Denver’s Channel 9 explains dog bite incident

9 thoughts on “Denver’s Channel 9 explains dog bite incident”

  1. About 8 years ago we owned a Shetland Sheepdog which was 5 or 6 years old at the time. He had begun exhibiting some signs of stiffness and was probably beginning to have some problems with his hip joints. Despite never having bitten anyone before, he bit our 3-year old granddaughter in the face as she was trying to pet him from behind. They had not played together, so she was basically strange to him. In reviewing this disaster in my mind after the fact I concluded that I hadn’t fully understood the situation.

    People tend to anthropomorphize critters and they become like one of the family, but I’m here to tell you that there’s a big difference. Dogs don’t reason, they are creatures of instinct. I felt betrayed, but it wasn’t the dog’s fault – he was simply being a dog. He was hurting and had been approached by a creature only slightly larger than he was. And, I found out that going for the face is purely instinctive as well – a large part of dog bites are to the face. It was a part of the learning curve I will never forget.

    My granddaughter had multiple stitches and thanks to an excellent ER surgeon, you can’t even see the scar today.

    1. Oh, what a trauma that must have been for all of you! I’m so glad your granddaughter recovered fully. I hope the incident didn’t leave her with a lasting fear of dogs. My own grandkids, in addition to my dog when they are here, have at their house 3 dogs and 3 cats. The pets are all very mild-mannered. Still, the dogs are big (60+ lbs) and one is quite old. Both kids and dogs do unexpected things, so the potential for accidents is always there. But none of us can imagine life without our pets (although I confess I think one large dog per family is enough).

... and that's my two cents