I'll try not to make this too long. About 6 months ago someone at DH's work died, leaving a dog in need of a home. Being a bit of a softy, DH took him in with the intention of helping him to find a permanent home (if he didn't fall in love with him first). The dog's owner had rescued him from a bad start in life and we knew he suffers with fear aggression around dogs and must be walked on a lead. We didn't fancy his chances in a kennel/pound and thought he would end up PTS.
But since he's always lived with children and been fine, we took him in and have been continuing to socialize, train and work on his doggie issues. He's always supervised when the kids are home, and he's been wonderful with them.
Tonight he was sleeping on the floor near me and my youngest tripped up and fell onto him. He made a yelp/bark noise and ran away upstairs. DD was crying and I thought she was just startled--but after a minute I realized she was bleeding from a puncture at her temple
She calmed fairly quickly (her sister took it a lot worse than she did!) and we cleaned her up. Tomorrow I'll take her to the GP and probably get antibiotics for it. After about an hour the dog came back downstairs and I checked him over to make sure he was ok too. We tried not to make too big a deal out of it, and explained that it was an accident and that he snapped because it hurt and scared him when DD fell on him. She's been stroking him and saying he's "nice doggie", so at least she's not terrified of him.
But what on earth do we do now? Although I don't think the dog meant to bite, it happened right there in front of me. Even with supervision, how can I guarantee that it won't happen again? And yet having bitten other dogs and a child, I can't see him having a snowballs chance in hell at a rescue... Any advice?
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The doghouse
:( Dog bit 3yo. What to do now?
38 replies
NeverWinsMNComps · 26/02/2013 20:56
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