Why do people always blame the dog?

[APBTLove]

The night before last, my roommates had guests over. It was about 12am and I was taking Jaeger out to go before we went to bed. As I was coming back through the house with him I stopped to talk to my RM, and a guy who was over and had a few came up and kept insisting on petting J. I told him NO repeatedly. Even pulled J away from him, but he put his hands on him and started petting his back, so I grabbed J's head and held him still while telling the guy someone was going to get hurt. And he kept saying "I don't care! Let him bite me, I'm not scared."

Well I DO care. At this point I'm up against a wall practically, trying to keep J away from him.

J snarled and snapped at him once and that still didn't send the message. I could see the change in J, and at the last second I knocked the man's arm out of the way and I got a K9 nearly through my hand..

When I realized he really got me, and now that the guy had moved out of my way, I swiftly took Jaeger back to his room and crated him, leaving a bloody trail behind me. He popped a pretty big vein and it was gushing like someone had lopped my hand off..

It went in the back of my hand and in far enough that you can see bruising inside on the underside, and if I applied pressure to my palm where the bruising was, fresh blood poured out. He got me good, and I'm lucky he didn't try to bite again and only got me once. The bleeding didn't stop until late morning, and we had no medical supplies in the house, I had to make a saline solution and MAKE a bandage - I know what's on my shopping list next.

I'm pretty sure he damaged my tendons, as it's hard to use my last three fingers. If it gets any worse or doesn't heal fast I'm going to the Dr. But I wanted to avoid that if I could.


But the thing that has me, only my female roommates and one of the friend's who was there blames the guy. Everyone else is saying I should have 'beat the dog senseless' and they would have 'killed that dog'.

Let me get this straight.. The dog:

• Was in his house.
• Was being threatened by a stranger smelling heavily of alcohol.
• Did not mean to bite me.
• Immediately stopped any kind of aggressive behavior when the man backed off.

The man:

• Was in J's house.
• Was physically all over him.
• Was being loud, moving carelessly and reeking of alcohol.
• Was actually being aggressive with his tone and body language.
• Was making me AND the dog feel threatened.

But it's J's fault.

[Dainerra]

maybe the mean the guy is a "dog"

Coz I would have beat him senseless.

[DharmasMom]

Because people are STUPID. STUPID, STUPID, STUPID, yet we call animals dumb. Personally, I think you should have "beat the guy senseless".

[APBTLove]

I didn't really say much to the guy after that. He was drunk. I haven't seen him since then but he's going to get a tongue-lashing when I do. It's not really that I got hurt, it's him messing with my dog. I can deal with just about anything but that - leave my animals alone. Like this chick my RM brought over, she picked up my Black Widow's enclosure, and started pounding on the bottom - I flipped total, utter crazy on her. I've had to move all of my pets/cages but my large Monitor to my room to keep idiots away form them.

Oh the joys of roommates...

[DharmasMom]

Wait. Did you just say...Black Widow??? As in SPIDER???

[KentuckyGSDLover]

It's obviously that guy's fault. What part of "don't pet my dog" did he not understand? You need to get medical attention. Dog bites are very highly prone to infection, particularly if they're a puncture, and the sooner the better.

[Freestep]

This is why I crate my dogs when people are coming over. Because people DON'T EFFING LISTEN. I can tell people a gazillion times "Don't throw any toys for the dogs", and what do they do? The last time, a guy insisted on throwing a stick for Luka, she went to grab the stick and got his finger in the process, drawing blood. The guy knew it was his fault, but still, that kind of thing can put a bite record on my dog should he have chosen to seek medical attention.

Thankfully, I can just put my GSDs in the shop so that everyone stays safe.

My Akbash dog, fortunately, is benign with visitors and just walks away when he's had enough. However, the last time we had a get-together, he lapped up someone's beer, then leaned and drooled on everyone.

[KentuckyGSDLover]

Originally Posted by Freestep

My Akbash dog, fortunately, is benign with visitors and just walks away when he's had enough. However, the last time we had a get-together, he lapped up someone's beer, then leaned and drooled on everyone.

I have a friend who had a yellow lab that would purposefully knock over people's beers to drink them. Beer on coffee tables or on the ground or floor where people were sitting were vulnerable and she'd always say, "Watch your beer or she'll knock it over and drink it."

[Freestep]

Originally Posted by KentuckyGSDLover

I have a friend who had a yellow lab that would purposefully knock over people's beers to drink them. Beer on coffee tables or on the ground or floor where people were sitting were vulnerable and she'd always say, "Watch your beer or she'll knock it over and drink it."

Seriously! Whaley does the same thing! He is SUCH a lush. Just last week he knocked over the recycling bin because there were beer bottles in it.

The upside of this is that beer is a good remedy for his anxiety during thunderstorms. He is very sensitive to tranquilizers, so when there is thunder, gunshots or similar noises that freak him out, a beer and his Thundershirt work wonders to keep him calm.

[Jax08]

You need to go to the doctor and get that looked at if you are having problems with movement. It was not J's fault and you can certainly explain it as an accident.