Cautionary tale regarding rescue dogs.

Cautionary tale regarding rescue dogs.

Author
Discussion

garythesign

2,056 posts

87 months

Tuesday 5th June 2018
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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.
Horrible to see the photos

Hope your sister is recovering.

wjb

5,100 posts

130 months

Tuesday 5th June 2018
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Sad times, always a shame when a dog turns like that. Correct decision to put him to sleep.

Hope your sister recovers well OP.

popeyewhite

19,622 posts

119 months

Tuesday 5th June 2018
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Awful. Hope your sister's OK. Personally I'd never get a rescue, but each to their own. I owned a collie X for 15 years and was mortified when out of the blue it bit a child...animals are just that.

Lazermilk

3,523 posts

80 months

Tuesday 5th June 2018
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As others have said, hope your sister makes a full recovery and isn't put off dogs completely due to this experience.

Such a shame it ended up like this, must have been something that happened to him in his earlier life to cause that surely, could he have been trained to attack maybe?

Eyersey1234

2,895 posts

78 months

Tuesday 5th June 2018
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Hope your sister recovers soon and this doesn't put her off having rescue animals in future.

ChocolateFrog

Original Poster:

24,852 posts

172 months

Tuesday 5th June 2018
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Lazermilk said:
As others have said, hope your sister makes a full recovery and isn't put off dogs completely due to this experience.

Such a shame it ended up like this, must have been something that happened to him in his earlier life to cause that surely, could he have been trained to attack maybe?
Its quite likely that something from it's past reared its head. The shocking or unfortunate thing is that there were no warning signs.



hyphen

26,262 posts

89 months

Tuesday 5th June 2018
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ChocolateFrog said:
Lazermilk said:
As others have said, hope your sister makes a full recovery and isn't put off dogs completely due to this experience.

Such a shame it ended up like this, must have been something that happened to him in his earlier life to cause that surely, could he have been trained to attack maybe?
Its quite likely that something from it's past reared its head. The shocking or unfortunate thing is that there were no warning signs.
What did the shelter say regarding how they got the dog in, previous owner and its condition at the time?

ctdctd

482 posts

197 months

Tuesday 5th June 2018
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Hope your sister is recovering and not too traumatised by the experience.

Dogs can do things completely out of character sometimes even without the possible baggage being a rescue can bring.

At the rescue kennels I go to, they had a young Rottie cross who was very friendly but a little nervous.
Over a period of a few months, he'd had a go at a couple of the other dogs even though he'd been fine with them before.
He always appeared fine with people.
He was found one day having a fit and was PTS shortly afterwards with the vet diagnosing a brain tumour that had ruptured.

Back in the day, my parents ran a kennels - we had a kennel beagle that had been there a few years and was part of the outdoor gang.
One day, he jumped up and bit several chunks out of my dads chin - we never knew why the dog did it and he was PTS afterwards.


tbourner

129 posts

70 months

Tuesday 5th June 2018
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ChocolateFrog said:
Its quite likely that something from it's past reared its head. The shocking or unfortunate thing is that there were no warning signs.
He was only in the house for 5 weeks though? Still settling in at that point so it's a hard one to judge. Like I said an attack on a submissive doesn't normally come with a warning - it's just very rare for a dog to do it having shown no food aggression or crate guarding or anything. I think the guy we dealt with at GSR was John Robson? He might have retired by now I'm not sure. Worked with them and BigGSD, mostly when we needed help with Mallies or Shepherd crosses.

hkz286

146 posts

83 months

Tuesday 5th June 2018
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genuine question but why are dogs put to sleep after biting someone?

Is it purely to prevent someone getting bitten again? is that the only reason?

I have no opinion one way or another, but I don't know the answer so thought I would ask.

rob0r

420 posts

169 months

Tuesday 5th June 2018
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That's really nasty, I'm sorry she's had to go through that.

We won't have rescue dogs anymore after it going wrong a few times now. The last time was the nail in the coffin after it ripped our other dog's eye out...

wjb

5,100 posts

130 months

Tuesday 5th June 2018
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hkz286 said:
genuine question but why are dogs put to sleep after biting someone?

Is it purely to prevent someone getting bitten again? is that the only reason?

I have no opinion one way or another, but I don't know the answer so thought I would ask.
They aren't routinely, I think the decision is based on severity of the attack and afaik it's up to the court if the owner doesn't agree to it.

xjay1337

15,966 posts

117 months

Tuesday 5th June 2018
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popeyewhite said:
Awful. Hope your sister's OK. Personally I'd never get a rescue, but each to their own. I owned a collie X for 15 years and was mortified when out of the blue it bit a child...animals are just that.
Why would you never get a rescue? Thousands of poor dogs out there are looking to get given a second chance.
Here is our rescue.

20171028_141956 by Fat Bear Photography, on Flickr

Everyone loves puppies but rescues should be peoples first port of call.

Any animal can bite or attack, it just happens sometimes. I'm sure there is more to it than meets the eye, but nevertheless the injuries looked very bad and a speedy recovery.

Lazermilk

3,523 posts

80 months

Tuesday 5th June 2018
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xjay1337 said:
popeyewhite said:
Awful. Hope your sister's OK. Personally I'd never get a rescue, but each to their own. I owned a collie X for 15 years and was mortified when out of the blue it bit a child...animals are just that.
Why would you never get a rescue? Thousands of poor dogs out there are looking to get given a second chance.
Here is our rescue.

20171028_141956 by Fat Bear Photography, on Flickr

Everyone loves puppies but rescues should be peoples first port of call.

Any animal can bite or attack, it just happens sometimes. I'm sure there is more to it than meets the eye, but nevertheless the injuries looked very bad and a speedy recovery.
I agree, every dog is different and plenty good ones needing rescued. My parents have had a few over the years and never any issues, even the largest dobermann I have ever seen yet the friendliest one I ever met, he was a real gentle giant.
He actually saved my fathers life by waking my mother when he sensed something was wrong and she was able to call for an ambulance, if he hadn't done that I hate to think what might have happened.

So I'm sure there are plenty (hopefully considerably more) positive stories like this to outweigh the unfortunate ones like the OP told.

tbourner

129 posts

70 months

Tuesday 5th June 2018
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Lazermilk said:
So I'm sure there are plenty (hopefully considerably more) positive stories like this to outweigh the unfortunate ones like the OP told.
I can give you about 600 positive stories. biggrin
We had 3 PTS over 7 years, 2 for biting and 1 for health reasons. Haven't heard of any that went into homes being PTS yet, although I'm sure some have, purely down to age.

People worry about past treatment of dogs causing aggression. If you've seen a puppy farmer pick up a puppy by the back legs and throw it into a van, or a breeding bh of 3 years old who has never stood on grass as was kept in a crate it's entire life, then seeing these same dogs in happy homes after 6 months, playing with children and other dogs etc., it can change your perception of how "dodgy" a rescue dog is.

popeyewhite

19,622 posts

119 months

Tuesday 5th June 2018
quotequote all
Lazermilk said:
xjay1337 said:
popeyewhite said:
Awful. Hope your sister's OK. Personally I'd never get a rescue, but each to their own. I owned a collie X for 15 years and was mortified when out of the blue it bit a child...animals are just that.
Why would you never get a rescue? Thousands of poor dogs out there are looking to get given a second chance.
Here is our rescue.

20171028_141956 by Fat Bear Photography, on Flickr

Everyone loves puppies but rescues should be peoples first port of call.

Any animal can bite or attack, it just happens sometimes. I'm sure there is more to it than meets the eye, but nevertheless the injuries looked very bad and a speedy recovery.
I agree, every dog is different and plenty good ones needing rescued. My parents have had a few over the years and never any issues, even the largest dobermann I have ever seen yet the friendliest one I ever met, he was a real gentle giant.
He actually saved my fathers life by waking my mother when he sensed something was wrong and she was able to call for an ambulance, if he hadn't done that I hate to think what might have happened.

So I'm sure there are plenty (hopefully considerably more) positive stories like this to outweigh the unfortunate ones like the OP told.
There may well be, but without knowing an animal's history it's a risk I personally wouldn't take. I prefer to know the provenance of a dog, knowledge of its parents, environment etc. Some may like taking pot luck, I don't.

xjay1337

15,966 posts

117 months

Tuesday 5th June 2018
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For me I would much rather "take the chance" as you say and have the warm fuzzy feeling of giving a beautiful animal a loving forever home than get a pedigree this or pure breed that.

popeyewhite

19,622 posts

119 months

Tuesday 5th June 2018
quotequote all
xjay1337 said:
For me I would much rather "take the chance" as you say and have the warm fuzzy feeling of giving a beautiful animal a loving forever home than get a pedigree this or pure breed that.
Why can't a pedigree be a "beautiful animal" deserving of a "loving forever home"? Regardless - my last dog was a collie X (as mentioned above) and I knew both sets of owners and talked history before a purchase was made. Like to know what I'm getting, and even then dogs can surprise their owners.

moorx

3,481 posts

113 months

Tuesday 5th June 2018
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tbourner said:
I can give you about 600 positive stories. biggrin
We had 3 PTS over 7 years, 2 for biting and 1 for health reasons. Haven't heard of any that went into homes being PTS yet, although I'm sure some have, purely down to age.

People worry about past treatment of dogs causing aggression. If you've seen a puppy farmer pick up a puppy by the back legs and throw it into a van, or a breeding bh of 3 years old who has never stood on grass as was kept in a crate it's entire life, then seeing these same dogs in happy homes after 6 months, playing with children and other dogs etc., it can change your perception of how "dodgy" a rescue dog is.
^^ This.

Whilst I have no desire to diminish the impact this attack has had - and I wish the OP's sister a very speedy recovery, please can I emphasise that not all rescue dogs have 'issues' or 'baggage'.

I have adopted 13 rescues in the past 20+ years. Various types and ages, including staffy crosses and ex working lurchers, crossbreeds and purebreeds, from 5 months to 12 years old when adopted. Most have had no baggage at all. Some have had minor issues or 'quirks' but none has ever bitten anyone.

We have exactly the dog described above - a 3 year old ex-breeding bh (cocker spaniel) who had never been outside in her life and was too terrified to go for a walk. A year later, you would not know it unless we told you!

Again, I really hope that the OP's sister gets better soon and that the scars (physical and psychological) heal quickly.

xjay1337

15,966 posts

117 months

Tuesday 5th June 2018
quotequote all
popeyewhite said:
Why can't a pedigree be a "beautiful animal" deserving of a "loving forever home"? Regardless - my last dog was a collie X (as mentioned above) and I knew both sets of owners and talked history before a purchase was made. Like to know what I'm getting, and even then dogs can surprise their owners.
They are, but you forget that many pups are bred for money, we have raised a litter of gorgeous spaniels from birth, and they were very rewarding, but the financial benefit was clear to see. Litter of 7 pups at £800 each.....?

For me I'd rather rescue an animal from a shelter that needs a loving home, than go to a breeder and buy a pup. That's not to say I wouldn't / haven't bought pups , because I have, and will, but at least 1 dog in the house is a rescue, and always will be.

Infact once our house move has settled we are going to get another.

Any animal whether a rescue or a puppy owned from 8 weeks can lash out, as I said in this particular case I strongly suspect there is more than meets the initial story, however, this is not the time or place to start such discussions.

Do you only ever date virgins because you don't know what their history is? laugh