kidzndogznme
A closed mouth gathers no foot
- Joined
- Oct 24, 2005
- Messages
- 482
- Reaction score
- 4
I haven't had as dramatic an experience as Cathie but I have, too, been bitten by my dog. We have a standard poodle who had a lousy life until we adopted him. We got him a little before he turned 2. He had been kept in a crate most of his life except for an hour of exercise a day and when he was used for stud. After he made puppies that were not of the required color (he is silver), the breeder decided to get rid of him. When we went to meet him, I literally fell in love with him at first sight. He was so friendly and immediately came over to me and nuzzled my hand and cuddled. It felt like he was begging to be rescued. I picked him up the next morning and drove directly to the groomer. He was infested with fleas. Took him home and he was perfect. No marking, gentle with my kids, cuddly. Never met a dog like him. Took him to the vet and we began to get some history on my boy. We noticed that he has a lot of extra skin around his neck, on his back and butt. The vet said that is from crappy food and no exercise. Then when the breeder wanted to ditch the dog, they had him lose weight quickly. My dog still has this extra skin and we have had him for about 6 years now. I have no doubt that he would give his life for me. My dogs all sleep in my bed (I know it isnt a great idea but they have never shown signs of challenging my position as pack leader) and at the time, I had a crate style bed which has a substantial space (a lip) between where the mattress plank is and where the bed base begins. Anyway, my boy was laying beside my bed one night around 2 AM when I heard him thrashing around violently. My husband jumped up and turned on the light. Somehow the dog had rolled onto his back and gotten one of his feet stuck into that space of the bed. While rolling around, he had turned his foot sideways and couldn't get it out. He was beside himself and trying to chew off his own foot. My husband is a brute and he managed to subdue the dog long enough to assess the situation. We needed to take the bed apart with a screwdriver to get the foot out. I had to hold onto the dog so he wouldn't injure himself while DH ran for tools. Like a dope, I reached out and grabbed his collar to hold him still. I was a little too close to his mouth and he turned and bit my thumb to the bone. He wasn't trying to hurt me or he would have been biting repeatedly. He just bit and held and he was scared to death at being stuck. I just called for my husband to hurry. I pushed deeper into my dog's mouth to make him gag and release my hand instead of pulling away which makes dogs bite harder. We managed to get him out and then we had to throw a sheet over him to calm him down. He was running in circles like a mad-dog. He finally calmed down in my lap. Next time in a situation where one of my dogs is scared like that, I will know better. I got a preventive tetanus shot and healed up OK. He is still the best dog I have ever had. My injury was my own dumb fault.