My Horrible Accident: If you have animals, please read this and learn something from my mistakes *pics*

[beer]

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
Classic dalmation behavior.

Psychotic fear biters.

I agree with amish.

In my experience, Dalmations are very, very stupid dogs and as a result are often irrational. They are not necessarily mean, but their often irrational behavior comes from them being among the stupidest dogs out there.

 

[prvteye2003]

dude, your dog just knocked you the f out!!! j/k

I had a dog that was like that once. She was half black lab and half rottweiller and she was about 7-8 years old. She just started acting all weird and stuff. When she started growling at me and my 2 small children I knew that was it. She also attacked and almost killed a 6 week old rotty that I had got too. Maybe it was just jealousy, I don't know but I couldn't take the chance of her hurting me or one of my kids. So, I took her out in the field one evening and put her down. It was the hardest thing I think I had to ever do but I knew it had to be done. Glad you're okay.

 

[Armitage]

Originally posted by: rahvin
All dog training books explicitly state that you should NEVER tollerate aggresive behavior towards you or any other person from a dog.

Never tolerate growling. This is a threat and it means your dog sees you as a subordinate meant to be dominated by him. Tell him No! Let him know it is not acceptable to EVER growl at you or your children. Make it clear that your children are the offspring of his Alpha leader (you) and that they are to be treated as Alpha "pups."

http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/topdog.htm

Your acceptance of the initial growling set the precedence for the future behavior.

A friend who is big into dogssaid something similar to this. We have a large dog (dobie/lab mix, about 130 lbs) that at one point decided his position in the pecking order was somewhere between me and my wife (who weighs in around 110). He was growling at her, other threatening behavior. He suggested we settle it the way they would in a pack ... the alpha male (me) makes the dog submit, and thenhave my wife assert dominance over him.

Translated: I knocked my dog on his ass ... not violently, but none to gently. Rolled him over on his back, and had my wife come over and sit on his chest. That ended it right there, and he never gave another problem with her.

 

[Nocturnal]

Were you the original owner from when he was still a pup? Or did you receive him after he grew up a few years? From what I hear is that if you get it when they're a pup and you show him or her that you are the supreme or alpha male that they will not ever attack their owner. But if you received the dog from say when he or she was two or three years old it's quite possible that he or she will attack you one day. I would honestly have to put my dog down after that. I would not be able to determine whether or not he or should would strike again. Or I would have to put her into the pound. I would not feel safe after an attack like that. My father has had over six dogs over his lifetime. Every dog he has had has never gotten aggressive towards any of us in our family. We recently aquired a dog from my cousin's boyfriend. He asked us to take care of it because it was being abused by his father at his home. We took that dog in and often times she will bark at me before I enter my father's house. It's pretty weird but I got used to it.

 

[silverpig]

Yikes, sorry to hear that man. I totally know what that's like though. We have a really old dog (going on 15 years now), and her best friend (other dog) got out and got himself hit by a car one day many years ago. She's been pretty lonley since, so a while back we got a fairly young dog as well. My old dog is pretty small (terrier), and this new dog, although young was already bigger than her (prolly 3/4 lab, 1/4 shepherd). There was a little tension at first, but after a while they seemed to get along, playing together and sleeping together fine. However, we noticed some weird behaviour with the new dog that led us to believe that it had been abused before we got it (got it from the SPCA so we weren't the first owners). When playing, one thing I did was run up to it and stamp my feet by the dog. Both of my older ones had fun, jumping up and down, running in circles, barking etc, but when I tried this with the new dog it cowered into a corner. It also liked to bite too hard when playing with me too, not the friendly little nips normal with most other dogs. Every once in a while too he'd be too rough with our old dog. Then one day, out of the blue, it just up and locked its jaws around my little dog's neck and head. A quick boot to the ribs and both dogs were off to the vet, one for a $1200 repair bill, and one for a $100 needle... It's a shame too, but he could have done it to a kid. We asked the SPCA what to do and they said there was no real choice.

I hope I got the right thread this time

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
Classic dalmation behavior.

Psychotic fear biters.

I read somewhere that most dog bites were from Dalmations. Who would have thunk it?
I will get a Rottweiller when I have a place for him to roam around.

The pics don't look that bad, have any of the dog?

 

[NetWareHead]

Originally posted by: Encryptic

Cliff Notes: Beating the sh!t out of a dog isn't going to accomplish anything, except make the dog afraid of you.

Isn't the the basis for all punishments? Fear? Determent of future undesirable behavior? I'll even retract my statement of beating him up after getting home from the hospital...what's done is done and punishing the dog at that time would be counter-productive to the dog's training. The dog would have probably forgotten the whole incident and would wonder why he is getting his ass kicked. I still stand by my previous statements though. What was needed was a harsh punishment immediately after MrDudeMan was bitten. Something that the dog will remember.

I would like to know what kind of punishment YOU would give to an unruly dog that bit your face and sent you to the hospital? Time-outs? Take away his doggie treats?

 

[Nocturnal]

Are pitbulls just as likely to attack their owners? I wanted one but after seeing this I think I'm gonna have to stay with a chihuahua.

 

[Nitemare]

Originally posted by: Nocturnal
Were you the original owner from when he was still a pup? Or did you receive him after he grew up a few years? From what I hear is that if you get it when they're a pup and you show him or her that you are the supreme or alpha male that they will not ever attack their owner. But if you received the dog from say when he or she was two or three years old it's quite possible that he or she will attack you one day. I would honestly have to put my dog down after that. I would not be able to determine whether or not he or should would strike again. Or I would have to put her into the pound. I would not feel safe after an attack like that. My father has had over six dogs over his lifetime. Every dog he has had has never gotten aggressive towards any of us in our family. We recently aquired a dog from my cousin's boyfriend. He asked us to take care of it because it was being abused by his father at his home. We took that dog in and often times she will bark at me before I enter my father's house. It's pretty weird but I got used to it.

I don't think it is from his role in the family. The dog was sleeping and was startled, their instinct is to strike out. Just remember in the future to whistle to wake him up

 

[Encryptic]

Originally posted by: NetWareHead

Originally posted by: Encryptic

Cliff Notes: Beating the sh!t out of a dog isn't going to accomplish anything, except make the dog afraid of you.

Isn't the the basis for all punishments? Fear? Determent of future undesirable behavior? I'll even retract my statement of beating him up after getting home from the hospital...what's done is done and punishing the dog at that time would be counter-productive to the dog's training. The dog would have probably forgotten the whole incident and would wonder why he is getting his ass kicked. I still stand by my previous statements though. What was needed was a harsh punishment immediately after MrDudeMan was bitten. Something that the dog will remember.

I would like to know what kind of punishment YOU would give to an unruly dog that bit your face and sent you to the hospital? Time-outs? Take away his doggie treats?

Well, I'm glad to see you got what I was driving at. I'm not talking about coddling the dog either. If that happened to me, I probably would end up putting the dog down. There's nothing to say that wouldn't happen again and I certainly wouldn't want to take the chance that I might get hurt again or that it could happen to someone else.

In this case, it sounds like the dog's breeding and age probably contributed to this, though. Either way, I'd still probably put them down to avoid a repeat incident.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Originally posted by: Elemental007

Originally posted by: Electric Amish
Classic dalmation behavior.

Psychotic fear biters.

I agree with amish.

In my experience, Dalmations are very, very stupid dogs and as a result are often irrational. They are not necessarily mean, but their often irrational behavior comes from them being among the stupidest dogs out there.

I've had the complete opposite experience w/Dalmations and found the breed to be intelligent. Like I said before, due to the popularity of the breed there has been an excesive amount of inbreeding which has led to a number of pyscho dogs which you have to be careful of if you plan on buying a Dalmation. But judging the whole breed based on the actions of the severely inbred is like labeling an entire family (both nuclear and extended) "disabled" because one member had a birth defect.

Dalmations were bred to run along side horse drawn carriages and protect the horses. So they are a naturally protective and asseritive breed.

I think if people took the time to learn about and understand their pets and treated them like what they are, domesticated animals that came from the wild, lots of accidents like this could be avoided. But people seem to think that dogs, or any pet for that matter, are just some sort of living toy.

I hope you are doing okay MrDudeMan, but what you did was pretty careless. Your dog was obviously in an off mood but instead of living him/her be you woke it up and stuck your face w/in striking distance.


Lethal

 

[BigPoppa]

Originally posted by: NetWareHead

Originally posted by: Encryptic

Cliff Notes: Beating the sh!t out of a dog isn't going to accomplish anything, except make the dog afraid of you.

Isn't the the basis for all punishments? Fear? Determent of future undesirable behavior? I'll even retract my statement of beating him up after getting home from the hospital...what's done is done and punishing the dog at that time would be counter-productive to the dog's training. The dog would have probably forgotten the whole incident and would wonder why he is getting his ass kicked. I still stand by my previous statements though. What was needed was a harsh punishment immediately after MrDudeMan was bitten. Something that the dog will remember.

I would like to know what kind of punishment YOU would give to an unruly dog that bit your face and sent you to the hospital? Time-outs? Take away his doggie treats?

The dog was sleeping. SLEEPING. AKA, HE DIDN'T KNOW WHO OR WHAT THE F*CK HAD STARTLED HIM. There is a huge damn difference here. Basic instincts come into play here. Now had the dog been awake it would be a different story.

On a side note: We have 2 lab/chesapeake crosses. Most docile dogs i've ever seen. They're more akin to cattle.

 

[rahvin]

Originally posted by: BigPoppa

Originally posted by: NetWareHead

Originally posted by: Encryptic

Cliff Notes: Beating the sh!t out of a dog isn't going to accomplish anything, except make the dog afraid of you.

Isn't the the basis for all punishments? Fear? Determent of future undesirable behavior? I'll even retract my statement of beating him up after getting home from the hospital...what's done is done and punishing the dog at that time would be counter-productive to the dog's training. The dog would have probably forgotten the whole incident and would wonder why he is getting his ass kicked. I still stand by my previous statements though. What was needed was a harsh punishment immediately after MrDudeMan was bitten. Something that the dog will remember.

I would like to know what kind of punishment YOU would give to an unruly dog that bit your face and sent you to the hospital? Time-outs? Take away his doggie treats?

The dog was sleeping. SLEEPING. AKA, HE DIDN'T KNOW WHO OR WHAT THE F*CK HAD STARTLED HIM. There is a huge damn difference here. Basic instincts come into play here. Now had the dog been awake it would be a different story.

On a side note: We have 2 lab/chesapeake crosses. Most docile dogs i've ever seen. They're more akin to cattle.

Startling them should be absolutely NO reason to bite. EVER. This response to stimuli should be immediately trained out of any dog. Proper training and conditioning can re-write even instinctual behaviors (and attacking when woke up is NOT an instinctual behavior).

Here is the breed info for dalmations:

Dalmatians were bred to run under or along-side of horse-drawn carriages and therefore have an vast about of stamina and energy. They do not like to just sit around all day with nothing to do. They are playful, happy-go-lucky, extremely sensitive and loyal. The Dalmatian needs human companionship, without which it is likely to become depressed. For this reason they do not make good yard dogs. They have excellent memories and can remember for years any bad treatment it has had. The Dalmatian enjoys playing with children, but may be too rambunctious for toddlers. They get along well with other pets, but some may be aggressive with strange dogs; males often dislike other males. Somewhat high-strung, and can be timid without enough socialization. Quite intelligent, but can be willful. Generally does well with firm, consistent training. The Dalmatian is trainable to a high degree of obedience. They can be trained for defense and are good watchdogs. Dalmatians often have large litters, sometimes up to 15 pups. Some can be aggressive if not properly raised.

 

[ajskydiver]

I agree with BigPoppa.

IF the dog was asleep, it would've behaved instinctively when startled awake...the guilt the dog appeared to show seems to indicate that the dog was aware that it had hurt his owner/master and felt appropriately sorry.

I can give two relevant examples:

Case A: Two of my dogs, a mutt and doberman, got into a minor fight. The mutt was pissed at the doberman and was coming on strong (and if you've seen and heard two dogs fighting, it's a heck of a noise!), the doberman was not fighting back. I reached in to grab the mutt and she bit down hard on my hand - puncture wounds with moderate bleeding/scrapes.

Point # 1 - I had both dogs for nearly 10 years at that time. When the mutt realized she had bitten me, she immediately ceased hostility and began licking my hand/wounds. I have no doubt she expressed regret/sorrow for hurting me.
Point # 2 - She had never done anything similar either before the incident or after.
Point # 3 - I do NOT believe she did it on purpose (obviously) but it happened.
Point # 4 - Normally, I would NEVER interfere with two strange dogs fighting...but these were mine and I didn't mind getting bitten to prevent them from harm (and a huge vet bill.)

His dog, being startled at being jarred out of sleep, probably "attacked" him unknowing who he was...

Case B: While in AIT (in the army), I had come back from Christmas leave (around 1 a.m.) and was sound asleep. The drill instructor came around checking bunks to get a head count, leaned over my bunk, tapped my arm...and I clocked him hard right in the face (no damage, just a red mark). Oddly enough, my roommate (I had three) had also just come in and was getting ready to go to sleep and witnessed the entire thing. I never woke up... and the drill instructor stood up, walked out, and never said a word. When I awoke the next morning, he told me what happened, "OMFG, you totally hit Drill Sgt X last night!"

Point # 1 - People (and obviously animals) can do weird stuff in their sleep and have no memory of the event.

 

[thomsbrain]

combine age with a dog known to be vicious with a dog known to be deaf and you're going to get a volatile dog. i would never own a dalmation. there are plenty of breeds out there that can be trusted in situations like that, but dalmations are not one of them. however, it does serve as a good warning story that you shouldn't mess with a dog that's giving you warning signals like growling, regardless of the breed.

 

[Yo Ma Ma]

Whoever did your stitches did a very nice job I'd say.

If it were my dog I would have to bid it a fond farewell, but I have little kids so I can't tolerate much in the way of that sort of behavior. I don't understand why it would attack you even if it was 'startled' awake, it's not like you walked up and kicked it. Maybe it is related to deafness or a brain tumor or something physiological.

 

[Ness]

Originally posted by: NetWareHead
First you are lucky your dog didn't cause more damage or put out an eye. Second, the instant it let go, I would have thrown it across the room and beaten it senseless, and probably kicked its ass again when I got back from the hospital. A dog should never ever strike its master.

If I ever found out someone like you did this to your dog, I would smash their face in with a brick and proceed to kick them until their isn't an unbroken bone in their body. A dog attacking its master is 99.9% of the time a result of the master mistreating the dog. If you hit your dog with an amount of force that would leave even a red mark on a human... for any reason.. you deserve to be bitten.


I hope the OP understands that the dog was just a bit spooked upon waking up and didn't know how to react. Dogs have dreams too, and it's quite possible that something that was going on in the dream caused the dog to react that way.

While my two dalmations are laying on my bed watching me type waiting for attention I know that when they do something I don't like I know that it's probably out of instinct and that they would never hurt me on purpose. I know sometimes they get a little to playful and might nip my hand but they always realize what they have done when they see me holding my hand. There is never and will never be any reason for me to believe that any harm they may do to me is intentional.

I'm glad to see you are "okay" and that after some time you'll be fine as ever.

Pics of the dalmation?

 

[Turin39789]

only dalmation I have had personal experience with is my aunts. Who ended up taking it to a shelter after it forgot what a glass door was and ran through one to go for a bird in the yard. It was a mess

 

[WinkOsmosis]

Originally posted by: prvteye2003
dude, your dog just knocked you the f out!!! j/k

I had a dog that was like that once. She was half black lab and half rottweiller and she was about 7-8 years old. She just started acting all weird and stuff. When she started growling at me and my 2 small children I knew that was it. She also attacked and almost killed a 6 week old rotty that I had got too. Maybe it was just jealousy, I don't know but I couldn't take the chance of her hurting me or one of my kids. So, I took her out in the field one evening and put her down. It was the hardest thing I think I had to ever do but I knew it had to be done. Glad you're okay.

How did you put her down???

 

[MrDudeMan]

some important things that i forgot to mention to you guys about my dogs relationship with me and his training...

first, everyone in here is making valid points and those of you that are able to respect my decision not to beat him or smack him silly, im glad we are on the same page.



but what you guys must know is that i have never tolerated that kind of growling. i always tell him no or bad dog or tap his nose (those are the things i taught him that mean he is being bad) and he always figures out what im trying to say to him. when he grabs food out of my hand, i yell his name and tell him no or sometimes tap him on the nose (notice i said tap, not smack) and it is instantly learned that he shouldnt do that. sometimes he forgets, but that is because he is a dog, and no matter what anyone here says, no dog is perfect 100% of the time. they are still instinctively wild and you cant just erase or fix that.


my dog was trained by me, and i didnt just teach him to sit and stay. i read plenty of books about how to take care of him and what to expect from a pure breed dalmation. i never gave him an inch when he did something wrong, but i also never beat the crap out of him, ever.



the plastic surgeon did an outstanding job. when i get the before and after pics back, i will let you guys see those. the wound above my lip to the side of my nose was massive and disgusting. he did an absolutely incredible job of fixing it.



edit: ill get some pics up when my website is back up

 

[theNEOone]

Originally posted by: sward666
What's that saying about sleeping dogs?

i think it's something like, "let a sleeping dog lie, unless you want your face to be mega owned."


=|

 

[miniMUNCH]

Dalmations are very skittish dogs...if you have small kids don't get a dalmation.

 

[MrDudeMan]

Originally posted by: miniMUNCH
Dalmations are very skittish dogs...if you have small kids don't get a dalmation.

this has already been discussed and is mostly false, unless they are inbred, in which case you are correct

 

[Ness]

Originally posted by: MrDudeMan

Originally posted by: miniMUNCH
Dalmations are very skittish dogs...if you have small kids don't get a dalmation.

this has already been discussed and is mostly false, unless they are inbred, in which case you are correct

They are, however, very big attention whores

 

[T2T III]

Wow ... a very amazing story. I'm glad that you are OK - and the surgeon feels that there will be no scarring.