Saturday. He bit a fourth person Friday, an unsuspecting mail person knocking at the door. You know, the shock and the actual terror I felt when the mail person yelled "He bit me!" and then the dealing with giving the victim my necessary information, watching him check the area of the bite, worrying if we'll get a call from an attorney, et cet, is really scary. So now I have such remorse for putting him down. Our family is very sad and now I ask myself if I did the right thing. I now think if only I had not ordered the package that the mail person had to bring the door the dog would still be here, alive. The dog was always in the background of the household, feeding him, lettting him outside, making sure he was in his room before we went out, having him laying in the kitchen while I made lunches, sleeping with my daughter, he was my daughter's best friend, he was so good to us and even the new kitten. But the bad part of having this dog, we were afraid to go on walks with him because he liked to lunge at people walking by, we put him in his cage when company came over because we didn't know how he would react, he would guard his backyard like a prison warden and if someone walked by he would bark and lunge at the person and act really scary. I don't know how a dog can be so good to his family and even certain of the friends, but then tear out the door and bite the mail person or an unsuspecting visitor. I think I've read here in this forum lots of sad stories of people putting their animals down due to age, sickness. The vet told us that people put their animals down for really no good reason. But now I question, was my reason good enough? I know I have to live with it, but it is weighing heavily on my shoulders.

While making that type of decision is never easy, your answer is in the first line. The unsuspecting mailperson was the FOURTH? You have to ask if your reason was good enough? Your reason to consider putting the dog down should have been right after the dog bit whoever was number ONE.........Does it weight heavily on your shoulders what the four people who got bit have gone through? Those are the things you have to think of. Four...........

dl

I'm sure it was a hard decision, but a dog that can't be taught not to bite people is a dog you can't have in your home. I shudder to think what could have happened if your daughter accidentally rolled over onto him in bed and injured him -- or the new kitten, if she somehow nipped the dog during play.

I think you made the right choice.

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Reading is Fundamental.

You felt actual shock and terror when you heard "He bit me"? It was a unsuspecting fourth person? Why wasn't your house posted beware of dog? Now you have to worry about a call from a lawyer? You had to "deal" with the victim and observed them checking out the bite area? Now you are sorry you put the dog down?
Be glad, be very glad that it wasn't me.
You were an irresponsible pet owner. Not only would I have sued you to the max of the law, I would have hired someone for find the other THREE victims and have them sue you as well.

Salt, meet wound. Sheesh. Why can't we be civilized? Whether you agree or not, no need to kick a person when they are down. Wow.

Ouch.

OP, my sympathies for your situation. I"m sure it was a very difficult decision for you to make.

I am very sorry this happened to you. I totally understand the pain you are going through. I am also sorry that people on this board are so unhappy with themselves and their own lives that they choose to insult people. It is very sad indeed both that you lost a beloved member of your family. I am not going to judge you as we have only a small portion of what happened here.
It's always the same people insulting people and judging I hope you can just ignore it.

And in the meantime you and I can aspire to be as perfect as these people. Only then will God put you and I right there next to Him judging people. Ahh maybe someday!

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The political system is broke and it's a joke.

In my experience with dogs, a dog that bites once will bite again, and again, and again. I don't believe you can fully trust a dog that has learned the power of growling and biting.

I am sure you are heartbroken that you couldn't stop the dog your family loves from biting others, but I don't believe that is the sort of thing any amount of training can prevent so I hope you don't feel guilty about that. You did the right thing IMHO. You probably did it a few bites too late, but I am glad you have made the decision to protect others from future injury. There are many who refuse to put down aggressive dogs ever. So, contrary to some opinions here, you aren't the worst person in the world IMO.

Hopefully, this post might help someone make this difficult decision sooner.

Can I join your "Imperfect Persons Aspiring to be Perfect" club? (IPAP) I lost my membership to the "I'm a Better Mother" club thanks to all the perfect mothers who can do no wrong on this site. Will that be a problem? They have turned into productive and loving men, despite my apparent horrible parenting, if that makes a difference.

Now, now, what would MC be without a few people that are always better, smarter, richer and more hard-working than us plebians?

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Reading is Fundamental.

What a horrible experience for you. Don't second guess yourself. You did what you thought in your heart to be right. I feel terrible for you right now because I know how overwhelming this must have been for you and your family. Take care of yourself and ignore the people on this board that can't have a sympathetic bone in their body. God Bless

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Without Health you have no Wealth!

I am sorry that you had to make this decision, I do agree that it sounds like you really did not have a choice in this matter. That being said, I know it still hurts like crazy, because he was not agressive around your family and you loved him.

OP, I'm sorry this had to happen. But after your dog had bitten four people, I think that was the only thing you could have done. I guess he was thinking he was protecting your family. But innocent people were bitten and the way people are so 'sue-happy' now, you could have lost everything.

We had a dog before our boys were born and he was the best dog. But once our boys were born, he changed. He felt he had to 'protect' them. He'd sit at their bedroom door (we had a gate so he couldn't go in there), he'd nip at people's heels and growl. His personality just changed after their birth. We didn't put him down, though. My dad took him and he lived outdoors in a rural setting the rest of his days.

BTW, how long had you had your dog and what breed was he?

popcorny...I'm sorry you had to make such a hard decision, but I agree that it was the right one. I honestly can't imagine having to take such a good friend to the vet to be put down. I hope you can come to terms with it and move on.

I can understand Icansavedaily's sentiment. There are alot of pet owners in denial about their dog's potential for danger. If you have never been bitten by a dog, even a 'minor' bite, I can tell you it is extremely painful. Usually it is scarring. A child I know was bitten in the face by a neighbor's dog. The pictures the mom showed me made me feel faint. The child had to be sedated for days because of the pain of those ragged wounds. The child is scarred and they don't know if plastic surgery will yield an acceptable result. Turns out this dog has bitten before, yet the neighbors were not even warned. To know that your dog has torn open human flesh, then to go on to three more incidents is inexcusable. I am glad that OP finally came to terms with the reality, and I do really sympathize with her loss. But I have more sympathy for the dog bite victims.

Op, I believe you did the right thing, even though it is extremely painful. If the dog was so unpredictable, he would not be a candidate to be placed in a new home. My sympathy goes out to you and your family.

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We're off to never never land

Did you miss the part stating this is the fourth (that the op knows of) person this dog has bitten? No one insulted her. No one. No one judged. No one said they were perfect. People are just answering a post and replying.

But I will tell you what, had I been the op, I would have had to weigh the entire situation after the very first bite. I don't think there would have been a second, third, or alarmingly, a fourth time. We were told after the first bite to be very careful in watching our dog. Additionally, the vet said that a dog who has a penchant for biting will not change and typically it becomes worse with time. I'd say the op's dog is a textbook example of that.

When you do sit next to God, ask him why dogs bite and bite and bite and bite and then why their owners ignore, ignore, ignore, ignore.

dl

I don't believe the OP is asking for sympathy and I doubt she would care if someone feels more concerned about the bite victim than for her. She felt horrible about the incident and put the dog down. She then came here asking if he/she did the right thing to put the dog down. It is obvious she feels horribly about the bite and she even called the person a "victim." She can't unring the bell and what is done is done.

Perhaps if the dog bit victim comes here to post, who is more deserved of sympathy would be relevant. Addtionally, it would be another issue I suppose if she came here and didn't put the dog down and wanted some sort of support on that decision.

Obviously, she doesn't have a lot of experience with an aggressive dog and learned a valuable lesson. And, perhaps others here may learn from her sad experience, which may save others in the future.

OP --- I hope you are able to find a dog that is a good family member and a good neighbor, too.

She does have alot of experience with an aggressive dog, and unfortunately there are four victims to prove it. The fact that there are four separate people who suffered painful bites because they were exposed to this dog is very relevant when op asks if she did the right thing. If enough corrective action had been taken after the first bite, there would be three less people that her dog was able to put hole in.

OP, your decision to put your dog down was obviously very difficult because your family loved him

Op as a true animal lover that I am , I feel deep down inside you did make the right decision for you and your family . Again as loving my animals the way we do, its never a easy choice. Sometimes there are some dogs that belong to live with just one person, who perhaps only adults, or perhaps they need to live on a farm where they can get plenty of room to play. Personally I have 2 shelties my female the mom Sushine, while she is truly the most sweetest loving caring dog to us and never once harmed anyone, we do know that when strangers come over , she tends to shy away and will go and lay on her bed. I pray that you find peace in your heart that you know you did the right thing and I also pray that you found another pet for your family to love. Peace. Catherine

OP may I suggest that you read the book, A Good Dog, by Jon Katz?

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Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass
It's about learning to dance in the rain.

Thanks for the comments about my dog. He was five years old in September. He was just a mixed mut that I took from my sister when she wanted to get rid of him because her boyfriend didn't want him.

May I clarify that when I say he bit his fourth victim, in the past he didn't draw blood on anyone he contacted, but the fact that he reached for them with his mouth and ended up with clothing in his mouth was enough to scare us. Is this called nipping? (I remember as a child being nipped by my friends dog every time I went over there.) He never growled or bared his teeth. Unfortunately, when my 8 year old opened the front door the dog got by and the UPS guy did get scratched by him and that's what made me finally say that he won't be cured of his anxiety. So please know that we didn't sit around watching our dog maul people and we never would have let this go on. We believed we could work with him and help him. I believe he was truly an anxiety-ridden dog that had something happen to him in the five months before my family took over his ownership that made him the way he is. We will never know what happened and it will always be a mystery to us. I wonder, too, if our attitude toward him made him more nervous, because we were usually right after him and on him. After the first incident we took him to a dog trainer and consulted on what to do on our end to help him and we read an excellent book on dog behavior written by her. We worked with him and taught ourselves to put him away before answering the door, taught him key words, watched him like a hawk, et cet. The sad part is he was amzing with the family and our friends, et cetera, and he was smart as a whip. But there was something that we will never know deep in him. IT started when we would play in the backyard, slide down the hill in the winter, he would chase us and try to get our mittens and hats. Then I remember a friend stopped by and he came up and just kind of nipped at his pants and I thought, hmm, that's weird. Then I remember when we walked him and we stopped to talk to friends he grabbed the friend's sweatshirt sleeve.

It is now amazing to realize how the dog was a huge part of our lives. My teen daughter is having the worst time because he was her roommate and best friend. Every noise she hears reminds her of the dog, everything she does reminds her of him, including sitting in her room doing homework and sleeping (or trying to sleep). She's very upset and depressed right now and talks about how she wasn't nice to him in his last hours of his life (We just took him in without letting the kids know we were going, thinking this would be easier on them). A big reason for putting him down is the sad fact of how litigeous our country is.

I questioned why I entered this post to begin with. (It's usually not my style to post, but to merely read what others post) First I needed to tell someone while crying my eyes out (it's hard to TALK and cry at the same time so I thought I'd post) and second I questioned if others had dogs like this. Third I am quite concerned about my daughter. I told her to cry as needed, but I also told her to try not to cry today at school, to tell her friends she'd talk later (talk about double talk, but I want her to get through her day). Here's what I think I'll do to help her; I think we'll make a photo book of our dog, we'll read the book "A GOOD DOG" and just take it day by day. I want her to feel free to talk of him and cry about him when she wants to and needs to. I have never had this happen before. We as a family have never suffered a loss of close friend or family.

Again, THANK YOU for all of your responses. THE harsh and blunt, almost cruel responses really helped me realize there was no alternative, and the kind and sympathetic ones helped me feel better and realize how wonderful some people are. I needed both!

I am so sorry about your dog

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Brenda

GO #24 JEFF GORDON

I cant really be sympathetic, I mean this was the fourth person. he may have been your daughters best friend but what if she did something he didnt approve of that day.

I "live on the other side of the fence". My son left for school one morning only to come CRASHING back into the house a little while later. I normally lock the door after he headed to the school bus out of habit but didnt that morning for some reason. Some wonderful dog owner had moved out of his house down the street and left his dog. the dog had bit my sons legs and comepletely shredded his pants legs. I called animal control and the dog bit the animal control officer as well. Luckily they finally caught the dog and put it down. But you cant forget one of your kids with terror on their face.

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Yeah, I just finished reading an article in the newspaper with the headline "Infant resting comfortably after Sunday pit bull attack"

The mother left the 3-month old baby on the floor with the dog in a penned-in area and the dog ripped apart a portion of the gate and attacked the baby while the mother was taking a shower!

"Emergency responders consided the injuries life-threatening, but it looks now like the baby will survive.

Police believe the dog became jealous of the baby and reacted viciously to its lowered status in the family's pecking order."

That poor little guy

You don't understand how the dog could be so good w/ his family? Dogs are pack animals. If you are part of it's pack, they will protect you against any threat--real or perceived..
Rest assured, you did the right thing. Apparently, the first 3 bites were never reported to the police department or sheriff's office. You're fortunate that you were able to decide when to put him down, rather than being forced to by local law enforcement. Imagine the horror and feelings you would have had if the local animal control office came, confiscated the dog and took him to be put down. As cold comfort as this is: You got to make the choice. I

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

The OP got incredibly lucky. In today's world, lawsuits are filed for the most frivolous of reasons and to dodge the bullet three times on a legitimate claim is astounding. I'm sorry for your pain and I pity the poor dog but what's done is done. I think that I'd try to move on and put it behind me. I've seen what a dog bite can do to a child's body and money can't always repair the damage. I think I'd just be grateful that it didn't come to that and that a child wasn't mauled.