My poor puppy

[lifeisbetterinpajamas]

My gorgeous 7 month old pup was attacked Wednesday evening by 2 dogs. He was on the lead they were not.

He is going to be ok thankfully. I am a tearful mess. Dissolving into tears when I think of it and just feel so guilty that it happened I can't get his screams out of my head.

I am so worried how it will affect him moving forwards. Does anyone have any advise please?

[MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig]

Not really no but I’m sure someone else will be along. Couldn’t read and run, I’m so sorry, your poor boy. What happened?

[AvocadosBeforeMortgages]

That sounds rather traumatic - for both of you. Please don't blame yourself, but do consider reporting the incident to the dog warden.

There's no way of knowing how this will affect your dog. Some will have relatively minor incidents and end up with significant problems around dog reactivity. Others will have much more serious incidents and be unaffected. Mine has a great hatred of one breed which has, to my knowledge, never hurt him in any way, and is absolutely fine with a breed which gave him a minor bite.

Do you have any friends with calm, friendly dogs he could be introduced to, sooner rather than later?

[TomHardysNextWife]

Oh OP you have my absolute sympathy. Mine was attacked in June.... so badly he had to have lots of vet treatment and he had a blood clot which we didn't discover for a week. Keep a close eye on yours for any hidden injuries, without wanting to scare you.

This was the 3rd time that my dog had been attacked by the same dog, it was in our NDN's gardens with its owners. It took 4 people to remove the attacking dog, and like yours all I could hear for weeks was my dog screaming. Both DH and I were in a state of shock so christ knows what our dog was like. The stress made me really ill, but the only saving grace of the whole ordeal was that in the fracas, my finger and hand got bitten and as a result of that, the Police are taking the owner to court for having a dangerous dog out of control. Thankfully at least one other person had also reported the dog for attacking theirs.

I can honestly say I think it is one of the most horrific things I've endured in my life. The owner still walks their dog off lead locally so I'm screwed for walking where we live, and I no longer enjoy walking my dog..... every moment out is one of looking over my shoulder even miles from home. Thankfully after the last few months, my dog has met friendly ones again and will now greet other dogs again that he knows. He is very reactive to noise in the house though, and seems to be "on guard" which is something he never was before.

Some owners should never be allowed to keep pets. I hope you both soon recover from this

[HappyPumpkin81]

Poor you and poor puppy. My dog was once viciously attacked by two border terriers, I had to pull them off of her while she was pinned to the ground and screaming. She was slightly nervy with other dogs straight after the attack on the same day but otherwise she was fine, it was me that really struggled. I would suggest getting your dog straight back out to meet other nice dogs, if you know people with friendly dogs schedule some walks together so that your dogs learn that only a small minority of dogs are mean. Watch your own reactions around your dog when other dogs approach. Your dog will pick up on any anxiety or worries that you have which will put your dog in a heightened state of fear/aggression which would make another attack more likely. You have to fake being all happy and relaxed so that your dog feels happy and relaxed too. Make sure you keep the lead loose when another dog approaches.

It might take a while but you will be confidently going for walks again. My dog never held any grudges against border terriers (but I can't stand them).

Also if you can email the dog warden about the attack with all the information photos etc. My friends dog was hospitalised by a dog that had previously attacked other dogs, and the dogs that attacked mine were known to be aggressive too. Unfortunately as people often don't report it it is hard to build a case against bad owners so that they have to legally have their dogs on the lead, muzzled etc.

[lifeisbetterinpajamas]

Thank you so much for your replies.

msadorabelle The 2 dogs were off lead in the park playing ball when 1 of them came over, sniffed my pup then just launched itself onto him. Both dogs had those harness that warn people not to go near, so goodness knows why they were off their leads.

avo yes I am going to move slowly with him, I don't want to rush him and make it worse. I have reported it, people that ran to help have also.

tom I'm so sorry for you and your poor dog. It was horrific, made even worse as my 7 year old was with us when it happened. The dogs just wouldn't let go. We haven't been out since, except to the vets, and he was barking at the slightest movement. It makes me anxious just thinking about taking him out again.

happy I really hope so. I loved taking him to the park, we did so much training there too. I will watch how I am when we go out, I am really scared though, stupid I know. I have been in contact with the dog warden. They were great and the dogs were known to them already from previous issues. I just hope something is done now so this doesn't happen to any other poor dogs

[Yokohamajojo]

My dog was attacked by a Husky when he was about the same age. Not very serious and not needing vet treatment but he is still at 2 very weary of Husky dogs and unfortunately anything similar so also GSDs. I just have to avoid those breeds now sadly as we know quite a few nice ones

[Dragongirl10]

op this has happened to me, the most important thing is to take him out frequently to meet other dogs again, and control your anxiety, difficult as that may sound.

If you don't want him to be fearful you have to be confident yourself, take him to meet up with friends who have gentle dogs you know as soon as possible, keep doing it, and as long as the other dogs are known to be safe let him off the lead and walk away.

He needs to find his confidence back.

My Spaniel was very badly bitten ay 14 weeks, and screamed in pain.

Despite my feelings the next day l took him to our dog daycare centre and put him in with the small dogs for 30 minutes, he was scared for 10, unsure for 5 then started playing. I also took him everywhere with me and let him sniff any old/slow/gentle dog l came across.

I did this for a week (all the dogs there were known to be very well socialised) he is now the most confident dog...

The secret is YOU letting go of your fear as he will take his cues from you, to do this find safe dogs for him to have lots of contact with ideally for short periods three times a day. Then you will be confident to encourage.....good luck