Part 5 Bites happen but this could have been avoided…
If you are still here, Treat Yourself you deserve it. I didn’t know then what I know now about rewards and the importance of them when it comes to behavior change. I mean I did in dog behavior, but I didn’t realize how powerful it is in human behavior. Especially when treating myself felt wrong, felt indulgent and shameful, treating myself meant over indulging to the point of struggle, it felt wasteful. Has anyone figured out what my reinforcers are yet? Better question do you know yours?
I will never forget the first time I experienced an episode. That day started with me being badly bitten in both hands by a dog at work. We did a trial run day with a 8month old German Shepard female. My co-worker loved shepherds but we found very few in our area that were a safe fit for a play setting. We were thrilled to watch this young lady be shy but sweet to us and absolutely love the other dogs. We were thrilled to see her have healthy play behaviors and confidence in her boundaries with the other dogs. She was a respectful player and checked in with us from time to time. We were in love.
An important part of our program was short place sessions before play got inappropriate or over-stimulated. Dogs rested frequently throughout the day to ensure they could rest and recoup between sessions in private quarters, we did not believe in group naps as not every dog will rest peacefully in a group setting. Dogs need ample rest breaks its very important!
As this group finished it was time to leash up for a rest break. We immediately noticed this pup shy away from the slip lead, not uncommon especially for a dog that does not yet know our routine. No problem, my co-worker stepped away with the other dogs into the holding area as I crouched to invite this dog to interact with me. She approached and comfortably received pets to her head, neck, and body over her collar, allowing me to touch the collar.
We always kept collars on new dogs until we knew how comfortable they were with us handling them to take on and off their equipment. We watched carefully for neck biting play and redirected to avoid anyone getting stuck in a collar, we had great success with building trust in handling a dog using this method. We built trust over each visit to ensure if a dog needed our intervention at any point they would be more accepting of the handling.
After a moment of her seeming comfortable I gently slipped my fingers under her collar in order to leash her for our walk back. The moment this dog felt my finger slide under that collar, she panicked and starting biting with serious intent. Now I don’t say this as a judgment or prejudice against the breed, but shepherds (in my exerpiences, does not apply to all shepherds) are a bite first, ask questions later breed of dog especially when not ethically bred. It is why they make incredible police and working dogs. I do not blame this dog for one single second, she was in a new environment, with people she never met before, after being raised through covid, and this stranger who just put pressure on equipment she was not accustom to wearing (I was later informed).
In her panic she trapped my hand within her collar, she repeatedly bit because scary stranger grabby lady won’t let go of her. I tried to free my hand while trying to control her body to allow the pressure of the collar to release enough to free me. In doing so I exposed my other hand to her terror but I was able to finally unclip her collar completely and free her into the large, secure area. This poor girl ran, and ran, and ran circles avoiding us at all costs. She was not willing to come near us again. Her family arrived to catch and collect her, not understanding how a dog they have never witnessed any aggressive tendencies from, bit someone not even 2 hours after being dropped off.
This is often where pet professionals get blamed, my friendly dog went to daycare and she bit someone?! What did you do to my dog?! It must be abuse!!!! But more often then not it is a situation like this, where we just didn’t have enough information to avoid this. I did not know this dog was not used to wearing a collar, I didn’t know that it was new just for daycare and that she grew up “naked” in a fenced yard. Had I know this I would never had made that mistake with her, and we both paid the price as she just gained a new traumatic experience with someone handling her…at 8 months old.
I say this not to blame the owner either, they tried to understand when I explained this to them and I do hope they took my words and explanation to heart. The average pet home does not think about something like that being scary to a dog, every dog has the capacity to bite when pushed beyond their limit and every dog has a different limit. Every dog has the right to bite when they are terrified, because that is in their nature to do so, it does not make them bad it makes them unheard, unseen, scared etc. It is our job though as Pet Parents to prepare them for success for these situations and circumstances. I am so grateful for the hard work trainers are doing to educate this to set not only pet parents up for success but dogs also and the pet professionals caring for them. I am always grateful to see the work that Laura Monaco Torelli does with husbandry training and my fellow training friends implementing this skills in their classes.
Lucky you that little side quest was basically two blog posts in one. You are welcome friend, I hope people can take from that in some way. No one wants to get bit or push your dog to biting, if they do its either for bitework or bad people.
Anyway, when I got home that night I took some gummies of the garden variety and hopped in a relaxing bath to unwind. When I was finished my husband came in and cleaned up my wounds. As I watched him clean and dress them, I suddenly became dizzy and lost function of my legs. He caught me and spun me to sit me on the toilet. I lost my ability to talk and my head was spiraling but I was completely conscious just without control. I finally got the words 911 out of my mouth and he jumped into action. That’s when I felt the sudden urge to vomit, I threw my body with everything I had over the edge of the tub where I dry heaved. In an instant I felt better. An ambulance came and I was mortified to tell them that I was immediately better and didn’t need them. I felt very much like I made a big deal over nothing, I couldn’t not get them out fast enough. They gave me a quick check and told me to follow up with a doctor.
I went to urgent care the next day where they told me it was likely a Vaso Vagal response due to the trauma of the events and the hot water and everything at once. I didn’t know our body reacted physically to trauma in that way. My brain spent the night telling me it was a seizure from a tumor or cancer. At this point in my life I did not know how to truly feel my emotions, I had only ever repressed them, until I hit a breaking point and I crumbled into the fetal position in my bed feeling sorry for myself. Crying felt like weakness, shame, like a victim. But it also started to fell good. I felt kind nice after, almost euphoric. That was definitely new…I usually feel like I must be faking for attention despite trying to keep it as private as possible. Weird.
Wow, I am truly impressed. It honestly means I lot that my story has kept you this long. I am grateful you are here. At this point I am going to believe you are committed to the long haul of this story and I hope not to disappoint. My goal in sharing this story is to help, even just one person feel something and do whatever scary next step gets you to a better life. I hope you discover your own reinforcers to get you to where you want to be in life.
Sending lots of love, your new friend
Shelby.
