Really upset - what do I do now?

if D didn't know why H had flipped, I would say keep the dog away from the yard from now on.

This is going to go round in circles...
 
My pup doesn't mark my skin but he is still mouthing/teething and it hurts like hell and it does get my temper up and I have to be careful not to take it out on him, just distract or redirect him or scruff him if he is being an arse about it.
My older dog hit me up the face one day and I clobbered him one out of reflex because it hurt so much - again, it didn't mark me, I was just in pain and angry (and he didn't do it again).
You can't gauge the level of pain someone else may or may not feel.

My young dog **will** be taught to bite under certain circumstances/stimulus because of the sport/discipline we will hopefully be competing in, as Alec mentions, and it takes very careful training and years of practice to get it right.
Even 'soft' mouthing needs to be taught very carefully and with strict parameters (I recommend Jean Donaldson's books for this).

Also, kicking or hitting a biting dog will wind it up further, if it has a certain type of temperament.
 
I have followed those parameters CC, my dog knows what is acceptable and what isn't.

Either way I have my responses. I still don't think my dog was in the wrong however from now on I will be the only person allowed to instigate play. If anyone else wants to play with him they can throw a ball!
 
Last edited:
Shilasdair said:
And such dogs should be PTS in my opinion.
But then I can't see the point of keeping animals with bad temperaments.
S :D
Click to expand...

They're animals, just because an animal defends itself from a perceived threat, doesn't mean it has a bad temperament. I am sure your cat would get it's claws out if I hit it a dig.
 
Sanolly said:
I have followed those parameters CC, my dog knows what is acceptable and what isn't.

Either way I have my responses. I still don't think my dog was in the wrong however from now on I will be the only person allowed to instigate play. If anyone else wants to play with him they can throw a ball!
Click to expand...

No, your dog knows what is acceptable to YOU.
But very wise to keep him away from people.
S :D
 
Whilst I can understand your distress that your dog got kicked, I have to agree with the majority of posters.
I play rough with my dogs, but NONE of them have ever been allowed to mouth, its simply not acceptable for a "pet" dog. I deter them as puppies from licking too.
Your poor dog seems to be have born the brunt of it in boths ways...yours for allowing him to play bite, and the YO for reacting with extreme violence.
 
CaveCanem said:
They're animals, just because an animal defends itself from a perceived threat, doesn't mean it has a bad temperament. I am sure your cat would get it's claws out if I hit it a dig.
Click to expand...

I don't understand what the last bit means?
'hit it a dig'?
My cat is an ex feral/stray, but he gets disciplined if he steps out of line with teeth or claws (he hasn't yet). Devil help him if he 'came back' at me while I beat him (with an empty plastic bag - he hates the noise :p).
S :D
 
The yard H's home is where you pay to have your horse at livery its not your dog's playground/ exercise area. Leave your dog at home .

Maybe H was just having an off day, maybe he has always disliked your dog , who knows , but what happened was your fault for all the reasons given above.

I'm sure it was horrid for you seeing your dog kicked like that but you brought him into the situation and you have let him down with your encouraging the sort of play 98% of people think unacceptable and by not keeping him safe.

Its a bit like having to watch your children learn things the hard way , not nice but sometimes necessary.

Leave your dog at home or move yards but the next one might have even stricter rules on dogs especially dogs that have different boundaries.
 
Sanolly said:
Can people please read my posts?!

I use the term bite 'loosely' you can barely feel my dogs teeth. He does not bite and hang on.
H has instigated play on numerous occasions, has never had a problem before and knows exactly how my dog plays.
He plays rougher with his own (an possibly slightly larger) dog.
Play ALWAYS has to be instigated, the dog never instigates play himself, it is ALWAYS on the human's terms.
Click to expand...

The mans hand/arm/leg/head/arse was in the dogs mouth. That is a bite. That is scary. That is what gets dogs shot. Dog would be pts if it did it to me.
I have seen what a dog can do when the owner allows it to play rough and mouthe...my mum AND dad have both had multiple stitches from a 'playing' dog.

The dog that did this, was playing:

100_0415.jpg
 
Shilasdair said:
And such dogs should be PTS in my opinion.
But then I can't see the point of keeping animals with bad temperaments.
S :D
Click to expand...

So are you saying that if you reprimanded a dog with such force to cause pain/injury to it and said animal responded in a negative way, you would have it destroyed?

or (oooops) are you just joshing?
 
What I'm not getting here, is I know you have said they have played before, but do you know that the dog has bitten chomped mouthed whatever you like to call it on the guy before? perhaps he has, perhaps he hasn't, either way, if he being the guy has never erupted like that before, and seconds before was happily playing with your dog, the dog must have caught him or something right? Unless he really is a fruitcake, which you say he is not.

Surely the sensible thing to do would be to ask him if the dog hurt him or not, or what actually happened? He can only say "yes it bloody did hurt" or "no I kicked it because I felt like it"......

I'm not condoning kicking the dog 4 times or whatever, but I have a terrible temper if it get hurt caught off guard, my horse accidentally kicked me in the knee a few weeks back and I went ballistic shouting at her. She wasn't kicking out at me, but at another horse, which when tied up next to each other is the right way to be going anyway! So you see where people are coming from?

I also know about mouthing play, my dog is terrible for it, he's a rescue and has always done it, but I always warn people if they go to play with him that he wil mouth your arm, he's never bitten anyone, but I still make sure they know then they can decide for themselves if they want to engage in his playing, some people don't care, some do.

Hope your doggy is ok :) x
 
Years ago, I had a dog who would play rough with me. However, she knew that she was never, ever, ever to do so with anyone else, whether they tried to instigate it or not. It's just not a good idea to have a dog that is willing to behave that way with just anybody.

Whether H instigated in the past is just not relevant. Perhaps in the past, biting did not come into it. Perhaps this time, the biting actually did hurt (as another poster pointed out, you cannot judge another's pain and just because there's no mark doesn't mean there's no pain).

Repeatedly kicking is overkill for sure, but two wrongs don't make a right and your dog should not be biting - play or otherwise - other people. Instigated or not. I'm not sure why you cannot see this - it is terrible behavior and dangerous for your dog. Not everyone is going to enjoy or understand it and your dog could very well end up PTS because you don't set limits.

Yes, I read your posts. "Limits" don't mean only playing rough if someone instigates. It means not playing rough with others. That's not hard to train.

Apologize to H. Leave your dog at home. Don't worry about your horses unless you've taught them some silly thing like rearing and striking.
 
I was commenting on your reply to CCs point regarding kicking or hitting certain dogs and how it could wind them up further.
:D
 
Last edited:
I hope your dog is ok and hasn't suffered too much with being kicked... In my opinion, rightly or wrongly I don't think that dogs should be encouraged to 'Rough Play' or to 'Play fight' at all as what may be acceptable to you, wont be acceptable to another person especially when you have taken your dog to the stables... You know your dog inside out and can 'read' it, others may not notice that change in its behaviour as quickly and the consequence can and often does result in todays incident...

Dogs don't think like us and a far more excitable at times and a situation of 'Play fighting' can quickly turn into something else without warning...

But I don't think that kicking the dog will help a situation like that... as previously mentioned this can make a dog become aggressive and really turn on you...
 
FFS!!!!

1. you should of said 'he plays ruff' weather 'H' knows this or not instead of assuming< being the mother of all ******ups.
2. if it upset you that much why didnt you ask 'why did you do that?' instead of cowering away going to the vets and making the situation worse with a random{to H} vets bill?
3. dont let your dog do this, how do you know how hard your dog bit H? YOU DIDNT ASK OR CONFRONT.
4. TAKE RESPONSIBILY!
5. use this as a learning curve both animal and human are very inpredictable!
6. go and talk see what happend to H and apologise if your dog hurt him and tell H you will in future leave your dog at home.
7. next time SAY SOMETHING! its your bloody dog your responsibilty dont be scared of speaking up because you are scared of moving yards again.
8. man up these things happen its how you deal with them that counts.
 
Well I haven't read all of the replies, but:

Whether people consider it acceptable for a dog to play bite, whilst I would not mind somebody REASONABLY reprimanding my animals for doing so, in absolutely no situation would I accept somebody kicking them- that's just vicious. A smack would have sufficed.

OP I would take my dog to the yard, but if you know H is there then leave him in the car- problem avoided
 
One of my pups still mouths and gets verbally disciplined and moved away, but if someone kicked him more than once, I'd be extremely upset. I wouldn't put him in that situation and he only does it when he's play fighting with his brother. Your dog should not be allowed to get to the point of biting if you know he gets wound up: why did you not stop the rough play before it went too far?

I confess I would have gone ballistic with the bloke for trying to wind up the dog, knowing what he's like and I'd have stopped it double quick.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top