Bodhi and I were walking with a neighbor Saturday on our road when we were attacked by a Great Dane.
The dog was sitting in front of his house, about a hundred feet off the road when we walked by.
He was alert, but didn't bark, growl or get up.
He just sat there and Bodhi didn't pay any attention to him.
I wasn't worried or vigilant, because all the GD's I have met are "Gentle Giants."

Then when we were almost past the property, the GD attacked silently from behind.
Neither my friend or I heard him going through bushes along the road.
He glommed onto Bodhi's head.
I couldn't get him off Bodhi, so I kicked the GD in the head.
That's when he bit me.
He ran off with my neighbor yelling at him and me searching for a rock.
Bodhi was not hurt.

We live in a rural area.
Neither of our wives were home.
No cars passed us that we could hitch a ride with.
I had to walk home two and a half miles leaving a trail of blood.
The dog had hit a vein on my lower leg.

My house looked like a crime scene after I got home and tried to stanch the bleeding.
My neighbor's wife, a nurse, came over and put a compress on my leg.
I ended up in the ER for cleaning and had five "loose" stitches.
Apparently the docs don't stitch up a dog bite all the way, so it can drain.
I'm on an antibiotic and pain meds.

The hospital filed a dog bite report with animal control.

The owners are being responsible about the dog.
They have said they will pay for my medical bills, offered vaccination records, and are very apologetic.
Today they called me for the second time, and suggested that this might have been a problem due to lack of the dogs' socialization.
They want me to bring Bodhi up to their house, introduce the dogs on leash and let them play.

Because of the way that the dog attacked and its size (This dog is as big as a pony), I am loathe to do that.
My dogs have been attacked before, but never silently and for absolutely no reason.
Bodhi is fixed and has no vocalization possible.
He is a rescue that was debarked by his previous humans.
I will wait to see what animal control does, but keep thinking about what if this had been a child coming home from school?
But whatever the outcome, I need to be more vigilant.
Life changes in an instant.

you guys have some awful luck with this. A taser might be useful to carry if you can. Especially with a dog that size. Silent attacks are not what I would call just an "unsocialized" dog. I've had dogs like that and it was a trained guarding mentality. While meeting someone with an owner present could go well, the next time you walk by the house and the owner isn't there it could possibly happen again. Has this dog been around long? New to these people or was this a new walking route? They don't have a fence?

The problem with a Taser, @TwisterII, is that his dog would be affected by it as well as the GD GD. Even if the prongs hit the GD, it's charge will travel through both dogs - I think.

"They don't have a fence?" After the hospital filing a dog-bite report, I'd be willing to bet that either a fence or on-leash are going to be minimal requirements for the GD.

I'm with you though, the silent attack is a whole lot more than "unsocialized." With no apparent reason the incident should be a warning to the GD's owner that he has a big problem (pun intended.) I would definitely not volunteer any of my dogs for a "meet and greet", after having been attacked one time I could only imagine that my dog would be defensive which would be apt to trigger the other dog, even with owner present.

@Jalepeno Damn, mate, that had to be scary at the very least. Take care of yourself, dog bites seem to take longer to heal than a "regular" cut - or at least they do on me.

Ugh.. hate to hear these stories. Especially scary is the fact the dog wasn't displaying any aggressiveness initially.

I carry citronella spray (supposedly dog-safe(r) spray), but it would have not done any good in this case.

I would not meet with that dog to "help" with the socialization.

aljones wrote:

The problem with a Taser, @TwisterII, is that his dog would be affected by it as well as the GD GD.  Even if the prongs hit the GD, it's charge will travel through both dogs - I think.

No they won't do that. People use tasers and stun guns to get assailants off them all the time without it back flowing onto them. If you have a legit taser that you shoot and one prong hits the dogs butt and the other hits the dog's shoulder and you are holding the dog's back then you will get hit as the shock heads from one prong to another but if you are using a direct drive with a taser or a standard stun gun where you touch the device to the problem child then it won't travel through to your dog or you. Zap goes between the prongs, not between the prongs and the actual ground you stand on. Devices that are "ungrounded" are the ones you have to look out for.

@twisterII I stand (er, sit) corrected. Learn something new every day. But thinking back on some of the YouTube vids I've watched the police who were holding someone who was tased didn't suffer ... that's why I said "I think"

Michael, i would not take Bodhi back to meet the dog, i see no good out come from that as been mentioned above. I know you have your routes, is this one you walk a lot? i would change up my walk to avoid the house for awhile, and make sure the owners keep him tethered from now on if not behind a fence. at least they are working with you. the times i have had issues with dog attacks the owners are rude or i have no idea who the dog belongs to.
i did not know you had your friend with you at the time, that makes it even more questionable. what dog comes after 2 large humans and a dog.....
i still have a scare on my arm from my bite last yr, i almost did not get stitches but my co workers made me go to the doc, i got 3 in each cut, so 6 total.
hope the leg heals up and the house got cleaned up!
stay safe out there

How awful, sorry to hear that, Michael. Last year my mom had a Great Dane lunge at her, pushed her backwards(it was on a leash but the owner was caught off guard) and it made my mom fall, and break her wrist. To this day she still has pain there.

For whatever reason, dog attacks have been on the rise here. Just a week ago, a leashed Akita attacked an unleashed little mutt chasing a tennis ball in the park. Little mutt died. Anyways, my "Nextdoor" site has been flooded with dig attacks lately, some suggestions for walking have included pepper spray, big sticks, airhorn (which apparently works very well).

Get well! I'm glad Bodhi wasn't injured too! I'd be reluctant to take the owners suggestion and bring Bodhi back. It can go two ways, one good, one bad...personally I wouldn't want to risk putting Bodhi at stake just in case of the bad. The Great Dane can be socialized in different ways and that's on the owners, not you and Bodhi.

How horrible that this happened to you!
Sounds like a really stressful experience...2.5 miles is a LONG way to walk when bleeding.

I had a Great Dane as a kid...the greatest danger you would be in, is being licked on the face too much. I find it really bizarre that a GD could have this kind of temperament. It's not like I socialized my Dane much...I was just a kid, I didn't know anything about dog training & socialization at that age! But she was 100% friendly to humans and dogs, never heard her growl. When I (clueless kid) grabbed her paw to clip her nails, she would lick my hand.

Weird that owners would leave this big dog just loose in the front yard, no fence, no tether. I am sure Animal Control is going to put an end to THAT. They take bites to humans quite seriously, at least ours does.

Good that your husky is unhurt. I wouldn't have him go anywhere near that GD - agreed that the Dane can be "socialized" without YOUR dog taking the risk to do it. Not only that, it takes much more than one meeting - it takes a lot of meetings, over weeks/months - so what they are thinking, is probably not going to work...

How aggressive was the GD when he went after Bodhi? It honestly sounds like unsocialized play behavior with the size difference in the dogs being an issue. But you weren't very clear about the attitude of the GD during the attack. Did he seem super aggressive? Was he growling? Was he snarling? Did he clamp down super hard?

I tend to take super early morning or late night walks (I'm talking pitch dark) and have been scared nearly to death several times as I suddenly hear a very distinct dog running on pavement sound. They always come from behind me and it's terrifying. No barks, no growls, nothing. Every time they just get close enough to check me out, then wander off. Why the hell there are so many unsecured dogs in my area is beyond me. If either of my dog was with me for these walks, it would have been chaos. They would have been interesting in my dogs, my dogs would have been interested in them, mine are on a leash, the other dogs aren't, and that would make my dogs very agitated. My dog's stress level then raises the other dog's stress level and what was a friendly dog coming to say 'hi' turns into a barking, growling mess.

If the dog wasn't super aggressive, it sounds like he maybe just was running out to say hi, saw the dog, decided to play with the dog instead, went for a play bite to the head/neck. I too would have freaked out and likely done something to the dog. Which is why it likely struck out at you.

I'm not saying that the dog was right or you were wrong, just trying to understand better. Large, unsecured, untrained dog free to attack like that is a danger to everyone including itself.

Do NOT agree to socialize your dog with theirs. It would be a very bad idea. If the dog was violent towards your dog, not just playing, your dog would be traumatized by being thrown back into this situation. Even if your dog understood it was play, he's likely to be traumatized by what happened to you. Bodhi is likely to be very stressed out by such a meeting, and even if he isn't, he's going to sense your stress in the situation and that will set him off. Bodhi will come into this ready to fight, so even if the GD is cool, Bodhi won't be and things will start off bad. Plus, GDs are HUGE. Unless the person holding the leash is a mack truck, good luck holding him back if he gets aggressive again.

Let animal control deal with it and do their thing. If you feel like you want to keep using that route, scout it out several times at different times of the day to see if the dog is still there, still unrestrained. Don't go again unless you are absolutely sure it's safe.

He attacked silently from behind.
No growls, no snarling= he went straight for Bodhi's neck.
I could not get him off by pulling on Bodhi.
So I kicked the GD in the head.
And I made the conscious decision while kicking, not to kick straight on.
I was wearing running shoes and had broken a toe this summer.
So I kicked with the side of my foot.
That's where he got me, just above the ankle below the calf.

There was so much blood.
The shoe under the bite was completely filled with blood when I got home.
My wife took a picture of what the hall to the bathroom looked like when she brought me home from the ER.
I hesitate to put it up here as it looks like a crime scene.

Michael, So sorry this happened to you and Bodhi................Very similar situation happened to Miya and myself. Same scenario, dog quietly came up on us and took Miya down by the neck. Although I figured she wasn't injured because of all of her neck fur, she had to have had puncture wounds, scabs came off of her neck about a week later. The dog who attacked us was a rescue dog, an extremely large pitt, good 100+ pounds. The dog was used in a dog fighting ring. From what I have read they use "wolf" looking dogs for bait dogs, and suspect this is why he attacked Miya. He came out of nowhere, walked up from behind and never made any type of noise, didn't even care about me or my husband. To me that is the most dangerous dog type, the silent attackers. Curious if he was a rescue that attacked y'all. Get well soon, and NO I would not meet up with this animal.

OMG. So sorry to hear about this. That sounds really scary especially this happened to us before too. I mean a GD would have been worse.

I agree in not agreeing to socialize the GD with Bodhi. Bodhi is probably on high alert with the GD so their tension will probably not be good. Plus, the owners need to figure out how the GD is with socializing without putting others in danger. They need to fix that first before suggestion to do so.

I hope your wound heals up fast and hopefully Bodhi is not tramatized either.

It was six days and I had not heard from Animal Control.
I called yesterday.
They had no record of the attack, despite the fact that the hospital said they would file one.
They also said the hospital should have taken a picture of the wound.
So we are starting over as of yesterday.

I would definitely be sure a report was filed.

I hope they take this seriously!
Anyway there will be a record that you had a dog bite needing stitches, were prescribed antibiotics, etc.?

In our town, AC will come knocking on your door...there may be a fine for leash law violation (dog off property without owner present) and there may be a dangerous dog designation ( fencing / muzzling etc required). I know this because after my dog was attacked repeatedly, I read all the ordinances carefully to see what I could report. I may have mentioned, but once I threatened to report my neighbors’ dog ( I had printed out the paperwork and filled it out) they began to actually walk their dogs instead of leaving them tied outside to the railing...

so sorry  for what happened, to you and Bodhi. get well soon; i hope he's not traumatized by what happened.
i hope they get a follow up by  animal control.  i agree NO meet up this that animal, its way to dangerous. it should be muzzled in public for everyone's safety.

we were attacked by a GD also wail walking by the bank, about 2 weeks ago.  they were rounding the corner far away from us  and the next thing i hear is metal hitting the ground and a dog barreling toward us fallowed by the owner running behind her. she didn't seam people aggressive cause i had to block her from getting to Leo, she did get some of his neck fluff with some drool, before i scuffed her and threw her back, she did backed up about 4 ft and pause as the owner dove in for the tackle and waited to make sure we were okay. we got luck and no one was hurt. now i'm very paranoid when we go walking any where. specially since we live in a small town and not many banks around usually one one per branch type.

he apologized saying she was not socialized as a puppy, and that's why she was dog aggressive. i haven't seen him since. i just hope its not some ones small dog next time or some ones kid.

Michael, how are you doing? Even tiny dog bites can become a problem.

Sorry to hear you had this experience. And nope. Cold Fay hell before I'd allow contact with that dog!

Neighbors have contacted me several times asking if I am OK, expressing sadness about the whole thing and taking responsibility.
They have been great.

But.
Animal Control told me this is just a level one, "Dog at large" incident.
Their reasoning is the dog did an unprovoked attack on Bodhi.
If he was hurt, that would be a level four "Dangerous dog" incident.
Bodhi was not hurt.

If the dog did an unprovoked attack on me, it would be a level four offense.
But it was not an unprovoked attack on me, it was an attack on Bodhi.
When I tried to protect Bodhi, the dog bit me.
So the dog was just protecting himself.
Therefore, the dog can't be blamed for the bite.

To me, this is tortured logic.
AC did say that this would have no effect on my civil suit.
I am not going to file one, despite the aggravation this has caused me.
Unless I see this dog out off his dog run again.

I went in to get the stitches out on Tuesday (10 days after the bite) and the doc said that it wasn't healed enough yet.
So I'll try again tomorrow.

Glad to hear you're healing. Have you talked to the neighbors about a muzzle and maybe some training classes?

Stitches!  As much as I hate them, they itch like blazes and I normally have them out before I'm supposed to go to the doctor for them.

Animal control laws are so odd across the different states / counties.  I can understand that the GD was defending himself against your attack but Multnomah Country Leash Law from which the following is extracted specifically states:

Quote :

*ANIMAL AT LARGE. Any animal, excluding domestic cats, that is not physically restrained on owner's or keeper's premises including motorized vehicles in a manner that physically prevents the animal from leaving the premises or reaching any public areas; or, is not physically restrained when on public property, or any public area, by a leash, tether or other physical control device not to exceed eight feet in length and under the physical control of a capable person.

So as far as I'm concerned, your AC officer was off base. As soon as the dog left it's owner's property it became an "animal at large" and if I'm reading that correctly there should have been a $50 fine imposed<period>!!

Aha, just read the actual law (Multnomah County Ordinances, Chapter 13, where 13.401 classifies an animal. I'll agree that was a level four but in violation of the leash law.

Yes, Al, that's for what the officer said she was going to cite them- level 1, "Animal at Large."

I thought this applied: "(A) Classification of a dog as a dangerous dog shall be based upon the dog engaging in any of the following behaviors:
(1) A dog, whether or not confined, causes the serious physical injury or death of any person;"

She said not, that when I kicked the other dog, even though he was attacking my dog, the dog is defending himself.

I'm guessing here Michael that her response is to NOT classify the dog as a dangerous dog - the ramifications to that are pretty stringent and could easily result in the dog (someone's pet) being put down for what appears to have been a first time attack.

Texas is one of the states that has a 'one bite' law (??) where the dog is allowed one 'free' bite. It assumes that the dog has been well behaved prior to the event and an exception is a 'one off' where any number of things could have caused the dog to bite. The owner would then be aware that, in some situations, his dog is apt to bite and there is no consideration for a second bite. Almost sounds as if your ACO is operating with the same attitude.

I do have to play a bit more of the devil's advocate here, sorry, your five stitches would be hard pressed to qualify as 'serious physical injury.' It may have felt (and looked) like it, but in the scheme of things five stitches really isn't all that many (I got four [I think] when Sasha bit me last time)

I don't have personal experience, but I have read that "dangerous dog" results in things like going to court, your dog needs to be in a kennel if outside and muzzled if off the property, etc.

I read (on forums) about owners whose dogs got reported and had to go to court. One example is when an offleash dog was near a playground, a girl came running over to pet, and the dog nipped at her (not a serious injury, but drew blood).

I have never been bitten and stitches sounds scary to me!!

PS
I started carrying "Halt" spray. We just had our fourth attack (from same neighbor's dog) last week. He was on leash pottying outside, we were walking by on other side of the street. He began to lunge, bark and growl. Then he BIT HIS OWNER ON THE HAND. Owner dropped the leash, he ran across the street to attack. When owner came running and retrieved him, what did he do? He said the dog's name over and over in a sorrowful tone. I have lost faith in ability of this owner to ever restrain his dog...I'll also be notifying animal control...