The Do's and Don'ts of Tugging

[Suzzie]

Originally Posted by DanL

I don't see why a dog would be put down for an accidental bite on the owner. One of our decoys nearly had a finger amputated recently. He was in the hospital, they asked how it happened, and he told them. They didn't report it to anyone. He knew the risk of taking the field to catch the dog. Just like if you got your teeth smashed in playing hockey- you knew the risk before you went out there, so there's no liability for anyone else.

i'm not sure why anyone thinks they would be put down.

Murphy accidentally bit my SO when he was breaking up a particularly nasty do-or-die fight between her and Blossom when we first moved in together... She latched onto his arm and he picked her up off the ground. You could see in her eyes when she realized what she had done and she was the sorriest critter I ever did see. I took my SO to the hospital right away, because he was torn up and bleeding pretty good, and we told them she did it accidentally and it was his fault for getting between them.

Nothing ever came of it. She's happily snoozing by my feet right now, and that was about 4 years ago. He was pretty wary of her for a while, but I think that was the last big dog fight at our house....

It's actually stupid to NOT go to the hospital when something like that happens - even with the antibiotics they gave him, it still got infected and he needed something even stronger than that.

[vomdominus]

Originally Posted by Suzzie

i'm not sure why anyone thinks they would be put down.

Murphy accidentally bit my SO when he was breaking up a particularly nasty do-or-die fight between her and Blossom when we first moved in together... She latched onto his arm and he picked her up off the ground. You could see in her eyes when she realized what she had done and she was the sorriest critter I ever did see. I took my SO to the hospital right away, because he was torn up and bleeding pretty good, and we told them she did it accidentally and it was his fault for getting between them.

Nothing ever came of it. She's happily snoozing by my feet right now, and that was about 4 years ago. He was pretty wary of her for a while, but I think that was the last big dog fight at our house....

It's actually stupid to NOT go to the hospital when something like that happens - even with the antibiotics they gave him, it still got infected and he needed something even stronger than that.

I've gotten bit once on accident too, ironically enough while playing tug. I was in my side yard playing with a long rope bone, and he was jumping through the air to catch it which is a favorite of both of us. However, someone drove by and said hello to me, distracting me for a split second and I didn't watch the dog, who accidentally grabbed my arm instead of the rope because I moved my arm. He latched down and did some damage, but when he realized what he did, he let go and had a graceless crash landing.

When I went to the hospital, they told me that by law they had to report it, and out of fear I got up off of the operating table and told them nuts with this I'm leaving (well, a little more colorfully). They told me they still had my info and would report it anyway. lol

Turns out when they called the law on it, they explaind to the police what I told them and nothing came of it. The law said that if I didn't feel it was an isssue then they didn't feel it was an issue.

I have had a finger or thumbnail (OUCH!!) in the way more than once.

[Sweet72947]

Daisy chomped my hand once 5 years ago when she was still 1 year old. She went for the Frisbee but got my hand instead. Ouches...didn't break the skin though. She is much more careful now.

[adojrts]

The point is how to tug, not accidental bites.
Btw we also live in BSL here, so there is concern, whether its a concern with other people or not doesn't matter.
And the post wasn't directed at people who know how to train tugging but for those who don't.

[DanL]

Originally Posted by Suzzie

i'm not sure why anyone thinks they would be put down.

I said that because adojrts wrote

This person was badly bit recently, during training, the dog flew through the air, grab their upper arm and DIDN'T let go. Needless to say the damage was pretty good, they didn't dare go to the hospital for fear of the dog being put down or reported.

[mrose_s]

I've had some bad bruises and scratches from not watching what I was doing while playing with Buster. Ofcourse it all levels out like the time I went to kick a tennis ball across the yard just as Buster decided to rush in and grab it, one very sore foot and one very sore mouth.