I've periodically read the Leerburg dog bites/attacks page, and looked at the pictures. I never though I'd be one to have a picture/story to add to that.

Last night, my 3 year old daughter was bitten by my parents 120lb Dobe/Rott.

Harley is 2 years old, stupid as they come, but a sweet boy. (Seriously though, he's dumb! I've never met a dog this dumb) My parents have had him over 6 months now. He's been carefully introduced, and socialized with my kids, and is good with them/my kids are good with dogs. Till last night.

Harley was laying in his crate, the door open, with a ball. Kylie reached in to pet him. Harley bit.

It's hard. I can't blame the dog. His crate should be his safe place, where no one bothers him. Kylie should not have reached in. That said, Kylie does not know any better, which is totally my fault. I happen to own 2 very special dogs, who let Kylie sit with them in a crate, and enjoy the attention. There were so many mistakes that happened right at that moment. Harley's ball should have been taken away, someone should have been watching Kylie, on and on... A good friend (who knows dogs and kids, and dog-kid interactions VERY well) put it simply as "wrong place, wrong time".

Kylie is OK. 5 hours at the ER later, she has no broken bones. The wound got flushed out well, and they put 2 steri-strips on to help close the 2 largest cuts.

We got lucky. The dog could have taken off her arm. I'm not sure if it was her crying out that stopped the bite from being worse, my Dad yelling NO, or Harley thinking "Oh crap, I bit the kid..." Whatever is was, luck was on my daughters side. She's on antibiotics, and lots of Motrin. Kylie was SUCH a trooper. She cried for 10 min, and that was it, for the entire night. As the PAC was flushing out her cuts, she simply said "that hurts". Jeeze. I think I would have cried longer then that! It looks like it HURTS! No long term mental damage was done. Within 15 min she was hugging/petting Koenig, and first thing she asked for this morning was to see Harley. What a brave kiddo.

It won't happen again. NILF has been explained to my parents, and Harley is being kept 'away' the rest of the weekend while the kids are at my parents place. (in a back bedroom/dog run). Long term solutions are still being discussed, but it won't happen again, my Dad is sure of that. I'm still hoping I can convince him that euthanizing the dog is not going to make anything better. What happened, happened. It's over. It sucked, but we can move on from it. We know exactly why it happened, and they are all things that can be prevented in the future.

A couple pictures, for those that want to see a very swollen/owwie 3 yr old arm. (not very bloody, but still yucky)

You can clearly see where the canine tooth was, on the far right. Left side was only a scrape. That large laceration has a steri-strip on it. Unfortunately the arm was so swollen that it didn't get closed completely. Richard will replace the steri-strip tomorrow night to get it closed better. (He's an EMT, and yes, he's qualified to do that. ) This is the top of her arm.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b400/turnnburn52984/271541_2165326823269_1549597668_32247414_1872772_o.jpg

Bottom of her arm. The long one is not as deep as the lacerations on the top, but it has a steri-strip on it now.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b400/turnnburn52984/265557_2165328743317_1549597668_32247420_3069_o.jpg

Thanks for listening to me vent, LB friends.

Sad to hear but glad your girl is Ok! Hope the dog doesn't get put down!

Thanks Brad... i hope he does not get PTS as well.

Here is a couple pics of Harley, with our dogs. He's HUGE.

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b400/turnnburn52984/258214_2020970614454_1549597668_32143694_5382159_o.jpg

http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b400/turnnburn52984/204428_1881946498938_1549597668_31950691_272868_o.jpg

He is a big boy!! Please keep us updated, hoping all works out, REALLY great your girl wanted to see him again!

Really sorry to hear about your wee girl, I hope she continues to recover well.

We had an incident at the UKBC appraisals the other week; a young male BB bit a young child in the face, this was a child brought up among many BB's, the familys own dogs have been socialised from day one around children, the dog that bit has not, he is a farm dog who herds and protects the sheep the owner farms, he was eventually put to sleep after the owner was convinced it was the right thing to do, she felt that she could contain him on the farm and that he would never be allowed to be around children again, the family of the young child couldn't accept this, and though they wouldn't give the name of the dog to the hospital, (who are obliged to report a dog bite), they were unable to reconcile themselves with the dog being protected when the child is now, after facial reconstruction, scarred for life.

It was a truly horrific experience for all the club, our sympathies are obviously with the parents and their daughter, but also with the young dog who was pts, my son's girlfriend has two young sons, and Harry, while he was alive, showed aggression toward these boys from his gated and crated area, they never came to the house again while he was with us...

I am in no way suggesting your parents dog should be pts, or sitting in judgement of your parents or their dog, I am in no position to do so, please, please believe that, but I wanted to share this with you to let you know how easily and quickly this sort of thing happens.

Thinking of you and your family

Tracey

Glad your little one will be okay.

IMHO it's never okay for my dogs to bite a human BUT that being said my dogs crate is his space, his refuge and a place to get away from little ones.
I have grandkids 2, 3, 4, and 5 and just recently I allow the older 2 around my dogs with less supervision but still supervised.

Kelly,

I'm really, really sorry this happened to your little one and am so relieved it is no more serious (??!!) than it is. The pics of her little are look sooo painful.

I think one reason your little gal is such a trooper is how involved you have had her with Koenig and she obviously simply loves dogs.

I don't know agression issues well enough to advise/comment on the dog issue, but sincerely hope it works out well.

Oh Kelly, how are you doing? And your parents, they must be devastated.

 Quote: Kelly Byrd

first thing she asked for this morning was to see Harley.

As a young child (six), I too was on the receiving end of a bite in pretty much the same spot as Kylie. The skin didn’t break in my case, but the teeth marks were fairly deep and it bruised up pretty good.

The dog that bit me didn’t stand a chance. I heard the gunshot within 10 minutes of trying to explain what happened. Trying to explain how I had gone up to the chained dog that was in his own house (had repeatedly been told not to go near him). Trying to explain that I wouldn’t do it again. Scared and crying because I thought I was going to get in trouble for going where I wasn’t supposed to.

Nobody cared that I didn't listen or do what I was told. I was the victim of my own actions and the dog paid the price with his life. I've never forgiven myself for this.

My relationship with this uncle (that shot his dog) was always strained. He passed a while back and all I could think of at his funeral was what he must have looked like walking down to shoot his dog. Not good thoughts and it all still bothers me very much to this day.

As Tracey said, we are in no place to judge what your parents should or should not do. They know their dog and what they are capable of doing to prevent an accident like this from happening again. I just want to say, from what you’ve explained, there was a set of mitigating circumstances that I know you know and that we warn people about all the time.

Whatever the outcome, please be open with your daughter and talk freely about whatever happens. She’s young right now but will probably carry the scars of this incident for the rest of her life. The physical injuries heal quickly; the emotional aspect has a potential to last a very long time.

I hope your parents make the right decision for the right reasons. My thoughts are with you and your family, and a big hug to Kylie. She sounds like a tough little girl, I hope she heals quickly.

Sorry to hear this happened, Kelly! I don't know what I would do if one of my dogs bit one of my grandkids. I feel for your parents.

The thing is, there are certain combinations of events that we can try to predict and prevent, and then there are other combinations: Harley, ball, crate, crate door open, your daughter's familiarity with going in a dog's crate - that we can only add to our knowledge banks after the event.

Sorry to hear this happened. It's only human to think it would never happen to us. I pray for her quick recovery, and wisdom to Harley's parents.