AF Daily - Saturday, June 9th

[papmom3]

AF Daily - Saturday, June 9th

Shue, I'm at work still and on phone.will pm you when I get home.deep breaths.I'm so sorry this happened on your bday and at your party. Been there-I know what you are going through.:l

[FlyAway]

AF Daily - Saturday, June 9th

Shue I am so sorry. Prayers being said. :l

[shueaddict]

AF Daily - Saturday, June 9th

Thanks for the prayers, Fly. I have said many of them today.

Pap, I could really use some advice about the dog. He was in his enclosure, we keep him there when we have guests. Hubby gave him water and his meal - defrosted duck. Normally he'd chomp on that on 3 bites, only now he brought it outside and spent half an hour licking it. In the meantime kids were playing tag, kept running towards his gate. Saw several of them shrieking and running down towards to dog fence. As I went to see what was up and tell them not to crash into the dog's fence, one of the boys rested his arm over and the dog took gave him a warning nip ... A "warning" nip from the mastiff tore into his arm, cracked the bone, damaged a tendon and will haunt me for time to come.

Yes ... But it will not drive me to drink. I did not have a happy birthday but I had a sober one instead.

Hugs to all, will try to see if I can sleep.

[Lavande]

AF Daily - Saturday, June 9th

So sorry shue
Did you say your dog was in his enclosure? Was the child teasing him????
I am in the process of teaching my grandkids to stay away from the crate when Matilda is in it because it is her place to rest.....(and get the hell away from them).
Will be thinking of you this evening. Proud of you for not drinking over this

[Lavande]

AF Daily - Saturday, June 9th

Cross posted shue...........
Stay cool!

[papmom3]

AF Daily - Saturday, June 9th

Shue-just sent you a message on FB. I have no idea what the laws are in your region but my guess would be that you have very little liability. The dog was secured in an enclosure ( but how high is it if the kid could rest his arm on top??). The only mistake I see here is that the dog was fed while kids were around and playing/shrieking which must have seemed like wild animals who may have been coming after him to steal his food. However, I don't think you can be held accountable for that. You're the lawyer right? I'm sure the parents have not spoken to you yet as they are involved with their kid right now. Most dogs have food aggression when strangers are in the picture I would think. They don't know the stranger isn't going to take away their meal. If your dog has food agression with any member of your family then that is a huge problem and must be addressed with a certified and competent behaviorist. It wouldn't hurt to desensitise him to all strangers as well since he is a mastiff. They don't know their own strength. Victoria Stillwell has trainers all over the world that have gone through her course and I think if you go on her website you can put in your country and town and find one fairly close.

I suspect you have a lot of feelings happening here: fear for the childs recovery, fear that your dog may be taken away and put down, fear that you might be sued; anger at the kids, anger at your dog, possibly your DH for feeding him at the time he did; sick to your stomach your dog could cause such horrendous injury. All perfectly normal and you will have to get through each one. You will need to do what you feel is right for the child and his parents but most importantly you need to address the food aggression as best as you can. Maybe that means that your dog eats inside a crate inside the enclosure, maybe you build a higher enclosure, maybe you hire a professional.

This is not going to be sorted out in a day or even 2. It's going to take some time and you need to be objective, not emotional. The fact that you have not taken a drink over this yet is very very good but the shock hasn't worn off yet. Please stay strong. Getting drunk will NOT solve this problem, or make the injury disappear or the incident never have happened. You need to have a clear head to deal with this.

See my FB message and lets see if we can figure out a time to chat.

:l :h

[Turnagain]

AF Daily - Saturday, June 9th

ohhhhhhhh Shue!

What an awful thing to happen, but I am so proud of you for handling this without drinking. AND I am darn glad you were born AND I am darn glad you're here and you are a good friend to me and the others here.

PapMom...that is VERY good and clear advice - I remember experiencing so much of what you described when I had a dog that was very unpredictable and aggressive around other dogs. I just finished Level One Obedience with the pug pup and most of his classmates were large dogs whose owners felt they were at the end of the line because of various behavioral issues. I saw some real miracles in those 8 sessions.

Shue...I'll try to come back here in a bit and see if you're in chat. It will be Sunday morning for you, I think? You'll get through this...one step at a time.

Welcome back Loppy. I sure am happy to have found the wonderful folks who inhabit this forum and especially grateful for those who post on this thread in particular. I'm coming up on 11 months and I sure have been strengthened by the friendships and wisdom I find here.

[ThreeDogNight]

AF Daily - Saturday, June 9th

Hi, Shue.

Oh, I feel terrible for you! I think Pap is right--don;t think you'll be held liable. But the food agression is scary. DH tried to bite us over paper-of all things--when we first had him. And if he gets hold of anything that is related to food, he might still bite if somebody tried to take it from him. We can massage his throat while he's eating--do that to slow him down sometimes--but with other food, he gets crazy. We don't have kids around here, but when my niece was young and used to visit, I was always afraid and told her never to try to take anything from him. I do know that trainers can do a lot about this problem, and I even bought a book "Mine: A Guide to Resource Guarding: at one time, but I found it too technical to follow. Better left to a trainer. I hope the parents are understanding and that you can work on finding a trainer/behaviorist to help.
Hang in there--we're all here for you.
Big:l to you.
TDN

[papmom3]

AF Daily - Saturday, June 9th

TDN-"Mine" is a very good book but I agree-it's a bit too technical. I think what it does do however is help us understand resource guarding from the dog's point of view. Once we understand where they are coming from, we can work to modify their behavior to be more in line with our social norms.

Turn-I'm so excited that you are almost a year AF!! Your transformation has been nothing short of tremendous and inspiring!!

[sunshine_gg]

AF Daily - Saturday, June 9th

Hello Fabbinis!

Chased in by rain (yay!, sorry!).. after a day of grubbing in the yard and a little ride on Trouble Been a good day! Hope you all had a great day, too! Night night! :l

[sunshine_gg]

AF Daily - Saturday, June 9th

Oh Shue.. just read back... so sorry! :l

[Determinator]

AF Daily - Saturday, June 9th

Ahoy Mateys as we again enjoy our party on 'no booze atoll'

Shue, huppy huppy birfdy to you dear! bite or otherwise it's a great day and you did this day AF!!!

Loppy great to see you old pal, do tell us what you've been up to

Turn, any new songs on the accordion?

well I'm just back from mountain training and feeling fabulous as always. the high mountain air and hiking in rugged terrain is just invigorating for sure.

be well everyone!

[Kaslo]

AF Daily - Saturday, June 9th

Im really impressed by the knowledge Pap and TDN have shown here.