Dog Bite and Dog Attack Photos - Page 2

I am a volunteer for a rescue, in San Diego, CA.

I had walked this dog many many times, no issues or problems.

I was at an adoption event, and noticed some white "things" (for a better word), on his rear. So I took him to the one person (his person) that I knew would let him examine him.

We laid him down, and I showed her what I was worried about. She explained it was baby wipe remains from her trying to clean him up.

I was on one knee at the time, and he jumped up and nipped at my face, getting a little beard in his mouth. I grabbed his leash and held him away from my face, and he turned his head, bit me lightly at first, then gradually increased the pressure. Eight stitches later...

Art

If a dog respects the adults of the house as the leaders, why wouldn't they also respect the babies of the leaders in a similar way that wolves and other pack living canids respect the offspring of the pack leaders? I have been around big dogs my entire childhood and I never ever knew a kid that got bit on the face, and in fact, with humans teaching children how to relate to dogs and how and when to behave towards dogs, we never in my entire childhood had any serious incident with a dog that I can recall, and this in a town full of families of kids and many dogs of all types.

I personally believe no normal dog will maul a human being which it knows, and that any dog that would seriously harm a person on the face is probably a vicious dog which has something wrong with it as far as it's socialization. Of course, I am not an expert. Also, my mother used to housebreak puppies for her friends, and I watched her housebreak golden retrievers and german shepherd pups in literally a few days - as soon as the dog could control it's bowels, it would, and these dogs were not ever punished. Housebreaking a dog, if you consider it a challenging aspect of dog training, well, I don't know what you are talking about. Mike.

Hi Mr. Frawley,

Attached are some pictures of some minor injuries that have happened to me trying to stop my dogs from fighting. I have two male dogs that go at it a lot. One is a rottweiler mix and the other is American bulldog/pit-bull.

My fiance recently tried to stop a fight and grabbed their back legs with a friend but the dogs did not let go of each other. The fights have gotten so bad that they just latch on and do not let go. We love them both so much. We wish not to have to give one away. Is there something we can do to prevent them from fighting? When they do fight, how can we separate them from fighting if they do not let go?

I am hoping you may have some advice to give. I am in dyer need of help. I hoped that they would have learned to get a long by now, since this has been going on for about a year now, but it looks like it has gotten worse.

Look forward to hearing from you!

Thanks for your help :)

Pamela

Hello,

I got bit by a Great Dane while trying to break up a fight between the Dane and another dog. I took this photo of my hand with my cell phone while in the ER.

Elizabeth

Hi,

I have 6 dogs that do not always get along. In my attempt to break up a fight between 2 Shibas, my 4 year lab came to my rescue and pulled me out of danger. I ended up with over 80 stitches from my ankle to my butt.

That picture should make people take notice.

Thanks,
Marge

I have 6 dogs. An 8 year old F cockier spaniel (THE BOSS), a 5 year old M black lab avoids conflict at all costs, 3.5 year old F Shiba, 2.5 year old F Shiba and last but not least 2 -2.5 year old M Shibas.

The 2 male Shibas cannot be within sight of each other. They will fight to kill (Teddy is 22 lbs and Joey is 35 lbs). They each have bedrooms with cages in them as they will try and go through a regular door.

Joey was at the door to Teddy's room and Teddy was not secured in his cage. I took my tennis rackets and wedged them between Joey and the door. Once I got him back he turned on the other dogs. I jumped on him and covered him with myself. I was bit from the butt all the way down my leg, little bites though. I put Joe in his cage and tried to calm the situation. I called my sister and she left work and came over, when the remaining "shibas" heard her in the garage they started to fight. At that point I grabbed a comforter to try and cover them and split them up. At that time Scout (110 lb lab) grabs my leg pulling me away from them. This is where the severe bites occurred. The ironic thing is he is my dog with me everywhere I go and he tore my leg up. The paramedics came and scooped up the innards of my leg wrapped it and so on.

I know I am insane, I still have all 6 dogs. I have attached several pictures of the wounds.

The Shibas are the only ones with collars.

If you would like any other info please let me know. Also any recommendations, other than putting me in a nut house.

Sincerely,
Marge

I had two dogs That both were not neutered. I had Grizz, a 15 pound Shiba Inu since he was 3 months old. When Grizz was 3 years old I introduced him to a new puppy who was never quite right (I thought he was abused). We named the new puppy Alamosa. I also had 3 other dogs that were all Shiba Inus, but they were neutered or females. As Alamosa got older he challenged Grizz. They were trying to establish who was alpha. I broke up one fight that was not that bad. I had a pretty good bite on my arm and finger. I kept the dogs separate till I could get the dogs fixed. On July 4th the little Shiba Inu, Grizz got out of the room. He started to run to the back door, Alamosa thought he was coming after him. He picked Grizz up by the neck and started swinging him in circles. I panicked and didn't know what to do. My 50 pound dog was going to kill my 15 pound dog.. At first I picked Alamosa up and he dropped Grizz, but then Grizz jumped and was biting Alamosa I lost balance and fell. Then Alamosa again had Grizz by the neck.. I had Alamosa in a head lock and my hand in his mouth to keep him from biting all the way down on the little dog. I was hitting Alamosa in the head to get him to release, but he only fought harder. I also tried to pry his jaw open but it would not budge. I ended up pulling the little dog from Alamosa's mouth and throwing him out the front door. Alamosa did not try and go after the other dogs nor did they try and interfere. Alamosa did not have a scratch on him. My other dog was covered in blood. I thought it was his blood. I did not even know I was bleeding until I got to my parents house and realized my meat was hanging out of my arm. My dad drove Grizz to the Emergency Vet. Grizz had a superficial wound while I had to get five stitches. It would have been more if they stitch all dog wounds. Not only did I have a good 60 bite marks on my arms and hands but I also got bit on my foot and ribs.

I had Grizz stay at my parents and Alamosa with me. I got both dogs neutered thinking this would solve the issue. I moved and my friend took Mosa. They had him 4 months. I went to check on Alamosa and he was starved and who knows what else. He was always a shy dog and was never social (even though he was always around people). I took Alamosa back and continued to keep him away from Grizz cause they would still challenge each other through the glass door. Then yesterday Alamosa was in the back yard and Grizz managed to get out. Alamosa went straight after Grizz. My mom had Alamosa by the hind quarters trying to pick him up. He would not release Grizz. I tried to pry his jaw open and it didn't work. I then put a metal stick in the back of Alamosa's jaw. He bit it in half. I had to hit Alamosa with a 2 by 4 for him to let go. We separated the dogs and they were both fine. They bit through one of my moms nails, and I have 5 small bites on my fingers. Now I feel I have to put Alamosa to sleep. I have tried to get him used to other people but it doesn't work. He growls and snaps at everyone. Even people he once knew. It is hard cause he is a GREAT dog, but only with me. He knows tons of tricks and is obedient with me. I can't trust him with other people or animals and can't take the risk of him hurting anyone or anything else.

Hello my name is Duna,

My dog Mylie, who is a German Shepherd, was playing in her backyard with my friends dog, Malibu, who is a Bit Mix. They got excited and my dog being a puppy went for Malibu's neck and Malibu started attacking my dog. I grabbed the dogs by the collars and Malibu bit my forearm. I just read and watched your video, now I know how to brake dog fights apart and I will never try this by myself again! The dogs are fine, I got the worst of it! I thought I would share my Bite picture with you! Thank you for all you do!

Duna

On 03/02/1984 I was 6 years old when the neighbor's dog bit me. I was in the owner's house, watching TV, the dog was sitting in front of me, I kind of had to look around the dog to see the cartoons. My name was mentioned in a conversation between Neighbor and my mom so I turned my head to look at them. That was when the dog jumped at me.

In picture 1 you can see how I couldn't close my eye all the way—this was because my eyelid had been torn off and was hanging next to my nose. After being re-attached, it was a little too short. Pictures 2 and 3 were me sitting on the couch at home after coming home from the hospital. Picture 4 is after the stitches were removed from the tear in my face; puncture wounds all healed pretty well. Picture 5 depicts a better-healed scar.

I had plastic surgery twice to remove the scar, my eyelid is still a little different than the other one—not noticeable to the average person but very aggravating to anyone putting make-up on me! The physical scar under my eye has been totally removed but it was very painful and frightening as I was still rather young when the surgeries occurred and when they do surgery right under your eye, they can't allow you to be put under as they need your eye to stay open... scary to say the least.

The emotional trauma was enormous. The taunting from other children about my messed-up face, cruel and painful. The subsequent surgeries were terrorizing.

This dog had bitten another child in the neighborhood not too long before me, in the face as well. The owners said it wouldn't happen again and the dog was allowed to live. Then, my mom and I went over to Neighbor's house for a visit, they talked while I watched TV.

Dyani-Alexandra
Dog-weary mother of 2 girls who aren't even allowed to LOOK at a dog

This was within seconds of getting fight broken up and I had a jacket on when bitten. This looks like my knee cap it is the forearm below elbow.

I was walking my dog, a 40 lb male. His leash slipped out of my hand and he ran over to a 70 lb husky male that was also on his walk. The lady walking the husky started screaming instantly -- before the dogs had even come near each other. They started sniffing -- and fighting as I ran over. The lady backs away, pulling on her leash, screaming. I was alone and tried to grab my dog's legs and kick his jaw off. He had a grip on the other dog's neck at that point.

I told myself I wasn't going to put my hands in the middle of it and went to grab my dog's leash to attempt to pull him off since my other tactics weren't working. It was laying on the street and I grabbed it quickly. The husky was faster though -- and reached over and put his 2 canines into my forearm and quickly released. I yanked the leash for about 5 seconds and then they both released each other.

The 2 punctures were on either side of my forearm -- and nearly connected in the center (very deep -- as his entire tooth went through each hole). The doc loosely put one stitch in either hole since they were gaping open -- but in a way that they would drain and breathe properly.

My male had been in a fight with a very territorial female 5 months before this. The female initiated when he got close to her. Since then -- if I'm not present to control the situation and correct him when he encounters other dogs -- he fights. It happened another time when he bolted out the front door that wasn't latched properly and started fighting with a male beagle about his size who was walking by the house.

We have another dog -- a 65 lb female that he plays with great. She is very gentle and will ignore him and walk away if she doesn't want to play. Sometimes, however, if she has a bone he wants, he whines and is scared to go near her and retrieve it. (Makes me question his dominance).

I walk them daily -- they both walk by my side. I'm frustrated with the male's aggression in uncontrolled surprise encounters. If you have any tips or insight for me -- I would greatly appreciate it. I'm very inclined to take him to a trainer for professional help -- but money is tight.

In the house, and in situations where other dogs aren't present -- he is HIGHLY obedient. He knows if I don't approve of his behavior and rolls on his back in submission when I simply approach him and give him "the look." He has never shown any aggression towards humans.

He is easily trainable and I try to be consistent and work with him often -- but still he fights with dogs in uncontrolled situations. I recently watched a chihuahua in our house for 2 weeks and he would sniff curiously -- but avoided him besides that. There are a pair of female St. Bernards that they meet with and they surround him and he shows no aggression towards. They are unleashed and my dogs are leashed.

Take care,
Mollie

Hello,

I recently stumbled upon your website, I see that you are always on the look out for pictures of bites, so here u go.

Well on 03/03/10 @ about 4:30 my son (7 years old) was playing outside with his friend like he always does. A neighbor let her dog outside while she checked the mail. Well my sons friend (7 year old boy) barked at the dog but then the dog came running and growling after them so the boys were scared and made a run for it but the dog was faster and jumped up and bite my son on his back. The lady heard him screaming so she turned and quickly got her dog and put him away, her dog is a Shepard/lab mix 2 1/2 year old by the way. The owner also said that he has never done this before and he always plays with kids and she didn't know what happened, she kind of blamed it on the other kid for barking... I blame it on her because where I live there is a leash law and she clearly didn't follow it... Luckily the bite was not too deep but it did get a little infected and we had to put him on stronger antibiotics, but my son is a little messed up over it mentally.

My question is; Is it normal behavior for a so called friendly dog to do this? To me this is not normal and the dog should have never done this but I'm not an expert...

Thank you,
Gabby

My boyfriend and I took our Jack Russell/Pug to the dog park where he was in the pen with about eight other dogs and they were all doing fine. A large Pitt-bull/Terrier mix came into the pen with his owner and three children. It happened so fast--the attack, that my dog would have been killed if Chris, (my boyfriend) did not intervene. I know that Chris almost lost his thumb while saving my dog, but my dog, Tucker, would have surely been dead if he hadn't. I think Chris was extremely lucky that he didn't lose his thumb or experience much more serious injuries as once the jaws lock it's impossible to get them open. I'm not sure why the dog let go but Chris pulled our dog, Tucker up off the ground by his harness and that's when he got bitten. The dog was trying to latch on to our dog again after Chris got him off the ground. I was reading your advice on the web about breaking up dog fights and in retrospect it all makes sense. However, what doesn't make sense is going to a dog park in the first place because you never know what type of dog you'll encounter. That was surely Tucker's last trip to a dog park and ours as well!!!

Below is a picture of our little dog, Tucker (22 lbs.) who was prey to the larger aggressor who had to weigh about 130 lbs. Big dogs and little dogs don't mix...

Best,
Kaydi

Let me know if you need to know anything else. As of now we aren't sure about the prognosis of Chris's thumb--nerve, tissue, ligament damage etc. as it just happened yesterday. They gave him about 8 stitches but now we are learning that you aren't supposed to stitch dog bites. However, since this went down to the bone--they had no choice.

Enclosed are two pictures: the first, is a bite I had from a pit-bull three summers ago. I was trying to keep my dogs away from an iron gate where the pit was, and made the mistake of giving the pit-bull my back! He grabbed my leg, but didn't tug nor pull (thank God). The moment I felt him clasp down, I ever so slightly, moved forward, that's what tore my leg! It had to be simultaneously, because as soon as i felt it, I turned and opened his mouth with my hands, he immediately let go!!! The second, is a picture of my dogs at "play!" This is not the first time that I've been bitten! I actually had an encounter with an Akita when I was 9 years old! He was biting into my scull for more than 30 minutes!! Not more than three months later, that same dog bit me again, this time on the face!! All together, I've had 85 stitches from dog bites!! Being the resilient male that I am, I'm truly a pack leader now and everyone who sees my dogs with me, can tell.

Jackson

I thought that will get a cringe out of you! It was a big ordeal! the cops showed up before the ambulance did and they kept wanting me to show my leg to the new arrival of cops! They where just as astonished as you were! What made them freak out, was the fact that I was totally cool and calm! I was joking around flashing them my leg and laughing at their reactions! Needless to say that my adrenaline was off the charts!! I was just soooo happy that "hammer" the pit, let me go!! I was expecting the worse! I could have been really hurt, you know? But like you said, I am a tough SOB!

A plastic surgeon did stitch me up and flush it, but thank god it wasn't a long healing time. I was on crutches for three weeks and i even put out a fire at school, running on one leg to get the hose from the stairway!!! The scar healed up amazingly, I must say!

Dear Cindy,

In response to the request in your newsletter for pics of dog bites I am submitting attached. My friend was playing with a very friendly springer spaniel. There was no aggression involved. My friend was holding the tug incorrectly and as the dog lunged to grab it, he pulled it away, at an awkward angle. She inadvertently bit him. The damage took less than a moment to happen. The dog let go immediately she realized the thing in her mouth was not the toy, but all too late. In all of the relevant videos, Ed and Michael stress the correct positioning of toys / tugs. It is extremely important that people realize this advice stems from years of experience and can save them a lot of pain. My friend was very, very lucky, as he is a diabetic and elderly (80 years). It was not easy to find a doctor who was willing to put the stitches in. The wound was sutured the following day and healed uneventfully. If complications had set in, it was not impossible to believe he could have ended up losing his hand.

Thanks for the great newsletter. We appreciate the work you guys put into it!

Kind regards, Sam

This is what happens when you work a dog civilly and get too close. The handler did not realize that it was a live bite right away for it was dark out. After the out I put my sleeve back on, not knowing the extent of the damage and obviously in shock, I continued the work until my friends stopped me and brought me to the hospital.

Matt

Hello,

I was wondering if you could point me in the right direction for some material in training my dog not to bite. We have a 7 month old male shitzu/ Yorkie mix that is showing signs of aggression towards my 6 year old son. He has bit my son twice to the point of drawing blood. We had a trainer come out and work with the two of them to try and repair the bond. It seemed she worked more with training my son than with the dog. She taught my son not to stare him in the eye and not to be ground level with the dog and to stand tall. The first time he bit my son was a couple of months ago. I was holding him and my son reached in to pet him and he bit his hand puncturing it and drawing blood. Last night he bit my son again in the face. He took one of my son's toys and when he reached down to get it the dog lunged at my son's face growling and snarling and bit him and held on until I swatted him. Luckily he only weighs about 6lbs and didn't do much damage… I have been researching Yorkie pet rescues today for placement. But I am wondering if he is fixable at this point and can be trained to be a loving dog with my son. He is fine with myself, my husband and our 9 year old daughter. He is currently being crate trained. And when out of the crate we keep him on the leash in the house at our sides while the kids are home until he can be trusted. He bit my son yesterday while on the leash. We planned on having him neutered this month. I'd hate to give him away if there is some hope for him but then again I would never forgive myself if he seriously injured my son or another child for that matter. Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated.

Mary

Hi,

Here are photos of some dog bites I received when attacked by a new neighbor's Akita dog. I had not met it before and it got out accidentally when the owners were having an argument. It came up to me growling when I was on the sidewalk talking to another neighbor. I turned and walked away and my husband yelled out my name. When I looked back the dog had lunged and was off the ground with its head level with mine. It knocked me down in front of my house and I rolled from side to side to protect my neck. If my husband had not got him off me I think I would have been killed. He weighed over 100lbs.

Maree

The owners thought that I must have done something to their dog! They were sure of this even though they admitted to the neighbor who witnessed the attack (and who had nightmares for months), that the dog had bitten the woman owner too. Of course it was not the all out attack he launched on me.

The local dog warden wanted the owners to put the dog down but they refused. He said his hands were tied because the county was in the middle of a state court battle appealing their vicious dog ordinances. He couldn't even force them to put a muzzle on the dog which would have helped me feel better. He suggested I seek legal advice.

The owners kept the dog locked in their upstairs apartment most of the time, (which I thought was not fair for a big dog), and I think they walked him in the middle of the night. They also fixed their backyard fence and would exercise him in the yard with them staying with him. Sometimes the dog would be on their front balcony and he would growl at visitors to the neighbor who lived next door to them. The owners thought it was funny when the neighbor expressed concern that the dog may jump off the balcony and attack them!

I realized I had become afraid of large dogs and stopped walking in our neighborhood. My husband's health insurance included some free counseling so I visited with a counselor who recommended I carry mace. The warden told me that could be dangerous for me but to carry pepper spray instead.

I was attending university at the time and decided to speak to the student legal aid office to see if there was anything that could be done about the dog. I was upset at the owner's attitude. It was obvious they didn't really think their dog was dangerous even though they saw me covered in blood after the attack. They were sure I had provoked their dog and refusing to admit it! The legal aid office wrote a letter to the dog owners and also to the landlord enquiring about their insurance. They contacted the rental insurance company to see if they would do anything about my expenses and pain and suffering.

The thing is I didn't really have any expenses because the health insurance paid for my visit to the hospital emergency room. Luckily the dog had had a rabies shot. The owners brought a copy of the paperwork to the hospital while I was being treated. I was told money for pain and suffering is based on a formula related to my costs. I didn't really have any costs though and then I was due to graduate and also leave the state. One of the reasons we moved actually is that I no longer felt safe in the neighborhood.

I am still working on being less terrified of big dogs. Anyway to cut a long story short the owners kept the dog and I received $5,500 in compensation after the hospital had been paid back. Now I wonder if I should have held out for more. Being afraid of dogs has really limited my quality of life. It is so annoying.

Thank you for what you do with dogs. I came across your website by accident and now will have a lot better idea of whether a dog owner is in control of his pack or not. I also now know not to look a dog in the eye (it was a bit difficult not to when he was level with my crotch and growling), or to turn my back and walk away. Thanks for listening. It has been nice to unload. I usually don't talk about it because I think people don't really understand the terror I felt during the attack.

After my husband got the dog off me I looked up to see the dog starting to circle me. Luckily his owners then appeared and called him away. I hated feeling so helpless and don't think I could have been as brave as my husband if it had been him who had been attacked instead of me. The warden wondered if there was domestic violence in the dog's home and that he was stressed and attacked me because I was a woman. I had a feeling I should not have walked away from the situation, but I was so scared, and I was walking away from the dog's home, not towards it. I cannot believe the dog's owners could be so irresponsible. They obviously do not think their dog is aggressive, which is amazing to me. I hope the photos help someone else too.

Maree

If only we'd read your article BEFORE this happened. Only 4 stitches. No permanent injury. GSD vs rescue mutt. Tried to intervene on behalf of rescue.

We're not really sure how the fight started. I was on my computer and heard them get into it. By the time I turned around the 41 lb mixed breed rescue was down and the GSD had him by the fur around his throat. My husband came running out of the bedroom and straddled the GSD, grabbed him by the collar and yelled OUS a million times. Then I threw a couple of glasses of water in his face. Hit him with a stick. Nothing worked. He was NOT letting go. That's when my husband asked me to try to pull the rescue (Karl) away from the GSD. Karl turned his heard toward me and I got it in the hand. 4 stitches and possible a fractured knuckle. I know he was just trying to protect himself. It was my fault. But yeah, dog fights are scary and it's almost impossible to watch one dog you love try to kill (it least it seemed that way) another dog you love. Thank you so much for your article, we will know how to handle it if (when?) it happens again!

My two border collies got into it and I was dumb enough to get in the middle. Three stitches later I am ok. Luckily there was no serious damage.

Norm

Hello my name is Tanya. I have a 2 year old Jack Russell who bit me and thought these photos may help. I am including a letter that I have sent out to people and rescue homes so that you can have a better idea of my situation, incase you wish to use my photos.

About 3 weeks ago, my boyfriend Jay and I adopted a beautiful 2 year old female and spayed Jack Russell named Sassy. Sassy also just received her distemper and rabies shots and just started her heart guard pill and we treated her with Frontline Plus.

Sassy's previous owner claimed that Sassy was his niece's dog and that his niece went off to college so she had to give her up. He never told us that she had an aggression problem. Once we found out that Sassy did have an aggression problem, we tried to contact the previous owner immediately and he would not return our calls. Although our Sassy has this problem, she is also a very sweet and smart dog! Jay's cousin is a former trainer, and together, they have been training her and have had great success. Sassy is a great walker and she loves to play. She is already well into her first few commands. The problem is that she is also a random biter. This wouldn't be the end of the world, as we believe that all animals deserve a fare chance and it takes dedication and time to help an aggressive little Jack. Our issue is that it's not just us in the house, we also have my 15 year old daughter who lives with us and we can NOT take a chance with her safety or anyone else's! All we want is for Sassy to have a chance with people that know what her special needs are and that may be able to help her find a good life in a loving environment. If you can please help us! Jay and I are prepared to do everything in our power to make this happen. If any of you know any NON KILL rescue homes or anyone who is willing to adopt her who is aware of her issues and does NOT have children, then please get back to us as soon as possible. We would be greatly appreciate it.

Much love,
Tanya and Jason

My two younger female dogs were getting snarky with each other. My older dog decided to join in. I was afraid she would get hurt so I reached in to pull her away. As you can tell I lost. Big lesson learned on breaking up a dog fight. Luckily the hand works fine with no permanent damage.

Janet

The dogs were a Golden Retriever and a pound dog mix. The older dog was a Dalmatian. I was fortunate that they did not tear the tendon you can see in the picture. As bad as it looks it was all a flesh wound. It happened so fast I didn't even realize I got bit until I saw the blood. I got very lucky.

This is a photo of my hand after surgery, which resulted when I broke up a fight between two intact male Pembroke Welsh Corgis. They had been living together peacefully for four months prior to this incident.

One was ten years old (attached photo) and one was only two, and I was afraid the younger one would actually kill the older one, or I would have let them settle it. They are both large for Pembrokes; 32-34 pounds.

The older one's teeth are actually what got me, though he didn't realize it; he was biting down on the other dog. My index finger ended up curled up between his molars (still not really sure how I got in that position) and he splintered the bone in the back of my hand.

I was home alone, and eventually I got them apart by spraying Bitter Apple in their faces, eyes, mouths, until I could get one loose long enough to throw him in a crate. I had gotten them apart a few times before that, but then the other would leap up and attach himself to some part of the one I had grabbed (I'm not very tall and my arms are not long enough to keep them separated).

It was a terrifying time; probably lasted about 15 minutes. I have kept them apart for a year now, and I immediately neutered the younger one. I have been considering getting muzzles and trying them loose together that way to see how they behave. It's been over a year now.

Sincerely,
Sherry

Hi Ed,

Like the site and information.

I have 5 children, 1 wife and 1 dog.

I am writing you to share this weekend's episode of dog bites kid, and to vent some of my frustration, with poor dog owners and they are usually in denial.

We went camping this extended weekend at a lake, (we have had other social interactions, several times with this family at their home), and they brought their dogs, everything seems normal, I ask about their 12 year old shepard's health in general, knowing that these animals have age issues with their backs and hips, I got a non-committal kind of reply, and I noticed that the dog seemed to have glaucomic eye distention, (Eyeball seems more rounder, protruding), and asked the owner if the dog seemed to have any difficulty seeing. again I got a non-committal response like, no, not yet.

(Background: I had been a Navy Corpsmen since 1982, and the person I was speaking with was a Physicians Assistant).

Anyway, his wife took the animals to the water to play, and get wet, and they, the animals and kids had interacted before, and were playing in and by the water just fine, (How ever the wife stated that the dog seemed to be having difficulty with depth perception, miss stepping and "falling off" the submerged ledge, and getting a little panicky, so she guided the animal back to the beach, and to their tent site.)

That evening, We came to their tent site to visit, my 5 y/o boy sat down behind the dog and went to give it a hug. The dog started like it was scared, and barked/bit my son twice in the face. We were fortunate that it was not a worse bite, as you can see in the pictures, it would have been the entire right side of his face.

I treated my boy with ice to keep the swelling down, and check up with the owners on the status of the rabies vaccination. All is okay there. I asked them if they would have their dog examined by a vet, I wanted them to, for safety of others, as they have a nice, timid 13 year old daughter. I hope they do, and that there is no other incidents.

My Boy is fine, tough nut that he is, even wanted to pet the dog that bit him afterwards.

I have always cautioned my kids about animals in general, but especially dogs and the do's and don't's with them.

We adopted a 4 year old Blue Heeler from the local shelter when my boy was about 18 months old, the first trial we did, was controlled and tethered socialization at the shelter for compatibility, the dog, Chickory, first went to a corner and relieved herself, then the next thing she did was to submit herself to the boy, on her back and whining at his feet.

She has been a protector for our kids every since, (we now also have twin 3.5 y/o's). Chickory is an Alpha female, spayed, and never allowed to be aggressive towards any children, (we have lot's of kids and friends over).

Hope you can use the pictures.

Thanks,
Roger

Fresh from last night... It was between a 2 year old male, neutered Malamute and a 5 year old female, spayed GSD/Siberian mix. Both indoor, normally loving dogs. I've never even heard the Malamute growl. She was the instigator, and stole his toy. She had bullied him from a pup and he has just now gotten brave enough to fight back. We tried grabbing hind legs, putting a bucket over heads, throwing a bucket over water, throwing the actual bucket, inserting a folded chair in between, then my husband did the unthinkable and grabbed a collar. He knew better, too. We finally turned the hose on them.

Rachel

Hello!

I recently made the mistake of trying to separate two of my dogs; and this was the result. Unfortunately I did not take a picture before stitches as my veins and bones were exposed and I was not thinking clearly.

I am an animal behaviorist and Welfare Inspector, and so have no excuse at all.

Henriette

We did everything wrong in bringing a new dog in to our pack, and, apparently, weren't living correctly with that pack anyway. A massive 4 way dog fight ensued, one was almost killed, and we got the living sh*t bit out of us breaking it up. Now we are starting from scratch with the "Establishing Pack Structure" video. We also will watch the "Dominant and Aggressive Dogs" video as well. We wonder if the dogs can ever be left alone together outside, presuming we actually work your program? Cindy said no, and like a patient trying to find a doctor to tell them what they want to hear, I'm asking you. No disrespect to Cindy. Right now they are all sleeping quietly on their assigned pads in the living room. But I never know if a big blow up will occur. We are keeping them separated during the day, walking them all together at night, and have totally regulated their behavior in a way we never did before.

Rhae Leigh has healed beautifully, she's minus one ear, she nearly died at one point! Now she's running around like it never happened. $7,000.00 later.

Photo quality a little crappy for your website, just included for your info. Of course, you've seen it all before.

Thanks to God my hand healed, I'm a surgeon. I KNEW not to stick my hand in there, but the wheelbarrow trick didn't work. They were locked on to Rhae Leigh like a vice. If push comes to shove, we could re-home the new guy, we never had trouble prior to that. But, as you say, it was our fault, not his. We thought we had a good pack structure, but we were really not all the way there. And yes, we are Cesar fans. Now I don't know what to think of him. That acupuncture crap just made me wonder if he has spent WAY too much time in L.A.

Michael

Our two German Shepards got into a fight over what we believe is territorial aggression. My wife tried to separate the dogs and was bit on the arm, above the elbow. Here are a couple pictures of the dogs and the bite.

The black shepard is the attacker, Dante. The brown shepard, Kylie, was attacked and received 16 stitches on her left leg. My wife received 3 stitches from the bite.

Thanks for the info on your site. It really helps us with the problem we had.

Shaun

Hello. I am Skylar, I am 17 years old, and I'm from Iowa.

My mother and sister heard word of a dog a few towns away, that would make a great family pet. So we went maybe 11 miles out to get him. As the first couple of weeks had gone by, we began to notice he was VERY hyperactive. So, I would take him on 3-4 walks a day to calm him down. August 6th, 2010, I took him on his first walk of the day, everything was going great, besides the constant dragging me half way down the street. Lol, he's a big boy. Ha ha. Well, I thought it was a good idea to stop by at his dog friend's house, Joker. They were always good to one another always happy to see each other, nothing out of the norm. So we get there, they're playing as usual, when Joker decides to run down the street (we live on the same street). Of course Murk wants to run after him, and begins to pull me down the street, I tried my hardest to pull him back in hope of Murk calming down for once. As I'm pulling his leash back, his body turned and slipped his collar. My dog Murk, runs down the street after him, wanting to play. Joker is a much older dog and I suppose took it the wrong way. Not to mention Joker had wandered off into our yard, which is Murks territory. Murk gets to Joker, and tries to play, and joker being older, took it the wrong way, and began to maul my dog. This went on for maybe 15 minutes, I'm screaming and yelling, completely in a state of panic. My dog is a pit bull lab mix. And joker is a pit bull bulldog mix. So, as I've heard rumors, once pits begin to fight there is no stopping them. So, I grabbed murks collar, (stupid to break up a dog fight I know, I just didn't want one of them to die). As I did this, Joker, grabbed hold of my arm and began thrashing his head around as if I was a rope toy. Beginning to feel my bone slowly being crushed, I could either, A: Let him tear my arm up, and cause more damage. OR B: Rip my arm away from him, while he still had a chunk full of my skin in his mouth. I chose B. I had to go to the Emergency room, and they gave me a few stitches (messed them up by the way). Low & behold the sheriff shows up and starts asking me questions. I wasn't even worried about my arm in the least bit, I just wanted to make sure the dogs were okay. Well, after me pleading with the officer, and telling Jokers fantastic background of being a wonderful dog, he had filed his papers and was on his way. I get home a few hours later, and the police told Mike, (the owner of joker) that he had to be under a ten day watch, he wouldn't be put to sleep, because it wasn't an attack it was an accident. I'm the dumby who decided to break up a dog fight and I take full blame for my bite, it was not Joker's fault, he didn't know better. Once dogs get into that rage attack mode, there's no "Oh you're my owner, I won't bite you." No way. Our towns city council people, or whatever, told Mike he had to give away his dog because there were to be no pits in town. I mean, we live in a town with 250 people. And he was going to give him away to the humane society, but there was a waiting list? I think? Something along those lines, and instead, had Joker be put to sleep.

WELL ANYWAYS MISTER. THIS IS WHAT OPTION B LOOKS LIKE.

Good Morning,

Thank you for making a page dedicated to showing the effects/results of humans improperly trying to stop dog fights or other situations. I was wondering if you could include more pictures of the dogs that bit so people know that its not just the stereotypical dogs that can bite. I have been a law enforcement officer since 1998. A couple of years ago I was working in Alabama and investigated some goats that were being attacked by local dogs. I expected 1/2 wild dogs to be the perpetrators. After searching the area, I returned to the area of the goat pin and one of the dogs was inside chasing the goat, after it had already attacked it. The big, soft, fluffy golden retriever was going after the goat with a "smile" on its face like it was chasing a ball, not a living thing. The other dog was found later. It was a fluffy friendly mixed breed. Both were family dogs that at night slept in the bed with their adolescent boy owners kids. Both had very pleasant dispositions and were quite friendly to humans. Both had blood all around their mouth from the goat. I checked their mouths to verify that the blood was not the dogs own. Both were completely fine with me manipulating their bodies and mouths to check for wounds on their selves. No aggression whatsoever. I made sure the owner saw the blood on the dogs and saw the goat. Otherwise there may very well have been : "not MY dog" issues.

Thank you for the wealth of free information you provide on your sight. I plan on purchasing some DVDs from you guys when I get back from deployment.

Hi, I just wanted to share some pictures of what happened to me after my pit bull mix attacked me. I was walking him, and he saw 2 dogs approaching our path. I turned around, since I knew how upset and aggressive he gets. He did not like that and jumped on me. He bit me about 10 times, but for some reason he would let go and then come back to bite me again. My chocolate lab came very fast to get the dog off me. We went to private obedience training. It went well for a while, but after he turned a year old, he started biting who ever was walking him to attack other animals. He is very aggressive towards them, he was going to the "Red Zone" in a second.

Fresh from last night...I hope you can clean it up a little bit. It was between a 2 year old male, neutered Malamute and a 5 year old female, spayed GSD/Siberian mix. Both indoor, normally loving dogs. I've never even heard the Malamute growl. She was the instigator, and stole his toy. She had bullied him from a pup and he has just now gotten brave enough to fight back. We tried grabbing hind legs, putting a bucket over heads, throwing a bucket over water, throwing the actual bucket, inserting a folded chair in between, then my husband did the unthinkable and grabbed a collar. He knew better, too. We finally turned the hose on them.

Rachel

Hello Ed,

One of my puppy purchasers call me in hysterics yesterday. Her 2 year old male german shepherd had just been attacked by a pit bull while she was visiting her daughter. Because she had visited your website, she was able to tell a neighbor who came to help to grab the pit bull by the hind legs and pull him off her dog. Fortunately the neighbor was a big strong man, and the pit bull let go as soon as his hind legs came off the ground. The pit bull was in the red zone and we are sure without the right intervention, her german shepherd would have been killed. It could have been much worse. Attached are photos.

I always provide my puppy buyers with your DVD, Your puppy 8 weeks to 8 months, and suggest they visit your website to have a look at various articles, such as how to break up a dog fight. Fortunately she took my advice and your website was there.

Once again, a big thank you from a very grateful dog owner and the breeder for all your hard work and dedication.

Edith

After the most recent family dog fight, I did a web search and found your site and article on breaking up a dog fight. Your article requested dog bite pictures, so I thought I'd send these. My husband had 9 loose stitches in the palm of his hand because the skin was pulled away down to muscle. You can also see some puncture wounds. The other side of his hand has a larger puncture wound.

Both dogs ended up with multiple puncture wounds, one of which swelled up alarmingly and leaked for over a week. It's almost a month later and their scabs are finally coming off.

Here's the scoop: Six years ago my young daughter and I lived alone. Both our dogs (a Shepherd and a Lab mix) died of older age and causes. Keep in mind I've always had large dogs and coached them to be kind to everything, including our cats, children and other dogs.

My daughter and I then adopted a rescue dog: a wonderful male Rottweiler, Rocket, approximately 1.5 years old. Rocket was scheduled to be put down in an Ohio pound, so we have no history on him. For the first few years of having Rocket, if my daughter or I would cry, Rocket would shrink and leave the room, as if scared. About a year later, I met John, a 6'2" large man with a booming voice. From the start Rocket had a problem with John and similar-type males. He would, and still will, skirt around John while huffing and making aggressive moves when John moves from one room to another or walks up or down stairs. Outdoors there are no problems. We suspect he and his female owners were abused by a large male.

When John and I were married about five years ago, Rocket had a hard time warming up to him. (Today, Rocket will ask John for attention or lay his head in John's lap, but only if John's sitting.) Being a dog fan himself, John wanted a second dog so he'd have a companion, plus we both believe two dogs are better than one. So we adopted another male rescue, Lucky, a Husky mix. The two hit it off and are best brothers.

After our marriage, John's son moved in with Diago, the male Golden he and his ex-wife got when Robert was a child. Again, all went well... one big, happy family with three male dogs all between six and eight years old.

Then came the surprise. Two years ago John's ex-wife received a male Rott as a gift, but when Mason turned four months old she found out she needed surgery and couldn't continue to have him. Meantime, Robert had grown attached to the dog while living with his mom during the summer, so we relented and took Mason. While Rocket appears to be more of an American bred Rott, Mason has papers dating back to excellent stock and it's apparent he's extremely smart. But I had a breeder I know check out his heritage and, from the start, he was concerned about mixing the two Rotts together.

All four dogs are fixed. Mason's now 2.5 years old. There weren't conflicts with Mason when he was a growing puppy. But then they started small and have built up since. Diago, the Golden, never gets involved. Lucky, the Husky, has been part of the attacks without being an instigator. Mostly, it's been the two Rotts who are having problems. Mason seems to think he's the coolest thing around, or is too carefree to care if Rocket is challenging him. Rocket still thinks he should be the dominant male; after all, he was king before any of the other men or dogs came around.

But Rocket is getting older and having joint problems, so he's losing the battles, but he's determined not to give up. He still tries the dominant stance over Mason, and Mason stares at him with that glare which says he doesn't believe in the "law." Ever since the last battle a few weeks ago, we have to constantly move the two apart because we can see the hairs start to rise.

We realize yelling at them when they fight does no good. And, obviously, putting yourself between them is stupid. We don't believe in physical harm, but John's had it and I don't know what will happen next time. With past dogs, letting them fight it out always worked out fine with no injuries. But the two Rotts are different. I'll tell the family about the method in your article (which I read in others, as well), but we tend to panic.

We dearly love all of our four dogs, two cats, turtle and fish. Our furry friends sleep with us and watch TV on the couch with us. Giving one away or putting one down is not an option.

Kind regards,
Kathy
Chicago, IL

Hi Cindy,

Last week I had to break up a dog fight between 2 German Shepherd bitches alone. I have never been so scared or overwhelmed in my life!

I was a taking care of a kennel of 5 dogs for a week while the owners were away at a big show on the other side of the country. The week was going smoothly until Friday night. I had an agility show with my dogs over the weekend so I was feeding the dogs and putting them in kennels in the morning and cleaning them at night so I wouldn't have to rush. Friday we had a huge rainstorm come through so I wanted to put the dogs in early so I could clean the kennels in daylight. I had had a really long but good day with my dogs and just wanted to go home feed them and relax for the evening. This could have been the first mistake.

I brought the dogs in one by one put them in the crates in the garage and between bringing in the second to last dog and the last dog, the first older bitch had gotten out of her crate and had found some spilled food on the ground. The younger bitch that was with me runs up the crate line just being happy and as soon as the older bitch sees her, a fight blows up.

I grab both dogs by the back of their necks and get them up on their back feet so that the wouldn't get any leverage to rip and tear at each other. I try to pull the older bitch off and shove her in a crate but it wasn't working so I walked them over to the puppy kennels on the wall and shove the younger bitch in the kennels and try to shut the door. Meanwhile they are both ready to kill each other and the younger is trying to get out and the older is trying to push through my legs and around my sides. I beat her on the head and get her back to get the kennel door closed. I finally get the older dog in the crate and leave to try to calm myself down.

I have never in my life had to break up a fight let alone a fight between 2 GSD's alone. All that was running through my head as I'm trying to get them apart are the thoughts "What if I can't get them apart?" "What happens if I get hurt in the crossfire and can't get them apart?" "How am I going to get to a vet afterward if I need to?"

In the end the fight was small in comparison to what it could have been. I came away with 2 very deep bruises on my belly and the younger bitch had a few scrapes on her head and a puncture wound on her elbow that the vet decided not to stitch. I came away with a new respect and realization of how important it is not to rush and make sure that everything is latched and safe.

I know how bad this could have been and realize that I got off easy and was very lucky that I was able to get them apart as fast and efficiently as I did and at the same time control the fight. I made mistakes in underestimating these dogs and not controlling their environment and a result I am reminded by the nasty bruises on my belly. I learned my lesson and I will never take for granted the importance of latches and leashes.

Aliza

Hi Cindy,

We were given this dog which was a Dutch shepherd by corrective services to try and train and socialize as he was very aggressive, it had attacked kennel staff and was suffering from a severe case of kennel spin due to being kenneled for most of it's life. I believe the dog was mentally damaged, he had also chewed his own tail off.

My partner pulled the dog out of the car and was walking him, and just socializing with him. He was comfortable with me petting him and so my partner handed me the leash while he organized water buckets etc. The dog was sitting with his head resting on my hip and I was stroking him calmly. As my partner disappeared from site, the dog started to growl and by the time I yelled out to my partner the dog had taken a bite of my hip and then went to the arm and chewed down my left arm. I managed to pull him off as my partner got back to me and as he came off my left arm managed to get a bite in on my right arm.

My partner managed to get him into our kennel where he proceeded to spin and try and chew what is left of his tail.

I went to the kennel after I had collected myself to try and approach him again but he tried to attack me through the fence. Unfortunately with further attempts the dog showed very erratic and unpredictable behavior taking every chance he could to take a chunk out of anyone who tried to work with him. We returned the dog to corrections as he was just too dangerous.

We were advised in the coming days that the dog had done some pretty major damage to one of the kennel staff and so the dog had to be put down.

I have many of your DVDs and read the articles on your site often when it comes to the training of my dogs. Your training has helped in the development of my dogs for many years now … Thank you!!

Dear Mr. Frawley,

I wish I had come across your website sooner. However it is because of multiple instances that have happened in my house this week that have caused me to submerge myself in your website and send you this desperate email.

I got my dog Bella back in April when she was about 2-3 months old. I have never completely figured out what kind of dog she but I have always guessed there was some Chow in her. Perhaps you have a suggestion based of my pictures?

Anyway, in the past week and a half Bella has suddenly become very aggressive with our other dog Daisy. She is a bit smaller then Bella, maybe by about 10 pounds. The first 2 instances were over food. Bella has seemed to develop a food aggression and perhaps even a toy aggression. If we give them both treats Bella will go after the one that Daisy has. Also, when feeding Bella, she has become quite territorial over her food if Daisy comes near it and tries to eat. I've gotten to the point where I am desperate for your suggestion and or help. This past Friday night Daisy and Bella got into a terrible fight over a raw hide. I know never to step in on a dog fight, however my roommate instinctively jumped right in and ended up having her right forearm bitten terribly. She had 3 very deep puncture wounds, I have attached a picture of the worst. We ended up sitting in the ER most of the night. The same thing happened again on Sunday night and each of the dogs walked away with some cuts. Since then I have been feeding Bella when daisy is not around and we give them treats in separate rooms or one inside and one outside. Tonight we put Bella outside with her treat and left daisy inside. Bella did not eat her treat but daisy did. We let Bella back inside and she went straight for daisy. Luckily my roommates husband scooped daisy up before Bella got to her. But this time there were no treat involved and Bella still went for her. We have been having the dogs sleep separately most of the time now. I can't understand where this sudden change in behavior has come from and I don't know what to do. I love Bella to death and giving her up just isn't an option. What do you suggest? Is there anything that I can be doing to solve this? Should I get Bella a muzzle? What boggles my mind is that we have had a baby kitten in our house since July and Bella has raised it like its her own. The kitten thinks that Bella is her mom in some respects. They play together and Bella is so gentle. But lately Bella has no tolerance for daisy.

Any help or suggestions you could offer would be greatly appreciate as I am desperate to solve this before someone else gets hurt. She has not gone out of her way to be aggressive towards people, is there any reason this could change?

Thank you for taking your time to read my email.

Sincerely,
Meryl

Hi,

I wanted to share some information with you in regards to your site on Dog Bites. I am a Police Officer, 34 years and 28 of that 34 years has been devoted to the handling and training of K9s.

Over the years I have witnessed some very serious dog bites. Some were the result of deploying a trained K9 on a dangerous fleeing or combative suspect. Many were not police K9s and were domesticated pets. Whatever the relationship, any related dog bites I witnessed were sudden and swift with drastic consequences.

Not all bites were necessarily physically disabling, but serious none the less due to the psychological impact on the victim. This impact can last a life time creating a intense fear of dog's and or animals in general.

During the course of my career involving years of working with high drive canines, I was very fortunate to not have experienced a serious dog bite. I have experienced the pressure of the canines jaws numerous times with the necessary protection and controls in place. I have always maintained a healthy respect for K9s and am always aware they are "animals" and are capable of inflicting unimaginable trauma in a matter of seconds.

In 2010 during a training exercise of a single purpose dog (explosive detection canine with obedience) the subject dog a Belgium Malinois got away from the handler, no collar or leash attached. The dog began to circle a nearby vehicle containing a very large & powerful German Shepherd dog. I was nearby attempting to prevent injury to both canines when suddenly the male Malinois turned on me. My reaction was immediate I had to give him my forearms to protect my throat & face. This attack took less than three seconds. I was able to remain calm and directed the handler to carefully remove his dog from the attack without causing further trauma to my limbs. He did get bite in the hand, but able to throw a toy down which was enough to distract the dog and was able to secure him back in his vehicle. My bite was through three layers of heavy clothing. It could have been worse had I and the other teams present panicked. I learned a lesson as did the new handler. One must maintain control over the animal at all times. Once you get complacent and sloppy and forget what potentially you have on the end of the leash you become an accident waiting to happen. I have been fortunate over the years because I have always been very conscious of animal behavior and what can lead from a calm submissive animal to primal protective reactions under certain circumstances. Hope this can assist others in the field.

Thanks for your insight,
Ken

Hi Ed,

I have been reading some of your articles, advice and other people's comments.

I have 6 dogs - four males and two females
1 male is a newfoundland at 2 years old
1 female is a Akita at 8 months old
3 other males are all rescued from the street
1 female rescued from the street

We have a 5000 square meter property, live across the road from a huge hill. The dogs are well looked after.

The problem I am having is that 3 of the males have now attacked the other male 3 times, once monthly.

Two of the males jump around and do little damage but the one male - medium size always goes for the back leg - the same leg every time and in the same place. The attacked dog just finishes healing and it happens all over again.

December 1st was the last incident, he is still healing and walking on three legs.

Last Tuesday, December 22nd, they were all barking at a dog in the street and everyone got excited and a fight started, of course the attacked dog again was the main target but I ran outside screaming and pulled the dogs off him, after pulling off the one who always does the most damage, he came back and bit me on the left leg - front and back. Of course at the time I felt the bite, but no pain. I was so busy trying to prevent the attacked dog from his fourth attack. Anyway we managed to stop them and I went off to the emergency room.

I'm better now - was a big bite.

Anyway - I need some advice on what to do when having 4 males. I would of thought after the first attack, dominance would have been established. I can't continue living like this, worrying about my one male getting killed.

My one female is fixed and the other will be done next week.

Can you advise what to do about the males - non of them are fixed.

Thank you.

The Chow Rott, her name is Bear, is about 6 years old. We also have a male American Eskimo around 4 years old, named Buddy and the Australian Kelpie is 3 years old, her name is Angel. Angel is very protective of Don, my boyfriend, and I believe her to be jealous of attention given to Bear at times.

This particular fight, where my boyfriend's hand was bitten by Bear, just happened in October 2010. Not the first fight between these two dogs but the first where Bear bit him. Not quite sure what started the fight this time, we were inside and it was evening time. I think my boyfriend and Angel were playing tug-a-war and Bear might have thought she was too rough with Don or she may have accidentally been stepped on or Angel could have jumped up and landed on her, it doesn't take much. I heard Don tell Angel no and said it again and by the time I rounded the corner to the dining room they were in full fight mode. Don was pretty much pinned against a door with both dogs at his feet. He was trying to pull Bear off Angel, Bear always gets the best of Angel, she's so much bigger. When he got her away from Angel, then Angel would never give up and keep charging and snapping at Bear. I grabbed a hold of Angel and got the door open so Don could toss Bear in the other room. There was so much blood on us, the floor and the wall/door that at first I didn't know Bear had bitten him. Don did not get stitches and healed totally in 3 weeks. Angel is a very loving dog and enjoys playing with other dogs but for some reason she only tolerates Bear and it doesn't take much to set them off. Bear, on the other hand, is animal aggressive in my opinion.

When Bear was 3 years old, Don's daughter was over and brought her little male Basingee/Chihuahua mix and somehow he got into the backyard with the other dogs (at this time we also had a 14 year old male wolf) and we thought it was going to be the wolf who would attack the little one but it was Bear. She rushed him, rolled him into a row of hedges and picked him up by the back of the neck and shook him like a little rag doll. By that time his daughter had reached them and was beating on Bear, to no avail of course. Don got there and literally had to cram his fist into Bears mouth to get the little dog away from her. Don and his daughter rushed her little dog to the vet and $900 later saved his life.

Bear and Angel don't fight all the time, plenty enough for me though, but when they do it's pretty bad. Angel usually winds up at the vet. She's had most of her puppy pads ripped off and sewn back together. She has had chunks of meat missing exposing bone where she had to get stapled shut. Every one of her legs, different occasions, have been casted, wrapped or splinted. It's awful scary. I'm afraid I'll come home from work and find Angel dead or seriously hurt. I tell Don, especially since he's been bitten, that we need to grab their rear legs and separate them but he doesn't want to believe that will work.

Well I hope my story helps you and others and I hope it wasn't to long and drawn out.

Best wishes to all,
Renee

This is what happened to me while I broke up my dogs fighting. I hag two dogs, 1 of which is a pit mix (male) the other is a small border mix (female). Most of the time they do fine but once in awhile they get into it. On this morning the argument was over food.

Our pittie mix (a rescue from the dog rescue where I volunteer) has been best friends with our grown daughter's pit for a year now. The other day, they were outside with a bone and began a vicious fight. Our dog and our daughter were hurt pretty bad before we were able to break it up. I wish we had read your website so we would have known how to handle the fight without getting hurt. My daughter was hurt pretty bad (see photos) during the fight when our dog bit her. We were very upset, ready to have her put down, even though she had never been aggressive before. I can't have a dog that bites people with my grand kids around. We read your website and realized that she was not trying to hurt our daughter. Thank God, and you, that we now have tools to handle a fight if we should ever experience that again. My daughter and I are going to keep our dogs muzzled (both purchased from your site) any time they are near other dogs just to be sure this never happens again.

Thank you, Randi

Hi. My name is Shawn and the other day while trying to break up a dog fight, I was bitten by my Shepherd. I was searching around the net to research how to effectively stop a fight if it happens again since we have decided to keep both of the dogs involved. I noticed in your article that you asked for pics, and since mine is pretty severe, I wanted to send you a pic.

Thank you for posting that article, you taught me a lot, like the first thing I did wrong was try to break up two very powerful Shepherds by myself.

~S

Because I stayed calm and used your method of breaking up a dog fight, I avoided being one of your gruesome photos on your Dog Bite site.

While I didn't execute the break-up perfectly, I surely did things in a much safer manner! I have 2 Aussies that are siblings. I feed the female (the aggressor) in the kitchen and the male in the living room, mostly so the female doesn't go after the male's food. He normally submits to her.

Well, I've started using the Honest Kitchen raw dog food and they both really love it! This time when the female tried to raid the males bowl, the male said no way and their first real fight ensued. I have to say, my first instinct was to reach for a collar, but then I stopped, collected myself and went and got 2 belts. I slipped one belt around the female's back hip area and basically dragged them both over to a door. I secured the belt to the door handle. I then put the 2nd belt around the male and pulled him up off his feet and he let go. There was some blood but nothing too bad.

I work in the aviation safety business and a rule of thumb is, in an emergency, your brain will take you back to the last training you had. This was the case for me. So please remind all your readers to LISTEN TO THE SAFETY BRIEFING and look for your exits when you get on board an aircraft. You'll be the one that knows how to get out!

Best Regards,
Jo

My girlfriend and I were walking our two dogs to the dog park (a 19 pound Westie and 65 pound Labradoodle). We crossed an intersection and saw a crazy dog in a vehicle trying desperately to get to our dogs. The owner of the dog had their windows open and the dog jumped out the windows and charged towards our westie (this dog was a mixed breed but had rottie in it, he was probably 75-85 pounds). He grabbed a hold of our Westie and flipped him over trying to bite at his neck. Before he was able to, I grabbed the dog by the jaw to prevent him from biting down. The dog ended up attempting to bite me and scratched up my legs very badly to try to get back to our Westie to kill it. It broke free and attacked our labradoodle before the owner of the dog finally came out to grab their dog (they only came out because I yelled I was going to call the cops on them). Eventually the owner got the dog in the car and asked if our dogs were OK. I told her that our Westie's leg was hurt and she then immediately said "Don't call the cops" and fled the scene.

Luckily we called the cops and I was able to get the license plate, so we have them and are filing a police report as I type.

Phil

Cindy,

Here's the story of this picture:

I took this with my cell phone today, two days after the bite. This bite might be smaller than the rest on your website, but I wanted to share my story as I know many can relate.

I own a beautiful, non aggressive, lovable 3 1/2 year old black German Shepherd. He has been spoiled rotten since puppy. Lives indoor with us, gets to go out at lunch to potty when I come home EVERY SINGLE DAY for lunch. He has been socialized since puppy and really has no issues with other dogs. He had NEVER growled at anyone, big or small, including dogs, he just simply for some reason dislikes cats.

He has been attacked a couple of times by dogs but nothing serious and no injuries.

Two days ago, I was with him on our driveway with the leash. There are two females German Shepherds who live down our street and get walked a lot by the girls in the family (about 10 years and 13 respectively). This time they were on their bikes. Charlie, our GSD has seen these dogs and we all know they are not friendly. They have nipped at Charlie before and I should have known better and gone inside the house, but I stayed there and gave the girl and her dog the benefit of the doubt. Wrong action...

As soon as her dog saw mine, she managed to get away and she ran straight to Charlie, who of course tried to defend himself, when my motherly instinct reacted and I tried to separate them with my leg, this picture you see is two days old. It is now starting to bruise. And of course, the other GSD did not directly attack me, my leg was in the way and she got me by mistake.

The owners came with the little girl afterwards and saw me cleaning the wound. It hurt a LOT, so I can only imagine what those other horrific ones are like.

I went to the ER the day after to get a tetanous shot. The co pay was $125, which they have offered to pay. Animal control took their dog to quarantine for 10 days @ $10 a day. They were told that by law, big dogs are to be walked by people older than 17 years of age.

This happened in like 5 seconds. The girl got a hold of her dog that fast. If not, it would have been worse. I really do recommend getting the video to avoid situations like these. Including one for myself.

I got a female dalmatian at 12 weeks old and she was 19 months old when we got a 7 month old female dalmatian, they are cousins. They had a bit of a fight after 2 weeks, the older one putting the younger one in her place after constantly pushing her away from me, the oldest one having stiches in her back leg. The second time was a year later when the older one hadn't finished her biscuits and the younger one was staring at her. Before I could reach them, the younger one pounced on her resulting in stitches on her leg. They have been together for 3 and a half years and for the past 6 months the younger one, whilst walking, will very often turn her head and stare at the other dog. If both on the sofa, one either side of me, the younger will stare at the other, sometimes beginning to tremble and then growling and staring.

Yesterday, the youngest dog (now 4), was sitting in the older dog's box (now 5) and she walked past, looked at the youngest and suddenly bolted for the door with the younger in pursuit who grabbed the back of her neck and started to shake her. I jumped in and was obviously bitten on the hand, puncture wounds on my arm and thumb. The older dog has a rip on the back of her neck and the younger is ok. 5 minutes later I took them for their usual walk and let them off lead and they played as usual, jumping over each other and knocking each other over. When we got home they had breakfast and played happily in the garden.

I am at a loss at what to do and I am thinking that re-homing of one is going to have to happen, as heartbreaking as it is.

I tried to separate my 2, normally friendly, dogs from fighting and it resulted in me getting bit. I wish I would have read your article first.

To be perfectly honest, I'm not 100% sure what happened. My best guess is this:

We have 3 dogs. Lola (shar pei, pit bull, boxer mix), we adopted her at 8 weeks old, now almost 4 years old. Molly is dog #2, as best we can tell she is a fox hound mix. We adopted Molly when she was around a year old, but no one really knows because she was a stray. When she came into our home back in Sept 2010, she was under weight and very aggressive with her food. So, I started feeding her as much as she would eat, the food aggression went away very quickly, now she is a healthy 62 lbs. The only issue I notice with her is that if a new toy is brought into the house, she wants it right away and will take it from the other dogs, and the other dogs will let her have it. 6 weeks ago we brought a new puppy into the home, Suka a pure bred lab.

All 3 dogs appear to be getting along well, chasing and playing without any aggressive behavior. Yesterday I bought Suka a soft bone designed for puppies to chew on. When Suka was done with it then we placed it in her kennel and closed the door so the other dogs would leave it alone. Molly was very focused on the bone pawing at Suka's kennel trying to get at it. Lola went over to see what Molly was doing and Molly went after Lola. I let it go on for a moment, then pulled Lola's collar to get her away from Molly. (My big mistake) Molly came up and got my arm, but released it right away. I didn't scream or yell because this seemed to stop Molly in her tracks. I then kenneled both dogs, separately of course and the bone went directly into the trash. After an hour in their kennel we let them out one at a time and all seems to be back to normal.

This is the everyday Lola (left) and Molly (right).

Hi, my name is Rohit and I own a black Pomeranian. I am from India.

This incident occurred just couple hours ago (time 11:30 pm in India). Me and Sheero were having a regular walk on the street. There was a black, full grown aggressive Labrador at the end of the street. He was alone, his owner wasn't there, he probably must have slipped from his house. Also there was no one on the streets. I saw him and decided to turn around but Sheero barked at him and he came running towards us. I lifted Sheero in my arms and that dog jumped and grabbed my left arm (pic sent). I screamed and dropped Sheero, the dog was biting my poor little Sheero very ferociously. I punched that dog, kicked him, even tried to pull him but all in vain. Finally, I got hold of Sheero's head, pulled him out and threw him over a neighbor's gate and I too jumped there. The dog then ran away.

Sheero's tail and back portion was bleeding, now it has stopped a little. My hand is also bleeding too much. I applied normal antiseptic on both of us. It is night time so I have to wait till morning to go to the doctor and vet. I will first go to the family who owns that dog and ask them about the injections they had given to him.

I am too much worried about Sheero. If you are online please tell if anything would happen to him or he would be safe?

Mr. Frawley,

I read on your site that you were looking for dog bite pictures...

Here are two for you.

Background: I own an in-home (their home) pet sitting company. I was at my initial meeting with the client (owner) and his dog (8 month old German Shepherd). The dog approached me and began sniffing my feet while I was beginning the conversation with the owner. Suddenly, without warning, the dog latched onto my hand and this is the end result. I am now almost 4 weeks since the bite and it is looking good... no serious damage done. They closed it with 5 stitches and 10 days of heavy antibiotics. Luckily the dog was up to date on his shots. Apparently, this dog has been aggressive towards people for quite awhile and has attempted to bite in the past. The owner took some bad advice and was treating the dog's aggression towards people and other dogs with an electric collar.

The picture with the suture in is 12 hrs. after the bite and the second picture is the day the sutures were removed. Hope this helps.

DJ