my dog was attacked in the park, badly wounded, advice?

[Babygrey7]

My lovely grey was bitten by another dog in the park. It is a nice park where people take their dog off-lead, as it's enclosed and safe. People take their dogs and pups there to socialise, it has a community feel. There is another park nearby where dogs are kept on the lead, but this park is always full fo family dogs who often play together.

So anyway, my dog is off lead and goes up to this other dog, she likes to socialise and will normally go up to a dog and sniff them and then they either play or go their separate way, as dogs do. My dog does not bark or jump or act aggressive. But she is big.

This other dog (also off lead) immediately attacks my dog and takes a big chunk out of her leg/body (a huge bite, it is about 4-5 inch long and 4-5 inch wide),

The dogs owner and I run to the dogs, she locks her dog in the boot and my dog is just standing there shaking and bleeding profusely, a huge patch of skin is missing there is a complete gap but you can see the tendon is still attached. Took her to emergency vet, she will probably live but the wound is so big it cannot be stitched or anything, she will need to see a vet daily for weeks to have wound cleaned/looked after.

She will hopefully be ok, I thought she might be put down there and then as she was in such bad shape (bloody hell, what a day we had, I cannot begin to tell how upset my kids have been), but vet's patched her up. took 3 hours. Cost £900 and that's just the start.

I am insured, but I wonder what to do about the other dog and dog owner. Is this even an "attack" or "just a fight"? My dog was not aggressive or bit, or anything. It was pretty one sided. But my dog DID go up to her dog, so I just don't know.

Feel confused and still a bit in shock.

The other lady was crying as she thought it meant her dog would be put down . She did not apologise, but did leave her number and name and asked me how my dog was later.

Should I contact the dog warden? Or something like that? Or is this just "one of those things"? I am not looking for retaliation or anything.

Just wonder if I should do anything (if her dog hurts another dog like this, I would feel guilty for not having acted IYSWIM)

just don't know what to do, if anything

still feeling a bit shaky myself

I guess again from a dog pov the other dog may have given dog signs that it wasn't happy and wanted yours to go away. Cues which neither you or your dog picked up on.

I hope your dog is ok, must have been scary. Greys have such thin skin and lack of fur that they will tear easier. I used to have one.

I do think when dogs are offlead and especially if they're approaching unknown dogs you run the slight risk of something like this happening.

I do not believe for a second the owner did not know this reaction was highly likely to happen.
Therefore, to leave it off lead is shockingly irresponsible, I would definitely dog warden this, without a doubt and chase her for the bill.

I have a reactive dog and they virtually always start out super subtle, it’s a gradual worsening.
Maybe they start out posturing, then come the growls, maybe nips after that.

What they don’t do, is be fine one day then suddenly without warning take a massive chunk out of another dog.
Which is what makes me think she KNEW her dog was likely to do this.

If the dog genuinely did suddenly go with no prior warning then personally, I think the dog should be pts.
Such a reaction is massively abnormal. Massively.

And those saying don’t let the dog approach, come on now.
Surely everyone knows that off lead dogs are generally friendly and safe to approach??
Hence them being off lead?
I have never heard of keeping dogs separate from ALL other dogs.
They are social animals and many do enjoy playing with their own kind

DogInATent I never said all reactive dogs are the same or that their behaviour has the same causes. But it is true that most reactive dogs will give out warning signs and go for escallated attacks. A silent and severe attack is rare, which is what makes this particular dog potentially very dangerous.

Talking from the point of view of my situation, some dogs feel really nervous when a "friendly" dog bounds over and leaps over them in play - a dog who is nervous can lash out. My dog knows how to give a warning, unfortunately some dogs and their stupid owners don't take the hint (he's never bitten but puts on a good display of his teeth!).

In our case it's usually when a male dog tries to mount him, he does not like that one bit.

The other owner may have been completely surprised. There always had to be a first time.

That’s terrible. I hope your poor dog is on the road to recovery soon.

I don’t think so fairtatas

Dogs don’t just wake up one morning and attack another dog.

You almost always see a gradual decline in their behaviour towards other dogs.
At first you don’t notice as the signs are subtle, then you excuse it as it will be very minor and unexpected until it becomes really obvious that actually your dog really doesn’t like other dogs.

Booboostwo - it's reading a lot into the nature of the incident. Even a small nippy dog could do a lot of damage with a misjudged nip against a delicate skinned greyhound. I wouldn't want to assume that the other dog has gone complete-Begbie based on the description given. There's no indication that there was any difficulty separating the two dogs.

And it's all going "What they don’t do, is be fine one day then suddenly without warning take a massive chunk out of another dog" - yet, as I mentioned previously if the aggressor dog is owned by a member of Mumsnet then everyone's usually tripping over themselves to suggest that the dog must be in pain/unwell and it's all so out of character, get it to the vet to find out what the cause is, etc, etc.

So if you have got a dog that seems to dislike other dogs ...perhaps after been attacked....what is best ?

And those saying don’t let the dog approach, come on now. Surely everyone knows that off lead dogs are generally friendly and safe to approach?? Hence them being off lead? I have never heard of keeping dogs separate from ALL other dogs. They are social animals and many do enjoy playing with their own kind

Clearly this off lead dog didn't get your memo about it being friendly. Personally I prefer to walk in places where people keep a good distance away from each other and only let my dog play with known dogs not some random dog when you don't know their history or owner. That's why I now avoid parks. It's not just the possibility of injury but everything that can lead afterwards (trying to get them better, them being afraid of dogs afterwards etc). Having sat in the emergency vets and seen dogs being bought in with wounds from dogs 'playing' with their own kind I will continue to be cautious.

Any news OP on your dog and their injuries?

Thanks guys

Fwiw, the other dog was a young retriever (around 1) and the owner said she had never done that before.

They were as shocked and surprised as I was.

The wound is very big, but the skin is still attached (just rolled down) and they are going to try and patch her up tomorrow, by using the rolled down skin and stretching some of the surrounding skin over it....

Fingers crossed for tomorrow.

Well, I’m no vet and I know greys do have very thin skin but if they are being truthful and this genuinely was completely and utterly out of the blue and their dog was usually friendly and young and healthy I would be thinking the dog had something very wrong with it personally, brain tumour or similar.

Good luck for tomorrow, OP.

A labrador?

I hope your dog recovers quickly Babygrey.

Oh dear, your poor dog, i hope he's ok. Why wouldn't the other owner offer to pay, I'd be mortified and so worried about what my dog had done. And insurance has 3rd party, isn't that what it's for.

This thread has really made me think about 1 of my dogs. He's a nosy busybody and could easily rile another dog. I know he's not aggressive and I'm always scanning the next 100 yards and putting his lead back on. My other dog you could set off a bomb and he just ignores everyone and everything except me. I'm always alert for squealing little girls who racing fingers first for my nosier dog. It really scares me that he'll react one day and it's then on him.

I do btw love kids but i specifically waited till my youngest was 11 until finally getting a dog. Because I just didn't want the unpredictability of a toddler and a dog together.

Sorry to hear about your dog.

This is exactly the reason I don’t allow mine to approach any dog now, not worth the risk for a bit of playtime IMO.

I’d get in touch with the owner of the other dog tbh and then go from there depending on how that went.

Hope your dog is ok...

Thanks for all your supportive messages

Just heard form the vet, the wound is so big and bad (14cm by 10cm) it will need specialist surgery and even that comes with no guarantee

I am going to pieces a bit now, so may not be back soon

just wanted to update for those who asked

x

Oh I’m so sorry, OP. When you’re up to posting again, please let us know how you and your pup are. 💐

Oh I am so sorry to hear that. Really hope that the surgery is a success but totally understand that right now you just need to concentrate on getting her through this

I am so sorry to hear that.

Hope you get some good news from the vet soon.

Sorry to hear that. My girl grey had a similar sized injury on her back last year (she tried to wriggle under a fence and scraped off about 8 x 15 cm). It took 2 surgeries and about 3 months but she's fully healed. I really hope your grey's surgery goes well.

Oh no! You poor things.
Really hope the surgery is a success and you can put this behind you soon.