Really upset - what do I do now?

Sanolly

Sanolly

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I am at a fantastic yard owned by a couple. The bloke is not very horsey and isn't up very often, his OH is the one I see on a day to day basis and we get on really really well. Because I don't see *H (initial changed) very often he and I don't have much of a 'relationship', he can be quite moody at times.

Today we were all at the yard having just got back from next door where *D(again initial changed) had a jumping lesson on her horse. H was playing with their 2 dogs and my dog. I play rough with my dog which he has seen on nearly every occasion he has been up, H was playing with my dog and winding him up an my dog thought he was playing like I do so jumped up and 'bit' him (not a proper bite, just a play bite). At this point H lost it and booted him several times in the ribs. At this point I put my dog in the car and left texting D to say I would be back later to sort out my stables and poo pick the field. D texted me back to say that that was OK and she would ring me later, she also said "I don't know what the F that was all about".

I checked my dog when I got home and he is quite sore on the side where H kicked him, I don't think anything is broken, just bruised, but if he doesn't seem any better in the morning I will run him up to the vet. The thing is that, whilst H is not normally like this, I now no longer trust him round my animals.

What do I do now? Obviously if my dog does need the vet H will be getting the bill, but do I start making arrangements to leave the yard? I have been there nearly a year now and I would never have thought that H would be like this, there has been no sign of it at all. Problem is that if this happens again I would never forgive myself if one of my animals got hurt. As I said before H is not up the yard very often, usually at weekends and I am almost always there as well.


Just really upset and need advice please? :(
 
I think it's unacceptable to allow a dog to bite people, even in play, so you are partly responsible for this problem.
In future, perhaps don't take your dog to the yard if he can't be trusted to play nicely with people and other animals - and then you won't worry about him being hurt again.
S :D
 
I wouldnt allow my dog to bite people even in play what happens if it does it to a child? Having said that, I would not be happy that someone kicked my dog either, maybe dont take your dog there again and also teach it some manners you cant afford to allow dogs to behave like that these days.
 
I agree with Shils, I would never allow my dog to bite in play or otherwise, its dangerous & unacceptable. Don't take him up to the yard again, or perhaps leave him in the car & walk him, then he is not left unsupervised. If the biting is misinterpreted, ultimately it could end in him being PTS if someone complains or he bites a child, even in play.
 
Shilasdair said:
I think it's unacceptable to allow a dog to bite people, even in play, so you are partly responsible for this problem.
In future, perhaps don't take your dog to the yard if he can't be trusted to play nicely with people and other animals - and then you won't worry about him being hurt again.
S :D
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Have to totally agree with Shil's. It is the most irresponsible thing to teach your dog to play rough as how is it to differentiate between you and someone else. What would your excuse have been if it was a young child? Sorry, you brought this on yourself (or rather your dog) and I don't for one minute blame the other person for booting it. Any type of biting whether in play or not (and how is the other person to know which) is totally unacceptable from any dog.
 
My dogs rough play and play bite me, but for that reason I would never let anyone else play fight with them without getting their express understanding before hand that the dogs may bite them. You can't do anything now, but don't let it happen again. Vibes to doggy.
 
shils i dont think that is what the op is worried about, the fact that this person has shown this aggression towards an animal what if he turns this aggression onto the the op's other animals, this would be my concern also.
I would have been inclined to give him a swift kick in the ribs. Ok the dog bit him but her should have realised he was playing rough with the dog and maybe went abit to far. absolutley no excuse to kick the dog!

eta- i dont play rough with my terrier nor would she bite anyone but if she gets excited when you greet her she may unintentionly nip you out of pure excitement.
 
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Regarding the 'i will get him to pay if dog needs the vet' I would be very very careful. If he decides to take the claim to court, yoiu could end up with your dog put to sleep for biting. He can claim self defence. Dog bite laws are ridiculous, and i would not be tempted to highlight to the authorities that you have a dog that 'bites' (even in play).

I only say this because i have a friend who's dogs dragged her over to a labrador on her neighbours property (dogs are 'shouty' dogs so quite intimidating and a bit out of control really). The owner of labrador stepped in front of the lab and kicked the dogs and broke one of dogs legs (greyhound). They took him to small claims court to get him to pay for the vets as he refused, but court ruled in favour of labrador owner.

As to whether to leave the yard - thats difficult to say without actually seeing events unfold.

Hope your dog is ok, and i wouldn't let him rough play with anyone who's reaction you might be uncertain about if the dog were to play bite.

Trina x
 
Shilasdair said:
I think it's unacceptable to allow a dog to bite people, even in play, so you are partly responsible for this problem.
In future, perhaps don't take your dog to the yard if he can't be trusted to play nicely with people and other animals - and then you won't worry about him being hurt again.
S :D
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Totally agree. I have a Dobermann bitch and you can well imagine what would happen if I allowed her to play bite anyone, including the family. Someone would be demanding that my dangerous dog be put down no doubt:(
 
But he didn't just randomly kick the dog - the dog (as far as he was concerned) attacked him, and put his teeth in him so he retaliated.

Why would you think he would do anything to any of your other animals?

I have to agree with Shils - it doesn't seem to be a terribly useful thing to allow your dog to bite - even if they are play bites (assume the teeth are involved and he felt them, so not THAT playful?)
 
Don't train your dog to use his teeth in play and this situation won't arise. When it does don't run away from the situation but confront it.
Problem solved. Don't take dog up yard off lead/unsupervised as play biting is not an acceptable trait
 
Hope your dog feels better soon I would be so mad if someone did that to my dog, it's unacceptable in my eyes to kick any animal especially if you where the one who instigated the play fight - if he hadn't of started it the incident wouldn't of happened!
 
I think that there are two issues - firstly your dog biting "H" (even if it was in play - most people wouldn't know the difference, especially if the dog is on the large side), followed by "H" kicking your dog. In my opinion, both things are completely unacceptable.

I would let "H" know, perhaps via "D" if this is who most of your contact is with, how much his behaviour has concerned you. I would also apologise though, for your dog biting him.

To avoid the situation happening again, I would either leave your dog at home at the weekends or make it clear that "H" is not to have any involvement with your animals. It may also be a good idea to avoid encouraging that sort of behaviour from your dog as it can so easily be interpreted wrongly.
 
I'm afraid I agree with the majority of the responses you have received so far. I do not think it is acceptable to 'play rough' with ANY dog - it merely encourages inappropriate behavoir. I will not tolerate biting or 'mouthing' during play from my dogs - it's just not on. I suggest you speak calmly to 'H' about the incident and refrain from taking your dog to the yard in future. I you feel you need to move yards you still need to consider whether the 'play' with your dog is appropriate.
 
Whilst Im upset for the dog, Im afraid it's your own fault. An animal alllowed/encouraged to bite (even in play!) is a dangerous animal when out of direct control - ie on a short lead - and as such shouldnt be on a public yard.
Think about it for a minute, if you were petting someones horse and it bit you, you would bash it wouldnt you? I would!
 
ruby82 said:
Hope your dog feels better soon I would be so mad if someone did that to my dog, it's unacceptable in my eyes to kick any animal especially if you where the one who instigated the play fight - if he hadn't of started it the incident wouldn't of happened!
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I don't think that's right, as I stated about, I play fight with my dogs, I always have, with all my dogs. However, thats MY choice. Without sanolly gaining express permission from this person - how do we know he was "ok" with that type of play? he clearly wasn't, which as this thread suggests, is the norm.

An owner can play with their dog how so ever they like, so long as they take the appropriate, sensible precautions to safe guard not just the dog - but other people.

It's not the dogs fault, or the mans fault - it's the owners fault. Easy enough to rectifiy by just not letting the dog out where people who might not like his games, are.
 
I'm sorry to tell you this, Sanolly, but I'm with Shils on this one. The only dogs which I might encourage to play bite, would be those which were to be used for man work, and then only when they were puppies, and then only with those which would seem to be a little reticent to take a grip.

You really can't expect others to understand the relationship which you have with your dog, and also expect them to get in step, with you. H didn't help, I understand, but how was he to understand how to tell your dog when to stop?

What should you do now? If you have a generally happy relationship with D, then there's no need to leave, just learn a lesson from it. It wasn't the dogs fault. It wasn't the fault of H, perhaps. So who does that leave? You are the one who's responsible for your dog.

Alec.
 
depurple1 said:
To avoid the situation happening again, I would either leave your dog at home at the weekends or make it clear that "H" is not to have any involvement with your animals. .
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I think that's a bit 'off' when you consider the premises are owned by H so it should be H calling the shots. If I were him I would actually bar the dog from the yard at any time especially if they have other clients or Joe Public to think about.
 
sorry hun but I agree with the others that is is not acceptable for a dog to bite.
H reacted as most people would I'm afraid(not as strongly but react all the same). Dogs just should not do that sort of thing.

however this does not mean that he would treat horses the same. Horses are not dogs and everyone knows they react differently. While I would 'react'(like I said not as strongly) the same as H did when dog bit me I would not hit a horse for doing it
 
Actually Rosehip no I wouldn't.

The dog in question is regularly around D an H's 2 year old son and is not aggressive in any way. H has been told on numerous occasions that my dog will 'play fight' and he has acknowledged this. I have taught my dog to curb his 'bite' - he will not even mark skin even if you have a sleeveless top on. I am also surprised at the amount of posters who think that kicking someone else's dog is acceptable when the owner is standing less than 5 feet away and therefore is close enough to reprimand their own pet. :confused:
 
Maesfen said:
I think that's a bit 'off' when you consider the premises are owned by H so it should be H calling the shots. If I were him I would actually bar the dog from the yard at any time especially if they have other clients or Joe Public to think about.
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I am the ONLY 'client' it is a private yard.

My dog will not go up to anyone and start play fighting, it HAS to be instigated and even then takes a little while. H knows this and deliberately instigated the game, it is also not the first time he has done so.
 
Sanolly said:
I am the ONLY 'client' it is a private yard.

My dog will not go up to anyone and start play fighting, it HAS to be instigated and even then takes a little while. H knows this and deliberately instigated the game, it is also not the first time he has done so.
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In that case I would play safe and not take the dog anywhere near the yard anyway because it's already been proved that it can go wrong even with him knowing and instigating it and you standing nearby. Accidents happen at the best of times but this one was totally avoidable.
 
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Sorry, but I totally agree with the others, teaching a dog that it's okay to mouthe/bite anyone, even in play, is not a good idea. So 'H' overreacted (as a lot of us do, after being surprised/frightened) - if a horse bites me my instant reaction is to smack it really hard, even if it's not my horse. I wouldn't try to smack a dog that had just tried to bite me in case it turned on my hand and bit me harder, so I'd be more likely to give it a shove/kick with my foot to get it away from me.
*awaits visit from RSPCA* ;) ;)
I'd just apologise for what happened (even if it sticks in your throat) and hopefully he will too, and I'd keep your dog well away from anyone who might 'play' with him like that.
 
Is this one of those threads where we're only allowed to answer one way?

You have no right to ask the yard OWNER not to be there at certain times, in fact if that was my yard I'd laugh in your face and hand you your notice just for the cheek of asking TBH Im suprised you suggested it.

The decent thing to do would be to not take your dog there any more.
 
I'm sorry but I'm with the majority here, it really is not a good idea to teach a dog to play bite. If you were aware that H has started play fights with your dog before it would have been sensible to call the dog back to heel and stop the game from continuing. He should perhaps have reprimanded the dog verbally rather than kicking but it could have just been a split second reaction, even an accidental play bite can hurt! What breed/size is your dog?
 
I have to be honest I disagree with some of the posts on here - my dogs love play fighting with me, my housemate, and to be honest most of my adult family. I have no problems trusting them with children. When you say a play bite I am making a big assumption that it was a case of teeth around an arm or a leg which didn't draw blood (can't say break the skin because I regularly have little scrapes and scratches - dogs teeth are sharp for a reason ;)! ). In which case his reaction was COMPLETELY unacceptable. He knows the dog plays rough and was encouraging this behaviour but the second it got too much he has thrown teddy out of the cot. And to be honest I can't imagine any situation where it's acceptable to repeatedly kick a dog to the extent he obviously has if your poor dog is in pain after the attack. In your situation I would be getting the dog to the vet, giving them the bill and looking for a new yard as soon as possible - fits of temper have no place around any animal (p.s. big hugs to you - can't imagine how awful it must have been!)
 
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