Have you ever been bitten?

Whether by your dog or someone else's.... have you ever been bitten? Did that make you more cautious around other dogs?

 

Fortunately I have never been bitten. I am still cautious of new dogs though. A good friend of mine had a dog that bit males. If you made any gesture of putting your hand out to it, it would go you. I was always aware of this and totally ignored the dog. Other male friends of mine would try to show off that they knew the best approach with this dog and were bitten. Maybe they were more of an alpha male than I. The woman friend is a single lady of many years and suitors were always trying to win her heart.

 

I have been bitten twice already.
The first time was when I was six years old and hold someone's puppy. The second time was when I was 10 years old and it is Christmas day. A dog's neighbors was unleashed and just attack me when I was walking near the area. It does not makes me afraid of dogs although I become more careful.

 

I was bitten as a child when I tried to pat a German Shepherd in the back of an open delivery van. I can remember the shopkeeper shouting at me that it was my fault for being stupid. At the time, I was only seven, I had no concept of a guard dog. I had only ever known friendly pet dogs.

With hindsight, I was very lucky. The dog's head must have been more or less level with my face.

It didn't change the way I felt about dogs, but I'm still very wary of any dogs that may be guarding.

 

Yes, I have. By my first dog when I was a teenager. It was unintentional, though. My dog was angry with someone at the fence. I put out my hand to stop my dog. He bit me on the arm by accident.

 

Wow, I'm surprised at how many of the previous of posters have been bitten by a dog. I've been lucky enough never to be bitten or attacked by a dog. I've always been cautious around dogs I don't know though. As a child I'd never go near a strangers dog unless they gave me permission to. One of the reasons why might have been that in elementary school (when I was 5-6) we had a RSPCA handler visit my school to educate us on dog saftey. The lessons I learned stayed with me to this day, so perhaps such education for young children works. It's a serious issue and every year there is a news article in New Zealand about a child being bitten.

 

A number of times but never something so serious that I would bring myself to the hospital and have stitches. But this doesn't mean they haven't broken my skin.

Once I got bitten by our dog who've never had any anti-rabies shots. I was too scared to tell my mom because she might have our dog euthanized. Fortunately, I'm still alive and fortunately, that dog lived for 15 years.

 

Milla nips me all the time, playfully and quite gently. But actually bitten? Don't think so.

 

That is such a good idea. Maybe this should be taken up by all schools. Simple things such as asking permission to pat dogs should be common practice.

 

Yes, it certainly would be a great idea. It would be neat if it were taken up internationally or supported by a charity. We learned the basics. Yes asking to pat dogs, not staring at a dog directly in the eyes, not running from a dog you don't know ect.. It was also made a fun experience as the speaker brought in a gentle dog for us to interact with. This also helped children who had never had any prior interaction with dogs feel more comfortable, as I remember many were initially afraid. Basically the talk was about respect and how if we respect dogs they will in turn in most circumstances respect us.

 

When I was a young child, I was allowed to walk around the corner to my friend's house. Our parents would watch on each end. One day when I was 7 or 8, I was attacked by a neighbor's dog. It was a medium size dog. He tore my clothing and nipped at me, though I can't remember if he broke skin. Honestly, I was more annoyed that he ripped my favorite shirt. My Mom was not amused though.

We had always owned dogs and I'd always been around dogs. The incident did not affect me in the least. I have been bitten by my own dogs since then. It has made me cautious in that I've learned that dogs need certain things, can feel threatened in certain situations, and that aspect of them should be treated with respect. They need to learn what is appropriate, but sometimes things happen (like when a dog is injured).

Misha is a fear biter which I am fully aware of. So, when people approach us and ask if they can pet her, I say no. She is very good with family and people she trusts. During the horrible year when she had her nervous breakdown, she bit me many times. However, I continue to work with her and those incidences are rare now. Heck, if they can retrain Michael Vick's fighting dogs, I figure I've got a chance with one Jack Russell.

I think it is a good idea to train kids how to be around dogs. We used to get a little seminar each year in elementary school on how to approach dogs. I know all my nieces and nephews were fully trained on proper behavior. Of course, it was easy with my Lab. She loved children. I remember once my 2 year old niece crawled over the top of her. She laid there as if this is what she was meant to do. Still, the dog you meet on the street is not the dog you have at home. Children should be aware of that.

 

Sounds like you have a good way of life way down there. I have met a New Zealander before and he told me that New Zealand can be so peaceful at times, that it gets to be boring.

 

To be honest, Homer bites me quite often, he does it whenever he is angry or when he wants something or when he is super excited about something . But he has never bitten me with all his strength. He does it quite delicately, his bites don't leave any marks on my skin so it's not a problem at all.
Fortunately, I've never been bitten by any other dog.

 

I've only been bitten by my own dogs, and that's always been when play has got a bit out of hand. Strangely enough the dog new what he'd done and stopped playing, looking at me almost apologetically until I stroked him and said it was ok. As a general rule other dogs don't bother me but I am always aware and will offer my hand for them to sniff before attempting to stroke them.

 

I was bitten about 2 years ago in the apartment complex that I was living in at the time. I was on my way to the gym in the complex, and was walking towards a woman and her Boxer. The dog was trying to pull away from her and she was holding him back. I assumed she was just trying to keep him from jumping on me (big mistake). As I walked toward them so that I could enter the gym, I reach my hand out to say hi. That's when she says "Watch out! He's not friendly." Too late. The dog snaps on my finger and nearly rips the fingernail off. I know that it was probably my fault for assuming that the dog was friendly, but it makes me think of how idiotic this woman was for having her dog in public when it is clearly violent; what if I was a child?

 

I was bitten in the face by my dog when I was 11 years old. She was sleeping on the couch and I was leaning up against it. I turned suddenly and startled her and she snapped. Caught me right in the lip and took about 7 stitches to fix. It wasn't her fault, so I wasn't mad at her, or jumpy around her even after that.

 

7 stitches? I feel very sorry for you, I'm sure that is was awful. It's really surprising that you aren't scared of dogs. When I was a child a cat attacked me and I'm still a little scared of them. Fortunately my little dog wouldn't let them get near me

 

I was bitten when I was around 12 years old by our own family dog. She was a Japanese Spitz so her teeth were small and I did not need stitches. It was fast so it wasn't too painful and I think it was because I had come from behind and grabbed her and surprised her. Now that I know more about dogs I think she was deaf. It seems to tie in all her odd behavior when she was alive. It did not put me off dogs though. My dad was an animal lover and always brought home stray dogs and cats home every now and again.

 

I have been bitten once, and it was the most asinine/adorable(kinda) misunderstanding between me and my Chi. We had a power outage during a thunderstorm(you see where this going, don't you). And our Chi's will try to hide and scramble under the bed, and I reached to set one on the floor (he was sleeping) as thunder hit and he not only bit INTO my thumb, but tried to run at the same time, tearing the skin, while letting out the most un-threatening growl I have ever heard, It sounded like an ewok. And once he realized it was me, he immediately leaped into my lap and burrowed under my blanket in shame lolol.

 

A few months before I turned two my mom left me alone with our cocker spaniel when she went to open the door. She assumed I wouldn't try to ride him. I did, and I have a scar under my eyebrow to prove it. My parents recognized that the fault didn't lay with Jasper though and we still had him through my grade school days.