If a dog bites, should it be pts?

[Snappedandfarted1]

After a discussion with my dog loving friend, I’m curious as to how many of you dog owners would have your pet pts if it bit you or a member of your family? I don’t mean just a nip, I mean a bite which bleeds a fair amount and requires stitches.

To me, that says that a dog cannot be trusted around a human at all and should be pts, but my friends opinion is that unless the bite causes serious damage it should ultimately be ignored. She did agree that an elderly dog should be pts in this situation but not a young or middle aged dog.

Opinions?

Wicked dogs that don't have a conscience!! I've heard it all now. What a load of crap.

It would totally depend on the situation with my dogs. 2 are working breed terriers are are feisty and the other is a rescue. None have ever shown aggression to humans except the rescue and he had extremely good reason to when he did.

Depends entirely on circumstances. If the dog was being annoyed, gave warning signs that were ignored then bit. No quite frankly it would serve the person right, dogs aren’t robots and imo are meant to put up with unending shit off some people. Dog runs up to toddler, completely inprovoked I park and attacks probably (after checking for any solveable physical causes).

“there are dogs who will just out of nowhere run for and attack people. Zero provocation”

Except there aren’t.

It might seem that way to someone, but normal well adjusted dogs don’t suddenly bite with no reason and no warning.

There was someone earlier in the thread where a dog got out and bit her... that dog’s owner will have had plenty of warning that there was an issue.

Yes. It's crap because it is often not the dog's fault, but yes. The damage a dog bite can do is too huge to risk it.

I actually think some of the rise in dog attacks is parents failing to teach their kids how to behave round dogs) and some dog owners not familiarising themselves which dog behaviour

Texted my Dad about this earlier this morning and his reply is:
The ones you can't trust around the children are the same you can't trust with the cattle.

I think it would depend on the circumstances.

If my dog was off lead and attacked a stranger at random for example I would have him PTS as I would see him as a danger.

If he bit someone for example a child who was pulling its tail, or following round the house or (in the dogs opinion) a self defence bite I wouldn't PTS but would take him to the vets, a behaviourist and then take precautions to avoid it ever happening again.

A dog's background plays a huge part in its temperament. If you take on a rescue with issues you are playing blind & have to be even more vigilent. Having had around 50 through my doors as a fosterer i've seen the best & the worst...there is always a reason. Even a dog with 'spaniel rage' attacking has a reason - it can't be helped, but there is a reason other than 'wicked dog'.

I collected a 2 year old Ambull before it went to a dodgy rescue. The dog belly crawled out of the house in fear...when the father of the house appeared the dog went ballistic. The growling started as soon as he heard him, got louder & as dad got closer the dog launched. Luckily i read the situation & controlled the dog. In the car the dog was putty...until he saw a child or male. He went for my male vet but was soft as shit with the female nurses. He was PTS after several conversations with people i trust implicitly...including a lady who runs a sanctuary for dogs who cannot cope with human contact. His triggers were unavoidable. Was he wicked? Was he bollocks. An autopsy showed numerous injuries - old & new - that proved he had spent his life being used as a punch bag.

Wizard, I am speaking the absolute truth here, so I know I'm not talking nonsense.

I pity any dog that comes your way

Some dogs are aggressive, but wicked ffs, absolute bollocks!

ali absolute truth. There is no such thing as absolute truth anyway.

queen presumably you get in a car regularly and drive your kids around, despite knowing that there are total idiots on the road who could kill you any time.

Same principle. You take precautions. You ensure the dog doesn't get a chance to bite again.

My dog is not a biter (would never trust any dog 100% though) but I keep him and my daughter (4 years old) apart at all times. She is allowed to touch him only if someone is sitting between them. We keep the touching to a minimum, none of this her lying on top of him or rolling around on the floor with him nonsense, I cringe when I see that kind of stuff. All it takes is one bad day, for him to have a sore spot we don't know about yet, or for him to be over-tired, or for her to suddenly grab his tail and she could get bitten.

She has a playpen, he has a dogpen. 99% of the time, one of them is inside one of them while I play with/pay attention to the other, or if I'm cooking/whatever.

A lot of friends say we're too clinical, but she has learnt to respect him and to respect his space. She isn't obsessed with him like I see with many kids who just HAVE to touch the doggy. She loves him, she will throw the ball for him, feed him treats, give him a little pat - but more than that is unnecessary and dangerous at that age imo.

@Alilwolf - your opinions are bizarre! Must be a wind up

@Frequency my Mum's dog trainer is an ex-police dog trainer. She was saying just the other day that a couple came to class and disagreed with everything he said, and at that class their dog lunged at her (my DM).

The trainer threw them out, not because the dog was inherently 'wicked' but because the "owners were untrainable". He expects the dog will bite someone soon & have to be PTS.

No such thing as a bad dog...just a bad owner. Obviously in some cases it is previous owners that cause the lasting issues...but most 'problem' dogs are actually attached to idiot owners.

My folks have 2 cockers, both 11. One is deaf so spooks easily, one is a grumpy old man. DD at 6 knows how to behave around them so that neither she or the dogs are put in a situation they are uncomfortable with. It's about respecting boundaries on both sides

For me it would depend on the situation and why the dog had bitten.

in a heartbeat, i would do it myself if i had to even...
we looked into getting a new dog when ours died unexpectedly , we did a couple of visits at the dogs home and then one at our home, when we were at the dogs home i said to the husband i didnt feel comfortable with it,
but he suggested we wait till we meet it at ours,
the owner came with the dog and it was running about in the yard and found an old bone under a tree and came and laid down in front of my husband with it,
my husband started to crouch down, got half way down and the dog growled, a really nasty fuck off growl, my husband started to stand up and the dog latched on to his arm and shook his head,
my husband put his hand over the wounds and said excuse me and calmly walked off, i said to her we wont be taking that dog, he needs to be put down and went to see what had happened and call the after hours doctors...
my husband needed stitches and cleaning out from the puncture wounds and some shots, cost us quite a bit of money to see the after hours doctor and to drive almost an hour to the town....
when we came back the lady was at the chippy and she didn't even ask how the husband was, or offer to pay medical bills or anything... so i strongly suggested she get it put down before i make a complaint to the dog ranger....
the next day she was advertising it on FB, and still no warnings that he was extremely food aggressive, i naturally posted that he was dangerous and needed to be put down that he bites and breaks the skin etc, and called the dog rangers and made a report, i dont know what happened after that, i hope she didnt give him away!
To this day i wish i had said ill take him, and walked him to the cow shed and put a bullet in his head! and i would too

"the owner came with the dog and it was running about in the yard and found an old bone under a tree and came and laid down in front of my husband with it,
my husband started to crouch down, got half way down and the dog growled, a really nasty fuck off growl, my husband started to stand up"

Well why did your husband crouch down next to an unknown dog with a bone?

That's just stupid.

I’m on the fence, I’m unfortunately not a dog lover as I have been bit in the past (I would love to be though because before being bit I did love dogs and want one) but now I have a fear...

I worked as a Carer years ago and was in a lady’s house, I had to ring the office about something and as I picked up her phone her dog bit my leg from behind and wouldn’t let go for a while.... it came completely out of the blue and did draw blood but not enough for stitches, I get maybe the dog saw me as a stranger invading the home but what annoyed me was the owners reaction, never once did she ask if I was ok, but instead wouldn’t let me leave until I promised not to report her dog!! I was 17 at the time and absolutely terrified.

I think like others it would depend on the circumstances.

Ali you must be on a windup

And I've never ever ever heard of a dog being hit and then biting.

Ridiculous. Put man hits dog, gets bitten into google. It’s not difficult to find.

I've spent a lot of time with dogs, both working and pets, and as others have said, unprovoked attacks are extremely rare - I'd say it doesn't happen really because a dog attacking is cause then effect. Even a highly experienced dog trainer will not be able to identify the root cause every time but there will be one. Whether the dog is being 'reasonable' to react with an attack from the cause is another matter entirely. But the dog will have had it's reason for doing so.
I believe this, mainly because of an incident with a pony several years ago. She suddenly became aggressive, unable to be handled safely by children, attacked other horses for no apparent reason and certainly wasn't safe to be ridden. She was checked by quite a few vets, many tests done and nothing could be found to explain this. She was PTS because no one could safely care for her. When autopsied she had a very small brain tumor that was totally undetectable - but it was causing pressure on a certain part of the brain.
So even though extensive tests were carried out and all manner of know it alls experts tried to 'train it out of her' nothing worked. To everyone there was no reason for her behaviour, but obviously there was and only detected because of an autopsy that was done at insurance company insistence.
Had the mare just been destroyed and that that I'd be telling the story of a horse that suddenly turned 'wicked'.
That experience taught me a lot about animals and their behaviour and I think there's always a reason a dog bites, we may never know what it is but it doesn't mean it's not there. The tricky part is finding the trigger and working out if it's safe and possible to work around or with.
I wonder if the pp (who's dad had 'wicked' dogs) if those dogs in fact had some sort of 'hidden' issue that couldn't be readily identified and therefore the image of a 'wicked'dog is projected.
Just my theory but I think it makes sense.

Depends, my husband knew someone who’s dog killed their newborn baby - dog was put down.

We have two dogs, one hates children afte being manhandled when she was a pup by some children so we keep her away from children, I worry about my dog being the one to be put down should she try to defend herself against children who are not taught to ask if they can stroke dogs before just doing it.

My best friend adopted a dog who was abused for years - he used to bite everyone going after about 5 years she had to give up as he was going for her young child, he was adopted by a couple who had no children and is doing well.

puzzled Why was the dog in the position where it could get near a newborn?

Again, not the dog's fault, the parents'.