My dog attacked me and I'm pregnant. Now what? (how much, bite, vet)
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We adopted our dog 7 years ago. She was 11 months old at the time, and was fear aggressive, poorly socialized, and most likely abused. We've worked with her over the years, have taken her to trainers who deal with fear aggression, and she has gotten better, but is still a bit of a wild card. She is anxious around anyone by my husband and myself -- even when with people she knows and is excited to see, she still never quite relaxes. That said, she has never bitten anyone before, though she has snapped at the air when frightened.
Over the weekend my brother was visiting from out of town. We were all sitting outside and our neighbours were out in their yards as well. I was sitting next to the dog with my hand loosely holding her collar, when out of the blue she attacked me. There was no warning, and she needed to be pulled off me. She snapped at my hands and forearms and I have a nasty bruise and a scraped up finger.
We immediately isolated her, leaving her in the garage for 7 or 8 hours. Since bringing her back into the house she is told to spend most of the time lying on her dog bed.
I'm pregnant and due with our first child in September. I honestly feel like dog trainers have told us how to modify our behaviour but have done nothing to actually "solve" the problems with the dog. My husband wants to find a new trainer to work with, but I am doubtful I will ever trust our dog again, certainly not around the baby when it's born.
What would you do? Does anyone think training could work, or do we need to look to rehouse or euthanize her? I have cried for hours over this and am not taking our any decisions lightly. I love our dog. I don't know that I'll ever be able to trust her again.
That is sad. You knew the dog had problems but failed to follow through with the training and now the dog is going to have to pay the price.
I'd suggest contacting a breed rescue in your immediate area. If you have not been willing to follow through with the behavior problems in 7 years there is no reason to believe you will now. Perhaps a rescue organization will be able to place the dog in the home of a more responsible person without children.
Your dog attacked you and you're pregnant?
What the hell kind of attack was this?
But, seriously...sad but true, the pooch has to go. I strongly encourage you to find a good home for him, but by all means be truthful about the dog's history.
I'd personally try my best to find someone else who may take the dog and be better able to deal with the behavior without a baby in the house. There is no way I'd have that dog around a child. I'm sorry.
That is sad. You knew the dog had problems but failed to follow through with the training and now the dog is going to have to pay the price.
I'd suggest contacting a breed rescue in your immediate area. If you have not been willing to follow through with the behavior problems in 7 years there is no reason to believe you will now. Perhaps a rescue organization will be able to place the dog in the home of a more responsible person without children.
We actually did follow through with everything we were shown to do. She has an unrelenting anxiety issue. Thanks for your judgements though. It's much appreciated since I don't already feel bad enough as it is.
She is a mixed breed dog so I'm not sure that breed rescue is an option.
We think the dog got a claw stuck in the decking, but rather than cry out or pull back, her response was to attack the person nearest her.
Your dog attacked you and you're pregnant?
What the hell kind of attack was this?
But, seriously...sad but true, the pooch has to go. I strongly encourage you to find a good home for him, but by all means be truthful about the dog's history.
I was sitting next to her and we think one of her claws got caught in the decking -- part of a claw has since fallen off. Her response to the pain was completely inappropriate. She just turned without warning and started snapping at me and wouldn't stop coming at me until she was pulled off.
Of course I would fully disclose her history to anyone, but I really cannot imagine why anyone would take a mature dog into their home who has known aggression issues including attacking a pregnant owner. It seems like a hopeless situation and it's unbearably sad.
I'd prob. want to rehome her if she's that unpredictable but would prob. give her the benefit of the doubt first and get her thoroughly checked out by the vet - maybe she has a brain tumor or something alth. given her history, it's prob. unlikely - but know that if you rehome her, you have to be totally honest w/ whoever might be interested in her and understandably a lot of people would shy away from a dog w/ a bite history. Want to add too that not all dogs are comfortable w/ a lot of people and if they're not, it's best to crate them while in the house or gate them off in another room so they can relax rather than have them get stressed and hope for the best.
Also, realistically keeping her on her dog bed for most of the day isn't a long-term answer (and prob. not even short-term), she may need exercise or a good walk to relax her (not sure how much ex. she's getting).
PS If her nail did get caught in the deck, while her behavior may seem inappropriate, in their minds it may not be, put simply, she panicked and tried to free herself and you were closest to her and holding her collar. It makes a little more sense now. Have seen other dogs who will go after each other if a loud motorcycle goes by etc - it makes no sense to us but to them, it does, it's just what happens in the heat of the moment (alth. it's inappropriate to us).
We actually did follow through with everything we were shown to do. She has an unrelenting anxiety issue. Thanks for your judgements though. It's much appreciated since I don't already feel bad enough as it is...........
It wasn't a judgement, it was a response to the information you provided in your original post.
Quote:
I'm pregnant and due with our first child in September. I honestly feel like dog trainers have told us how to modify our behaviour but have done nothing to actually "solve" the problems with the dog...
"My dog attacked me and now I am pregnant" sounds like you are going to give birth to a very weird mammal.
But, to be serious, I think you need to have this dog pts. I am a dog lover and a volunteer with a couple of rescue groups. My last 3 dogs have been adopted from rescue, too. A couple of years ago I had my 8 year old soul dog euthanized because he did an unprovoked attack (there had been a few) again. We had many plans for managing his sporatic aggression but none were fail safe, obviously. In the end, I decided I could not risk a dog biting my grandchild's face or hurting another stranger. At the age of the dog, chances were slim to none he would be adopted. Sending a dog to a shelter is unfair to both dog and future owner. Having a dog euthanized at the shelter -- unless you are allowed to hold him during the injection -- is cruel, too. I took my boy to our vet and held him in my arms while he was injected....and I gave him a lovely steak dinner before we went.
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