Dog bites son.... Now what?

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MJJean said:
Yeah…no. My ex husbands family is from NC. I allowed my ex-MIL to take my daughter, then 4, to a family reunion in that state. Apparently, Great Aunt S’s 5lb Pomeranian doesn’t like kids. The dog bit my daughter in the face tearing her upper lip from nose down. She still has the scar and she’s 14 now. She’ll be 15 next month. Every time I see that scar I want to smack the snot out of whoever decided it would be a good idea to let a confirmed child hating dog anywhere near kids.

Bottom line, small dogs can cause damage, too. Temperament and behavior standards shouldn’t ever be based on size.
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When I mentioned permanent scarring from a bite on the face as a possible worst case scenario, I half expected to be scoffed at. Yet here your post is, confirming not only that is could happen, but that it already has happened to others.

I’m sorry to hear about your daughter. As a parent of two, myself, I can only imagine how that must have been.

To the O.P., this is all you need. MJJean’s post here illustrates the real risk you have in keeping the dog. When your son is 16 and having possible esteem issues because of some scar on his face, do you really think he’ll give a flip about whether he would have been heart broken by giving the dog away back then?

Find a new home for the dog. Don’t risk it. Yes it will be hard. You’ll have to stand up to your husband. You’ll have to see your son’s sadness over losing the dog. But it’s the right thing to do.

If you don’t, and the worst happens, your son could end up scarred, the dog will likely be destroyed, and you and your husband could end up in a gruesome blame-fight that could hurts your marriage. If that sounds far fetched, you might be surprised. None of that is worth risking just to keep a small dog around.
 
In our state, three (reported) bites and the dog is put down.

I think your pooch needs to find a new home. 😦
 
Please do not euthanize your dog over a solvable issue. Take your dog to a trainer and get it fixed. I truly am disgusted that people say just euthanize your dog and get a new one. What if your next dog starts biting? Are you going to euthanize that dog? Please just get your dog a trainer and don’t euthanize it.
 
Saturn5 said:
Hi Mega1 -

I’ve been around dogs my entire life (mainly hunting dogs). Dad raised Labs when I was a kid. He had one rule that was never broken, never have a biting dog. We had one that nipped at the neighbor kid once when I was about 10 years old. That dog was gone the next morning.

I’ve owned and trained dogs for the last 15 years, been bitten by dogs…big dogs, little dogs. I don’t like it, big or little. You need to get rid of the dog.

Apologies for the bluntness. You are in my prayers on this decision.
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Yes. The dog is not a puppy and this is not an isolated incident. It is reasonable to believe that the dog will only get worse, and as he is poses an immediate danger to anyone around him. Worse yet, as others have noted, he can with his single set of teeth convert many people who might have liked and kept dogs into those who fear dogs, because of their encounter with this one unpredictable animal. The harm he does goes much farther than whether skin happens to have been broken or not.

The only person who might hold on to a dog like this is someone with a training background, and that person would not be asking us what to do. That person could judge whether this animal is a candidate for retraining or not, and act accordingly. It is unlikely that the dog is going to be amended in his current home before he bites again.

I would advise against keeping this dog, but if you insist on doing it, then a) keep him away from people, including your son, until you get help with him, so he doesn’t bite again, b) ask your veterinarian if he/she knows of a reputable trainer that can assess your dog concerning this behavioral issue and the dog’s overall temperament and training, c) be willing to believe and follow the advice of the trainer if the trainer concludes the dog should not be in a home with children younger than teens, d) follow training advice to the letter, and e) even if he is “retrained”, treat him as a dog with biting in his past, keeping other people safe from his teeth. That is the most chance I would even consider giving this animal.
 
When I was a girl someone gave my mother a pretty registered French poodle named Peppy. She wasn’t an animal person, so I was happy to get anything. Peppy would sleep on my bed and growl if I shifted in bed. I was lonely so didn’t say anything. I was really nice to him, he had a great life with us, but he was a snappy little brat.

Finally, one day I bent down to pet him and he bit my face, fortunately not seriously, but breaking the skin.

We gave him the run of the neighborhood a lot, he finally ran off with his girlfriend, the Black Lab down the street. Some lady called the police because her neighbor had seen them and stolen them and was trying to sell them.

After the dog bit me, he ran away again, and we all agreed to not pursue it any more. I’m sure the previous owner gave him away for a reason…:rolleyes:
 
Thankatroop12 said:
Please do not euthanize your dog over a solvable issue. Take your dog to a trainer and get it fixed. I truly am disgusted that people say just euthanize your dog and get a new one.
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I am truly disgusted that some people worry more about the dog than about the child.🤷
What if your next dog starts biting? Are you going to euthanize that dog?
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Yes. A dog that bites cannot and should not be tolerated as a pet.

Peace

Tim
 
What type of “punishment?” Obviously it hasn’t worked and might have made things worse.

Many rescues can’t take on a dog with a bite history for legal reasons.

Find a good dog trainer. Your son is old enough to help with the training under the guidance of the trainer. Do not use the big box pet stores. Search for a reputable dog club.

The dog should have never had the opportunity to be loose and go up to neighbors. Get a reliable fence.

Visit a maltese forum. I bet they are out there.
 
MJJean said:
In this case, he is exactly right. I don’t care about the size of the dog, if a dog menaces or attacks a human and the owners aren’t willing to put it down I am absolutely going to call the police and get the bite on record. That way it is documented and if an incident occurs later the authorities can legally do what the owners will not. Many places have a one bite policy, but others have a two or even three bite tolerance. The animal control agency and the courts usually cannot or will not protect public safety by ordering euthanasia without a record of past behavior. Past behavior also reflects on the owner and can affect any legal action against them.

For example, if a dog bites here and the bite is properly reported the police issue a ticket for “harboring a viscous animal” that is accompanied by a fine and a court appearance. Depending on the circumstances of the bite, the court can then order the dog put down or order the owners to take precautions to keep the dog away from the public. A history of bites is seen as chronic irresponsibility of the owner and can result in more serious fines and fees and even a ban from dog ownership for a certain length of time or even permanently.

Call the police. Report each and every bite. Just because a person wasn’t seriously injured this time, you don’t know what could happen if there is a next time or if the dog has a history that would necessitate euthanasia due to the owners failing to either euthanize or contain and control.

Exactly. A stable dog can roll with changes and should not act aggressively toward it’s family. A nervy unstable dog may act aggressively to changes, but thats the kind of dog I wouldn’t trust and personally wouldn’t own.

Yup! Dogs and man have an agreement. Dog enriches our lives, we provide dog with shelter, food, vet care, and human love and attention. If a dog is aggressive and untrustworthy or simply so temperamentally unsound that we have to alter our lives around it, the dog needs to move on to the canine afterlife.
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I think you misunderstood who I was speaking about. I was referring to another poster.
Several of his posts are just seeking to incite a reaction ex: telling a woman that her seven year old son needs to man up after being bit serves no purpose to the OP except to hurt the feelings of someone who is already hurting. I was urging freiabereinsam to not waste the energy on him.

Yes, I absolutely agree with you and with freiabereinsam.
 
You may want to look into Malteses and determine whether this is characteristic of the dog’s temperament. Unfortunately, many people adopt a pet simply based on the looks and not the personality of the animal.

Different dogs have different temperaments, mostly to do with the breed. Some types of dogs, such as pit bulls and German shepherds, are bred for aggression and may be dangerous around children. Other dogs, such as St. Bernards and Newfoundlands, can seem harmless because they are big, goofy, friendly things, but they may do poorly around young children as they can knock a small child down due to their large size, without intending to cause harm or even realizing the consequences of their actions.

I do agree that neutering should be done (please, everybody, have your pets spayed/neutered if you don’t intend to breed them - this is good stewardship!) and a trainer should be consulted; however, it is probably best to keep your dog chained outside until such time as you have the fence fixed and are able to get him trained. Unfortunately, if the dog bites again, I would recommend euthanasia.
 
Thankatroop12 said:
Please do not euthanize your dog over a solvable issue. Take your dog to a trainer and get it fixed. I truly am disgusted that people say just euthanize your dog and get a new one. What if your next dog starts biting? Are you going to euthanize that dog? Please just get your dog a trainer and don’t euthanize it.
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Yes, it is most responsible to find the dog somewhere to be evaluated, even if you cannot keep it yourself, so that you’ll have some idea whether it is responsible to place it rather than euthanize it. You do know, however, that sometimes a dog that bites cannot be rehabilitated, just like some people cannot be rehabilitated, perhaps for reasons they also cannot be faulted for, who knows. Someone who is an immediate threat to the general public cannot live with the general public. Likewise, even an animal incapable of moral culpability must be kept from harming others. That means that some pets who are otherwise healthy have to be euthanized, because there is no safe place to keep them.

There are some places where there are sanctuaries for that kind of a dog, which is well worth finding and supporting, but it is irresponsible to expose other people to a biting dog, even a small one.
 
Ask your vet to recommend a good dog trainer and bring your son to the class so he can be part of the training. My dog trainer told me that aggressiveness can be trained as an off/on behavior, but it does take commitment and work on the part of the dog and trainer.
 
His_helpmeet said:
You may want to look into Malteses and determine whether this is characteristic of the dog’s temperament. Unfortunately, many people adopt a pet simply based on the looks and not the personality of the animal.

Different dogs have different temperaments, mostly to do with the breed. Some types of dogs, such as pit bulls and German shepherds, are bred for aggression and may be dangerous around children. Other dogs, such as St. Bernards and Newfoundlands, can seem harmless because they are big, goofy, friendly things, but they may do poorly around young children as they can knock a small child down due to their large size, without intending to cause harm or even realizing the consequences of their actions.

I do agree that neutering should be done (please, everybody, have your pets spayed/neutered if you don’t intend to breed them - this is good stewardship!) and a trainer should be consulted; however, it is probably best to keep your dog chained outside until such time as you have the fence fixed and are able to get him trained. Unfortunately, if the dog bites again, I would recommend euthanasia.
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Yes, but the German shepherds we had were all smart and so were very well-behaved when trained. We even had one who, having been awakened by having a Tonka truck driven over her tail, had her mouth on the offenders leg only to realize that “oh, it’s one of them”, and dropped it without even alarming the child.

Fearful or anxious dogs and dogs who have been teased or ill-used seem to be the most dangerous, regardless of breed. Sometimes that can come from in-born temperament, but that can easily differ more within a single litter than it does from one breed to the next.

Still, as someone pointed out, all of this is something that can be best sorted out by someone with lots of experience with rehabilitating “problem” dogs. That is the sort of opinion that is needed in order to make an informed decision about what to do next. In the meantime, keep the dog safe by keeping it where it can’t bite someone else. Yes, absolutely, if it bites the wrong person, after all, the decision for or against euthanasia can be taken out of the owner’s hands entirely, especially since it won’t be a “first offense.”
 
We had a dog that was pretty mean when I was a kid and it bit me once. Dad shot her. That’s what I’d do.
 
Back2Church said:
When I mentioned permanent scarring from a bite on the face as a possible worst case scenario, I half expected to be scoffed at. Yet here your post is, confirming not only that is could happen, but that it already has happened to others.

I’m sorry to hear about your daughter. As a parent of two, myself, I can only imagine how that must have been.

To the O.P., this is all you need. MJJean’s post here illustrates the real risk you have in keeping the dog. When your son is 16 and having possible esteem issues because of some scar on his face, do you really think he’ll give a flip about whether he would have been heart broken by giving the dog away back then?
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I was alternating between fury and heartbreak when my girl was brought home and I saw her face. I very much hoped the scar would disappear over time, but it did not. She’s accepted it and seems to be ok with it, but …

Thank you for your sympathy.
Thankatroop12 said:
Please do not euthanize your dog over a solvable issue. Take your dog to a trainer and get it fixed. I truly am disgusted that people say just euthanize your dog and get a new one. What if your next dog starts biting? Are you going to euthanize that dog? Please just get your dog a trainer and don’t euthanize it.
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First, dog trainers are not behaviorists. Whole different ballgame. What the OP needs is a behaviorist.

Second, some dogs really are simply not wired right. Literally genetically predisposed to aggressive behavior. Those dogs cannot be rehabbed. They can either be contained and controlled at all times and kept away from children and the public in general or humanely euthanized.

Third, considering I had a dog for a week that bit a child and literally left 2 punctures the size of this smiley 😊 in the child’s upper arm and I got sued for $30,000 in medical bills, you bet your bottom dollar I’d tell anyone that euthanizing an unsafe dog is a pretty good idea. I’d hate to see someone else financially ruined and possibly homeless because they couldn’t do the right thing and put the dog down.

Lastly, not every family has the time and/or ability to intensely work with a dog that is being rehabbed under a behaviorists guidance. And there is still no guarantee that the behavior modification/reconditioning will work. Ask any behaviorist/trainer to accept legal liability if an aggressive dog they are working with attacks someone and watch how fast they run away.
Orogeny said:
I am truly disgusted that some people worry more about the dog than about the child.:shrug: Yes. A dog that bites cannot and should not be tolerated as a pet.

Peace

Tim
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No joke. It’s a dog. Most dogs are absolutely wonderful and make their humans lives better. But, at the end of the day, its a dog. The life of a dog cannot and should not trump the safety of a human. Period. Anyone who thinks it’s ok to keep a biter with a child is frankly either completely lacking in common sense and negligent or in need of therapy.

Also, I do not know the laws where OP lives, but in our state doctors, teachers, daycare professionals etc are mandated reporters. They are required by law to report any dog bites they see to the animal control agency during business hours or to the police after business hours. I found that out through the misfortune of a neighbor.

My neighbor had a litter. She kept a pup that showed signs of instability and fear aggression because she didn’t have the heart to euthanize and didn’t feel it ethical to sell the pup with the rest of the litter. At a year old, he bit her toddler daugther on the side of her head. The neighbor had the dog euthanized that night. About a week later I was visiting with her and watched Social Services van pull into the drive. The social worker was there to check into the safety of the children in the home. They brought the van because they were prepared to remove the kids that day if they believed the parents were’t able to protect the kids from the dog. Thankfully, my neighbor had me as a witness and the sympathy card from the vet that euthanized the dog to prove that the dog was dead and no longer a danger to anyone. The social worker was pleased that the parents did the right thing and then closed the case and left.

Depending on local and state law a child can literally be removed from the home due to an aggressive dog.
 
I disagree about adopting out - that is just passing the problem onto another person who will not be aware of it, and will be bitten in their turn. Bad choice. The buck stops with you, with your own pets.
 
white_sheep said:
We had a dog that was pretty mean when I was a kid and it bit me once. Dad shot her. That’s what I’d do.
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Just a caution: There may be jurisdictions where you can’t just shoot your own dog to euthanize it. This is an evolving area of law.

Generally speaking, though, if your dog has bitten someone, that is evidence that it is a dangerous dog, and you will be held liable if you do not confine it so that it cannot attack anyone else. This can include bites inflicted on trespassers on your property, so look into the law in your area. Future attacks by the dog will be the direct fault of the owner who failed to confine their dangerous dog.
dogbitelaw.com/one-bite-rule/overview-of-the-one-bite-rule.html
 
Just pointing something out but maybe your dog bit your son because it was not feeling ok or felt threatened by your son trying to pet it when it didn’t want to. Again I express my view that you should not euthanize you dog but get it a trainer and take it to a vet.
 
Thankatroop12 said:
Just pointing something out but maybe your dog bit your son because it was not feeling ok or felt threatened by your son trying to pet it when it didn’t want to. Again I express my view that you should not euthanize you dog but get it a trainer and take it to a vet.
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Was the dog also “not feeling ok” or feeling “threatened” when it pushed through the fence and bit the passerby?

And, since you seem to have missed it, the dog was taken to a vet and given a clean bill of health.
 
If the dog had bitten me as I walked down the street, it would be a non-issue, because I would have kicked its face in. I can’t stand agressive dogs and I don’t get why people want to keep them and let them attack other people. If you can’t guarentee that your dog won’t be able to attack your son again as it is, I don’t see how you can guarentee the consistancy that would be required in order to train the dog. In the meantime, the dog could hurt your son permanantly, could bite someone else, and could get you sued.
 
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