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My dog bit my face

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Lupus
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Posted 3/10/2008 12:38 PM (GMT 0)
I haven't been around for a very long time and have missed you all so much. Saturday morning my Akita bit my face and now we have to make a very difficult decision. We have had Sami bear for a year and he was my sweet cuddly bear, I woke up with him by my side laying next to my husband and myself curled up on the floor, I reached down to pet him and was just touching his sweet face and he turned on me and it all happened in just a split second. He jumped up and snapped at me, I in turn sat straight up and asked my husband if I was bleeding and he said he didn't think so.
I stood up and felt blood dripping from my nose and my left eye all of a sudden clouded over and I couldn't see anything but a white film. I ran to the bathroom and looked in the mirror, he had indeed gotten under my left eye and I saw a bloody tear coming out of my left eye and blood dripping from my nose. My husband put the dog outside and was immediately by my side and he was shocked as well as was I. Sami has been nothing but loving before this incident and such a sweety in the morning, we always woke up to his big sweet kisses in the morning. Well, needless to say my hubby took me to the ER and they told me he barely missed my eye and had punctured the outside of my nose. Fortunately my vision has not been affected and they had to put some facial glue under my eye to close the wound and now I have quite a shiner.
My honey loves his dog, but he immediately said he has to go and that it wasn't my fault, I was simply loving on him and was just petting his face. This is the hardest decision for both of us since we feel if you take on an animal that it is for life, but in this case we could be endangering ourselves or our 17 year old daughter. If it had been my daughter, I would have killed the dog.
We loved Sami and it hurts to make such a decision, but I feel that if we hold onto him that we are not only endangering ourselves, but our neighbors. If he ever got out and hurt a neighborhood child I would be crushed. I am in shock and wish we had another option, but we don't and it hurts to the core, especially for my hubby since the dog was his sweet baby. I just can't understand why this happened or what set him off. I am devastated, since animal control came and has taken him away. He will be put in confinement for 10 days and then put to sleep and now there is such an emptiness in our hearts.

Shauna
Posted 3/10/2008 2:44 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Shauna,

 

I'm so sorry you have to deal with this very sensitive matter.  How is your eye?  You know what, maybe when you were petting him, he  was sleeping and maybe in a dream and it just startled him and he reacted because he was "out of it"?  For him to have never done that before, and he has always been a sweet gentle dog, it doesn't make sense that he would do this.  Does it?  Is it an option to just watch him over the next few days, or weeks and see if he gets aggressive again, and then if he does, you can make the decision then?  It would be such a shame to put him down, if he really didn't mean to do that, and was just in a dream state or something.  I really hope you all are okay.

 

Lots of hugs,

Ginny

 

I am a total animal lover myself.  Hearing this breaks my heart.  For you all, who love him so much, and for him too.....

Posted 3/10/2008 2:45 PM (GMT 0)
I'm sorry you got bit and hope you heal quickly. I wish you would have called Akita rescue in your area though instead of animal control.
Posted 3/10/2008 4:45 PM (GMT 0)
When you go to the hospital for dog bites they have to report it to the authorities, so we didn't have a choice in the matter.

There were two other instances where he showed some aggressive behavior, but we decided to give him another chance. When he was still a pup he bit my bottom lip, but it didn't require stitches and it was late at night, so we figured he was just tired. The other time he attacked my dachshund who was minding his own business at the time and his medical bills were over $300.00 due to him getting under the muscle, so we decided to then keep the dogs apart since my dachshund did at times start it with our Akita, so we decided that it was just due to dog on dog aggression. We have given him every chance and my husband has decided that I am more important at this point. He was awake at the time, he had just walked over to the side of the bed, so he was awake and it was an unprovoked attack on me. I think in part that he became jealous of Kevin's attention for me.

This is no easy thing for us, I have always been a dog lover, but we don't feel its safe to have him around. Next time it could be someones child and if he were to hurt, maim or even kill someone, I would never forgive myself. I never thought I would be in this position, but when you are on this side of the coin then you understand.

I know some of you may judge me for being a bad pet owner, but we have given him everything and every chance in the world. Until it happened to me I would have felt the same way. He was raised with love, a large back yard to run around in and the freedom to sleep with us at night, lots of walks, car rides and all his shots were up to date and we even recently took him to the vet and he was amazed at how healthy he was.

thanks for listening,

Shauna
Posted 3/10/2008 7:52 PM (GMT 0)
((((( Redwolf )))))) I'm responding to this one directly to your email. Blessings!
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