Cautionary tale regarding rescue dogs.
Discussion
Just got back from A and E where my sister is currently having a blood transfusion after 2 year old Belgian Shepherd attacked her in her own home, unprovoked. She's got two fist sized skin flaps at the back of her skull.
She's 5' 10", a police officer and used to handling horses and large dogs. She's had the dog 5 weeks with no sign of aggression to either people or dogs, outside the ordinary, we've had shepherds most of our lives.
Be careful.
She's 5' 10", a police officer and used to handling horses and large dogs. She's had the dog 5 weeks with no sign of aggression to either people or dogs, outside the ordinary, we've had shepherds most of our lives.
Be careful.
Hope your sis is OK and recovering. Sounds nasty.
Would be interested in some more background on this. I guess ultimately any rescue dog can carry baggage, and for many we'll never know what happened to them in the past, but IME, with a fair few dogs from guard breeds, I've never known anything like this occur, only an occasional dog-dog situation.
Where were they at the time? Who was there? What was going on? What were the other dogs doing? etc etc.
It sounds like you're all well-experienced although I would expect there still to have been some sort of trigger, even if your sister wasn't aware of it - not that that excuses the dog.
Would be interested in some more background on this. I guess ultimately any rescue dog can carry baggage, and for many we'll never know what happened to them in the past, but IME, with a fair few dogs from guard breeds, I've never known anything like this occur, only an occasional dog-dog situation.
Where were they at the time? Who was there? What was going on? What were the other dogs doing? etc etc.
It sounds like you're all well-experienced although I would expect there still to have been some sort of trigger, even if your sister wasn't aware of it - not that that excuses the dog.
Similar thing happened to my wife although not quite as bad. Still required a hospital visit and left her with facial scars where it bit her though. The owners didn't seemed concerned despite having brought this mutt into their home to live with their young family. Very risky in my experience
CAPP0 said:
Hope your sis is OK and recovering. Sounds nasty.
Would be interested in some more background on this. I guess ultimately any rescue dog can carry baggage, and for many we'll never know what happened to them in the past, but IME, with a fair few dogs from guard breeds, I've never known anything like this occur, only an occasional dog-dog situation.
Where were they at the time? Who was there? What was going on? What were the other dogs doing? etc etc.
It sounds like you're all well-experienced although I would expect there still to have been some sort of trigger, even if your sister wasn't aware of it - not that that excuses the dog.
She was at home on her own with her dog. The other two are mine and our parents. She bent down to take a selfie, turned her head to the camera and he jumped on her back without warning. Would be interested in some more background on this. I guess ultimately any rescue dog can carry baggage, and for many we'll never know what happened to them in the past, but IME, with a fair few dogs from guard breeds, I've never known anything like this occur, only an occasional dog-dog situation.
Where were they at the time? Who was there? What was going on? What were the other dogs doing? etc etc.
It sounds like you're all well-experienced although I would expect there still to have been some sort of trigger, even if your sister wasn't aware of it - not that that excuses the dog.
Over 100 stitches, which took 3 hours as they had to be redone to stem the bleeding.
f
k me!
She was incredibly lucky.
Rescues, particularly of guard and bull breeds are often hyper sensitive to the fact their dogs can be damaged. Surprised the dog hasn’t shown any tendencies previously- must have passed behavioural testing before it was rehomed.
Have you spoken to the rescue?
k me!She was incredibly lucky.
Rescues, particularly of guard and bull breeds are often hyper sensitive to the fact their dogs can be damaged. Surprised the dog hasn’t shown any tendencies previously- must have passed behavioural testing before it was rehomed.
Have you spoken to the rescue?
She said the 911 operator was telling her to apply pressure to her head and she was telling them her hands weren't big enough to cover the whole area.
GSR wanted to take the dog back but that couldn't happen, it could easily have killed a child if left even for a few seconds. The attack lasted only a couple of seconds.
She's so lucky that the scars will be entirely covered by her hair.
GSR wanted to take the dog back but that couldn't happen, it could easily have killed a child if left even for a few seconds. The attack lasted only a couple of seconds.
She's so lucky that the scars will be entirely covered by her hair.
Edited by ChocolateFrog on Monday 4th June 19:04
Not nice, hope she recovers well.
There are quite a few Shepherd rescues, I know a few of them from when I was in Husky rescue. It's completely different as Huskies are generally not people aggressive, but we've had a couple of Malamutes through that were. There's always a trigger. It's unusual and very rare for a dog to be aggressive to a submissive animal (getting her head down to it's level and then turning away), but when they are it is usually without a warning growl, or at least would escalate quickly. Otherwise it could have been complacency and accidentally treading on a paw or something, which at close distance would result in an attack. Most dogs dislike close contact face to face anyway, but should growl and warn if they're not happy, back away themselves before resorting to an attack.
There are quite a few Shepherd rescues, I know a few of them from when I was in Husky rescue. It's completely different as Huskies are generally not people aggressive, but we've had a couple of Malamutes through that were. There's always a trigger. It's unusual and very rare for a dog to be aggressive to a submissive animal (getting her head down to it's level and then turning away), but when they are it is usually without a warning growl, or at least would escalate quickly. Otherwise it could have been complacency and accidentally treading on a paw or something, which at close distance would result in an attack. Most dogs dislike close contact face to face anyway, but should growl and warn if they're not happy, back away themselves before resorting to an attack.
speedyguy said:
ChocolateFrog said:
The dog was put down pretty quickly. There was no other option.
The dog came through GermanShepherdRescue. We've had dogs from them before.
Best course of action. The dog came through GermanShepherdRescue. We've had dogs from them before.
I hope your sister recovers quickly and well.
Dissapointing that GSR think it 'may be a keeper.
Gassing Station | All Creatures Great & Small | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff