What is with my DOG ??? Where's Celene?

[Lenny]

So I am sitting here, on a "bench" on my property. I tell the dog to "sit on the chair". He does, it is a trained thing. (1 1/2 years old, American German Shepherd. 120 pounds :eek: ) So , I am drinking a beer, (with him, I never drink alone ;) ) and his paw gets stuck into the space between the slats on the bench. IMMEDIATELY he takes a chunk out of me, like I did this. :rolleyes: I tried to pull his paw out and he took a huge chunk out of my left arm, put about 6 giant holes in my left arm and then took the skin off my kneecap of and put 3 holes in my thigh. :(

Is this "normal" ? I have had 5 Shepherds now. This is the first time I have seen this. I was helping "Mans best friend" and he took me down.

Was this a fight or flight thing?

I have had many large dogs, all trained, all good, (beyond good), ... I have never seen this.

Now I am wandering around with bloodsoaked arms, tape, to put the skin back down, and a pair of jeans that look like I bought a DO-IT-YOURSELF leg surgery kit.

:(

Oh, and he wants to be "pet" :rolleyes: like nothing ever happened. This is ugly.

[Walt. H.]

Lenny,
Not that i'm finding humor from what could have been serious injuries if they are not already, but maybe you should have given him his own beer sooner? :beer:

Walt

[Lenny]

Walt, it was my last one... :D The love only goes so far... ;)

[Walt. H.]

Well I guess theres the answer to you question, he felt the same way..
No beer for me this bites for you...

[Cuda]

Beautiful dog. My two bulldog mixbreeds both with bite when they get hurt. Or if one gets hurt, the other gets all excited and wants to fight the other one. What was he like after the incident?

[Lenny]

Joe, perfect, like nothing ever happened. Back on the bed and watching TV and being a 120 pound "bunny"... I don't get it. :confused:

He has NEVER had any incident with anyone, any child, my daughters, neighbours, ... nothing...

The he eats me ???

[Cuda]

I doubt it would happen again. The one time my dog bit me was when the two males were fighting. I reached down to get them by the collars to separate them. I caught one, and missed the other one. The one I didn't catch was going for the neck of the one I had a hold of, and guess where my thumb was. Bulldogs close thier eyes when they bite. He took it down to the bone, but he wasn't trying to bite me. I think your dog was just having a natural reaction to the pain.

[onesubdrvr]

Lenny,


Sorry to hear of you're problem, it is a pretty scary sight to see a dog grab ahold of a person like that, ESPECIALLY when it's you!! I witnessed a chow attack an old lady when I was a little kid, tore her leg up REAL bad, they had to put the dog down,..... But, like Joe said, I'd bet in your case, it was just a reaction to the pain.

Wayne

[Cuda]

A chow is a whole different question. It's not a matter of IF a chows going to bite you, it's WHEN. That's the only dog I have absolutely no use for, and I a big dog lover. My dogs hit the doggie loto when I got them. :)

[Mac]

If it was my dog I would donate him to be a police dog, if they did not want him I would put him down. I have had many dogs and been in all types of situations and never had one attack me, even when they are hurt or fighting. If a dog sees you as the alpha he will not attack you under any circumstances.

[Chili 18]

If you have little kids around it may pay to err on the side of caution. I have a cat like that... Not to compair the power of a small cat and powerfuil large dog. But he can be just fine. Totally sweet and well behaved. Then he sees something outside, or whatever... and he becomes psycho cat biting everythiong in site. [other cats and me if i didnt grab him proper] A few hours later its like nothing happened.

[Cool Hand Luke]

I had my dog bite me once. i hit her so gd hard she woke up on the floor 5 minutes later. She's never bitten anyone since.

[TuxedoPk]

Lenny,

Sorry to hear about what you went through. I can understand that the dog reacted poorly to an out of the ordinary incident but having a dog that reacts that way can be dangerous and it isn't the sort of thing you can train him to react differently to.

If he had reacted this way and hurt your daughters I'm sure it would be easier to consider removing him from the home even after he's been such a great pet. My feeling is that the dog will react in the same way again towards whoever is around if the right/wrong conditions should occur again. Personally I wouldn't be willing to take that chance as much as loosing a great canine friend would hurt.

Luke- Many dogs will try to snap and assert themselves as the alpha dog. Lenny didn't describe being nipped or bitten, he was attacked with multiple bites to multiple parts of his body. I believe there is a big difference in the behavior his dog exhibited which was instinctively to fight and attack.

[Doug G]

I'm surely no expert on doggie psychology, but I have always muzzled my dogs when inspecting any kind of injury. I've used anything from a belt to a necktie as a muzzle. I know how I get when I have anything that hurts, the last thing I want is someone poking, touching, etc. All the dog knows is "my foot hurts, and this guy is f***ing with it". He may know who is in charge, but if he is injured, all bets are off. I've had a multiple dog household for over ten years, even the submissive ones will react strongly if they are injured or, in some cases, ill.
Maybe you should give him the last beer next time :biggrin: