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Original poster

If a dog bites, should it be pts?

272 replies

Snappedandfarted1 · 12/11/2018 21:35

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. Hmm

Opinions?

OP posts:
DeadCertain · 13/11/2018 11:16

No such thing as a bad dog...just a bad owner. Must admit I hate that saying. Plenty of owners struggle with dogs with behavioural problems, even when they have been great owners. Conversely some awful owners mistreat and neglect their animals yet often have dogs without significant issues.

Hisaishi · 13/11/2018 11:29

dead I think people are saying that if you let your dog be in a position where it can hurt someone, that is on you.

DeadCertain · 13/11/2018 11:32

Hisaishi agree that the careful management of a dog is most definitely the responsibility of the owner!

tabulahrasa · 13/11/2018 11:34

“Plenty of owners struggle with dogs with behavioural problems, even when they have been great owners.”

The thing is... if their dog injured someone it’s their fault, so it’s still a case of bad owners IMO.

I know some people don’t like that it’s not the dog it’s the owner thing because it does imply if the dog has an issue it’s the owners fault, but your dog can have huge issues and still be safe - if you manage it properly.

I have a dog with behavioural issues, theyre caused by medical problems so long term and not really trainable.

If I was putting him in situations he was unhappy with and he was then managing to bite, that would be my fault.

DeadCertain · 13/11/2018 11:38

tabulahrasa I have been in a similar situation to you by the sounds of it and yes 100% you must manage the dog appropriately; couldn't agree more!

By my comment I meant more the people who blame an owner for having caused any behavioural issues rather than the management of said issues.

Pissedoffdotcom · 13/11/2018 11:46

Dead i get what you're saying, but ultimately if a dog attacks somebody it is down to the owner. A dog reacts...an owner is responsible for making sure the triggers are minimal & the dog isn't able to hurt anybody during a reaction.

I have had many a rescue with some horrendous issues...all of their issues were caused by people. Perhaps the phrase should be 'no such thing as a bad dog, only bad people' - in some cases people take on dogs with previous problems, of course they are not responsible for those problems. Equally tho, many people get dogs as pups then can't or won't manage behaviour that is deemed inappropriate. Bad ownership

Lunalula · 13/11/2018 12:09

I believe they should be put down if bites someone. Playful bites are harmless though. I grew up with a dog, this dog bit my ankles, feet, hands and once my boob! Bit my brothers feet, hand and eyebrow!
Bit my bf at the time on his foot and hand, bit my brothers gf at the time on elbow. Also bit my ndn little girl (6 yo) on her face and my cousin (3yo) on face too.
When did the dog get put down?
About 6 years after we got it, when it attacked my mum and her wand wouldn't stop bleeding and she needed stitches. I always resent my mum for this. She never thought it was bad until it happened to her!
Seriously, the dog bites your daughter and son near the eye, and your nephew on face and other people and you're it as no problem? You are the problem!
Glad when my mum got the dog put down but then weeks later came home with another... Hmm

LuvSmallDogs · 13/11/2018 12:14

Alilwolf, and the stats on chihuahuas seriously injuring or killing people? All very well saying they bite more, but if I had to choose between getting attacked by a chi, a lab or a staffy...

Hisaishi · 13/11/2018 12:21

luna well it sounds like your mum was not a very good or responsibile owner, and I can't really see why a dog has to get put down because of that.

mrsjoyfulprizeforraffiawork · 13/11/2018 12:26

My dog bit the dogwalker and was returned home in a muzzle and disgrace and barred from her further services. Later she confessed that she (very overweight young woman) had accidentally fallen on top of my already stressed dog and thus precipitated a fight between my dog and her own and she got bitten by accident, trying to intervene. We found a new lovely, sensible, calm (slimmer) dogwalker and my dog was very happy and never (accidentally or otherwise) ever bit anyone after that.

Pissedoffdotcom · 13/11/2018 12:59

I got a call one day from a neighbour to say that my dog had attacked another dog whilst with the dog walker. Altho he was lead reactive he could be walked with certain other dogs - which the dog walker knew. Everybody kicked up a huge fuss about my dangerous dog, yada yada yada. When i got hold of the block CCTV I was able to see actually what happened....the dog walker had tied a staffy bitch to the fence, then my dog next to her, so she could get the third out of the car. The staffy bitch was also dog reactive, so took umbridge to mine being so close and barking his stupid head off as per so attacked him. Mine reacted. Apparently the noise was horrific but the only damage was to the dog walker's pride.

Before i got hold of the CCTV i was being told my dog was in the wrong & was getting a whole heap of shit from the landlord.

Stompythedinosaur · 13/11/2018 13:11

mrsjoy it really wasn't necessary to put in the weights of your respective dog walkers. You realise that her weight had nothing to do with the situation you described?

overagain · 13/11/2018 13:20

Our dog when I was little bit my sister. We had it PTS the following day. We were all distraught, but we couldn't trust her and had no way to separate the dog from the kids for long periods of time without it being cruel to the dog.

Our next door neighbours dog bit my brother on the leg once. It was PTS the following day.

I kind of assumed it was what you did.

I couldn't trust a dog who had bitten someone, would never be able to relax with them again.

brizzledrizzle · 13/11/2018 13:22

Yes because it says that the dog can't be trusted. That's easy for me to say though, I know it's not as easy when it's a much loved family pet rather than a hypothetical dog.

Alilwolf · 13/11/2018 13:24

So now we have DUM DUM DUM. It's not the dog's fault, the walker was fat and sat on him! And you're questioning MY sanity?

Frequency · 13/11/2018 13:26

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

@wink1970 That's precisely why I left dog training and rescue. The dogs were fine but some of the owners were wicked. I'm not cut out for working with people.

Alilwolf · 13/11/2018 13:27

You seem to all be taking particular offence to 'wicked'. It's just my Dad's way to describe the dogs that bit.

chillpizza · 13/11/2018 13:28

I’m in the camp of if my dog bites it isn’t staying in my house, it fits to be pts,breed rescue etc but it’s not living In my house with my children.

Lunafreya · 13/11/2018 13:30

I have two experiences of this. My family had a dog that my dad physically abused on a regular basis. After my dad left my mum, the dog snapped and bit through my mum's hand, seemingly unprovoked, and she had it pts. Later on, my older sister had a dog who bit one of her kids, she rehomed it with my mum. In this case, the dog lived peacefully with mum until it eventually died of cancer. I wish that the family dog had been rehomed.

Frequency · 13/11/2018 13:32

Wicked suggests the dog is making a deliberate choice to be aggressive and knows right or wrong. That is physiologically impossible. They quite simply do not have the brain function. Anything and everything a dog does is instinct or trained behaviour, either deliberately trained by humans or accidentally trained by humans or circumstances.

No dog is born wicked. It's all down to breeding and the experiences that dog has during its life. If you breed sheep herders from stock that has hunting breeds mixed in, however far down the line, you're going to run into problems sooner or later. If you train sheep herders and you're knowledge of canine behaviour comes from watching Ceaser Milan or Barbra Woodhouse, you're going to run into problems sooner or later.

wrenika · 13/11/2018 13:35

I would only consider PTS under very limited circumstances. The chances are, if I got bitten or someone else got bitten...we had done something wrong.

Alilwolf · 13/11/2018 13:39

There are two sheep dogs at home at the moment. One I would describe as docile, the other as wicked. He hasn't bit anyone yet so he lives on, but there's just something about him that's 'different'. The more docile one seems rather stupid. The one I see as 'wicked' is more alert but very difficult to train. That includes him nipping at the heels of whatever he's chasing. They both absolutely ADORE (and I mean ADULATION) my Dad. It's a rural area, and they know the sound of the engine of his car because they go berserk from when he's about a quarter of a mile away. I would not trust the 'wicked' one around my dd, but I'd trust the other one. Actually I wouldn't trust either of them. They're a pair of lunatics lol. But Dad loves them pair of delinquents and is a responsible owner.

Pissedoffdotcom · 13/11/2018 13:40

Frequency beat me to it. Wicked is intentional. A dog isn't wicked. It works on instinct & experience. If a dog isn't fit for the job it is doing & does it wrong, it isn't a wicked dog. It is either poorly trained or not right for what you want it to do. It is that simple

Alilwolf · 13/11/2018 13:42

Dad only buys pure bred collies with papers so I can debunk your notion that they're half breeds straight off!

TheBestestCatinTheLand · 13/11/2018 13:42

I would. My brother was attacked by a japanese akita dog when he was passing by. It was being walked by a man along with his daughter when the dog grabbed onto his forearm. It ripped skin and muscle from his arm. People alerted by my brothers screams came outside and called the police. The dog let go when a man came outside with a baseball bat and used it to push the dog off. The man walked off and left my brother to suffer in agonising pain. He managed to get a photo of the man, his daughter and the dog as they were walking away. The police and newspapers used the photo and the man handed himself in after 2 weeks. He asked my brother to drop charges in exchange for money and sent him pictures of the dog letting a toddler sit on its back as if that helped his case. The dog was PTS.