German Shepherds Forum banner

What to do after an attack...

17K views 126 replies 45 participants last post by  chancey 
#1 ·
Hi. I had an 18 mo. old male GSD that attacked my 3 year old yesterday. Did sever damage to his ear and face. He was unprovoked and this is the 3rd time he showed aggression towards my 3 year old. He did not show any aggression towards my 5 year old or myself or husband. I am unsure as to what would cause him to do this. He was very well tempered until we were not around (in a different room) and then he just seemed to have it out for my 3 year old. The first 2 times he showed aggression towards our son we just thought he was playing rough. This time he actually attacked him and literally caused so much damage that he needed to have his ear surgically reattached. We are ask unsure as to what to do with the dog. I signed a release to allow him to be given back to the previous owner (at this point he is still up at animal control). The previous owner is a cop and said that he would do whatever we decided was best (put him down or not). The dog has been around other kids and was raised around this man's grandchildren. Our 3 year old son was not provoking him and was playing in the yard with our 5 year old son. He has never been anything but loving to the dog. So does anyone have any suggestions as to what would of caused him to do this?
 
#101 ·
Good for you frpringle. You have made a choice to end the dogs life before he ends a humans life. You son is so lucky to be alive, it just makes me shudder.
Selzer, I never said the dog was "bad". I said he needed to be dead. Someone commented maybe the dog was jealous, I said maybe he went after the smallest of his family as an upward movement in the "pack" and not to put human emotions on a dog.

I did not blame the OP or even whomever bred the dog,I just said this was an issue that needed to be dealt with by euthanizing, not retraining, giving to a rescue to find a home, behaviour training, etc. Somewhere, whether genetic or not, this dog became unsafe and dangerous.
I hope your injured son is doing well and healing, I hope the mental scars from this attack is able to slowly go away for both your sons and your husband and you.
 
#102 ·
This wasn't simply a bite. It was a prolonged & ferocious attack. As another poster said, Zeus was going to kill your son.Thankfully, your 5 yr old got help which arrived in time to save your boy.

PTS is really the only sensible choice in this situation. Zeus is just too dangerous to place responsibly. I'm sorry your family is going through all of this. I'm glad the previous owner is supportive.
 
#107 ·
Oh, I don't know, we have something like the pecking order. And, it seems that it could be we are so obsessed with pack order because we are driven by it in many ways. Whose the boss? Who is second in command? Who is low-man on the totem pole?

I know you did not say the dog was jealous you dismissed someone else for putting the human emotion on the dog who suggested that might be it. I don't really think it was jealousy, though I think dogs do sometimes share the green monster emotion with us -- a canine version. I do not think that in a week this dog was settled into his surroundings enough to be seriously jealous. But none of us can crawl up into this dog's brain to figure out why he did this. I doubt it had anything to do with pack order. My guess is prey drive.

Pack order usually isn't a killing thing, except in adult bitches. This dog was trying to kill. How awful for a child to be in a sustained attacked like that.
 
#108 ·
I couldn't imagine being in your shoes right now...what an awful time for your family. My heart goes out to your adorable son, and I hope he and his brother heal well...it may take awhile for them to like dogs again, if ever.

Yes, needle time.

NO EXCUSES. I mean really? Come on. Can anyone really look at those hospital pics and actually think the dog that did that deserves to stay in our society? Our society that is full of children? Didn't think so.

I agree this is pretty prey driven, but if you do any digging at all on the GSD these dogs have a breed foundation of being wonderful with children and even small animals. They were and still should be prized for a clear, sound mind and a healthy switch. No excuses.

OP, again...I know this must be a terrible time for you. You must be feeling very angry and hurt, and I really hope you and your family heal well.
 
#109 ·
My friend's mom is a dispatcher for the Mesa Police Dept.
She got a horrific call from the wife of an officer she was/is very close to. The wife was home alone and she left their 2 day old baby in the living room with their 2 large dogs while she went in th kitchen for just a moment. Their chow chow bit the 2 day old baby's head OFF - in just a matter of seconds.

I would never trust any large dog around a small child, no matter how well I knew the dog.

Would absolutely put this dog to sleep, without a second thought.
Wishing the best for your family.
 
#110 ·
Hope your son and whole family is doing better this morning. How are his wounds healing? Knowing how young he is,won't be too long before he is back to his happy go lucky child, playing with his big brother. Might take awhile for either of them to even want to get close to your bulldog, but then again, the goofy bulldog might just be the ticket to allow them to relax again.
My husbands nephew healed nicely after having his nose taken off by a dog, the reconstruction surgery barely shows. The dog that attacked him, the owner made excuses,wanted to keep the dog,rehome, retrain, etc but my sister in law fought and the dog was PTS.
My prayers are with you and your family. Make sure the Easter bunny brings a big basket for your boys this sunday..
 
#111 ·
He is doing incredibly well. He only gets upset when it's time to change his bandages. I think it's me and my husband who are having the worse time with it all. We are going to sit down with our 5 year old too and talk to him to see how he is feeling because he really hasn't said anything about it and we don't want him to think he can't talk about it. Here are some pics from yesterday, hoping the swelling in his face goes down soon, but in the scope of things, he is doing well, he is a very brave and strong little boy.
 

Attachments

#113 ·
I wanted to say thank you again to everyone for the support. I really appreciate all the kind words and thoughts and prayers for my son. He is one incredibly brave little boy! My 5 year old is a hero and I don't think he realized the impact that his quick thinking and actions had. I think the emotional and mental recovery will take longer than the physical. Our poor little bulldog has been kept either outside or in his crate. I feel horrible for him, but very soon we will start incorporating him back into the daily life of the boys.
 
#118 ·
Wow, looking at the scratch marks it is so scary how close he came to getting his eye, your little boy is absolutely adorable, kids are resillient thank God, and it can't be said enough how quickly your other little boy reacted, this could have so easily been a tradgedy of epic proportions, bless both of your little boys, the 5 year old deserves a big Easter Basket!!! :hug:
 
#114 ·
He is looking great. Remember the swelling is worse the second through fourth days after an accident then slowly goes down. Yes, your 5 year old is a hero for his little brother. I bet he will start talking about it soon, and it will be good for him to do so. Since his baby brother got hurt, he might in some way blame himself, even though he ran to dad and told him so quickly which of course saved his baby brother, he still might think he did something wrong. Get him talking about it. Let him help hold bandages or meds so he can "help" more ...
Yep, the bandage changes are the worse, when my granddaughter hurt her ankle and they had to dig rocks out of the wound, that is what she remembers most, changing the bandages. But it will get better and better in time when its not so fresh and painful
You and your husband sound like a good team and are working through this together. It will take time and might even be a good idea to have someone(a grandparent, friend) talk to your 5year old if he doesn't want to open up to you and dad.The emotional toll is harder to fix than the injuries, although those take time also.
Has your baby boy seen the bulldog yet?How did he react?Hopefully a silly familiar pet will open the laughter of playing with the family dog again soon.
Prayers to you
 
#115 ·
I'm sorry this hapened to you.
I hope you and your family heal quickly. Your son is a relly cute kid and I hope he gets well soon.

I want to thank you for posting those pictures. It puts a real person up so people can understand what can happen.

We have had bite threads that drove me up a wall with a hundred different ideas about medical tests, training, what was the dog doing before it happened, did someone provoke the dog, how about a behaviorist, blah, blah, blah.
Sometimes none of that matters and this is one of those times. So I completely agree with the decision to PTS.
 
#116 ·
We have had bite threads that drove me up a wall with a hundred different ideas about medical tests, training, what was the dog doing before it happened, did someone provoke the dog, how about a behaviorist, blah, blah, blah.
Sometimes none of that matters and this is one of those times.
This is a good point- I'd say in the bite threads that people ask those things of the OP, the bite is actually more of a nip or a slight warning. And we're right to ask those things at those times.
Often a parent or adult was there when the bite happened, etc. and can talk about those things with clarity.

In this case, this was no nip or warning. This child is lucky to be alive and I think we can all see that from the description of the attack and the photos. This was almost one of those news stories we all dread so much for all involved.

In this type scenario, it really doesn't matter what the child was doing or the dog was doing, it matters that the child was unsupervised because now we'll never know...but it doesn't matter what started it, because of the severity of the sustained attack and the fact this child was almost killed.

We euthanized a dog some 12 + yrs. ago because this dog had bitten every single one of my family members except me. He bit my daughter on the ear and she had a slight red welt where he nailed her. The 2nd time he bit my son, we drove him back to the "pound" we got him from and had him PTS.
Sometimes, though not the dog's fault, it's just not in the cards to keep it and work with it, and there's no shame in that. Life is too short to have to continually struggle to keep your family members safe from your own pet, and you can theorize and psychologize and sympathize and etc. until the sun goes down and not figure any of it out.

At the end of the day, they are animals and we all need to remember that.
 
#117 ·
Frpringle.

What you are going through with your young sons is horrific.

If you feel the desire to re-home the bull dog at this point, I think that that is totally understandable. I think the boys might do better living with a dog. But it also might make sense to get a dog later on down the road. I am not suggesting you rehome the bull dog, especially since it did not join in on the attack, but if you do decide to do that, don't take any guff from anyone about it.

And yes, your older boy is a hero, and he needs to be told that he did the right thing if you haven't already. I am not sure what you tell kids about what you ended up doing with the dog. I think my parents lied to us when the schnauzer bit the baby for the second time (not bad either time). I think they told us they found it a home in the country. My guess is that the home they found for the dog in the country was a permanent resting place.
 
#120 ·
I did let him around our Bulldog, and today he encountered 2 other family members dogs, he walked up and petted them like he would any other time. He is doing great with them. We aren't keeping Doof (our bulldog, and I would like to point out I did not pick the name! LOL) inside all the time, but we have been letting him in more. They gave Doof cookies and petted him and are acting ike nothing ever happened.
 
#121 ·
Your little boy is such a cutie! What a blessing that he wasn't hurt worse. I wonder if you gave your older son a 'Hero Party', that would help him deal with what happened.

Maybe a cake that's shaped like what ever super heros the kids are into today. My 5 year old neice thinks she is the "Pink Powder Puff". I don't think your son would like that one too much! LOL!
 
#122 ·
Your little boy looks much better in the recent pictures,,poor kid:(

That's great that they are ok with your bulldog and met up with a couple others. I would definitely keep up the interaction with Doof (LOL) as much as they (the boys) are willing. This will help them alot I think.
 
#123 ·
I don't know if anyone has already mentioned this, but I would probably take the boys to be evaluated by a pediatric psychiatrist for some post-trauma sessions. From what I understand, it usually only takes a few sessions and can make a world of difference in recovery.
 
#124 ·
this is tragic.
i hope your son recovers quickly w/o too much scarring, physical and emotionally... and that the rest of u recover from the shock as well... it is a terrible thing.

one thing i know for sure, and learned the hard way the importance to follow the rule **never leave a small child alone with a dog. i mean, we hear it everywhere.... esp a newer dog (to the family) and still we leave them alone just for a minute. *i did this one evening... regretfully. my son who is for the most part quite gentle and sweet-- and minds very good... well he is a young child and they can be unpredictable. just like dogs.
so yes, he got nipped. it was all dealt with. and we still have the dog, for many reasons, like the dog had tail injury at time, and b/c my son completely provoked it, (pulling on tail!) and dog gave warning growls and snapped at air, before finally nipping hand holding tail... and b/c of dogs behavior after, and really the reason it happened is b/c i should not have left room knowing my son was bothering the dog... but yah, i thought my good son was minding me as i stepped out for just a second. ((the dog has never showed any other type of aggression towards my son or any actual person))

ok, so that isn't meant to be blaming. but sometimes there isn't a clear answer. there is only prevention. so for future now, like me, you will not leave them alone either.

but also, since u are asking why, i admit only read thru the first several pgs, so maybe this has been sugg? if so, my apologies.
but, and i am just wondering aloud here- is it possible your son is special needs? u haven't said. and most likely that means he isn't. BUT i have heard of dogs, not nec gsds, but dogs in general--- showing aggression towards kids w/ special needs, and by special needs i mean just that ie autism etc and YES i have also heard amazing stories (mostly amzing vs bad stories) of how dogs treat kids w/ special needs.

but back to your situation, it was just a thought. plz don't read anything into aside from what it is.

i have heard of dogs who freaked out when a person had a seizure. then u hear about the dogs who can detect onset of a seizure. so there are both sides. again, not saying your son has anything going on....

moving past that possibility.... b/c i too have a young child. well, they make a LOT of crazy high pitched noises in play! boys esp! mine sure does. or did. he had a friend over the other day (who by the way is autistic and who cares about that, we love this kid) and this kid was making all these high pitched sounds. my dog was really flipping out. mostly his head was moving side tilt to side tilt kinda like "wtf is that crazy sound coming from a human?" at the boy.... the boy wouldn't stop the noise and i felt compelled to remove the dogs. just b/c i wasn't sure what might happen. the dog was very confused. it was almost bird tweeting whimpering squeaky sounds.

a trainer i ment'd this to told me that just leashing my dog to ensure safety might have been smarter as my son will prob cont to play with this boy, which means the odd noises will also be around. so better to desensitize my dog to it or something....

anyhow.
i am truly sry this has happened to your baby and again, well wishes :)
plz let us know how your son is doing...
 
#126 ·
pss
i to love idea of some type of hero party for your 5yo old!
but include the other as well...
hmmmm maybe just a general superhero party theme, and invite other kids and all dress up in superhero costumes.
cheering all kids, but esp your 2 precious kids :)
my 5yo would love to go!!!
 
#127 ·
last ps i promise!
onxy-girl------or onxy im bad speller! sry
THANK YOU for those links!!!
yes that is what i am saying.
prevention.
only thing works.....
plz note, if my dog had attacked my child, esp face/neck shake bite (the kill bite) i would have immed put down. prob shot dog dead myself that night....so incase anyone wondering, i did speak w/ vet knws dog, and a trainer who agreed our particular circumstances, the dogs temperment etc, his tail wound etc, it all warranted consideration...((and proved i was idiot to leave alone w/ misbehaving child)
finally, it has been nearly 2yrs and has nvr displayed aggression towards ppl. or kids incl crying infants.
and
i've only read down now the most recent posts, i will now go back and read more as i'd like to see pix these adorable kids as well :)
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top