Bestest Friend and I are doing a blog project. Each day we will write a post on a pre-determined theme chosen by a random noun generator. The theme for the ninth day of the month is "Location."
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Over Labor Day, Hannah bit someone when she was at the dogsitter's house. It's a long story about how she was in a room in a place that wasn't her home with three men, two of whom she didn't know, she got anxious, gave some warning signals that she was nervous, and those signals were ignored. She broke skin, the guy who got bit was pretty upset, and I spent all of Tuesday sobbing and worrying that Hannah, my precious girl, was going to get a reputation as a vicious girl.
I called the vet on Tuesday and sobbed to the poor woman who answered the phone. We couldn't get in to our vet until Friday afternoon and in the meantime, Hannah acted completely normally.
We explained the whole thing to the vet (Labor Day weekend, dogsitters, she'd been there before, they're our regular dogsitters, there were two guests, she bit one, and acted aggressively toward the other) and the vet did a physical examination, said there was nothing wrong with her physically, and brushed it off as "behavior within the normal range of dog actions," especially since during the vet visit, Hannah was on her super duper best behavior, charming everyone in sight.
Hannah does not like men. Her introductions to men have to be done super slowly and under really carefully supervised conditions. I guess we hadn't made that clear to our dogsitters, but there you go. Our vet, bless her heart, basically said this was an accident. The person who got bit wasn't to blame, we weren't to blame, and Hannah wasn't to blame. She was in an unusual environment and she was scared and she reacted defensively. The vet actually said when she saw the photo of the bite (it looks like one canine tooth broke skin) that it was just a warning from Hannah - "if she'd really wanted to hurt him, she would have." I'm sure that won't comfort the guy who got bit, but it was comforting to me.
All week I've been beating myself up over this, but the vet visit was reassuring. We know Hannah's triggers and we're really good about making sure she's under our control all the time. In the meantime, if you are a woman, don't worry. If you're a guy, though, avoid this face.
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I'm sorry that this happened to you. Like your vet said, it's no one's fault except the ignorance of the guys who approached when they weren't welcome.
ReplyDeleteThe person who got bit is wary of dogs and it's clear he just wasn't reading her signals. I wish we'd been there because this would never have happened if we had. :(
DeleteIt is concerning for sure.
ReplyDeleteYep.
DeleteOh, I'm sorry, NG. How upsetting. I completely understand why you were so devastated. I can imagine how freaked out Hannah must have been without Her People, being accosted by a strange man.
ReplyDeleteBUT LOOK AT HER HOW ADORABLE AND SWEET SHE IS.
She's so sweet with us. I think she's just a very timid dog who should always be in her own space. This is going to make it very hard for us to travel, I think, but she's worth it. Just look at that face!
DeleteOh how stressful! I'm sorry this happened.
ReplyDeleteThank you. I feel much more reassured after the vet visit.
DeleteHow stressful for all involved! I hope either your petsitter understands what happened and why, and what to watch for in future, or that you can get someone else. I'm glad the vet was not worried about it, but still, what a week you had.
ReplyDeleteYeah, we're sort of disappointed in the dogsitter. I don't know if we'll use them in the future, which is too bad because I don't know what our other options might be. :( Oh, well. Onward to figuring out how to make Hannah as comfortable as possible so this doesn't happen again.
DeleteI'm so sorry this happened, Engie. Stressful, but also tricky since she DID show signs! Imagine how we'd feel being surrounded by strangers, especially a gender we feel uncomfortable around? I'm glad things went well at the vet and hoping everyone feels better quickly.
ReplyDeleteAs always, Hannah looks GORGEOUS!
For sure. When the incident was reported to us, it was clear she was showing signs of discomfort and if we'd been there, we could have easily diffused the situation by removing Hannah from her stressors. *sigh* We'll make sure it never happens again.
DeleteHannah is a GOOD GIRL. No one will be able to convince me otherwise! I'm glad your vet understood the situation. How stressful for you to have to deal with this though. The worst thing about this is now you'll probably hesitate to leave her with someone else (were the dogsitters sympathetic to the situation, or will be looking for new ones?) Anyway, hugs to Hannah and give her an extra treat for being so good at the vet!
ReplyDeleteHannah is a good girl. We were never mad at her, just worried! I think we'll hesitate to leave her with a sitter again, which means one of us will have to be home basically all the time. The dogsitters weren't upset with her, but I don't know if Dr. BB and I trust them if they missed the signs of her stress this time around. We're also going to be even more hesitant to introduce her to men, which she's going to read, I fear, so this might just be the status quo for her.
DeleteOh Engie, I am sorry that happened. I am sure Hannah meant no harm, but she was obviously stressed out. What in the world was the guy doing that she had to resort to biting him? Was that the sitter? Or someone else who was there? I mean, if you're dog sitting, why would there be other people around that are not supposed to be there? I don't blame Hannah.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I did explain the situation badly. There were four people at the house: the dogsitters (one man and one woman - she is very comfortable with them), one man who was wary of dogs, but who she had met several times before (the person she bit), and one man who was a complete stranger to her. She was showing signs of discomfort (panting, pacing) and the person she bit stood up and she reacted. Now, the vet seems to think Hannah was only giving a warning because the pictures of the bite show what I would call a scratch, but it was still really scary for the guy who was already scared of dogs.
DeleteThe dogsitters immediately realized that they shouldn't have had guests while the dog was there, but in their defense, we hadn't told them directly. We just assumed since we have told them repeatedly that she's uncomfortable with men and wheeled things. *sigh* Poor Hannah. She must have been so scared. But, also, poor guy who got bit. It must have seemed very frightening for him, too.
I'm so sorry to hear - what a difficult and stressful week it must have been for you *and* for Hannah. I once heard a parenting guru/psychologist say, essentially that all kid are good kids sometimes having hard times, rather than bad kids displaying bad behavior. Sweet Hannah was clearly a good dog having a hard time. I hope you give yourself a lot of grace too - you look after Hannah with so much love and care and support.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely Hannah is a Very Good Girl. She's just scared and anxious and we need to figure out how to calm her down a bit. We're on it!
DeleteOh, no, NGS. I'm glad Hannah seems to have recovered, but am sorry that the incident is causing you so much anguish. I hope you're feeling reassured by the vet and your readers.
ReplyDeleteIt's making me so sad to think about why she might be skittish around men... I hope she's feeling more herself and secure in being back with with family and being surrounded by love. XOXO
She really has settled back into normal, so we're going to switch up some stuff to try and treat her anxiety and move on from this. I don't like to think about what made her dislike men so much, but if she never meets another man, I guess that's fine.
DeleteOh goodness, how upsetting for all of you! I am glad that the vet was reassuring, and that Hannah seems OK now.
ReplyDeleteOur next door neighbor's dog bit someone recently. They were coming home from somewhere, and their daughter opened the back of the car to get him out, and instead of waiting for her, he ran for the house. There was a woman out taking a walk, and she bent down to pet him, and he bit her. He is a reactive dog when it comes to other dogs, he attacked Mulder once when we were walking past, and he and Mulder used to try to fight through the fence we share with these neighbors. Our neighbor drove the woman to the hospital, and offered to pay for her medical bills and for the 2 days she took off from work. The woman said she was OK, but then talked to a lawyer friend and sued our neighbors. I am not sure where that has ended up, but obviously our neighbors are very stressed about the whole thing. Animal control came out to interview our neighbors, and said this was very small, very common, not really anything to worry about, so that was a relief and sounds similar to what your vet told you.
Are you on Facebook? There is a great organization there called Tug Dogs, and they specialize in helping dogs to feel more comfortable in stressful situations, to not be reactive to other dogs or men or whatever. They are in California, not near us even, and definitely not near you, but I wonder if they might give you some advise somehow, to help Hannah not be stressed around men? Poor girl. How upsetting for all of you.
Eh, if you have a dog bite on your property, homeowner's insurance will cover it. I'm sure that the lady's insurance had to sue the homeowner's insurance to figure out who would pay the medical bills. It's stressful, but it's why we have insurance. The vet told us what would have happened if this bite had been reported to the authorities and it's exactly what already happened. We'd have to take Hannah to the vet and do any follow-up medical care. We'd only get a fine if we didn't comply.
DeleteI will give Tug Dogs a follow. There are a lot of resources out there for people with reactive dogs, but the truth is that I'm really nervous to try some of the activities/training because I don't want to put anyone in danger. Hannah can have a good life if she never has to interact with any man besides the ones currently on her "safe list" (my husband, the neighbor, the dogsitter, and our friend). But it would be great if we could do something to calm her down so she's not anxious all the time. It can't be fun to feel so on edge all the time!
Ugh-- so sorry. Coop got bitten by a neighbor's dog last summer, and they felt TERRIBLE-- way way worse than we did. I hope Hannah stays stress-free (we always took Bea to a border that had alone time for dogs and play time and 1:1 time with staff-- you could customize your care and watch from a web cam. Bea was even able to sleep at night on a couch because that's what she did at home. Maybe a setting like that would be better for travel?)
ReplyDeleteSo, I was really freaked out about it at first, but then when I saw a photo of the "bite," I was more relaxed. It was really a graze (and I'm not downplaying how frightening it would be for the person who it happened to, especially because he is scared of dogs) and marks that have happened to me and my husband just through play with Hannah before. Again, I'm not downplaying it, but I'm much less worried than when I thought she lost her doggie mind.
DeleteWe're going to have think about boarding. I'm not sure it's going to be worth it to either one of us to pay the price for boarding just so we can travel together. We're going to try switching some of her meds first and see if we can get her anxiety level down and we'll cross the bridge of what to do with her when we travel when we get there.
I'm so so sorry this happened and glad the vet made you feel better about it :(
ReplyDeleteThe vet sort of shrugged off the whole incident, which made me feel better. *shrug* We're taking it seriously, but not freaking out about it.
DeleteOh, Engie, I'm so sorry this happened. My mom's dog Chip is a reactive dog at times (he's VERY protective of my mom). Yesterday when we were at her house watching football, he would stand up and barking ferociously at my brother and nephew if they even clapped their hands or cheered at the game, but I could do the same thing and he didn't care. I get nervous to introduce him to new people, but he recently went through one-on-one training and it has been AMAZING to see the transformation in him. I don't know if that would even help Hannah, but it could be an option. Most trainers understand how to handle reactive dogs.
ReplyDeleteIn any event, I'm glad Hannah has you and Dr. BB as her parents so she could go home to a safe place where she feels secure. <3
We're going to actually try some supplements/pheromones to try and help her relax a bit before we go all out to a trainer. I guess we'll see if we determine if she needs it. She's predictable around us and even if people come into our house, as long as she sees that my husband and I are comfortable, she's fine. I don't know. Fingers crossed.
DeletePoor Hannah and poor you. :( What a stressful experience. But, it sounds like you have A Plan, even though it is not the plan that you really wanted to follow. And, oh, how I wish I a) knew Hannah, and b) could help you out. Trust me, men are never around me. ;)
ReplyDelete