Baby Miles gets bitten

[Ari_RR]

Poor Baby Miles got bitten on his face today.

We were walking on the trails in a nature park, he was running around the trees with a couple of older dogs, and one of them bit him.

I have no idea what led to this. I just heard the dog growling somewhere behind the trees and Baby Miles crying, then he came back with blood all over him. Could be that the dog was a bit tired and grumpy, and he was a bit over the top.. He was much bigger in size than the dog, and the dog was 9 y.o., perhaps not a huge fan of puppies to begin with.
But I also have another possible theory. The dog was wearing a shock collar, he could have been remotely recalled by his humans when Baby Miles was a bit too close, and it was a redirected reaction to the shock recall.

We'll never know for sure. I am certain it wasn't an attack, but rather a reaction on the dog's part to some trigger.

Anyway... we stopped by the vet's office on the way back and asked a tech to check his wounds, just in case. The tech wasn't too concerned, so we'll keep applying some antibiotic cream and hopefully it will heal quickly.

But there are some lessons there. For Baby Miles, to not expect everyone to be his willing playmate, and to respect other dogs' desire to be left alone.
And for me, to keep a closer eye. I saw that the grumpy dog didn't really want to be bothered, but there were 2 dogs, and the other one was more than happy to play chase with the big puppy. In retrospect, I think I just assumed that Baby Miles would stick with the much more entertaining friendly dog, and would stay away from the grumpy one.

Here is the victim and his wounds. Sorry for the huge size of the image, posting from the phone.

We took him for an afternoon stroll in town to see how he would react to people and dogs after the incident, make sure no fear or anxiety - and he was his friendly self, trying to say hello to everyone and be everyone's best friend, while checking people's shopping bags at the same time.... so that's good.

 

[niamh123]

Poor Miles he looks quite sorry for himself hope he heals quickly

 

[Kara 1]

Heal fast lovely boy ...thank god shock collars are illegal here

 

[JudyN]

Poor baby I wonder if the other dog caught a sudden whiff of testosterone? Could he be outgrowing his puppy licence? But the shock collar scenario is quite possible too.

 

[JoanneF]

Heal fast lovely boy ...thank god shock collars are illegal here

Poor Miles. But I heard the ban didn't go through as expected here - I will see if I can find more info.

 

[JoanneF]

Electric shock pet collars to be banned in England

 

[Mad Murphy]

Glad Miles is ok but maybe his cute pass is running out...

Benny my old beagle hated puppies the whole playful in your face thing drove him mad. Who knows maybe the shock collar (enough to make anyone grumpy) maybe just the way the dog was around pups, maybe Miles growing up..
In any case a lesson learned, luckily without too much damage.

 

[Buddy1]

Poor chap…those eyes say it all.
Hope you are ok too: sometimes I think these incidents can be more upsetting for the owners than the dogs

 

[Kara 1]

Electric shock pet collars to be banned in England

I thought they had been made illegal

 

[Dibbythedog]

oh poor baby!

 

[BEF]

Did you get to speak to the owner of the dog that bit him ?
Chances are it might bite another dog, might need to be muzzled.
I had a greyhound that got bitten by an ex police dog, it's a very stressful experience for human and dog.
Hope you are both ok.

 

[JoanneF]

I had thought so too, then a friend who is a professional trainer mentioned how disappointed she was and I realised it wasn't as straightforward as I had thought. But - I don't generally broadcast it in the hope that most people believe they are illegal.

 

[Janer]

Aww poor boy, glad it doesn’t seem to have affected him x

 

[merlina]

My cocker puppy was also bitten in the face a couple of years ago- by a little Staffie bitch that was on a lead. I guess it happens so often because puppies don't have the experience to read body language (and probably like mine are lacking in manners.) No real harm done at least. And your puppy has a better life than the dog that bit him by the sounds of it.

 

[Whippylove]

Poor miles he must've got such a fright. It's good to hear it hasn't changed him.

 

[Ari_RR]

Did you get to speak to the owner of the dog that bit him ?
Chances are it might bite another dog, might need to be muzzled.
I had a greyhound that got bitten by an ex police dog, it's a very stressful experience for human and dog.
Hope you are both ok.

We took different paths after the biting incident (which none of us saw, although we heard the grumpy dog growling and then Baby Miles yelping). They both came back to us. Grumpy dog first, Baby Miles a min or 2 later.

We checked them both quickly and moved on, but I only noticed the wounds later, when I noticed blood on him and did a more thorough check. By then the grumpy dog and his humans were gone.

But given that the grumpy dog had been trying to stay away from Miles all the time we walked together, and showed displeasure when he got close, if I were to point a finger - I would still point it at Miles. The poor baby just got too close at a wrong moment, or one too many times, I think.

But heck, some times the lessons are a bit painful. We try the best to prevent, but can we prevent 100%? Should we even try, or a little bit of risk for the opportunity to socialize, run, and maybe learn something is acceptable?

I doubt I would allow him to run around if this was a bigger grumpy dog. But since Miles was bigger and much faster, I think in the back on my mind, subconsciously, I thought if things were to get out of hands, he would be able to run away....

Anyhow - healing nicely, no effect on personality or attitude towards other dogs, so - moving on.