After the Attack - Page 1

 I am wondering if there's anyone who has ever had a dog attack someone else in their defense?  Not an accidental dog bite, but a situation where your dog instinctively attacked someone or you ordered him to attack on purpose -- PPD or otherwise?  What were the circumstances?

If so, what was the aftermath?  Did you get sued?  Charges pressed?  Congratulations?  What are the chances that a dog might be PTS because of an incident of "self defense" like this?

I had two incidences happen that come to mind, many years appart.

One back in east germany. My mother was scolding our neighbors early teen son who had gotten in trouble together with my brother. Our then male must have picked up on the anger and as the teen reached out his hand to apologize he bit his arm. The dog must have perceived it as attack as he did know the neighbors son very well. He was a constant in our house. His parents werent very happy, however no report was filed. Different times.

The second one happened with my now almost 6year old about 3 years ago. He is very protective of our property and has a nervous temperament. We were coming from training and just had been pulled over by police 10min before. He was fired up and I was angry. I pulled in our drive way as UPS was pulling in right when I took him out of the car. The UPS girl walked up and he fired up in full protective mode. I told her not to come closer and let me put the dog in the house. I turn around and somehow the leash comes off. He run to her, she screamed, then he run around her and got her in the bumm. He broke her pants, no blood spilled but a decent bruise. I was shocked, thought that would be it for my dog. With his temperament he would not survive a shelter quarantine. Next days I was waiting on animal control to pick him up and for a letter from UPS for damages. Neither came. I was extremely lucky.

Same dog nosed the judge hard in the butt as we were walking down a wooden area to let the dog off leash as part of the BH temperament test. That was a year ago. This dog has never done bite work or such. The judge was very fair about it and expressed his appreciation of having a protective dog. He had to undergo more behavioral tests with me out of sight and did not show any aggression then. So basical I was a contributing factor. We passed the BH.

I had two dogs many years ago with no protection training at all that attacked people in my defense suddenly and very seriously. Attempted carjacking one time with one dog and a home invasion by two people on another occasion when both dogs were present.

I lost one dog that was trained for personal protection to a violent stalker. The end result was the dog killed, me severely injured and the attacking individual escaped but not unharmed.

A current dog warned me about a creepy guy while we were hiking. She didn't care for the guy and I didn't much either. We were going in opposite directions and the dog settled so after awhile I didn't worry much about him anymore. What I didn't know was the guy turned and followed us from a distance. He came back up on us later when we stopped for a break. Had the dog not been tied I have no doubt she would have attacked him. She alerted instantly on his arrival and made her intentions clear. As it turned out, the man left rather quickly when he saw I was armed, willing to shoot and could easily release the dog.

In every case, a report was made and I had no problems with animal control. Never even had a rabies cert checked. No lawsuits. No one was found later and charges were never filed against anyone except the stalker.

I don’t know what laws you have in your area concerning this topic. In Canada, to make a long story short the Criminal Code has a broad coverall definition for committing a crime in relation to use of force.

If for example somone breaks in to your house and your not home, and your dog bites them you can be sued, and they will most likely win.

Why – under Canadian Law the only thing a person has to fear from the law is reasonable & necessary force. A dog cannot make that judgement call.

Now- somone breaks in to your house and you are home, and your dog bites them – what is your explanation?

Your explanation is – I caught somone breaking in to my home, I placed them under a citizens arrest and told them not to resist or I would use any force necessary to hold them until the police arrived including having my dog bite them if necessary to maintain custody.

Sounds crazy however, how you articulate your answers after your dog has bitten a scum bag will determine the eventual outcome



Kim

@ Kelly

The dog was killed with the claw of a framing hammer. He did not go down easily. I have no doubt I would have been killed if not for the dog that day.

People running over to help the person being attacked by the dog helped him escape but that also likely saved my life once the dog was down. They did not know what was actually happening.

Sad only describes a part of how I still feel about it. I have nothing else to say.

Not my dog, but a terrific dog, nonetheless.

When I was growing up, my dad's  youngest brother had a Scotch collie names Sparky. This was a true collie, without the borzoi blood that Queen Victoria added to the breed. Her ancestors came to Ontario long before that happened. She was closer to the size of a border collie, and her head was shaped more like a BC's, too, without the long, thin muzzle. My cousins and I loved her, and spent many hours playing with her.

My aunt was alone at the farm when a salesman dropped by. He was very loud and aggressive in the way he spoke. Sparky soon positioned herself between the man and her mistress.

As the man began to wave his hands about as he talked, Sparky growled softly.

"Awww shaddap!" the man said, and went to whack Sparky with his cap.

The next thing he knew he had a set of teeth buried in his wrist.

My aunt eyeballed him, and said, "Now, you ASKED for that! Don't complain!"  She then took him into the house to clean and bandage the bite, and that was the end of it.

Different times But I'd give a great deal of money to have that dog, or one of her descendants still around!

35 years ago, my dad had a German Shorthair Pointer, Barney, when I was a teenager, one of my chores was to walk him every day. One day when I was walking him, a man in a van stopped to ask for directions........stupid me! Long story short, he tried to grab me and Barney went crazy! He attacked the man and bit his arms, forearms and face. The man finally escaped and sped off.

I ran the whole way in a panic, tears flowing down my cheeks, Barney on guard the whole way. Dad's face was ghoast white when he first saw me. He made me sit and explaine what happened, I was scolded for my stupidity. ..Barney got a tearfull hug and an egg in his feed for the rest of his life. This was the first time e can remember my dad crying.

I have a story. About 10 years ago, I leased a dog GSD for home my city house, because there was a period intown of home invasions. I knew the dog and owner very well. Anyhows, new neighbors moved in next door and they had a 3 year old girl. Now, this GSD was a trained police dog who was prolly the most aggressive dog I've ever met, dog and human wise. He was cool with me, but I'd never let him near my son growing up. Anyhows, the neighbors had a bigtime fight, wife got beat bad and unconcious. Little girl musta ran out the back door scared while her dad beat the mom .. and climbed over the 6 foot privacy fence. The city house has a dog door into and out of the house. This GSD left the little girl alone getting into the yard and house and she stayed there overnight till the next evening !!!! The dad never thought the girl would come into the dogs yard. The dog was known for his aggression. That's the reason I leased him, to be honest. Anyhows, the dad couldn't find the girl and called the police. When the cops got there the found the wife beaten and sent all the officers out looking for this 3 year old. It was a crazy frantic mess. I read about it in the morning paper and went there the next night and found the girl steeping all bundled up in a tent she made with all my towels, blankets and cushings. I couldn't believe it, when I walked into the house from the back door, I had tears in my eyes. To this day, I don't know wether those tears were for that amazing dog and how he treated that little girl, or for simply finding the missing girl safe.