Author Topic: Now I have to say "yes, he has bitten another dog."  (Read 3727 times)

Offline greek4

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Now I have to say "yes, he has bitten another dog."
« on: July 18, 2006, 02:45:01 pm »
On Friday, Rocco, Maia, and the two dogs I am fostering Roscoe and Nellie were outside playing.  I should have monitored the situation better but instead I was sitting on the patio chatting on my phone. 

A little background on the situation.  Nellie barks and lunges at Rocco and Maia all the time, R and M just ignore her and go about their business.  Roscoe (foster)raises his leg and peed near or on Rocco a few times since he came on Thursday night.  Rocco would just walk away.

Well, everyone was playing nicely when all of the sudden the barking and lunging turned into nasty growling.  I yelled at them, everyone backed away and then started chasing around the yard playfully.  A couple minutes later when the dogs all came to get water, I see blood dripping down the Roscoe's (foster) neck.  I checked him out and he had a penny size gash that went through all the layers of skin.  It didn't seem to bother him so I cleaned him up, called the vet, and was getting ready to go.  At that point I wasn't sure who got him until I see Roscoe's fur stuck in Rocco's teeth.

The vet did make me feel better by saying that it was probably just accidental by the fact that they all broke it up so easily and that foster dog doesn't have any more damage.  The vet thought that maybe the playing just got rough and Rocco got his tooth caught in foster dog's collar since the injury is right under where is collar is.

My big innocent, loves everyone boy had bitten into another dog hard enough to do damage.  Now I have to say "yes' when asked if he has ever bitten.  Roscoe steered clear of Rocco while Nellie took to attacking Rocco which gave me a couple near heart attacks when Rocco started to fight back.

I traded Nellie with another foster home for an 8 year old beagle mix male who is so slow and laid back that Maia gave up trying to make him play.  She just couldn't handle the fact that he wouldn't run so she could chase him.

The house is settled into a routine once again.


Thanks,

Emily and 1 husband, 1 boy, 1 on the way, and 4 crazy dogs

Offline jaspers mom

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Re: Now I have to say "yes, he has bitten another dog."
« Reply #1 on: July 18, 2006, 02:52:41 pm »
Don't be too hard on Rocco.  And remember to clarify to the future questioner that Rocco bit another dog in an unsupervised playfight where four dogs were involved.  That's much different from him lunging unprovoked at a human.  I wouldn't beat yourself up about it, either.

Offline greek4

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Re: Now I have to say "yes, he has bitten another dog."
« Reply #2 on: July 18, 2006, 03:06:24 pm »
That is true, I can't say for sure if one of the other dogs bite Rocco first or what happened at all.  I did learn to very vigilent in watching the dogs now instead of assuming they are fine since they 'seem' to like each other.
Thanks,

Emily and 1 husband, 1 boy, 1 on the way, and 4 crazy dogs

Offline nostaw

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Re: Now I have to say "yes, he has bitten another dog."
« Reply #3 on: July 18, 2006, 04:13:33 pm »
Dont be so hard on yourself and Rocco, there is a lot of difference between a bite and agression. A cut above Hovis' eye has only just healed, this had been caused by Bell biting Hovis accidently whilst trying to fend off an amourous male newf. Bell snapped at the Dog that was trying to mount her but Hovis put her head in the way at the wrong moment!

From what you describe, the dogs were playing, got their handbags out over something minor then continued to play afterwards, thats not agression, it sounds more likely that someone got in the way at the wrong moment I'd tend to call it a play injury rather than a dog bite.

Andy, Bell & Hovis
Slime flies when you're having fun!

doggylover

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Re: Now I have to say "yes, he has bitten another dog."
« Reply #4 on: July 18, 2006, 05:12:13 pm »
I agree with everyone else.  If there was intent to hurt/aggression, it would have continued.  They were playing and it got rough.  If you saw Badger with his best 'friend' you would swear he was a dangerous animal!  They play fight and then follow up with rolling around together and sharing a toy.  Kids get hurt all the time when they are playing.  My older brothers lit matches on me, folded me into the pull out sofa then put the cushions back on and used me for extra stuffing, split my lip, convinced me to climb a tree; from which I fell...you get the idea.  Kids and animals are rough. 
You'll just have to monitor them a little closer so you can break it up if blood is shed, that's what our mom did!
 ;)