Dog Bite and Dog Attack Photos

I dont know what triggered the dog fight. My two male shepherds had finished eating and were lying down. One of them got up and went and started drinking water. The other followed and thats when the growling started. By the time I got to them, it was a full blown fight. I separated them by just getting in and ripping them apart. I put them both down and held them. After a brief period, I released them. The one shot back at the other and thats when I instinctively stuck my hand in and thats when the bite happened.

I'm from the UK and have found your website through searching for dog fights, so I thought I would tell you my story. I have a 4 year old male Staffordshire bull terrier who is very well sociailised. He loves people and he loves other dogs male or female. He has been attacked more times than I can remember and he just cowers behind me. He's never ever shown any aggression to other dogs other than the odd warning growl if they do try to go for him and that's usually only if he's on a lead and if he feels really threatened. He plays at dog parks with male and female dogs off lead he's wonderful.

So this perticualar day, my best friend was at a funeral and needed someone to look after his also male Staffordshire bull terrier. He's a lovely natured dog as well and gets along with my boy so I agreed to have him for the day. I took them out for walks and they were great. I had them in my house for over 4 hours when I let them outside. My friend's dog was been a bit daft about picking stuff up in the garden and running round with it. I misjudged the situation and all of a sudden, my boy attacked and he meant it. I couldn't get them apart the other dog didnt seem to be fighting back but my lad had hold of the side of his face just under the eye. I thought he was going to kill him. There was alot of noise. It was awful. I dunno maybe thats a bit of an exagerration? But what I thought I saw was a dog in proper killing mode. I couldn't stop him. My mild mannered dog had suddenly turned into a killing machine. I stupidly tried to prize his jaws apart. I'm a women of not very big build and I didnt have the strength to do it and his jaw shut and clamped on my finger. It dislocated it at the pip joint. It fractured the bone and severed the tendons. I didnt realise it had happened at first until I saw it. My finger never got stuck in his mouth with both the dogs still fighting. My neighbour came out to see what all the noise was. He jumped over the wall, twisted his collar, and eventually my boy let go. But then he grabbed the other dog's paw. Again my neighbour twisted the collar and somehow got him to let go. Never once did either dog go for me or my neighbour.

It was 4 weeks ago now and I would like other people to be able to read my story. I have attached a pic of my finger although it's not the best but it gives you an idea. I cannot move it and have been told it could be two years before I get right. There is a possibility I may never get right. I blame myself as I never should have brought another dog into my dog's territory.

If you are still looking for dog bite pictures, I have one to share that I sustained while trying to break up my two dogs. An Australian Shepherd/Lab mix and an Australian Cattledog. Both were rescues both 2 1/2 years old, and lived together fine for 6 months until they recently started fighting. Joey was the resident dog, we'd had him since 6 months old, and the Jackson the Cattledog we rescued at 18 months. He was anxious, had a slew of health issues that we cleared up, and when he felt comfortable enough he started attacking Joey out of jealousy. The slightest things set him off. Me and my boyfriend had broken up 3 or 4 fights already, using the back legs effort quite effectively, but while we were trying to train them to get along we were keeping them crated separately unless we were both home.

I accidentally did not lock the Shepherd/Labs cage when I let the Cattledog out to go outside when I was home alone on Jan 7th. Joey, the Shepherd must have been feeling relaxed, because he started to exit his cage as well. Then Jackson the Cattledog noticed and before I could divert attention, I was in the middle of a fight, They are both 50-60 lbs, and I fear so greatly that they will seriously harm each other, they are fighting to the death. I was thinking what to do when I noticed a break in the fight, tried to tell the Cattledog to go to bed, and grabbed Joey by the scruff, but Joey unexpectedly turned and bit my hand. I screamed once and he let go but damage was done. I was wearing fabric gloves, not sure if it helped or not, it certainly must have looked like fur to Joey.

I ran out of my house in my sock feet (it was -20 that day) to the neighbours, dogs still fighting, and when I arrived at the hospital my glove was soaked with blood and I was so nervous to have them cut it off! I had a badly broken ring finger, just snapped right in half, which required surgery to place a pin, and 10 stitches in my middle finger. It was a terrible experience, and the whole time in the hospital I was just crying for fear of my dogs condition. They are both the sweetest boys, but they refused to live together peacefully. We really wanted it to work out, but dealing with my injury and the uncertainty of their future, we realized it was best to separate them and we found Jackson a fantastic new home, where he doesn't feel threatened by a housemate. I miss him dearly, and feel like a failure, but we were over our heads, the Cattledog was so overbearing and it was hard to deal with two dogs who needed constant supervision to even be in the same room together.

We have definitely learned a lot through this experience, about dogs and about ourselves. Thanks for your advice.

My 6 year old son was bit by the babysitter's dog yesterday, i don't know what led to the bite and I don't know how or if it was provoked. Here are the photos. his nose injury is actually a laceration about 1/2 inch deep. He also had a puncture wound on his neck and in between his fingers. His cheek they were unable to repair, so a chunk of his cheek is missing and will have to heal from the inside out.

I work for an animal control agency. I am putting together a manuel for new employees and came across your web site about dog bites. I have enclosed a photo of one of the worst ones I have seen while here. Of course I can't give all of the details, but this is the upper left arm of a boy about 12 years old. He was attacked by a dog that the family had recently taken in - a shepherd-pit mix. The mother of the boy told us the story - family was camping when the dog went after something in the dark. The boy tried to pull the dog back to the campfire when it turned on him. The boy has very little use of the arm left.

Hopefully this picture can help to show people what can happen when a dog is in fight drive.

I have been strolling around your web site today and am amazed at the stupidity of most dog owners! My daughter (7) was attacked by our neighbors German Sheppard a month ago (she did ask permission and the owner was standing right there) and had to have reconstructive surgery on her face. Anyone who thinks that dogs shouldn't be trained in a manner that is 'not warm, .' are off their rockers! Thank you for attempting to keep our world safe with training and information on your web site. No child should have to experience what Natalie and countless others have due to the stupidity of clueless owners.

I saw the fight happening, and went to grab the attacking dog around the neck like an idiot. Instead, I just put the elbow section of my arm into the dog's mouth. I got two punctures (with a lot of bruising around them), and few cuts from her fangs. The marks down toward my wrist are scratches.

I stumbled upon your web site. Today as I am at my wits end with my dogs. I am sooo stressed and just want to cry. We have had 6 major dog fights in the past 4 years. These fights occur amongst my dogs.

It is all our fault we are inconstant. Usually the fight is between the 2 girls we are not sure why. Once they bumped into each other and fought and the last time I was by myself I threw the ball for the Jack it went by the chow mix and the Jack jumped on the Pointer mix (she is the submissive one)(who was also running after it) and she rolled over -- next thing I know the girls are locked up fighting and the Jack is biting the Chows back legs (which he shredded). I have included the pics I received from breaking up this fight and the chows injuries. I tried to pull from their scruffs and The chow bit my pinky - I could see her eyes RED RED RED. They go into killer death mode. One of me cannot break up 3 of them. I don't want to pull the Chows back legs cause she is arthritic and it hurts her when I wipe her paws. I think she would bite me too. And when I have gotten them apart the Pointer mix has come back at the chow.

The previous fight that occurred a year and a half before. Was when we moved into a new house. We were sleeping and I woke up at 2 am with the girls fighting on top of me. Some how I got them apart and when I went to get up out of bed the Chow was on the floor next to me I believe she thought I was the pointer and she clamped onto my arm and shook. Her canines left deep puncture wounds in my arm and I had to go to the hospital and lost 2 weeks of work with the horses. I will attach pics of the scars.

The girls themselves have been to the emergency room several times with puncture wounds. My heart cannot take another fight. The chow is getting older and was recently diagnosed with Stage 2 mast cell tumors - cancer. I am afraid the Jack will be more aggressive towards her. He was beaten up by a Boxer at the dog park that we believe started this aggressive dog behavior.

Recently the Jack has been more aggressive. Standing on the bed growling at the pointer not to let her in the room. Starring her down in the den. When he tries to get the possum under the shed he'll attack one of the girls instead. When we walk and there is a dog behind a fence the Jack will attack the Chow. I am afraid the Chow will snap and eat him.

I am not relaxed around them and I know that is not good. I am going to buy your DVD on aggressive dogs.

Any thing else you can suggest. We are interviewing dog trainers, but I am not sure that is the answer. I believe we know our basics but need to use them.

Sorry the puncture scars aren't to clear. You can see it is a line into the puncture. Not the middle dot that was chicken pocks. So that was my forearm then on the other side was the other puncture only one cause she is missing a canine as a result of another fight.

On Tuesday of this week, my male and female English Pointer had just finished breeding and I opened the kennel to take the female out since she is able to jump the fence. My male Jack Russell ran into the kennel to play and my male pointer attacked him, going for the throat. I tried to separate them, I even put my fingers into the pointer's mouth to open it up. I got my Jack Russell 3 times, but I was being bitten and my Jack Russell wouldn't back down. My poor little Jack Russell was killed by the Pointer. I didn't photograph the bites on my fingers because the swelling has gone down and they don't look very bad anymore. Here are the bites that were on my legs and hip.

I really wish we had someone dedicated TO DOGS, their training, and educating others like ourselves, as you are, here in Australia (perhaps there are - I just don't know them).

I did want to tell you of our experience, as a warning to others.

Initially, we were interested in having Malamutes. We would have bought two as puppies - a male from a local litter and a female from some distance away. Having now read a great deal of what is on your web site, I am glad we didn't.

But there's more to the story.

A local 'breeder' (whatever that term really infers I now wonder ??? - obviously not knowledge of dogs / pack dominance / training etc. etc. etc.) invited us to come and see his current litter.

He allowed ALL ten of our children (aged between 8 and 26), my husband and I to 'socialize'/ 'handle' his puppies, from 6 weeks of age. At times the bitch was present; at times not. He always kept her in his charge if she was present. We helped him feed the puppies at times.

This we did for a few days each week for two weeks.

This breeder also had other dogs. One dominant male malamute (he often referred to this dog as his 'alpha' and kennel mascot); a couple of female malamutes - mother (this same mother was mother to the 'alpha' dog), and a sister to the female that had had the puppies; and several Golden retrievers.

I really wish we had had all your information earlier because an absolutely awful incidence arose.

One rather hot afternoon, we went to visit the puppies (at seven weeks). It was to be our last visit before bringing our puppy home. Upon invitation, we went through the owner's garage into his back yard where the puppies were with the mother freely wondering around the yard. The large male was tethered to a long lead that was attached to a backyard pergola. The 'breeder' told us that he (the male dog) was grumpy that day because of the heat, so he had put him on the long lead, so he could get under the shade of some distant fruit trees. (This 'alpha&r'ad previously snarled at a number of our children on other of our visits.)

The owner went to see off some other visitors leaving us to happily 'socialize' with the puppies.

One puppy had gotten itself under the back veranda and the owner had asked the children to see if they could maybe coax it out as he had been unsuccessful in being able to get it out.

A number of our youngest children were at the veranda already, when our 11 year old son walked over to see how their efforts were going.

Our son was unaware the male 'alpha' malamute had 'literally' crept up behind him, crouched. Two of the older boys had seen it though, but were unaware of its intentions.

With a growl, the male malamute lunged forward. Our son, having heard the growl swiftly turned to see the dog and copped the full force of the dogs bite to the right side of his face and left side of his neck, mouth fully open. The dog gave him a hard shake, then, THANKFULLY, let go, and retreated, having missed his initial aim of the throat.

Horrified children began screaming.

Our son, dazed by the attack, and not really aware of his injures, ran to me.

Well, I went weak at the knees at the sight. First I saw his chin torn open; then I realized this neck was open as well. Blood began to run.

I called to our eldest children to call for an ambulance, as the owner came following out of his shed to see what had happened (he never saw the dog bite because he was getting food out from the freezer for the malamutes). My husband and I ushered our son into the garage, while giving instructions to the other children.

The injuries (see photos attached) were severe and almost through to the main artery of his neck. His chin was torn open through to the inside of his mouth, and as we were to find out later, had severed muscle off the bone.

A rapid trip to the hospital ensued with me holding his face and chin together.

Surgery. Multiple suturing.

Days in hospital.

The unexpected swelling was shocking to us all.

Visits to specialists all followed.

The worst of the story:

This owner KNEW his dog was registered and declared as a DANGEROUS DOG here with the shire council.

There are very specific laws in Australia to be adhered to, to be allowed to keep such a dog/s.

In fact, two of his dogs fell into this category as dangerous dogs.

Together, the 'mother' and 'alpha' had previously killed a pet sheep and gotten themselves the title - DANGEROUS DOG.

The 'breeder' had broken ALL of these laws - no fully enclosed pen (top, bottom, and sides), no 'Dangero'rdquo; signs on all entrances to his property, no muzzle when out of a pen, not allowed in the presence of children under 17 years (he let all our children run around the yard with this dog on a lead - with no muzzle), failed to notify council he had moved house/property with his dog/s, no red and yellow striped collar on his dog to identify it as Dangerous, etc. We had no idea it (and the 'mother&' was a dangerous dog.

THIS SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN ALLOWED TO HAPPEN.

A law suit followed, taken up by the shire council, who 'dealt&r'ith the dog (after the owner was told of the implications had surrendered the dog), for which the offender/law breaker was fined a mere $500.00.

SHAME! SHAME! SHAME! - Such an irresponsible 'breeder' to intentionally allow this to happen (perhaps it could have been his own baby boy, or have led to death).

Ed, perhaps you would have been a good advocate in our Australian law courts in such situations.

I am happy to say that my son's injuries healed well, without infection. Our son had loss of sensation to a section of his chin area for some time, most of which has now returned. His smile remains a little crocked but not enough for further corrective surgery, just now.

Time having past, our son has lost his initial fear of dogs, though any dog rushing at him still leads to his retreat behind us. This happens all to often.

Reader:
DO NOT LET YOURSELF EVER, EVER GET INTO THIS TYPE OF SITUATION.
SOMEONE'S LIFE WILL BE AT RISK!
BE A RESPONSIBLE DOG OWNER and HANDLER!
FOLLOW SOUND TRAINING INSTRUCTION!

If only we had had Ed's knowledge of dogs before this had happened, it would have been prevented.

Feel free to share our DISASTEROUS experience with others that it may never happen to anyone else.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR FREE ADVICE AND HELPFUL INFORMATION ON YOUR WEB SITE.

With your help we will get it right with our two GSD.

First, thanks again for all you have done and continue to do for dog lovers and trainers throughout the world. I have a concern and wanted to post it directly to you rather than through the discussion board and am looking for your advice. Recently I joined a club to train my dog as a PPD. The club director and I have recently come to an agreement. He has a 5 year old male Malinois that is his PSA competition dog and needs a Helper to assist in the training. Since I have expressed an interest in becoming a Helper (I have bought an studied your 2 DVDs Training the New Helper and Advanced Trial Helper Training), the trainer offered to work with training my young dog (10 months old) and in return I will become a Helper for him to train his dog.

The first day I showed up, I thought I would be putting on a sleeve (as I had never taken a bite and had no training). However, he had me get into a full body bite suit, which showed some signs of wear on the upper left arm. Regardless, we went through the training session.

However, while in the bite suit, when the dog bit (it is trained to bite the upper left arm pit area when the Helper is facing him and bite his leg when running away. The leg bites pinched a bit but were not particularly bothersome, however, the arm bites were altogether different. I could feel the bite much more, it was more than a strong pinch, in fact when I took the suit off I could se that the dog actually broke my skin. The trainer wanted to work together for an hour daily, however, as you can see in the photo, there is no way I can continue to takes bites on that area of my arm.

So my questions to you are:

1. Does this look like a normal effect after a bite session on a bite suit?
2. How do I continue to train with him and his dog until the arm heals?
3. Is there a way to tell if the suit is not properly fitted and if it is not, is this one of the side effects of an ill fitting suit?

I apologize for the long email, however, I wanted to have your personal opinion and not post to your discussion board as the trainer most likely reads it and I did not want to damage our relationship without first understanding if it was something I was doing wrong or something I could prevent or if it is simply the nature of the business and I need to suck it up.

Thanks for taking the time.

I just finished reading your well written article on breaking up a dog fight. Nearly two years ago I had two female mastiffs go after each other in my kitchen. I made the horrible mistake of grabbing their collars in an effort to break up the fight. Attached you will find the pictures of my arm. In total I needed 50 sutures to close the wounds. As you can see, the wound at my wrist came very close to hitting the ulnar and radial arteries. The doctors were not able to leave either of the wounds completely open because they were gaping. I did end up with cellulitis and a subsequent staph infection. I spent a very long time on antibiotics trying to get the infection under control.

It is with relief that I tell you that I have not had to experience another dog fight since that time. I still raise, show and breed mastiffs. I currently have seven and they all live in peace. I always keep a watchful eye on body language and interactions between the dogs, watching for red flags. The fight experience I had is something I will never forget, but it taught me several very valuable lessons.

I think you've given some wonderful advice in your article. I will share the information with my network of mastiff folks. Thanks for the helpful ideas.

I saw on another area of the site that you requested pictures of dog bites incurred in the process of breaking up a dog fight. Attached you will find some pictures of my leg after being bitten by my now neutered JRT. He and my 27 mo. Standard Poodle have done this twice. Both times the JRT started it but the Poodle was intent on finishing it. These bite marks were deep puncture wounds and you can clearly see the jaw line of the JRT. The wound is about 6 weeks old. The first time the JRT was almost killed but even when I had them separated he came back for more on death's doorstep. I had him neutered and this time I knew better. I forgot that the Poodle was in the other room out of his crate and let the JRT out. Immediately he made a beeline to the Poodle. I couldn't watch that again so I got in the middle of them and pulled them apart. As I was doing that the JRT who is only about 10"stood up and nailed my thigh.

There are reminders on the crates so that this never happens again. Interesting that he and my one female Poodle have a ball playing and don't fight, just argue occasionally. I have another female Poodle as well but she has never been out with any of them because I can't afford to take a chance with her while showing in conformation. My Poodle boy somehow managed to loose a front incisor in this last go around and he now has scarring on his muzzle so I guess that his show career is over.

On another note, I was reading your section on wolf hybrids and found it fascinating and it made perfect sense to me. I live in TN, but, am not originally from here. Unfortunately I see this maddening attitude everyday. Some days I don't think that I can handle a minute more of it. My next door neighbor thinks that my Poodles are silly and that I ought to let the JRT go out and boar hunt. He loves the aggression. Well there is going to be a new sheriff in town. I plan on ordering several of your DVDs if I am going to have a house full.

BTW, my show girl is as fierce and stubborn as they come. She is barely a year and takes a firm hand like one might use with a GSD. This is unusual for a Poodle, but, it is in her lines. Her daddy was the number 1 Poodle in the country for a few years, but, was know to be intelligent, stubborn and bordering on dog aggressive. I knew this when I got her and thought that I was prepared, but, I think that I need to get a little more prepared. I have video of her squaring off with a professional handler that is one of the best in the middle of a specialty ring. Once she gets that she is not going to win the battle she becomes compliant, but, it is an ever vigilant task. The other night she went to the crate of the other female and growled because I was kneeling down paying attention to her. When that didn't work she ran up behind me and locked down on the back of my arm. I snatched her up and threw her in her crate. I was warned that she would need to be reminded that there is only one boss in the house and it's not her!

Thanks for all the great info. I wish that you were training trainers. I would love to learn from you.

I got this when I broke up a fight between my mastiff and my boxer. No fun.

Your site said you were always looking for pictures of bites, so I'm sending my pic and the history of the bite so your readers don't make the same mistakes we did - things snowball fast. Also, we need your help.

We have two Bloodhounds adopted from a rescue. Boomer is a 110 lb. neutered male who appeared to have a sweet, though dominant, temperament - we thought he was just a big goofball and got lazy with the hound. My husband had a heart attack and I got incredibly ill with a two-week-long flu during his recovery. We were literally sick and tired and allowed him on the couch during this time. When my husband was a bachelor, he let his dog sleep in the bed - luckily, his former hound was the sweetest dog you'd ever come across and this caused him no trouble. Boomer, however, has dominance issues, like putting his paw over your arm when you're petting; and when we first got him, he would nip at your clothing and jump up on any- and everyone. We beat that over time and he hadn't nipped at anyone for about a year-and-a-half.

One morning, I was in bed with a 103-degree fever and my husband let the dog into the bedroom thinking I'd want company while I was making deals with the heavens for my flu to pass (Boomer had never been allowed in the room, let alone on the bed). I'd never felt so miserable, even when I'd had pneumonia. Anyway, Boomer jumped on the bed and I didn't make him get off and continued to rest. After about 20-30 minutes, I sat up and leaned over to pet him and get some sympathy; wrong. I don't know if he was just pissed or if I perhaps hurt or startled him because he was sort of tucked in the crook of my knees and I bent directly over him for some cuddling. Dumb-Dumb-Dumb! I knew better, but my head was swimming and I wasn't thinking. He got 'whale-eye' for just a moment and I knew I was in trouble but did not have time to react when, without a growl or anything, he bit me in the face. When I screamed, he ran to his crate to hide. The bite, as you can see, could have cost me an eye, as there is a contusion on the white of my eye where one of his teeth scraped. The bite cost me a trip to emergency in my pj's - sick already, and I had 8 stitches on the triangular tear below my eye and two on the opposite side of my nose. It also cost us trust of this previously not-perfect, but pretty-good-natured dog.

Our vet advised us to put him down, and I couldn't do it - it was completely our fault and I didn't think he should pay the ultimate price for my stupidity. We consulted a behaviorist for an aggression consultation and purchased several of your DVDs, including Dealing with Dominant and Aggressive Dogs and Basic Dog Obedience. We also purchased a Dogtra e-collar and the e-collar training DVD, though I've been afraid to use it because both the trainer and a family member who fosters shepherds say it would be dangerous to do so. The behaviorist said that he'll always have dominance issues and that it will be a life-long struggle to maintain. That's fine with me but I don't want to make another costly mistake. Luckily, I work from home and don't have any wee ones, so I'm willing to do whatever is necessary to give the hound a happy, healthy life. That entails a lot of walking, but I just cannot control such a huge, driven dog by myself.

Sorry this is becoming a novella, but we have another problem. When we first got Boomer, I was able to walk both the dogs at the same time with no trouble for several months. One day, we were walking on an adjacent block when a huge, unleashed St. Bernard pounced on my other hound, knocking her to the ground, while her hill-jacker owner sat in his truck and watched - and did NOTHING. I knew there was no breaking up this fight safely with no help from the dirt bag owner, so I just yanked hard on both my dogs' leashes and we ran from the offender. After that incident, Boomer howled and lunged any time he saw ANY other dog besides my other hound, whether he's at the yard's fence or on a lead. He's an embarrassment to walk and frightens owners and dogs alike, his howl carrying for - quite literally - miles.

Finally, could you please advise on the e-collar training and offer any advice you can on this specific situation? I'm not looking for free services; I'd be happy to pay for a phone consultation or something, as your expertise and experience are phenomenal and I hold you and your organization in very high regard - it's just so hard to find professional advice in line with my own philosophie; i.e., family members and behaviorists who use and advise absolutely no corrections, solely positive reinforcement and say I should put the dog down or never correct his behavior.

Just a couple of deep scratches, but some intense, painful and swollen bruising. This is two days after the fact and the swelling is 90% gone.

Found your web site. the next day - next time I'm going for the back legs.

I tried to stop a fight between my two dogs - something I don't usually do - but this one was nasty and I got concerned. The pit-lab got me - grazed my leg as he lunged at my akita-mix. Bad morning.

Thanks for your informative web site.

The akita is staying leashed to my side now and the pit-lab stays with either my husband or I. No one gets free run of the house anymore. Both dogs seem to like it. It's quite obvious that they'd rather not fight. We'd dropped the ball with ground work and pack structure. With two males, of roughly the same size and age - both dog aggressive breeds - we can't ever afford to slack off. Learned it the hard way....

Thanks for all the info. I was glued to your web site. for the first 24 hours after their fight. Just for the record, we ARE searching out professional help with this.

I just came across your web site. WOW! I have been doing a lot of things the wrong way. This is what happens when you have 4 dogs fighting at once. Boxers and a Great Dane. This happened in May. I no longer have these dogs. I did place them in only dog homes and that they needed obedience training. I do keep in touch with the people that have my dogs.

They tell me that the dogs are doing well. I know now that I felled at being a pack leader.. I kept thinking what was going on and what was I doing wrong. Sometimes I would just walk into a room and all of them would just start fighting for no reason. I am glad that I came across your site. I am writing to you and sending these photo to you please try to get your message out to other people that think any and all dogs are just cute little things. These photo's are of when i got home from the hospital. These are the after photos.

Many thanks and keep up the Great Work!!

I've been lurking and saw that you want photos of injuries as a result of breaking up a dogfight. We took in a 6-7 year old Great Dane that had been running the streets. We already had 3 other Danes. One day Cass (the new girl) decided she didn't like Annie, our 2 year old blind Dane. This picture was taken right after the fight. I ended up in the hospital for 3 days on IV antibiotics. We still have her and that is how I found your web site., looking for a 'humane' muzzle.

My brothers own a pit bull named Grim. She is between 4 and 6 years old, I don't really spend a lot of time around my brothers so I don't know. I met her for the first time 3 days after my oldest brother's ex wife killed herself and my mother and I flew to where he lives to be there for him. That was July 4Th this year. About 10 minutes before we went to get our things out of my brother's truck Grim was sitting by my feet with her head in my lap just letting me pet her. She really is a beautiful dog... and if you think this is all about praising aggressive dogs it stops after saying she's pretty...

As my mother, my cousin who had also come to help out, and I went to get our things I was pulled to the ground by Grim. I could feel her teeth ripping through my jeans and into the side of my left leg. I kicked frantically. I managed to shake free for a moment and started to climb up the side of my brother's truck. By this time their pet German shepherd had broken free of his chain and wanted in on all the fuss. He grabbed me around my ankle and pulled me back to the ground where Grim got me again just below my right knee. I don't remember kicking them both off, but my mother, who couldn't get near enough to help and was trying to stay in between the dogs and my cousin who could make a toothpick look fat, my mother says that I did and climbed into the cab of my brother's truck and shut the doors. I do remember the younger of my 2 older brothers coming and taking hold of the dogs and climbing into my cousin's truck and her taking me across the alleyway to the hospital. My brother did pick a good location when house hunting, as he has 5 little boys and a little girl to care for. As soon as they took me into the ER I remember that they didn't have to cut my jeans to see the wounds they were that torn up. At one point the doctor needed to inject an anesthetic into my left leg so that he could assess the damage.

The first time he did the liquid shot out the other end of the wound, just on the other side of my chin bone... you should be able to tell where when you look at the pictures. After the anesthetic took effect he put his long finger into one side of the wound and followed the path of the liquid through a hole big enough for a grown man's finger to fit through. They decided after I'd been there maybe 40 minutes to take me into surgery. When I woke up 3 hours later I was told that between what the dog had torn out and what they had to cut out due to damage I had lost about 1.5 pounds of flesh, half a pound being muscle mass from my left leg. It has been 4 months now and I am able to stand for about a half hour at a time, and I have been told not to let my left leg swell from any strenuous activity for another 2 months as the skin is laying directly on the muscle and they don't want to risk it pulling away. I now have an inch deep well at the center side of my left leg. On my right leg there are 2 long lines around the back of my ankle making it now look like a scalloped edge instead of the attractive curve my high heels used to show off. By my knee on my right leg I look like I have a series of age spots that start just under the center of my knee very tiny and as they move toward the outer knee get larger... the largest the size of a medium grape.

To top off all the damage my brother's dog inflicted the younger of my older brothers has recently told my baby sister that they're keeping the dog as they're not sure it was his precious Grim that bit me... even though I have 3 different size and shape bites that couldn't have been both caused by just one dog... One of my father's good friends who is a cop where my brother's live is taking the necessary steps to make sure that animal never has the chance to even sniff another person again... As for the other dog, the German shepherd, he was poisoned while my brother was out of town over things dealing with the death of his ex wife, and trying to keep custody of his stepson-- he believes it was the work of the boy's paternal grandmother who had been harassing him over the child. Nothing could be proven on that and so nothing was done.

I hope to God that what happened to me will teach people that large aggressive dogs are not safe as house pets. And I pray every night that dog doesn't get hold of one of my nephews, ranging in age from 4 to 10, or my niece who is 3.

I recently had to break up a fight between them. I was in a worse situation, as I was by myself, and outside of the house. They got into it over a snowball. One of them is 6 and the other just turned 1. It was the young one that attacked the first as she is kind of jealous of any affection or attention. She probably wants to establish her position now that she is coming of age. Otherwise they sleep together, eat together, and there is usually no problems with them. She is also the one who got me, although she did not attack me per say. I just wanted to share the pictures with you as you ask on your site.

I received the DVDs and collar. I watched the e-collar DVD and Aggressive Dogs DVD and I like it. You cover some great points. Up until now I've been watching the Dog Whisperer and it looks your techniques are similar which I like. It makes total sense. I do have a few questions:

1. It's my understanding in your DVD that when my dog shows aggression while I have the dominant collar on, I am to immediately pull up and stay there until he calms down. Is that correct?

2. When using the e-collar to make the dog avoid looking at another dog, at what point can I move to the next step? By that I mean, I think the next step would be to allow another calm submissive dog to smell my dog, is that correct?

My biggest problem and what brought me to this point is exactly what you talk about in your videos. My dog was attacked by a very large short hair male 1 year ago and my dog unfortunately was on the chain at the time so he was defenseless. I of course jumped in to break them up and got severely bit in the wrist (pic attached) by my own dog! I have since taken dog aggression very very seriously.

I thought I was doing great in following Cesar's way but I find I tense up at time and create the fights. This is because I never trust the handler on the other end with another dog and always have my scenario playing in the back of my mind. I know this makes me a weak pack leader. I have to take this"bull" by the horns I guess and put the past behind me. Any further advice will be greatly appreciated!

Here you go, Ed. Lovely, huh? This was a redirected bite on my forearm this past October from a client's Jack Russell Terrier that aggressed at my GSD. My fault, of course. My assistant had the JRT's leash and the JRT lunged, the leash came out of her hand and I stood in front of my dog with my arms out to the sides to prevent the client's dog from getting hurt by my dog - pretty stupid - sometimes my reflexes are good and other times, I want to kick my own ass. The left photo was the top of my forearm (upper canines) and the right photo is the bottom of my forearm (bottom canines). Full mouth bite, canines sunk all the way in and 2-3 quick shakes.

This happened while trying to break up a fight between family dogs. My mother-in-law and I both got bit by her dog. I was trying to grab my puppy which is not a small dog and not timid and pull her by her collar. I got pulled down by the two dogs and fell between them. My shoulder got bit and my right hand. I now have to go for surgery to correct the thumb nail, that may never grow back correctly, and the bone broke also.

I recently rescued a pit bull mix. She's about 1 year old. Yesterday my 3 year-old male beagle walked by her and growled and the pit bull attacked. They've gotten into quite a few scuffles before and I've easily separated them but this time was much different. They fought for a good five minutes. The pit bull is very strong and was picking my beagle up by the neck and swinging him around. I thought for sure he was dead because of the amount of blood. I kept trying to pull the pit off of him but her jaw was locked. At one point I gave up and started screaming and crying because I was horrified. My brother heard this and ran downstairs. He pulled the beagle and I pulled the pit bull by the legs and we got the separated. However, the beagle who was clearly losing ran back at her and started the fight again. I pushed him away with my arm and he latched on and started shaking it. When he realized it was me, he ran away and I put the pit outside. She had very minor cuts and gashes but my beagle, Toby was soaked in blood. I've included a picture of his neck. My brother called 911 and the paramedics were there very fast. My arm was gushing with blood and my finger was black/blue and swollen. We also had to rush Toby to the animal emergency room. It was an awful day.

Anyway, I wish I had known your techniques before I tried to intervene like that. I panicked and I didn't know what else to do. The bite was worth it because I don't think my beagle would have made it through if I hadn't tried to stop it. However, next time I'll definitely know better. We've given the pit to someone else. And Toby is quarantined by animal control for ten days.

These are bites on one hand I received breaking up a fight between two Boxer bitches. Not really serious, once all the blood was washed off.....but could have been. Also a lot of bruising came afterwards, and restricted the use of this hand for a few days.

Am just trying to wade through your wealth of information.

We have raised and trained Rottweilers, Shepherds and Boston Terriers over the years. We now own Boxers and St. Bernards. The worst fights I've had to break up have been between the terriers. They simply don't let go, nor do they quit.

Mr Frawley,

My name is Matthew I am a 7 year veteran of the New York State Police and 10 year veteran in Law Enforcement. I recently passed up an opportunity to be a K-9 Officer in order to have a household pet that can be home with my wife and soon to be newborn baby due March, 2006 when I am working the overnight shift.

I lost my last Rottweiler to cancer at 9 years 8 months of age in August of 2002. He was a great dog. I recently bought a 9 week old Rottweiler Bono from AJMA Rottweilers, Andrzej Rozek www.ajmarottweiler.com just outside Newark, NJ. I paid $1500.00 for the puppy. I purchased your video 8 weeks to 8 months and am very satisfied with it. I am considering purchasing your dog obedience video soon, since the Bono is coming up on 5 mos of age.

Here's my situation; (I understand it is a handler problem and not the dog). Bono is food aggressive. I make him sit before he can have his food. I put it down and put my hand either in the bowl or I continue to hold the bowl until he is done eating. He does not make a peep. However if I pet him or my wife pets him while I am holding the food he growls. I contacted my breeder and he suggested to buy a beef bone from the butcher and hold it while Bono chews on it. I did this and I'll tell you what the outcome was. I was sitting on the floor Bono was in a seated position and chewing on the bone while I held it. I could pet him and he would not make a sound. However, my wife leaned over from the couch and pet him and all hell broke loose. He bit her on her hand by the wrist breaking the skin. I immediately reacted and grabbed him by the sides of his face lifted him off the ground and shouted NO and continued to shout out him for about 5 seconds (he is about 45 lbs.).

I am willing to do anything to correct this problem and my wife and I are concerned and want to be able to trust the dog when the baby comes. I have about 4 months before the baby. Can this be corrected.

Thank you,
Matthew

Hello Ed,

I have spent the last 5 hours reading your web page and all the great articles. I wish 8 years ago, I would have been able to do this. I am emailing you now because my situation seems to be somewhat different, or perhaps I just have not found an article covering my problem.

I have an 8 1/2 year old Chocolate Lab named Zero. When we got him we also had a 7 year old Lab, Zero was the runt of the litter and always had a problem nursing because the other pups would not let him. We assumed that this is why he would growl when we went near his food, so we just left it alone. The 2 dogs got along great, and there never was much of a problem with aggression. 4 years ago, we had to put the older dog down due to Illness. The vet came to our home, the younger one was put in another room and it was done. Since then, Zero has become somewhat of an aggressive animal and I am at my wits end. He does go on the furniture (I know, bad) and used to sleep in bed with us (I know, also bad. but that stopped over a year ago when we got a new pup). He growls when told to get down, he growls whenever you tell him something he does not want to do. Zero most of the time stays in his yard, but if he gets a whiff of something, he will wander off. If you try to grab his collar to bring him back he growls. He and the new pup have several fights and the pup has the scars to prove it. The little one has pretty much learned to read Zero now and they are great friends most of the time.

Now I know the growling is a problem, but there is a bigger one, he has nipped a few people (all family members). The first person he bit was me- It was the middle of the night a couple years ago, he was sleeping on the bed with us and hogging the bed so I pushed him with my feet, and he bit my toe.

The second time was Last January, we were visiting my husbands parents where Zero has gone many times before. They also have 2 dogs, one is a nasty female who has bitten Zero. He Ran and Played all day and into the night(I should mention he has a lot of energy). My husband and I decided to go out for a bit, and we left Zero at the house as we have many times before. While we were gone, he bit my Mother-in-law in the finger. She said he was really tired and sleeping at her feet and she bent over to pet him, and he bit her.

Third time, again at my in laws, same scenario playing all day and sleeping at my husbands feet. My Husband gently put his foot on the dog and Zero bit him in the toe.

Fourth time, 2 months ago at our home. We had just begun a remodeling project and had workers in-and out- He played for about 9 hours outside, then my husband and I went out for a bit. When we came home, we decided to put the puppy upstairs with us because know the history of my tired, grouchy dog. After doing my pre- bed routine I started to go upstairs where a baby gate was at the bottom of the stairs. There was Zero, not getting out of my way. I pushed him away once, twice and the 3rd time resulted in 7 stitches in my finger. (He did have a nasty ear infection, and I did push his head so maybe this was provoked).

Then last night- We are staying at my Moms during our re-model and getting ready for dinner. (The dogs were only out a couple hours and did not play super hard.) The dogs always come to the table and we make them lay down. My husband told zero to lay down a couple times and he used his hand to signal. The dog growled and went to my husband and bit him in the hand. I did not see it, but my husband says he did not touch him. No stitches or anything, a puncture wound.

So... My husband wants to put the dog down. Although he has never ran after anyone or "attacked" anyone, he is afraid it is just a matter of time as these incidents are getting closer together. I would like to pursue some form of re-training but don't know if it is possible to re-train a dog his age. I love this dog like a child and the thought of killing him has caused lack of sleep and appetite. He really is a good dog 99% of the time (but there is a lot of growling at my house), and I'm not just saying this, but one of the smartest dogs I have ever seen. Lately however, the problem seems to be getting worse. I know the obvious things like let a sleeping dog lie, and stay away from him when he's been playing all day and tired, but my husband says under NO circumstances should a dog bite his owner and unless the problem is corrected, he wants the dog put down. I do plan on taking him to the vet first so we can rule out medical issues, but after that, I am at a loss. Can you give me any advice at all, or maybe you know a good trainer in Wisconsin I could consult with?

Thank you for taking the time to read my long story and I hope to hear from you.

Regards,
Monica

Ed

I have a question about dog aggression. I have a 5 year old female Giant Schnauzer that I got 2 years ago from a breeder that was done showing her. I would describe her as very confident but not an overly dominant dog. She's very smart and responds well to training. I also have a 7 year old male Giant that I've had since he was a puppy.

The first year I had her I never saw any aggressive behavior other than barking when someone is at the door. About a year ago I was at a friends house and her 8 year old son came into the yard after playing at a neighbors and she started barking at him very aggressively, I pulled her away and everything seemed fine after that. I was caught off guard so I know I was a little slow to react to the situation since she had never acted this way before. Then I had a situation at my home. My father-in-law came over and just walked into the house and she started barking aggressively and nipped at him. I pulled her away made her sit and she was fine. This is also the first time anyone had come over and just walked into the house without being let in. She has always been ok when I let people in, she usually just runs to get a toy. So after that incident I always hold her and have her sit when people come in the house and she has been fine.

I also have a cottage on a lake and last summer a friend came over, she never barked at him she just started following him and nipped at his shirt. It was really weird behavior. It didn't really seem aggressive, she was just paying a lot of attention to him and she usually has no interest in strangers. She has not acted this way with anyone else and we have a lot of visitors at our cottage.

Now last weekend this same friend and his wife came over to my house. I did the usual holding her until they came in so she knows it's OK for them to be there and she seemed fine. The next thing I know my friend walks by her and she bit him in the leg. Luckily she didn't rip his pants but she did give him a little puncture wound. I just don't understand what would cause this behavior. She never growled or barked at him before she bit. I really didn't even realize what happened at first I just grabbed her and put her in another room. She obviously does not like this person for some unknown reason.

I would appreciate any training advice you have and what might cause this behavior.

Liz

I found this site 3 weeks too late. I would have sent the picture of my finger, arm, leg and torso. I have a male beagle that I keep outside and a male inside that is his offspring (mixed breed). They hate each other. The outside dog dug under the 5 foot chain link fence while the inside dog was out front of the house on his cable. I went to unhook the inside dog and bring it in and the outside dog that escaped the back yard seen me with the dog it hates and came running and attacked it. I was trying to hold them apart by their collars and my fingernails were bending backwards I was holding them so tightly. It all happened so fast. I first let go of one for just a second to get the front door open and both tried to enter the house fighting like they were trying to kill each other. I knew I could not let them both into the house fighting. So I grabbed them apart by their collars again and led them to the back gate of the fence. I knew I had to let one go to grab the latch to the fence. When I did they really started fighting. I was at the emergency room 30 minutes later getting 6 stitches in my thumb and had several puncture wounds. It happened so fast, I don't even know which one bit me or maybe they both did. I am going to look into purchasing your DVDs. Also someone told me that I could have separated them with the water hose.

Angie

Dear Ed,

I studied your marvelous home page and tried to find the answer to my problem. We are living in Hungary at countryside in a family house with three dogs. We have two female dogs escaped from the street and one 5 year old male German Shepard Ali, who is my son's dog and we got him as a puppy. Ali is a beautiful big friendly dog and he is very strong. He got an obedience course and we can go for a walk with him without leash, because he is coming back if we are calling, and there is very few people. He is a little bit jealous of our other dogs but he never attacked them.He is very hard at the fence, but never attacked anybody. He is afraid of the doctor very much. Once a year doctor comes and vaccinate them. Last week came the doctor and we (my husband and me) tried him to hold but he got a panic and broken out and bit me on my face twice. I got a very ugly wound on my nose and another on my soul. I am absolutely uncertain what to do, how to handle this situation. What did I do wrong. We did not hit the dog after it, and he is calm again. My son scold him and I do not play with him anymore. What is the proper behavior in the situation? Your article about the dog's aggression is very interesting, but I do not understand what type of aggression was this.

Thank you in advance,
Maria
Hungary

Ed,

I don't know if you take time to respond to emails anymore. I have been swimming around your web site., it is clear to me that you really know dogs.

Here's my question if you have time:

• What steps can I take to AVOID bringing home a dominant puppy/dog?
• Which breeds are less likely to challenge pack order - if any?
• Does birth order affect adult dominance? Should we avoid the runt?
• Did I read on your site that if neutered gender does not affect dominance?
• Do the puppy "temperament tests" I've read about really indicate adult temperament/ dominance? ( I read on your site that dominance does not become clear until the dog reaches adulthood... - aren't there any indicators in a puppy at all? )

Here's why I am reaching out to you:

I have had dogs through my childhood and much of my adult life. 4 years ago we purchased a show bred German Short hair Pointer from a reputable breeder for a family pet. I thought I did everything right in training, establishing/maintaining pack order, exercise and play. I was committed to raising her right and did a good deal of research on these issues. After visiting your web site. I can see that in spite of my efforts I did not train through the correction phase so I did not know how to respond correctly when, as an adult dog, she became less clear on pack order. We trained her in puppy hood with Narnia (a recommended program in the Naperville, IL area) - are different training programs better or worse for particular breeds?

I adored this dog, she was really smart, playful, interactive; as a stay at home mom she spent all her days with me - we never had any growl, snap or obvious dominant issues between us. I did not treat her as a child but respected her as a dog. I unknowingly made a bad mistake: from the floor I approached her face with my face straight on - my vet said this was a challenge to her - and without a warning she bit me on the mouth requiring 27 stitches. Right or wrong, with 27 stitches, advice from the vet and her breeder we put her down. We have three young children and 9 neighbor children who run through my house and yard all the time - I was terrified of the risk to them.

Sadly this incident has affected my confidence as a dog owner and my trust in all dogs as family pets. I want my children to grow up loving dogs and pets as I did. I would like to stress that I am a dog lover, in spite of my own and many other kids coming and going my house is empty, and I am lonely, without a dog. I plan to purchase Your Puppy 8 Weeks to 8 Months and Basic Obedience dvds this next time I raise a dog.

If you are able to steer us to the best breeds for our family I would be very appreciative. I thought I had done the research into the right breed and breeder with our GSP.

This next time I would like to avoid major pack order or dominance challenges with so many children in my life. Kids are unpredictable, we need a dog who can cope with that. Kids like to play with, train, hug and sometimes kiss their pets even though this is not natural for dogs.

We are drawn to sporting, herding, working breeds because we like clever, energetic, playful, medium to large dogs. Maybe we are looking in the wrong direction?

Thank you for being a dog lover. Thank you for sharing your extensive knowledge and experience with the rest of us who are not experts but would like to raise and treat their dogs with the respect they deserve.

Sandra

PS - I have visited the AKC web site. and they do not really indicate which breeds are best for children (mine are ages 7-10). Probably it is more about lineage than breed but I am lost on where to go for guidance on temperament concerns. Our last breeder was sure our GSP would be a great family pet.....

Ed:

We have 6 adopted (shelter,etc.) spayed female dogs. We have a 9 yr. old Peke with a weak back that gives her problems often, mild hip Dysplasia (spelling ?) and one eye, the other which was lost a few months ago in a fight with one of our 2 terrier mixes which she hates and attacks on sight. There is no problem with the other 3 dogs.

We try to keep them separated which is difficult to always do (and when we forget, there is always a fight). I have been severely bitten on a few occasions; My wife broke a finger and a toe breaking up a fight, not to speak of lacerations, and broke another finger very badly on another fight. (She has M.S. and osteoporosis).

We had a highly regarded trainer, Marriam Field-Barbieu, who has patented a few pieces of equipment and written over 30 books on dog training;She worked with us for 14 weeks, was very expensive and as far as I can see has done little to stop the Peke's aggression; the terriers do quite well on the basic commands, however, the Peke still will not remain on a sit-stay or down-stay unless she feels like it. She still would like to kill either or both terriers just as she always has.

Some of your material suggests muzzles on all parties...will your "pug-nose cloth muzzle" work on a Peke? Until I read your material & viewed your DVD, Remote Collar Training for Pet Owners," I was dubious about E-collars; however I now believe your "middle-of-the Road approach" makes sense.

We have no alternative to breaking up a dog fight IMMEDIATELY because of the fragile Peke; I broke up the fight in which she lost her eye within 2-3 seconds. Will an E-collar be any danger to the Peke? not the "nick," but will her jumping or reacting harm her back? or hips? We are at wit's end! We have been told to find a home for her, but that would mean finding a home for her sister who is quite docile; plus they love each other, came to us together and we gave our word to not separate them......or euthanasia, which is not an option to us, even with her problems.

Will your Basic Dog Obedience DVD be helpful? Do you believe an E-collar would help, not harm her ? Will the "pug-nose" muzzle work? Do we need a Leerburg Dominant Dog Collar? I believe you have more insight than anyone I have researched. Your input would be very much appreciated. THANK YOU, & we look forward to hearing from you.

Bev & Nancy

Oh yes, when my two favorite dogs got into a fight and I saw the German shepherd bitch was about to really hurt my chow bitch, like a fool I rushed in. Can you believe I actually had a running water hose in my hand and never thought about it. My shepherd would break when I asked her to, but the chow was wanting to dish out pay back and refused to break contact. So being a junior rocket scientist I grabbed the chows (dam dog) collar and she immediately bit me faster than a hive of hornets can sting. Before I knew it I had been severely bitten three times on the left hand, almost losing an index finger at the first knuckle. One very bad bite to the outer lower leg and an awful bite to the upper left thigh that made me forget sex for so long I almost became a born again eunuch. I wish I had read you article on how to separate dogs before this happened. I now am a breeder of Germ Shepherds and a firm believer in a muzzle, separated kennel rooms and a bucket of ice water, incase the totally unexpected happens. ALSO I HIGHLY RECOMMEND A REFRIGIATOR FILLED WITH A EMERGENCY SUPPLY OF NERVE JUICE AKA Cocktails. I don't have any photos of the bites when they happened, but I can show the scars that I will carry to my grave. Get the book, get the video folks and for heaven sakes read the article.

Gary

That's the best picture I got of it. I saw the fight happening, and went to grab the attacking dog around the neck like an idiot. Instead, I just put the elbow section of my arm into the dog's mouth. I got two punctures (with a lot of bruising around them), and few cuts from her fangs. The marks down toward my wrist are scratches.

Dear Ed or Cindy,

Please guide me as to what steps I need to take, which videos/equipment I need to buy- or even if you think this situation is redeemable at all.

My dog Bisou (three years, not spayed, oddly has not come into season in a year after having has 3 heat cycles- never been bred), pictured, and Baer, my other shepherd, broke the board on the fence lock, got out, and proceeded to terrorize my neighbors, biting one (pictured) and charging and rushing others. I was at work and unreachable.

The man she bit was my next door neighbor and he was just going from his car into his house. He said there was no barking, the dogs came up to him, he didn't run, just said "hi" and when he proceeded to his door was attacked and bit from behind.

My other neighbors tried to put the dogs away- they all thought they were friendly, as they see me or my 8 year old daughter walking them and stop and say 'hi' and pet them, etc.

However, Bisou was NOT friendly, and charged across the street aggressively and chased a man back into his house with his dog- he later came out and pepper sprayed her. Another neighbor, Joe, was getting barked at by Bisou and he told her to 'sit' and she did. He said my other dog was lying in my yard calmly.

Animal control was called, and my neighbor Dave was worried for my dogs who (he thought) he knew and tried to get then back into the fence. Baer complied however Bisou was viscous and and barked and growled and when Dave told her to 'get in the yard' she jumped and bit his hip- no damage, thank goodness. He did manage to get them in the fence and block it with a garbage can. While his actions were stupid I am very lucky. Kids would have been walking home from school shortly- God forbid what could have happened.

I know I belong on the 'dumb and dumber' page- I'm so sorry I let this happen. Here are the warning signs I've noticed- surely there were more but I have been too ignorant to notice or recall. Bisou has charged up, barking, to people walking by in the street before- four times. She is three years old. Every time it has been when I am unaware and in the house- the gate or front door was left open. Once we were on a walk at dusk and I was talking to people and not paying attention, and a teenager ran up to us. Bisou barked threateningly at the girl. I gave a very harsh correction, subsequently the dog sniffed and licked the girl.

I taught her to not run out the door. I have her off leash in the front yard with me and strangers are greeted by a friendly dog. She listened to my commands and my daughters, on or off leash. We've worked in as many environments as I can think of- the city, the park, wherever. She has always been friendly towards other dogs. She is respectful to my guests and enjoys attention from them, but if they are not 'dog people' I have no problem telling her to 'go lie down' and she'll leave them alone. The dogs have their CGC's and Bisou knows many competition obedience maneuvers. She has never been a problem whether walking her to school to get my daughter, at dog 'gatherings' with other people and dogs, etc. She was uneasy in her training for the 'stand for exam' when I am at a distance, but certainly never looked aggressive- she just broke her stand a lot until she learned not to.

As a pup I worried she lacked confidence but she seemed to overcome her fears the more we explored the world and by a year or so there were no more 'scary piles of leaves' and she seemed not to have a confidence/fear problem. She likes to chase things, and when she is engaged in watching something of interest she can take a very strong correction and recover quickly. I learned that teaching her not to chase the ducks at the pond.

My best guess is that Bisou must not worry in my presence and thinks in my absence she needs to take charge. The aggression and violence she displayed yesterday sickens me. I am so over my head I don't know what to think or do.

My husband (serving the US Army in Korea) said not to get rid of her rashly, so I will see if I can get a grip first.

Obviously this dog needs to be contained 100% of the time. What of my daughter? Me? Could this dog turn on us? Do we have a monster that needs to be killed? Should I muzzle her at all times?

I boarded my dogs with a professional trainer this summer while my daughter and I visited my husband in Korea. (she does competition obedience with her Tervs and Dobermans and herding with her Border Collies- multiple OTCH's and high in trials with different dogs, etc.) She was completely dumbstruck when I related yesterday's events. She had the dogs 2 and 1/2 months and saw no dog or people aggression issue what-so-ever, no separation anxiety, etc. Nor do the dogs ever try to 'escape'- not for her or me, in my house or yard. She said she knew my dogs and they were provoked in some form or another- not to justify what happened, of course- but she insisted there was a reason. I don't know what to think.

Biting humans just seems like a thing that is not redeemable- how could I teach a dog that it is so utterly unacceptable whether the animal is in my presence or not that I could be sure it would never bite another human again?

There are as many different opinions on this as people I know. I need sound advice, and I have your tapes with you and Cindy and I trust you. Please tell me the appropriate course of action.

I am so sorry. I thought I was a good dog owner. People always complimented me on my well trained dogs. I am such a clueless fool. I can never let this happen again.

I thank you in advance for your advice- I can't thank you enough, as I am in desperate need of sound guidance.

Sincerely,
Laura

Hello Ed and Cindy,

I have e mailed you a few time for training advice so thank you for that.

I would like some advice on what I should do regarding my 15month intact male GSD, today I made a very stupid mistake which led to my dog attacking my father in my back garden, the dog had found an apple which had fallen from the tree and my father tried to pick it off the ground from in front of the dog, this triggered an attack and he was bitten on the hand and back and when I pulled the dog of him I was bitten on both arms and hands, I only had a short pull tab on a dominant dog collar so when I tried to choke out the dog he was still able to bite me so I had to take him to the ground and choke him until he was out cold.

I will list the mistakes I know I made.

1. The dog should have been in kennel/crate with visitors.
2. He should have been on lead.
3. I should not have let my father play/interact with the dog.

I broke handling rule 101 and I know this incident was my fault and I will have the scars to remind me of this moment's foolishness for many years to come.

Now where do I go from here, I hold no grudge towards my dog, but is the relationship between my dog and myself damaged?

As far as handling a dog post attack is it business as usual? any suggestions on where to go from here? I am still committed to keep the dog if possible.

Thanks for advice;

I have these 2 DVDs as well as dominant dog DVD. I have run my dog through the pack program which I thought had been successful; he used to pull on lead on walks and only come when he felt like, after I ran though the pack program he stopped pulling and recall was great.

Should I back up the training and repeat the foundation aspect of the pack structure program, perhaps the dog needs to be in the early phase of the pack program for much longer?

I have added some photos of my wounds, please note these are 24hours after the event when they were being re-dressed also a couple of photos of the dog ”Zeus”.

Thanks again.

Kind Regards,
Neil

I spent the better part of today reading your articles on dog aggression and dog bites.

I have an old picture of what happens when someone tries to step in between two dogs squaring off without actually fighting.

A few months ago, a friend of mine was over to visit, and see my then 8 month old Border Collie Shepherd mix that I had agreed to take and had recently received from a former neighbor. I was convinced that she had at one point been abused for being aggressive, since she would cringe and skulk away for being disciplined, because she was (and still is a bit) mouthy, and is also very protective.

My boyfriend has a 6 year old Pit bull. He is usually very mellow and laid back, and has never been aggressive towards people or dogs. I was preparing dinner, and they had just spent an hour in the yard playing fetch. My pup was sitting about 10 feet away from me, watching very intently to what I was doing. My boyfriend's pit came up to investigate what I was doing, and Tab growled, her head and tail went flush with her back, and every hair on her back stood on end. Hobbs did not yield, and the tension between them became increasingly heavy.

My friend, a recent college graduate with a major in psychology of all things, came over, bent down next to Tab to pet her, and she grabbed his face and shook him violently.

The whole ordeal lasted all of a minute. Luckily she missed his eye, barely, but since then we have taken extra precautions to keep her from being in a situation like that again, even though we have managed to (almost) re-train her, and my friend has since stayed far from her jaws.

When I was 7 I was walking across the neighbors yard (they said I could since I lived on a busy rode) their dog lunged at me. I lost 75% of my blood and my arm was close to coming off. They had to give 21 shots to numb my arm and it took 7 nurses and 3 doctors to hold me down. I was going nuts. I understand what all these people feel but I got lucky and the scars aren't on a big part of my body and I didn't loss my arm. The scar use to be closer together but I'm now 17 and it happened 10 years ago. People still to this day ask me what happened, I like to explain it to them because the look on their face is like they are amazed about it.

Thank you,
Kasey

I have a attached a photo of my left hand, bitten as I tried to separate my two boxers from fighting. I lost my pinkie fingernail and the bone was fractured. Could have been a lot worse so I guess I was lucky. Feel free to contact me for any info.

I'll give you a little history on my clan. I was home alone on Monday evening with all 3 of my boxers, Bella 3yr old female, Bishop 2 1/2 yr old male and Brinks, their son who is now 13 months is already the largest of the 3 dogs weighing in at 68 lbs. I usually have no trouble with them but will admit they totally listen to my husband more than me. Bishop is a small boxer at only 42 lbs and was trained by a local trainer in protection by Dogs RRR Us. When I came home from work I directly went into the kitchen and put my purse etc away. I greeted Bella and Bish and at this point Bish was already carrying my shoe from the front hall. He does not chew them up but carries them around doing the boxer “kidney bean wiggle” for awhile. I proceeded to our “dog room” where I crate Brinks during the day. I let him out and he followed me down the hallway. Right away he went up and smelled Bish with my shoe. I don't know which one of them actually started to growl first but that's when the fight started. They ended up in the kitchen still fighting and at which point the was blood everywhere. Brinks had Bish by the inside of his mouth and I thought I needed to do something. I started to drag brinks by his back legs closer to the door to the backyard and figured I could call Bish off. At this point Brinks did loosen his bite but then Bishop lunged at him and that's when I got bit because my hands were still too close to Brinks. I wasn't expecting Bishop not to listen but looking back on it should have been able to tell that they were both is such a drive that I shouldn't have tried what I did. This happened on Monday and we have kept both dogs separated. When Bishop goes by the baby gates he looks like he wants to attack Brinkley.

I'm not sure if you time to answer a lot of personal e-mails but I am at a loss of what to do now. My husband had suggested we could find a home for Brinks but I still haven't decided. We have been feeding them apart for months and are only given bones to chew on when they are separated. Brinkley became protective of his toys pretty young and had gone after Bishop before so I was aware this might happen and feel at fault. I can take his toys, bones etc away from him with no problem and they are all very loving dogs but don't know what the next step is. There is no children in the home yet but I do have small nieces who come by and think for now both dogs will have to be muzzled. Look forward to hearing back from you.

Thank you for your time,
Lauren

Guess I should've read your page first!

Hi Ed,

The new pictures are my wife's hand, resulting from the same incident. These pictures are 10 days old and don't look as bad as they really were. The picture of the top of the hand is the healing of a fingernail that was entirely torn off. The other one isn't very descriptive but, portrays the swelling (less now) from the crushed bone in the tip of the finger. Due to that bone, the injury bled for nearly 36 hours. I tried to send X-rays but they didn't work too well.

Our incident revolves around 2 adult female dogs, a weimaraner (107 lbs) and a husky mix (48 lbs). They are the youngest and oldest, respectively, of 4 and the shortest and longest time with us, respectively. They have issues.

The older dog has always had problems with strange dogs and, because she lives in a fenced yard, snaps at our other dogs, by proxy. The 2 others blow it off and walk away. We got the weimie a year ago and, while they get along for the most part, the weimie thinks the husky is seriously trying to fight.

We've had 1 fight over a dog coming up to the fence. The fight which caused the pictured injuries happened when the weimie approached the husky's bowl. She likes to eat outside in her kennel and she doesn't like to be bothered. We can't let them kill each other so we tried to break it up. It took 15 minutes or more to break them up and resulted in 2 hours in emergency.

Thanks for your interest and web page. Hope this helps someone else to not do the same thing. It sure helped us to see your article.

Scott

Hello,

I don't know if you still want dog bite photos but here they are. I got my GSD at the tender age of 6 months. She had been passed around twice in that short life. This bite was totally my fault and will be the first to admit it. She was wild as can be when I first got her, and she was my first big dog. I should have thought twice and done research but all I saw was a gorgeous girl that needed a stable home. Anyway, I already have two yorkies, male and female. They didn't like her but they warmed up to her and sort of started playing. After watching your DVD Dealing the with Dominant and Aggressive Dog, I took control of the situation. I put her on a leash inside the house and began showing her who was boss. Long story short she went for my male yorkie as soon as I established myself as the alpha. Before when she thought she was the alpha they got along just fine. Thankfully I had her on the leash in the house when my male walked towards us. I didn't think anything of it since they were ok together previously. It happened pretty fast so I'm not sure why I knew what was about to happen but something about her stance told me to pull up on her leash, (he was pretty short so pulling up kept him out of her reach). He escaped unscathed, he was gone in just a second. As soon as he was gone I assumed it was over so I lowered her back to the ground. As soon as her paws touched the floor she latched onto the side of my knee which was level with her head so I guess it is the first thing she saw. We went to the ground and she started to jerk on my knee so I started choking her to get her to stop, I guess she came out of the attack mode she was in and let go. Had I had the dominant dog collar, that I now have, this probably wouldn't have happened. Or if I had handled things differently it wouldn't have happened. Since that day, they have been completely separated. If they are out, she is crated and the other way around. They are happy and safe now thanks to advice on your forum from smarter people than myself ha ha. My GSD wouldn't dream of pulling this now. She still will never be allowed around small dogs, or small children because of her prey drive and my own paranoia. Thanks for all the DVDs and the forum.

This happened when a friends pit bull started a fight with my lab. The dogs had been together in the same house for almost 2 years and neither had shown any type of aggression towards each other. I don't know what the fight started over, and neither dog was hurt in the fight... I was the unlucky one.

The first photo is of the night it happened and the second is one week later.

Laurie

We're not sure which dog it was that got me - my dog was attacked by my neighbor's dog suddenly, and when I tried to grab my dog (a Chow Chow), my face got in the way. It's all kind of a blur, really, and VERY scary, because my contact lens got knocked out of my eye, so at first I thought my left eye had gotten injured!! Thankfully it just missed, as you can see by the scratches right below the eye.

I have definitely learned that the most important thing to do is STAY CALM, and not bother screaming and yelling, and having two people to break up the fight is the way to go.

Kait

These are pictures of what happens when someone uses a shock collar that doesn't have a clue about dog behavior, owns a pit bull and drinks.

I rode my bike up my neighbors driveway and his pit came out to great me as normal, relaxed, whole body wagging. I stopped my bike and reached down, palm up, to return the greeting and my neighbor shocked his dog on high level. The dog yelped and bite me. It was a reflex from the stim and not an "attack". I went one way off the bike, away from the dog, the dog stayed where he was, looking as stunned as I felt.

What did I learn from this: Don't drink and pretend you are a dog trainer.

The dog was about 10 months old at the time of the bite. The owner has made him an neurotic mess that is not trustable in any situation. Owning an e-collar doesn't mean you know how to use it.

Another note, the doctor decided to glue this wound closed, and as an added bonus he neglected to clean it first. 4 days later, I was in my doctors office having the glue pealed off and I was put on mega antibiotics for infection. The middle bone in my finger was fractured and if the infection would have gone in to the bone I would have been in serious trouble.

Ed,

Yes, I am fine now, all the feeling is back in my finger and all is well.

This is my last bite picture. I have been lucky.

Below is another bite, and this one is from one of my dogs. I hunt and compete Jack Russells. I do a lot of cardio training with them running with a quad, lure coursing here at home, etc, to keep them in top shape for what I require them to do. The one problem I had was with the quad. They would get so excited and then frustrated that the quad wasn't moving yet that they started biting. The quad tires, sticks, me. I realized that they were overflowing drive and I had to get a handle on it, cause damn it, that hurt. Now, I make them get control of themselves by sitting before I open the kennel door. I wore chaps for a while and when they would go for the tires or me, I would stop, say no, and not start again until they backed off. It didn't take the smart little buggers long to figure it out and now I can leave the chaps behind.

Hello,

I read that you wanted dog bite pictures for your web site. I have one for you.

Two friends of mine bought themselves a pit bull mix,a rescue. The next day the dog,for no reason I could see, jumped up, grabbed the owners friends arm and refused to release it (the guy sat on a stone, with is back from the dog). None of the other people there could move, I told the dog to let go, kicked him hard in the head with my working shoes, with no effect at all. Everything seemed to be in slow motion, we had no one to help us, nothing that we could use to get the dog off.

As I thought that, pure panic, my dog, a 7 year old american stafford shire terrier came. He had been swimming and we had watched him when the attack happened. My dog came running forward with intent to attack the pit bull mix to save the guy. Sacrificing himself. The attacking dog let go to face my dog and we got a hold of its leash.

The pit bull mix was put down the same day. It did not show any sign of attacking before, he had been a friendly tail wagging dog, and after the attack it acted like nothing had happened. No stress, nothing. Totally unpredictable. Now not all pit bull mixes are like that, but I never thought I would witness a dog attack on a human for real in my life.

The guy's injuries were bad. His muscle hanged outside the skin had to be put in place again and he needed 25 stitches. If my dog hadn't come to the rescue it could have been a lot worse. I realize this when I see the horrific pictures.

My dog has been nominated hero dog year 2009 in my country.

Regards,
Helena

Hello there,

I am writing for the second time. I sent you a picture already of what happened to my left arm when I tried to stop my female pit by wrapping my arm around her neck/shoulder area before the fight started. That time I only had two punctures and bruises. I see you put the picture up on your second page. After reading your article, I didn't know if I had the strength to stop a dog fight, but I swore to myself I was going to use your method should I ever have the need. Unfortunately, I never really received the chance.

It was New Year's Day (2009) and about 5 of us (family, friends) were signing karaoke. China (6 year old female pit) was sitting next to me on the couch... which, after reading a lot of articles and books, I know now is not good when you have a dog with a dominant personality. Well, she is very skittish too and someone knocked over something in the hallway outside of the room. Sadly, Pudge (12 year old male pit/lab mix) came into the room to investigate and came right up to China. She immediately took after his face and got a hold of his ear area. There was nothing I could do. I was prone and the two dogs were practically in my lap. The men in the room absolutely freaked (having no experience for this situation) and made it so much worse. They started yelling and tried to pull the two dogs apart by grabbing their middles. Well, they succeeded but China was in such a frenzy that her head whipped around and -- bam! There was my (left, again!) arm in her mouth.

She crunched down and I remember just staring down at her and my arm in disbelief. I didn't even yell or anything -- just stared down at her. My husband grabbed her once he realized what was going on and she jerked her head like she was going to start thrashing. I screamed out, "No! Leave her alone." He did and then China realized she had a hold of me and not the other dog. She instantly let go upon the realization and took off in a run to another room.

The end result: 5 puncture wounds, one very large deep gash, a minor gash and cuts, $3000 in medical bills, 2 1/2 month healing time and I have no feeling in the top of my thumb to this day, but plenty of nasty scars.

I was told that if one puncture wound was deeper or more to the right side of my arm, I would've had to have surgery to repair the tendon because at first I couldn't use my thumb at all and I couldn't turn my arm over.

I am writing this because I think it's important for people to know that in the right situation (like two dogs fighting in front of you on a couch), you can get bit no matter your knowledge. I also want people to know that their dog is not the same during or seconds after a fight. China is not aggressive toward people at all. She is only dog aggressive and bit me because she was so hyped up. Thirdly, it's important for a person to know their dog. In my case, China is skittish and the reduction of loud noises and commotion has done wonders, but in order to achieve that, I had to give her away to a friend who knows her history very well. My friend is currently working with a vet to desensitize China. So my very last point is... Sometimes, you and the animal are not meant to be. You can't have your dogs keep fighting, and especially not when you have other dogs that are far too old or simply unable to defend themselves properly.

I am really, really hoping that I will never have to send you another email. Thank you for your wonderful site and advice. When I decide it's time for my family to bring another dog into our lives, I know the first place I am going to be getting information from is your site since you have such wonderful articles.

Amy

I found your web site. and saw that you need pictures of dog bites. I tried to break up a fight between my dog and my neighbor's dogs, both whom I trust, but I still got bit...by my own dog. I got about 4 stitches in my left inner-elbow. It's a big scar now.

I was one of the stupid ones who got caught up in the moment when my two dogs started to fight again. One is a Border Collie/Wolf Mix and the other is a Malamute. My first instinct is to protect them from each other, so when the Malamute lunged at the Border Collie. I did the classic grabbing her by her collar. Then the Border Collie lunged back at the Malamute, so I grabbed her and pulled her up on the couch with me. But of course the Malamute wasn't done, so she lunged yet again and instead of getting the Border Collie, she got my arm. My cousin was home at the time even, but she didn't get to either in time. I had been told of the method of grabbing their hind legs even, but had stupidly forgotten.

The pictures are of my forearm. The one with the single bite is underneath and the other bigger one is the top of my forearm.

Bites to wrists and forearms, broken bone in left hand and partially amputated middle fingertip of right hand (bone splintered, unsavable) and pin in fractured ring ringer next to it. I spent days in hospital for IV antibiotics and excruciating surgery with only local anesthetic (do not advise this but had no other option). As you noted, bite wounds are only loosely stitched, if at all, to help prevent infection. Deep tissue damage under the scarring is inevitable, and painful, months after.

This was the result of trying to break up two spayed female English Bull Terriers, one 8 years, the other 14 months a month ago. I knew how to safely break up a fight, but not all by myself. Obviously.

A rapid succession of unexpected young female fosters unbalanced our pack order. I immediately sought professional help from a noted behaviorist/trainer to correct the situation and strengthen my leadership skills. She reiterated exactly what you said--"NEVER touch a fighting dog, as it causes them to turn on you!" I sought professional in-person evaluation to determine if it was possible they could safely live together in the future, and if so, what must be done.

All my dogs are undergoing further training under professional guidance and thankfully, order has been restored. I am fortunate the outcome was not worse and that Animal Control knew my dogs personally: that they were not vicious, people-aggressive, or even aggressive with each other or other dogs prior to this incident. My other dog, a small pit-mix, sustained a bite to her foot while trying to help me break it up. Their wounds were far less than mine and all have recovered.

My dogs are separated when home alone before this and always will be. But no more fosters--my first duty is to keeping my pack running smoothly and being a strong leader EVERY day. I volunteer in other ways now.

Thanks for your important safety message. Wish I'd known it before.

This photo is not as graphic as some; a month later the 20+ stitches are out and the swelling reduced enough to allow me to type. Just waiting for bones to heal so can start therapy and finally work again.

CW

I was attacked by a neighbor's pit bull. It was about 7:40 in the morning on November 7th when I was walking down the road and taking my son to preschool. I noticed that the neighbor's dog, that had mildly bit my son's forearm in April, was loose. So, I quickly picked him up off his bike and stood still. Then I noticed the dog running towards us, so I turned sideways so my son would not get bit again. The dog jumped up and bit my elbow and shook his head until I fell to the ground. Then he let go and just paced back and forth in front of us. I slowly backed up to another neighbor's door where she called animal control and the ambulance. I was transported to the hospital and had to have major reconstructive surgery to fix my arm. I still have a very distinctive scar most of the way around my arm, but luckily I have full movement. It was the worst dog bite that the animal control in our town had seen. The dog was kept tied up in the woods with little contact by the people's house, so when ever he got loose he would go crazy. If there is anything else you would like to know, just let me know. Thanks.

Well, after my son was bit in April, the people got a few citations and the dog was quarantined for 10 days to their garage. They then had to get a better collar since they considered his incident minor, but since mine was considered major, the dog was put to sleep and they received more citations. Yes, we did sue them since it was the second time it happened.