Dog bite advice

[chrij91]

Hi all, I'm looking for some advice on what other mums would do.

Our 3 year old French bulldog has had a poorly paw and had a bandage on, he keeps pulling the bandage off so was advised to put a cone on him.

He's then bitten my 5 year olds face and cut his lip which has required a few stitches.

Our dog has never been aggressive before in the slightest.

I'm looking into rehoming him but have had some comments making me feel guilty about it, so I'm just wondering if anyone has been in this position before

Thanks in advance

What happened?
I don't think a dog bites unprovoked if there is no previous history.

It could be anything from DC startling the dog to touching the painful paw.

Did DC (accidentally??) hurt your dog ?

He must have got right in your dogs face to have been bitten by your dog wearing a cone?

when did this happen? How has each been since?

If he had a cone on how did he bite your 5 year olds face?

I'd be trying to rehome with family/friends with no children, failing that a rescue (be aware they may all be full).
Yes, dogs are more likely to bite when hurt but you have to rehome, you won't forgive yourself if it happens again.
I have a dog that is a bite-risk (has bitten before) but no young children, I would not have kept him in your position.

Sorry

How did it happen? Where was your dog and what was your child doing? Dogs that are in pain can act very out of character.

Was it the child's fault ? If the dogs in pain and the child is pulling at them / annoying them then it's not the dogs fault . Should never let children near any animal in pain ... of course they will lash out .

A dog with a cone on cannot bite unless your child was right up in his face
Which is your fault if so as your dog was stressed and in pain

How and why is a five year old getting up close enough to be severely bitten by an injured dog wearing a cone? they should have been kept separated until the dog was well.

I think you should rehome him actually as you clearly cannot supervise your child nor look after your dog responsibly

This exactly!
a cone would prevent a short faced dog from being able to bite anyone.

Was child pushing their face into the cone?

The only way I could see a brachycephalic dog being able to bite?

The cone is one of the foamy things that go round his neck, just so he couldn't get to his paw so his face wasn't covered. He was just sat on the floor next to him and stroked his head. I was in the room so nobody was left unsupervised but I have turned my head when it happened

Let me guess, your DC did what my DS did after my SBT was neutered and stuck his face into the cone?

I can imagine some dogs not liking that and snapping. If that's what happened I wouldn't rehome as it's an unusual, and pretty shit situation for the dog. Cones are horrible for them (as a side try one of the inflatable donut things IME dogs are much happier in one of those).

Sorry x post.

If the dog is in pain anyway then maybe it was just very bad timing? Dog might have thought your DC was going for his paw?

I'm not sure I'd rehome in this situation but would understand someone feeling rehoming is best for them.

Sorry you're in this predicament op 😔

Chances are no one will rehome a dog with a bite history.

Personally I don’t think younger children and dogs are a good mix.

They don’t have the ability to read a dog’s body language, and all too often get into the dog’s space.

Any dog with an injury will be feeling more vulnerable, and a bite to the face without a warning growl first is quite serious .

Most Dog rescues insist on no young children for this reason.

You’ve been a tool in letting your small child anywhere near an injured dog, and the inevitable happened.

No, don’t rehome it, accept that it was injured and grumpy and the bite was your fault, but you need to keep your child and the dog apart until the child is old enough to understand how to interact with it.

It is rare for me to not blame the dog for biting, but on this occasion it was completely your fault. You should never have allowed your dc anywhere near an animal that's in pain or discomfort.

Now this has happened, I’d rehome him to someone without children.

Please don’t get another dog. You had a small dog that’s in pain (with a known paw injury) and stressed (wearing a collar because they’re trying to get to the paw.) You’ve not mentioned medication that can also change behaviour. You let a five year old get down on the floor next to the dog and left them unsupervised. This was an accident waiting to happen.

If a dog is in pain/unwell an particularly if they have a specific sore area don’t allow children to be down on the floor with them. The dog needs to be given space.

Correction, you didn’t leave them unsupervised but you didn’t see what happened. So you sat there letting a 5 year old get close to an injured dog. Christ.

Having read the posts here, mistakes were clearly made but there's no point beating you up over it.

Only you can answer your question on whether you should re home. As you've found, ANY dog can bite under the right circumstances.

An injured dog was left alone with a 5yo. This combined with the unfamiliar collar and frustration around not being able to get to his wound etc, was always going to be a recipe for disaster.

Look up a term called 'trigger stacking'.

I imagine you also missed some queues where the doggo showed you he was uncomfortable.

Your options are

1. Keep the dog. Look into some training on dog body language to spot signs of discomfort.

Resign yourself to the fact that you can never ever let DC near the dog without 100% close supervision. EVER Educate DC on what they can and can't do. Eg not approach when you are not there etc. not when it's lying down, not when it's eating etc etc.

1. Rehome immediately. Thank your lucky stars it wasn't worse. Don't get another pet until you can commit to everything in point one.

Apologies. It won't let me edit. The dog wasn't alone. Just not 100% attention.