My dog was attacked
Elin
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Registered User regular
At the dog park. A big ass Pit came up and put him down and bit him all up. My dog is only 15 pounds. I wasn't thinking about talking to the owner at that time because my dog was screaming and I wanted to get him out of there. When we got home though I found big, nasty bruised areas on his belly. I called the vet and they said I shouldn't need to bring him in since he wasn't actually bleeding, and to just watch for swelling and abscesses.
My question is, since he's not bleeding I don't really need to be concerned about rabies, correct? He's vaccinated of course, but I don't know about the other dog. I'm just shaken, it's my first dog and I just fell apart when he was getting mauled. I didn't grab the other dog because I didn't want the dog to turn on me ... but now I feel like crap for not wading in and grabbing him out.
Pictures of my baby
And some pics of his battle wounds
My question is, since he's not bleeding I don't really need to be concerned about rabies, correct? He's vaccinated of course, but I don't know about the other dog. I'm just shaken, it's my first dog and I just fell apart when he was getting mauled. I didn't grab the other dog because I didn't want the dog to turn on me ... but now I feel like crap for not wading in and grabbing him out.
Pictures of my baby
And some pics of his battle wounds
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Maybe call another vet or two for a second opinion. Make sure you mention that your tiny dog was attacked by a pit bull.
i wouldn't worry about "crushing" injuries if he isn't sensitive to the touch its probably nothing. he might develop a hematoma which isn't that big a deal it is just scary looking.
you are lucky. our dog got in a tussle with a rottweiler and she came away with a half inch puncture wound in her chest that was pretty deep.
Unless it is illegal, then I wouldn't advise it, though it worked for me once.
Those bites don't look bad at all, he was probably just warning him a bit. Pit bulls have a voracious prey drive and a lot of times they don't understand when a small dog plays with them, they can get confused, and then bad stuff happens because they get so wound up they can't stop. It's why mine rarely goes to dog parks, and when he does he stays on leash the entire time.
Best bet is to make sure when you're in the park you're scoping both owners and their dogs every once in awhile, you can almost always tell which dogs are going to be prone to get in a fight, and there always is at least one. And then keep your pooch away from those dogs, people might get offended, but that's their problem.
Edit: As to the rabies I'm not sure. It's doubtful the other dog had rabies, but your vet should be able to answer that question better.
So long as he keeps acting normally, there's no reason for concern.
Always keep a close eye on your dog in a dog park--all too often there is some jackass there who doesn't care what his dog is doing or some stupid owner who is trying to "socialize" the dog aggressiveness out of his dog as it snaps and snarls at all the other dogs. Frankly, I would try to avoid dog parks altogether in the future since your dog is so small and could be seriously injured/killed so easily . . . not even from aggression, necessarily, but even from play. (Imagine some over-excited, half-grown large puppy bouncing on your dog . . . That could break his back.) I would try to find some other small breed dog owners to arrange playdates in someone's yard.
on a lighter note i was out for a walk with her and we kept getting stalked by a cat. Eventually the cat worked up the nerve to try and pounce on my dog, without even thinking i grabbed this by the tail in mid pounce and just whipped him away. you dont mess with my pack...
If you kicked the dog in the ribs, hard... she would have probably turned and snapped your femur. (we used to give her cow femurs and she would crack them in half easily). When dealing with a Pitt or a big mix with a locking jaw that can exert that kind of pressure, I would keep my limbs out of the fray. Just spend the 11$ on a can of pepper spray and hose both dogs if you have to to get them apart, it will be traumatic but you wont really have a lot of time for aiming and a slightly injured dog that needs a hose-down is better than a huge frenzied dog a broken leg/missing face and a dead puppy.
Also, if you put yourself between your dog and any other dogs that look to be a threat and yell at the owner, don't move when you yell, especially towards the owner. Even abused or anti-social dogs will protect what they see as their master.
If a dog runs at you, do not run away. Back up slowly and avoid locking eyes, it may still consider it a challenge and come up towards you, but if you don't run it should give you time enough to pull out the pepper spray.
As an aside, that dog I mentioned above got hit by a car and came home with scraped "elbows" and the car horn in her mouth. The PG&E guy hadn't closed the gate all the way and our neighbor deliberately tried to kill her in his VW beetle. He was a dick, we let her keep the horn as a toy to bury in the back yard, I also put skunk oil in his AC intake. Don't fuck with my pets, they are family. As I'm sure your guy is to you, I am glad he is okay and I hope you get some pepper spray.
If I do decide to go to a dog park with larger size dogs again I'll definitely get some dog formulated pepper spray. I know that's what they use at doggie day cares to separate actual fights, it just never occurred to me that I would need it at the dog park. Naive of me, but eh.
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It doesn't look like there are any actual puncture wounds so I'd say that despite how rough the attack may have looked, you got off easy. Bruising looks nasty, but you should be paying more attention to your dog's behaviour and particularily appetite and poop. If either start becoming irregular or a concern then there may be reason for further worry and a checkup at the vet. Otherwise, he's just gong to be tender for a while.
For what it's worth you weren't the only one with dog problems yesterday. My dog got attacked too while out on the beach and her injuries are very similar to your dog's.
A bit of advice - I don't know where you live but if you're going to take a dog to a social area like a park/beach etc then you might want to consider getting a ball chucker. It's basically a plastic arm with a cup which grasps a tennis ball at the end. Not only do they make throwing a ball for your dog a lot easier, but they can be used to great effect in beating another dog away without risking your hands/arms/legs. Even if your dog doesn't like to play fetch, you can still carry one around on walks for security without it looking out of place.
Edit: I say this as an owner of a 16 year old Pom that is still a little shit when she wants to be.
I always have her on a leash and I've come to find out that dog parks are about the stupidest idea ever after having 3 different people I know have their dogs bitten.
I would take your dog to the vet, my dog had internal bruising and they gave her same pain meds and ointment for the laceration on her forearm.
Best advice I can give is when you have a big dog like that don't get mauled. My pit was attacked by two others and I ran in without thinking and pulled them apart with my hands which is about the stupidest thing I've ever done.
This is probably the dumbest thing I will hear all day. My pit would just yelp and get more pissed if this happened to her and then proceed to devour a limb of her choosing.
End of story.
Except the fact she was in a dog park, which is a place you can go and let your dog off leash
I'd say the pit's owner was more in the wrong for not keeping an eye on his dog if he knows it's dog aggressive towards smaller dogs that it could injure. Though I think the OP has the right idea staying away from the bigger dogs and going to a park just for smaller ones. It sucks since the dog plays well with most bigger dogs, but at that size it'd only take a couple seconds for a big dog to do some harm a lot worse that what already happened so it's just not worth it.
Edit: I don't really know how I feel about dog parks. They sound good in theory, if people were responsible and 'know their dog' but even the best dogs can have bad days. Also, as is seen, a lot of people aren't honest with themselves if their dogs can handle something like that. Off leash shouldn't mean unsupervised, and it doesn't seem like the pits owner tried to talk with the OP...or perhaps even notice.
If the vet says just sit and wait it out that's what you should do, just make sure he has an easy time for a while.
Saliva in scrapes could theoretically transmit rabies. But there is a very low likelihood that the other dog has rabies. How old is your dog? There has never even been a suspected case of rabies in a dog that has had two rabies vaccines (ie 6 mos and 18 mos). If your dog is young enough that it has only ever had a single rabies vaccine and that was over 6 months ago it is theoretically safer to get your dog his second booster early. But canine rabies is vanishingly rare in the US. If you live in a rural area there is more risk than if you live in an urban area because the very few cases of rabies in the US each year are generally in dogs that have free access to wander in the woods and come into contact with raccoons. If you don't live in the US you can probably find information online about the canine rabies rates in your country.
IMHO from your description I would say that both dogs contributed to the fight. And it definitely sounds like posturing and not a predatory fight. Big dogs have big heads and when they go to sniff a little dog their heads tend to be above the little dog and coming down to sniff. The pit probably hasn't spent enough time around tiny dogs to figure out how to say hi to them without completely dominating their space. Your dog took offense and snapped and the pit didn't back down. Pit bulls are terriers. If they want to kill something they don't roll it over, they grab it by the neck, hold tight and shake.
I occasionally go to the dog park with my cocker but we only go inside if I recognize all the dogs and owners. If there is a new dog we watch for 10-15 minutes outside before making a decision and then I sometimes will ask the new owner a few questions before letting my dog off leash. There is no reason a particular dog should like all other dogs. I know that my dog likes to sniff all the dog's butts and then run around for a bit. However he doesn't like being chased so if a dog is there chasing other dogs we don't go in. We also don't go in if there are any grumpy old dogs that will take offense to a long butt sniff from a youngster like mine. I know that my dog has very "up" body language and no tail and floppy ears so he is hard for some dogs to read. I also watch out for other dogs that use subtle or no body language because my dog will respect other dogs asking for some space, but he is bad at subtlety.
I think going to a dog park with only little dogs is a very good idea. As other people have pointed out a big dog tripping and falling on your dog could cause more injury than what happened in this fight. It also sounds like your dog is a lot more relaxed around little dogs.
that said, what attacked your dog was not a pit... pits are 35-55 lbs tops.... anything larger (higher than your waist? jeez) is some sort of a mastiff, dogo argentino, or whatever mix... i'm sensitive to this b/c i have a pit, and she gets a bad name everytime someone just assumes an attacking dog was a pit
for future reference if you want to pull a dog off another grab it by its hind legs and walk away from it. should have someone on the other dog. don't bother trying to kick or hit it with a stick or pepper spray. its the only effective way to seperate. sure some of th ebully breeds that lock down may need more motivation, but the wheel barrel works.
most of the advice here is retarded and sounds like it came froma maxim magazine or how to book
I dunno, this sounds just as backwards as saying all pits are little shits. Little dogs turn into spoiled bastards most often because people treat them like little dogs without realizing that the dog thinks it's just as capable and powerful as any other mutt out there. Poms aren't genetically destined to be violent snappers just like Pits aren't predetermined to be murderers.
My pit weighed 76 pounds at her last check, albeit she is overweight, and is a UKC purebred.
That is the best way to physically separate a real dog fight but I wouldn't do that at a dog park to a dog I didn't know. Too much risk of redirection. One can use a blanket or a rug to protect themselves but those generally aren't common at dog parks.
The fight in question also wasn't that kind of a fight. The dog in question wasn't bitten (at least those look like scrapes and not puncture wounds) and it doesn't sound like blood was pouring from the other dog either. Startling the dogs and separating them would be possible without wheelbarrowing them because neither dog was holding onto the other.
Pits as a generic description usually incorporate a few different breeds. The Staffordshire Terrier is usually smaller and stocky, my "pit" is actually probably an American Bulldog, which is closely related to the English Bulldog. When England went through the industrial evolution, their bulldogs didn't need to be working dogs anymore, so they continued to get smaller and became the dogs you see today. The American Bulldog was brought over from England (back when their bulldogs were bigger) to the states specifically as a working dog and has retained those characteristics. Mine is about 70 odd pounds when he eats regularly.
Okay, but Dark_Side is correct regarding what APBTs are supposed to weigh. Your dog is well outside of the norm or quite overweight (or both).
From the UKC breed standard:
Also many people don't mean APBT when they say pitbull. Most "pitbulls" in the US shelter system are american staffordshire terrier mixes and Amstaffs are even smaller than APBTs. It isn't unreasonable to suggest that a dog whose head came up past the OPs waist likely wasn't a pitbull by either definition.
Well, I'm as sensitive about Pit Bull breeds as anyone since I own a dog always referred to as one. The fact of the matter is that if you have a dog with a certain build and facial structure, it doesn't matter what his actual breed is, the general public is going to refer to that dog as a pit. Which sucks, but that's just how it is. Regardless OP, I'm glad your dog is ok, but you're probably are going to want to stick to small dog dog parks in the future, or barring that setting up play dates.
Warning: graphic wound pictures, NFSW.
http://leerburg.com/dogfight.htm
Not jumping on you though. You did the best you could - don't feel bad for not jumping in because there was nothing you could do. Your dog is more than likely going to have issues with this event.
Dog parks aren't a bad idea at all. You just have to realize that when you get a bunch of dogs together, occasionally, something can happen. My dog got bit at the dog park, but the owner learned his lesson and he stopped bringing a dog he couldn't control there. But seriously, dog parks are awesome...
I'm going to see how the small dog area works out. He's always ignored the small dogs to play with the big boys, his best friend at the park was an Irish Wolfhound. Seeing him jump up to take a sniff made the Hounds owner crack up. I'm sure he'll make little friends but he's not really aware he's small himself. And as far as I know he's a mix of 2 territorial breeds, the Pom and the American Eskimo. It's just never been an issue until this last time, but I guess that's how it always goes.
And yeah, it was an off leash dog park, otherwise he is always leashed. I always short leash him around other dogs and only let him go sniff if the owner says it's ok. We have good walking manners.
He also only warns off other animals. When we first got him I was careful to make sure I could be around him when eating, in fact, he would only eat from my hand at first. Now I can play in his food dish when he's eating, or take it, and he just looks at me all sad eyed. My cat however, gets a growl if he's too close to the bowl. I'm still learning about him, the longer he's here, the more he's changing. I'm attributing it to having been stray, and then in the shelter. They said he came in with another dog and he was playing protector to the other dog, making sure it was ok and such. I guess that means he's a dominant dog and that's what this incident was about. I do normally follow him around to make sure he's ok there for the first 10 minutes or so, and then again when new guys come in, but this happened about 1 minute after we stepped in, and so fast I couldn't stop it. My husband said if the dogs owner hadn't come running over he was going to brain it with the water dish we brought, I told him he was a dumb ass.
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I know. I read it. And I disagree with it completely. It reads like someone who has never set foot in a dog park. Yes, fights happen, but they are few and far between and the owners usually have the sense not to come back. They are not the dog fighting pits he makes them out to be.
Is he like, your father or something? I didn't mean to offend your family. I've taken my Samoyed to the dog park 3-5 times a week for two years and have had one bad experience.
It's almost like, I've actually been there, and stuff.
He kind of comes off as needlessly ruthless to me, which makes sense when dealing with aggressive dogs, but for everyday kind of problems, his methods strike me as too severe. So when you read that article, you have to read it as someone with a large, aggressive breed, because that's who it's wrote for. A person like me. Because I'm taking a huge liability risk even walking into a park with my dog. If he gets in a fight, even one he doesn't instigate, I'm the one who's going to be held responsible when he kills or maims someone's dog.
I wouldn't really try hauling, kicking or whacking a dog with a stick etc. The potential for a bite exists as well as an issue with the other dog's owner. As this thread has shown people are serious about their pets and how to treat them so I wouldn't assume that every owner would understand that you had to kick or spray their dog. I'm not saying that the law or whatever wouldn't wind up being on your side if things came to that but a dog fight is bad enough without adding a human fight as well.
Small dog parks aren't a bad idea, just keep in mind that little dogs can get pretty fierce too. My mother's little poodle has teeth like needles and she's put a hole or two into my pug's skin just in random play. Keep the wounds clean of course. I assume you brush your little pet pretty frequently so that's a good time to make sure you've found all the bites.
Dominance: most people completely misunderstand it and it doesn't apply to pet dogs and all and doesn't actually apply to wolves the way people think.
You can be your dog's leader and who they look to when they aren't sure about something without bothering with outdated dominance theories. Sue Ailsby and Shirley Chong have variations on the NILIF programs that explain how to go about doing this (their programs can even be used together).
You also might look at Karen Overall's Relaxation protocol. She developed it to work with her dog Flash. It basically teaches the dog to ignore whatever is going on around them. The more your dog is comfortable ignoring the less likely they are to react to anything.