would be no turning them around from the damage that was done. Nikki was by far the worst case I've seen. One of the first things I did with her was to put a leash on her and left it there 24 hours a day for 3 days straight. When she wasn't in her crate she was at my side on a leash. She couldn't move without my permission. That alone told her that I was in charge, not her. It also made the biggest difference in her behavior. She could relax knowing that she didn't have to be in charge any more. It also helped to establish a bond between us. She could trust me.

Sure you can train a dog to behave badly if you want. It all depends on what you reward. A dog wants nothing more than to please its owner and if it thinks the owner is happy with bad behavior it will do it.

I'm sure dogs could be trained to survive on their own on an island but it would take a lot of work to get them to that point. Dogs survive on the city streets because they're good at scavenging. There's plenty of food for them to find and eat. It's not because they hunt to feed themselves. The "hunt" has been bred out of them. Even hunting dogs need to be trained and then they aren't allowed to actually kill or eat the game. You don't want your dog eating the game before you can get there. Dogs are there to assist in the hunt not to actually do the hunting. I'm not saying that some dogs don't kill other animals because they do. They just aren't used to providing for themselves. They depend on us or, if necessary scavenge for food.

If you want to see the "true" nature of a dog just go someplace where there are a lot of puppies then sit yourself on the floor in the middle of them and watch what happens. They'll be up in your face licking it before you can bat an eyelash at any of them. That is the true, natural behavior of a dog before anything bad happens to it.

 

[OKRADLAK]

Fathead.....what a great name for a lovable ball of fur!!:D

I do appreciate all these perspectives! I still have the wound and I still think of the dog, but I also now realize that she would have done it over and over. And maybe to other animals who had rabies. She was TOTALLY out of control. The dogs was like a viscous animal and I am glad she was small.

But still, if she bit a raccoon with rabies and then bit a small child or even an adult?! She really sank her teeth in and went for it. It was not a nip. She was out for blood.

I still feel sad for her and think her stupid "owner" ought to be behind bars while she gets love and rehab. However, that is not how it works.:(

 

[Jet]

I agree...while I don't know how likely it is that she would have bitten a racoon and then bitten someone else (not sure she would have survived a scrap with a coon) I do find it possible that she could have come across a dead animal (say from rabies) and eaten part of it. If the dog was left out on her own for any period of time without supervision just about anything is possible.

Most likely her issue (at that particular moment) was a territory thing and that is not something that just goes away on it's own. It takes work on both the human and the dog's part. And obviously this poor little critter wasn't going to get anything from jer human. So because she was a neglected dog who has issues the likelyhood of her biting again was very high. In fact I would not be surprised if you weren't the first.

Blessing,
Jackie

PS I love my dog's name. He is called that because when he came home with is he had this big ol head he needed to grow into. And his head is my favorite part of him...it's big and round with fur as soft as velvet. He has the cutest underbite and eyes as deep as the sea. He is my fatheaded wonder muppy....

 

[OKRADLAK]

Hey, Jet....is that Fathead on your icon? He is a BRUISER is so! What a cutie!!

 

[Jet]

Yup...that's my boy. Isn't he lovely? He has put on about 20 lbs since then and his chest has filled out considerably. That pic was taken right afterwe (me and the three dogs) had ended up rolling aboit 20 feet down a very steep hill while on a hike. Scary at the time but funny as heck about 5 minites later. It's not a great pic but ot always makes me laugh.