A dog tried to bite me!

[loseit199374]

I was coming out of a shop about 30 minutes ago and there was a really cute looking spaniel-type dog tied up outside.

I never normally stroke random dogs but I thought it looked very placid so I decided to go stroke its head. Well, as soon as I put my hand out to touch it, it went to bite me and then basically jump up my leg.

It’s really shaken me up. How naive I was. It didn’t draw blood but there is a red mark on the inside of my hand just below my little finger and ring finger. It’s a bit sore if I push the skin in.

I am now obsessively concerned about it. There aren’t any teeth marks that I can see but should I go to my GP tomorrow just in case? Or will it settle down?

Get a grip. No broken skin ? You’ll be fine. Stay away from dogs you don’t know.

You may be a bit bruised. You don’t need to see the GP. You must allow a dog to come to you and sniff your hand, not reach out to stroke it. It may have been abused, hit etc before and have been frightened. If it has wanted to bite you properly and cause damage it would have done. That was basically a warning.

It didn’t bite you if it hasn’t broken the skin.
The owner was an idiot to leave it tied up.
So were you to try and touch a strange dog when it was tied up.

Why would you see your GP about a small red mark?

You shouldn’t go and touch a random dog. Would you like a random stranger coming up to you and stroking your head? I am sure you will live.

I'm sorry this happened OP. It was probably frightened :( and tied up it couldn't do anything to get away so tried to protect itself.
Owners shouldn't leave dogs tied up outside in public places, it's too risky IMO.

But you'll be fine :)

This- Dogs feel threatened when tied up- They know they can’t escape.
Touching the head is very dominant- A frightened or nervous dog could easily go to bite.
There are also a lot of poorly socialised dogs about, so randomly going to touch one isn’t a good idea for anyone to do, especially one tied up without it’s owner there.

Many yrs ago, a sweet puppy was bought to guard a scrap yard.
The pup was sweet natured, but as time went by, he was chained and never let off that chain.

He became very aggressive, poor dog.
So many people tried to report to RSPCA but as the dog had shelter ( a barrel) , water and food, there was nothing legally the RSPCA could do.

The chain reached to the gate- I offered to take dog out for walks, but owner refused.