Complacent

Neil

Hi all.

Today i had a wake up call - Went to the dog beach early this morning with Nev, my 10 month old male EBT and his new toy.

We go there almost every day. I throw his ball into the water, he goes for a swim and brings it back but doesn't want to hand it over.

We usually play a game of tug and wrestling  for the toy before he gives it up. He is used to my hands and fingers being near to or in his mouth.

Generally, his bite inhibition is very good, but this morning with his new toy....that was most definitely not the case.

 The fingers on my left hand were between his molars and he bit down hard and wasn't letting go.

I shouted DROP!!!!! at the top of my voice.....everyone stopped and looked...2 seconds later...CRUNCH!

I had to smack the side of his face and thankfully he let my hand go.

 I don't think that the other folk around me realised what was going on. All they saw, was me slapping my dog in the face......

.....until i got my hand free.....covered in blood.

Nasty cut and a crushed index finger.

 I know that it was entirely my fault and i feel bad about hitting the dog but if i hadn't slapped him, i'm certain that my finger would have been off.

I guess my post is directed to all new bully owners....keep your hands away from your best friends mouth.

No matter how well you may think that you know him/her....accidents happen... and it hurts. 

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Neil

P.S.

I did apologise to Nev and he called me an idiot but he forgave me after i gave him a nice big knuckle bone...(no pun intended.)

swbaggies

happened to me when Arrow was a touch smaller, he looked sheepish and wasnt as bad as what you described but he got excited and snapped for his toy, missed the toy and caught my hand

philsergeant

One of the bigger parts of a growing relationship and understanding... this is why they need learn as early as possible that you own them body and soul.... lovingly.  Hope it wasn't your nose picking finger
B-)

Neil

Haha, nice one Phil.

But now that you mention it. I don't think i'll be doing much picking of anything with that finger for a while.

It's all taped up and throbbing like hell.

Djammy

Hello @Neil
first of all I hope that you will be better really soon! And most of all that no "significant reminders" will remain.

Secondly I have to say it is sad that you had to experience it in such a drastic way, but this is indeed what EVERY dog owner SHOULD ALWAYS be aware of at least in one corner of his mind - regarding themselves, other people and kids and other animals: When the chips are down, sometimes instinct is ALL that rules a dog!

And believe me this is a lot easier said than done.

Even if we ARE aware of that, it will still not be possible to avoid crazy situations altogether. But with forward-looking and awareness, our chances of limiting damages are at least growing.

Our furry friends DO have instincts they will never lose. And no matter how much we think that we have found one level we can communicate on and some kind of mutual understanding ... there will always remain room for misinterpretation, misunderstandings on both sides or instincts kicking in.

This is why - now that my dog is an adult - I have almost completely stopped to visit dog parks. At least when I can expect a lot of dogs to be there. It's actually less about the dogs, but more the owners, who are often too careless for my personal taste about the doings of their dogs and prefer chatting instead. They have dropped their guard and disaster is waiting to happen.

Back to your case, I honestly do not think that your dog really intended to hurt you or would have chosen your injury over giving up the ball - on purpose.
Your dog is young and full of steam, and of course that adds to that moment of excitement, raised hormone levels and instincts ruling.
I am pretty convinced, that if you have trained the bite inhibition with him during the last months, in general he meanwhile DOES have an idea of the fragility of our skin and bones and he does not intend to hurt you.

As it seems this was one of those unfortunate moments when instincts make a dog literally "blind and deaf" - so he could not hear you screaming and not feel that he was biting bone instead of ball.

This is exactly why bringing your own toys to dog parks is often forbidden, because all too often they spark possessive behavior and fights among dogs.

In my opinion your slap was well warranted and probably the best way to give him a wake-up call - so he could see, hear and feel again - without really harming him and make him let go of you. After all, that was probably your own instinct kicking in to protect yourself. Don't beat yourself up about it.

This situation should also have shown you that a little MORE training with giving away toys ... not wrestling about them, but actually GIVING them to you by choice and in a calm fashion ... would not hurt (no pun intended either )
And especially with new toys my advice is ... be careful around other dogs. Once he has matured more, he will probably also settle a little in such situations. But for now your dog has shown that he tends to "go over the top" with a new toy ... which is perfectly normal ... but this lack of impulse control on his side could also lead to very unpleasant incidents between him and other dogs.

Neil

Thank you Djammy,

As always, your input is invaluable.

Yesterday, my wife and i went back to basics with his drop and leave command.

This morning we took Nev to the beach.

Lots of distractions going on, lots of dogs,  but mission accomplished.

No wrestling, no damaged fingers and a perfect drop every time.

The accident yesterday morning was due to the different compound in his new toy and me getting him wound up and being complacent with a fully charged BT puppy.....OUCH!

He's a wonderful happy dog. Not possessive with his toys when other dogs steal them and doesn't exhibit any guarding behaviours at all.

He loves to run with the pack but we are ever watchful.

..Thanks again.   

AmyJo

When playing tug of war with Miss Ella, no matter if it was a foot long rope or 4 foot rope toy she would re-grip and ALWAYS went for the hand area! I know she wasn't trying to bite but cripeies! They do have a grip and she would I assume think she had the rope when in actuality it was my hand or finger!! Its been awhile since we have played that, we had to toss her ropes because she was unstringing them and didn't want her eating it.

kstorck

@AmyJo, my EBT Sassafras does this with her rope too. She always goes for the spot that my hand is holding! We are teaching her to be more gentle in lots of areas and this is one of them. We have had her about 1 1/2 months so far and she has made amazing progress!  

AmyJo

That's great! They do seem to learn very quickly. I just haven't bought her a new rope yet. .We will certainly work on it though when we do