The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Pets & Working Animals => Dogs => Topic started by: SallyintNorth on August 10, 2021, 10:46:07 pm
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Seemed like an interesting tangent from another thread...
I have been bitten / attacked (as a small child who adored dogs so probably my own fault) by :
- a Pembroke corgi (twice, same dog) (*)
- threatened but not bitten by a goldie tied up outside a shop
- our own family labrador (a yellow from working stock - mad way to source a pet, but my parents knew no better). Definitely me pestering it, poor bugger.
- a Great Dane (not my own fault, this one. It wanted my cuddly toy and I wouldn't give it up)
- chased by (but not caught - on my bicycle) by an Alsatian. It chased all the kids on bikes.
And as an adult by :
- a dachsie (clipping its claws and stupidly let the owner hold it.) It bit me 6 times on one forearm and 7 on the other. Heavy duty antibiotics were required
- a yellow labrador which was fighting my dog, a GSD cross (rescue), after I separated them; its owner didn't hold onto it tightly enough and it went in for another go at my dog and got me on the thumb. My dog was very likely to have started the vendetta these two had, he was like that ::)
- a border collie, farm dog, on the front of the thigh, marked the skin through a thick pair of jeans. I was cross about this one, I know collies (and rather prided myself on not getting bitten since I was 10 years old, except by that Dachsie and the accidental bite by the Lab...)
(*) This is the story I tell people who say, "I was bitten as a child so I am frightened of dogs." I was bitten twice by a Corgi as a 2 year old, but it never stopped me liking dogs, never made me frightened of dogs.
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I have been bitten only once. I was going to a house I didn't know in a remote village. I asked two men which house it was, and a door in a high wall was opened for me and I stepped directly into a garden. As the door shut behind me a large German Shepherd was right in my face, snarling and snapping. I was taken totally off guard, so defended myself as well as I could, but in summer clothes I had little protection. I'm embarrassed to say that I also screamed, to attract someone's attention :-[ . Meanwhile I was bitten on my midriff as well as on my forearm. I had not felt able to whack the dog over the muzzle because it was my hostesses dog.
I spent the night and was horrified to realise the dog was left loose to prowl the house, presumably against possible burglars. This meant I couldn't get to the loo in the night :D . I've not been back!!
From the dog's point of view, I was an intruder and she did what she was trained for. In fact there were two large German Shepherds there, but only one attacked me.
My new puppy was very bitey when we first got him so my arms re a bit scarred, but that was just him learning the difference between humans and his litter mates. He's fine now :dog: Otherwise, dogs don't tend to go for me, thankfully ;D
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My grandad's Cairn Terrier, every week. I was preschool. I loved her, she wanted peace. My Dad would say "Leave her alone, she'll bite you"; I'd ignore the advice and she would. Ther was never any suggestion that the dog should be pts. There was some suggestion that I was just plain stupid :innocent:
On to early late teens, my boss's collie nipped me. Colliesdo that.
Our collie, Tess, who was a mad bugger and used to grab my sleeve when I lifted her into the car. Once she got flesh and there was a moment of suspended time, while she very, very slowly released my wrist. She didn't break the skin.
I don't know where all these feart folk come form and why.
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My grandad's Cairn Terrier, every week. I was preschool. I loved her, she wanted peace. My Dad would say "Leave her alone, she'll bite you"; I'd ignore the advice and she would. Ther was never any suggestion that the dog should be pts. There was some suggestion that I was just plain stupid :innocent:
:roflanim:
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.......Only once by a collie who dashed out of a field being used for dog agility classes and bit me on the back of the leg as I was walking away .....charming!
I've always been respectful of any dog. I'm not one for touching other people's dogs unless it's plainly obvious that they want attention and even then I don't over do it.
I always carry a stick when walking around here because I've known several local people that have been bitten by farm collies that come running out of the yards and on to the road.
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As a child I was nipped by a farm collie I wanted to make friends with, my fault as the dog was scared of children.
My uncles labrador who went for me as I was coming out of the bathroom.
As a teenager I was fear nipped by a rescue border collie several times in the first week. I was removing her feed bowl to wash and refill it each time. She only bit once more in her long life when the vet needed to stitch her leg up.
As an early adult my sister's labrador went for me when I told it off for jumping up at the kitchen counter.
My friends daxies used to come up from behind and bite ankles, so I always wore wellies when I visited.
As an older adult my daughter in law got a rescue staffy who was scared of its own shadow, it would fear nip if approached directly.*
Otherwise only puppy nips as they have learnt to inhibit their bite.
I would not trust my neighbours ridgeback as it has several times made to come and bite people, it has bitten several small dogs that have needed vet attention afterwards. All were on leads, on public paths.
* They lived in the same house as me for a while.
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I talk to EVERY dog I meet...... can't help myself :innocent:
I've been bitten twice in my life and both offenders were collies, I love collies!
First one was as a child, a shepherd's working collie who had been left in our yard while he and my dad were talking. Six year old me just wanted to pet it, but either it wasn't used to getting petted or I scared it. It couldn't have been a bad bite because it didn't stop me talking to every dog I came across since then ;)
Second one was nippy! I was visiting a friend who had a few collies and Ben was particularly nervous but usually absolutely fine with me. I had to use her bathroom one day and didn't notice him lying in behind the loo. He caught me on the little tender bit of (naked) flesh behind my knee. It hurt and it hurt for weeks!
I still talk to every dog I meet :innocent:
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A few years ago, two of my bitches decided they no longer liked each other. I suspect it began when I had to go away for a couple of days, and had told my dog sitter (who was very well known to my dogs) not to walk them together. But she ignored me, took them for a walk on flexis, and both went in after birds in a hedge, and came out rolling, snarling and biting. Probably one got stuck by a branch and thought the other had bitten them. The younger bitch was three weeks pregnant which is why I'd told Denise to keep an eye on them.
Anyway, after that they could get into a serious fight instantly, so I was careful to manage them.
On one occasion, I was in the lounge with Belle(the pregnant one, but a couple of years after the pups were born); I had forgotten my dog Allez could open the doors and in he strolled with his aunt Freckles behind him.
A brief second or two of stalking and growling ensued, then immediate mayhem - and I was stuck in the middle. I managed to get Belle into the cage, but in the process she bit a chunk out of my leg - thinking it was Freckles no doubt. Freckles had a hold of my finger but I said quietly 'Freckles, that's mummy's finger, let go please' and she did :innocent: The skin and flesh was peeled off to the bone in parts
I went to hospital, got fixed up and pumped full of ABs overnight, and never felt so stupid in my life admitting it was my own dogs and that the police needn't be involved.
Other than that, I have no fear of dogs, and have never been bitten before or since. And I can read body language so much better now - I should have seen Belle's reaction and leapt to shut the door on Freckles before anything happened.
Needless to say Denise never worked for me again. :eyelashes:
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I was bitten by a lab as it was busy attacking the wee dog I was walking for my neighbour. Never put me off dogs though.
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Blimey, collies and labs are the ones with the teeth!
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Let's look at why dogs bite.
So far we've had:
#Fear
#Pain
#It's their job (guard dog)
#Defending their 'owners'
#They're just nippy wee buggers ;D
None of the bites you've related were truly serious, but every now and then people are badly mauled or killed by dogs so what causes this? I can think of situations I've heard about where 'pack mentality' has been at play. One was an elderly lady who had several small dogs which had attacked and killed her at home as a pack. Other people have been killed by dogs trained for fighting. Children and babies have been killed or mauled by family 'pets' gone rogue (or were they really family pets, rather than fighting dogs in disguise?)
At one time we had six dogs, mostly large, and they operated very differently from single dogs. What the pack decided seemed to hold, rather than what their training said. There was a ring leader and when she seriously worried a neighbours sheep (worried being rather a feeble word for when a dog attacks sheep) she was destroyed. Horribly sad but she was quite dangerous and I had my young grandson living with me so could not take risks. She was not suitable for rehoming.
But without such a 'wrong-un' for leader, packs do work differently so I'm wondering about that kind of dog bite. Has anyone experienced a pack attack?
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I've not searched for the figures but guessing that attacks by an actual pack of dogs on people in this country are very uncommon.
My father at times owned 4 or 5 dogs and had others that came and went while being trained for people but I can't say that they ever showed much sign of working/thinking as a pack or showed any more sign of aggression to people or other dogs than they would show as individuals.
So, for example, I remember having a Flat Coat dog that was fairly dog aggressive but I never saw any sign of the other dogs in his 'pack' wanting to get involved.
Having said that the farmers around me say that a lot of sheep worrying involves more than one dog ..... I suppose in that case the supposed fun of the chase is what gets them involved. It's probably a different thing to dogs that bite humans. Not sure that the two are comparable.
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And I don't think that my dad's 'pack' ignored their training in favour of any pack rules or preferred behaviour.
In fact I think maybe the opposite. The young dogs were more easily trained because they followed the example of their older trained pack members. Recall for instance ..... older dog returns instantly when called and so the younger dog runs back too. Actually used this principle when walking with a neighbour and her young dog .....he was happy to return to recall because he followed my dogs back. He then gets loads of fuss so the behaviour is reinforced. And he wants to do what they're doing anyway and be part of their pack.
Think this is true of other aspects of their training too.
I suppose I am only relating this to a 'pack' where dogs are trained to quite a high level though and where they are already working happily with their trainer and are responsive because they love working.
A pack where the dogs are untrained might be very different in dynamics so guess you might see widely different behaviours depending on each 'pack', FW.
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I've never actually experienced a bad pack attack, but one of my clients had 2 dogs (Vera and Meg - sadly Vera since run-over) that, together, would often make a bee-line for other dogs on the beach and act in a very aggressive manner. I've seem them do it and potentially really bad situations avoided by stern recall by owner.
Yet at home, they were welcoming of all and any dogs. Can anyone explain that ?
(My 1st wee dog and then my new addition were never once bothered by them over many years either in the garden or on the beach!)
[A slightly amusing tale in passing: my Papillon will not "play" with other dogs. I chose her because she was the gutsy little one beating up her larger siblings, but over time she would not participate in a bit of rough and tumble with other dogs no matter what. She didn't mind a chase (cos she was quick - still surprisingly quick at the age of 12 especially when she feels wet beach sand under foot), but not fun-fights.
However, Vera and Meg, as above, loved nothing better than a rough and tumble on the lawn and had fun-fights frequently. When they did, Madam Papillon would take up position in the "front row" bouncing up and down, barking in encouragement and with the excitement of it all !!! Bless!]
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I would not trust my neighbours ridgeback as it has several times made to come and bite people, it has bitten several small dogs that have needed vet attention afterwards. All were on leads, on public paths.
Forgot that one. The only dog I've been genuinely frightened by was a Rhodesian Ridgeback - someone I met in outside the livery yard and we had a chat. I didn't even talk to the dog but it was scary and given the opportunity, I'm 99% certain it would have had a go and it wouldn't have been a nip. It was a seriously scary dog.
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My dad's auntie's husband used to work at the Warsaw airport, in the immigration department in the early 1990s, this is where he got a Scottish Rough collie puppy - she came from pedigree stock bred by Russian police!
Some time later she had a litter - my grandmother took one, her sister another one. Sadly my mum wouldn't let us take one as well :innocent:
We grew up with those dogs! Especially the one my grandmother had - she was the best dog ever! All the kids would play with her, and she never bit anyone!
...that didn't stop me keeping distance from most dogs though ;D
I was once bitten by a ferret - she dint just want to scare me - she was trying to rip a chunk of my hand. I managed to free myself by putting her (with my hand) under a tap with running water. No more stinky ferrets.
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Aged 9 or 10 on a paper round a jack russel came yapping down a really long garden just after i had gone through the gate.
Rather than turn back round ( i had a paper to deliver after all) i decided it was all bark and no bite but no.. no it wasn't..
I managed to swat it several times with the newspaper before it sank its teeth into my calf.
The owner came out and called it back and made a big fuss about the bite etc
As i left i handed him the tattered newspaper rather than give him a fresh one.. haha
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I was bitten in the face as a kid by a GSD and still bear the scar on my nose ( it wasn’t our GSD). I spent some time as a VN and therefore got nipped a few times, mostly by Westies who just must be itchy and tetchy. I was attacked in the street in Leith by an EBT and still have the scar on my hand.
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a pomeranian as a small child. my fault and my collie when she hung herself up on a fence. quick shout and she realised what she was doing and stopped.
as a rule i ignore collies when i first meet them, and never met a collie thats been nippy toward me
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Westies ? - would that be WHWTs by any chance ? LOL :)
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Westies ? - would that be WHWTs by any chance ? LOL :)
Wild Horrible Witless Terriers :roflanim: :roflanim: :roflanim: :roflanim:
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Might be easier to list what I've not been bitten by... anyway, I have been bitten by:
:horse: :horse: :horse: (several not just 3 - trying to work out if the worst was a mangled hand when I went to clear a choke from a Shitland being held by a very small child with no responsible adult attending - I had the child holding the tongue whilst I was trying to get the mangled mess of grass from it's throat and the kid let go - still got the scars on my thumb and forefinger and that's got to be close on 30 years ago; or my TB mare who skinned her leg after a firework incident and spent 12 months in bandages... she was a bit mental so the vets wouldn't get close enough to treat her... they'd stand at the outside passage and give helpful instructions whilst I bathed, treated and bandaged. Anyway one day whatever I was doing hurt and she sank her teeth into my arse with such precision that you could pick out the individual teeth in the bruise a couple of days later)!
:pig: (never let a child feed pigs!)
:cat: (the worst being the latest kittens I took on; they'd been dumped in a dustbin at a few weeks old and were "a bit hissy"... so much so that one bit through a leather biker's glove and my thumb nail when I needed to pick it up)
:goat: (ever tried force feeding or drenching one???)
:dog: :dog: :dog: (various)
- Greyhound, breaking up a fight as a teenager
- Golden retriever, breaking up a fight as a teenager
- various mongrels
- various sheepdogs - mostly I was asking for it, but not always
- friend's Alsatian - when I was about 10 - 100% my fault and I still have the scar below my eye to show for it
- Bull lurcher - over exuberant on a walk with a friend and it twice came running at me jumped up and nipped my arm first near the wrist, then at the shoulder; 3rd time I was ready for it and as it leaped towards my face, I grabbed its legs threw it on the floor and pinned it there. My former friend was not amused. "It was just playing" apparently. Someone else congratulated me on a great catch and wished they'd done that when it had nipped them.
- my great grandmother's spiteful little pekingese when I was very little- they had similar temperaments!
- WHWT - nippy little git used to go for the back of my calf
- spaniel - now this one was nasty! Launched over a gate and got me right on the nipple - hurt like hell!
- my lovely late NZ collie - he used to mouth my arm when he wanted to love me... never "bit" but always just mouthed me. He used to "hold my hand" when we were walking down the road too! Does that count? Probably not!
I think you should wear armour when you see any animals coming
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When i was 15 I used to work on a game farm on a Saturday with my mate , ones we all went to another game farm to pick up some laying hens , they was a massive ridge back in a kennel, my mate started teseing it saying he thinks its soft and all bark etc , anyway about 30 minutes later while we was catching hens up some one let the ridge back out , it made a bee line for my mate who jumped on to the shed roof screaming like a baby, it was very amusing I remember my sides hurting from laughing so hard
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Oh yes, cats.
"Jacob bites everyone except me, and he bites me sometimes". Loved him to pieces though. :love::cat:
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In our younger days when we were cycling up Glen Clova with the children on the back, we saw a fox caught in a wire trap. Poor thing had clearly been there for longer than is legal and had been trying to chew its leg off but fortunately had not gone too far. Mr F, who had boots on (we were hill walking too) went to the fox, gave it his boot to chew on instead (not a euphemism, he put his boot in front of it and it latched on) then released the wire and off it trotted with a backwards look (straight into a tree trunk ::) ) We think it was OK, but Mr F did sustain a bitten finger which did not go septic but did leave a permanent scar.
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:hug: for Mr F
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:hug: for Mr F
You wouldn't believe how proud he was of the scar on his finger ::) :roflanim:
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Seems I've got away with it, pretty much, compared to others:
Dogs - Just one Jack Russel (as far as I can recall) that always chased us as we came home from Cub Scouts on our bikes and finally got his teeth into my shoe (no injury) - I then reported to the village policeman (remember them) and he interviewed the owner but neither police nor owner did anything ! (I'd swear the JR's owner used to put him out in front garden mid-evening on Thursdays on purpose !)
Grey squirrel - Poor thing had obviously been stunned by vehicle contact, but not "squashed" in any way. As I moved it to a safe place it came round and latched into a finger. The only thing I could think to do was swing my arm around as fast as possible to see if circular motion (I was doing Physics A-Level at the time) would persuade it to let go - luckily it did decide to release its bite as opposed to being flung afar with a bit of my flesh between its teeth.
Carrion crow - There was a time when very young children were allowed to roam and during that time I came across an injured crow. Not sure, this far on, how I managed to catch it, but it immediately gave me a rather painful bite. I dropped it and it scampered away into nearby undergrowth. If I'd been older and maybe with a gang of friends, I guess I would have tried to chase it back out and save it (and acquire a pet crow), but alas I didn't. (I still feel bad about that !!)
Horses - None
Cats - None
Farm animals general - None
[Wasps - if insect stings count as bites, this is where I’ve been unlucky over my life-time. Too many instances to recount, but may I ask how/why a wasp once decided to crawl into my shoe and while I was wearing it and while Mr Keay was teaching us our "tables"!?]
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My own much missed dog. Walking all 4 of them one night in October many moons ago and some plonker decided to set off a fire work. Fortunately I was wearing wellies but her border collie knashers went through them and into my leg! Went to the local hospital and they said I had to have a tetanus jab! Were rather surprised I couldn't remember receiving one at school! (I was in my late 20's. Long time ago!)
Jaspers!! Accidentally sat on one as I sat down in the tractor, shot up and out incredibly fast leaving tractor tootling along in low gear, fortunately! (I had felt a pain in butt, put my hand to rub, felt a pain on hand, looked and found wasp attached!!) NEEDLESS to say, when i approach tractor now, it's with squatter and doff powder!
Sheep nip, if overly keen on the tic tacs/sugar lumps and Juniper with the bread would wrap her tongue around hand, wanting to take fingers as well!
Animals, love them!
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Never been bitten by a dog, fortunately.
Cats yes, but usually in play by enthusiastic youngsters.
Pigs, yes but mainly just wellies/feet and not too badly. Always try to distract them with food if I need to go into the pen to do something else eg put more straw in ark or clean out water trough.
The worst bite I sustained was from a tetchy thoroughbred who I was grooming and hadn't tied up short enough. As I was doing his belly he whipped his head round and took hold of my back, teeth either side of my spine and just held on hard. I froze for a moment, not sure what to do as was terrified he might cause me serious damage, then whacked his belly hard close to his sheath (but not actually on it) with the curry comb and he let go. Never gave him a long rope again!
On another occasion the same damn horse decided to pin me against the stable wall when I went in to replace the haynet. Fortunately I wasn't kicked - he just backed into me and effectively held me against the wall for a few moments with his massive bum!