Thanks, Carol! Does that mean that I'm NOT crazy...or that we BOTH are???

Probably a little of both.....HA HA

I know my husband thinks I am crazy for doing what I do, but he supports me nonetheless.......

Good post Jenni. So much conviction....We should put you into office.

I also have a dog that has bitten a child a long time ago. She is deaf, was asleep, and both parents and child were given specific rules of engagement with the dog. The kid came up behind her and hit her on the butt and she reacted.

She's now 12 and I can't imagine putting her down for what happened. I don't let her interact with any animal or child unattended, and everything works out well. Just from me not letting her be unattended with children and animals she has learned how to act around both. Still doesn't mean that I can let my guard down.

Also, she is a dalmatian. So you can imagine the time my wife and I have with little kids and dumb parents.

"Can I pet the fire dog?"

"No, she's old and doesn't like you."

J/K, but its the way I feel sometimes.

 Quote: michael_wise

Good post Jenni. So much conviction....We should put you into office.

OMG, Michael! I do not think you'd find many to agree with you on this point! I've been told I'm a "typical, over-emancipated American B*&^h." (TOAB, for short,LOL.) I guess some men aren't terrified by over-emancipation!


Yes, I do have a lot of conviction on this issue, and I think more people have it as well, but are afraid to go against the often well-meaning, but ignorant majority. What's that saying about all it takes for evil to get a foothold is for good (wo)men to do nothing...?

I can imagine that a dalmation would garner far more pets than a grouchy German Shepherd, so I certainly don't envy you. Good for you for keeping a realistic perspective on your dog and the incident, and especially for not having more incidents. People like you can show everyone that it IS POSSIBLE to be responsible enough to keep a dog that has bitten before and have no further incidents through diligence. Kudos.

Hey, didn't mean to ignore your posts, I just haven't been online in a long time. I respect your opinions. Of course I don't think that every dog who's ever bit someone should be put down.

There are degrees to the severity of a bite. Bottom line, my kid's face is more important than my dog's life. That may really offend some people, but that's my opinion. I'm not saying people shouldn't control their kids, I'm saying that a lot don't. I would never, ever in a million years let my kid pet a strange dog, or even a friends dog for that matter. But I've been walking my 90lb doberman and had strange kids run up and hug him around the neck, all the while the parents think it's adorable.

My cousin was bit in the face when he was 7 by his friends german shepherd. He had to go through 3 surgeries as a child and his face is disfigured permanently. He had to go through a lot of pain and suffering and is still suffering for it. I just don't think it's worth the risk

Amber's reply says that signs were missed w/ her friend's dog. The same was said to me about Willie. I want to know what the signs are-it would be helpful to me and other dog owners/friends of owners if this were addressed. Thanks

Check out the Dealing with a Dominant Dog dvd and I also think Ed has some podcasts and articles on the subject.

I have a great book that I got from Ed called "Aggression in Dogs" although I cannot recall the authors name....I will check that when I go home for lunch. You can always check out Amazon.com or Dogwise.com and search for the books name.

Dog aggression/dominance is pretty much all about reading your dogs body language and the "looks" that they give.

A dog who is not neccasarily aggressive may give off subtle signs to instigate aggression from another dog, therefore making it seem as though dog #2 started it but in all reality it was dog #1.

It is hard to explain without seeing what the dogs are doing....any way you can get some video and download it to youtube or photobucket or something like that and post the link here?

Just a few things to watch for (not saying that is going to be obvious):
Tail up over the back and stiff
Lips pursed forward
Hackels up
Staring
Standing erect and forward
Ears up and forward
Growling (bared teeth or not)

Remember, a wagging tail is not always a sign of happy and friendly, it can be a variety of things....nervousness, fear, dominance, preceeding a dog fight or bite to a human.....

Look for those books and read what Ed has to say....he offers some great info on this subject......

Thanks,Carol. Those are things I'm aware of. Hoped there was something(s) I had missed. I will get some video,too.

Eileen, keep in mind some dogs give more obvious signs than others, and some breeds do this as well, to generalize. My APBT is very difficult to read for other people, but I can almost always tell what she's feeling or about to do. Honestly, it's all in the look and how still she is...nothing else, and certainly nothing obvious. That makes it very hard for people who are not really well-versed in reading body language, or for people who don't know their particular animals that well.