One Greyhound Bitten By Another. . .

[Guest Dragonfly71]

Benson, our 6-year old got into a scuffle with our 2-year old, Loki. Benson got the worst of it, with a bit to his ear, face and neck. My husband also got quite a bite from Loki on his hand. Immediately my family is telling me I need to "get rid of" my dogs and "think of my family first." They think Loki should be put down because he bit my husband. Loki's one of the sweetest dogs I've ever known. I know in my heart he wouldn't hurt anyone, it was just a freak accident over a raw-hide I should never have given them in the first place. Benson is still at the vets recovering from surgery and thankfully we had help from the Greyhound Adoption of Ohio to help pay for all of it. Has this happened to any of you? How did you handle it? Our family is broken-hearted (not to mention my husband's in pain).

[Batmom]

I don't know if this is what happened, exactly, but: If two dogs get into a scuffle and you try to break it up by getting in between them, you will get bitten. Almost without exception. At that moment, the dog has no idea who you (or your husband) are -- he's in a tizzy and he's just reacting to a stimulus.

 

To be a little rude about it, I can't imagine returning a dog because I put my hand in the way of a good fight and got nailed for it. (If the dog is generally problematic often and in other ways, that could be another story.)

 

To be less rude, I'm sorry your pupper and DH were hurt and hope both recover quickly and completely! I *can* imagine being emotionally exhausted, hurt, depressed, angry, etc. -- been there.

 

What were the dogs scuffling over? Usually either the cause of the scuffle is controllable, or judicious use of kennel muzzles can prevent scuffles from turning into vet trips.

 

Sending hugs.

[ahicks51]

We've had a couple of dogfights; we had a female foster that didn't get along with our alpha bitch. Now we only foster boys. Both fights were serious, one of which was bad enough to require surgery.

 

Sorry about the injuries, and I hope all works out the end.

[BauersMom]

Sounds like they were scuffling over a rawhide?

 

If so, the fix is to separate when treats are given out (our guys are either in their crates or babygated in separate rooms), or to supervise closely.

 

Never leave chew treats out, even if they've lost interest - you never know if they will decide to be interested later and get defensive about it.

 

Food is probably the #1 reason for dog fights. Sorry you had to learn that lesson the hard way. But with a little change of routine, I have no doubt you'll be able to avoid it in the future.

 

 

 

 

[RobinM]

I never posted this on GT, but just 6 weeks ago, (making a LONG story short) my Teddy got my face. My face was at the wrong place at the wrong time and I wound up with 8 stitches over my eye, 2 in my cheek and dermabond on the other side of my head.

 

Trying to explain to people who do not have GHs who, want and how wasn't worth it so I just didn't. I made up some BS in the ER and that was the end of it.

 

You know your dog. It's not your extended families business. It's you and your family.

 

As batmom said

If two dogs get into a scuffle and you try to break it up by getting in between them, you will get bitten. Almost without exception. At that moment, the dog has no idea who you (or your husband) are -- he's in a tizzy and he's just reacting to a stimulus

 

I was quite upset, in pain and shocked but I got over it and so did everyone in the house.

 

I'm sure with love and patience your situation will work itself out too.

Edited November 5, 2007 by RobinM

[Guest beerdogs31]

Hello,

 

I have gotten bit trying to break up a dogfight here, which was completely my fault (the bite that is, not the fight). I still have both of the dogs and I haven't had any problems since, I think they were fighting over something they found in the yard...anyways, I would never blame the dog for my stupidity of sticking my hand in the middle of the fight, I am sure Loki didn't mean to bite your husband. If this was a freak incident and you really have not had any other problems with these 2 dogs fighting, then I can't see why you would need to do anything more than be more vigilant around food/treats or like it was already suggested, use a muzzle? Good luck, hope everyone heals, it is really scary (and sometimes expensive...) when these things happen.

[Burpdog]

If you get in the middle of a dog fight (doesn't matter what breed), you get bit. They are focused on the fight, not the human.

 

All but one dog fight I've had has been over food. Keep them separated when food is around. Also, when I have two that have had a fight, I separate them for a few days when I leave. The one fight I had that was not over food (I am assuming Rob Roy trounced on Austin), I separated them the rest of their lives when I was not there.

 

I hope your DH heals and understands Loki was not aiming for him, but the other dog.

 

I remember tripping once and as I was trying to stop from falling on Shadow for some reason I screamed, scared the crap out of him (I must have been quite a site flying through the air at him and screaming) and he bit me. I had several bites on my head. Fortunately, I didn't land on him. He was the sweetest guy and I never had a problem with him afterwards.

 

 

[dmswartzfager]

Yup, got bitten when I stuck a leg in between Carrie and Wren when Carrie decided my hamburger was hers and she was going to bite Wren to prove that it was hers. Then I was bitten by Symbra repeatedly when she startled and had a panic attack while I was holding onto her spook harness and in the middle of moving her leash from her collar to the harness. She knew my hand on her harness was the only thing preventing her from executing her flight response, and so she twisted around and chomped on my hand several times. She avoided me for the next several hours, but we were back to normal after that.

 

Then with the dog-to-dog bites, Carrie has bitten another one of our hounds um.... eight times now? Probably five times over food and three times over space. She has no warning growl or snap - she makes contact on the first go - and luckily that's been enough for our other hounds to back off and Carrie has no need to continue her assault. A foster got Carrie very badly on her shoulder, for which she required surgery, also over food.

 

This has been spaced out over almost four years, by the way - several within the first few months as the other dogs realized they had to stay on their own beds during the night, and as the humans realized just how food-guarding she could be, then nothing for a very long time, then a few more within a few months last year as Symbra and Carrie worked out alpha issues.

[jamngrey]

I ditto all advice above. Snowman is always on the receving end when Psi snaps. He has gotten pretty wounded 3x (all required stitches). Now when im not around to supervise or know they will be excited they are muzzled.

Psi is my food agressive hound. Humans no issue but dont any animal go near him when he is eating or has a treat. (he took the top off a dog at his foster home) there is NO food or any kind of treat given unless I am watching. It can be a issue if Im busy but It is a REQUIREMENT so no one gets hurt.

I am sure your Loki is safe for humans But you must supevise any food. Good luck

Edited November 5, 2007 by jamngrey

[Guest greyhound1]

[Guest Dragonfly71]

As it turns out, there was a rawhide left by our Jack Russell under the desk in our office - the cause of the scuffle. The greyhounds rarely get rawhides, and if they do, they're crated, that's why we were so confused. Benson came out of surgery as good as can be expected with about 40 stitches and a drainage tube through his face. I'm a mess, but the doctor said he should be fine, we just need to look after him. DH understands completely, and knows that trying to break up the fight wasn't the best thing to do - but just an instinct to protect the dogs. We're hoping everything will get back to normal now, but with a more careful eye. Again, thank you to our friends at Greyhound Adoption of Ohio in Chagrin Falls, OH for helping us pay for the many procedures.

[Batmom]

I wasn't reading carefully and missed the rawhide info in the first post. Yeah, food/chewies can be a cause of ugly strife as others have said and as you already knew.

 

How is your DH doing today?

 

Sending some more hugs.

[Guest Dragonfly71]

Poor Bill is in a lot of pain, but with Vicodin and some antibiotics, he'll be on the mend soon. I'm overwhelmed by how guilty you can feel when something like this happens. After all, my husband and I adopt these sweet animals to make their lives BETTER, not worse.

[Burpdog]

DH understands completely, and knows that trying to break up the fight wasn't the best thing to do - but just an instinct to protect the dogs.

 

Sometimes you have to go into the middle to save the dogs lives! Tell him he "done good" I hope he is better quick!

 

Fights happen--nothing you should feel guilty over. Learn from the experience......

[Guest Tenderhearts]

I've broken up 3 dogs fight over the years here at home, and been bitten in two of them because I did get between dogs. One landed me in ER.

 

I have learned to avoid certain situations such as passing out treats in a large group.