Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Al Dogs My lab bit my son,

The other day my wife called me and said Crockett, my 5 year old lab had bitten my son. He has never even raised a hair at anyone in 5 years. This is the 3rd lab i have had and i have never had one bite anyone. I asked my 7 year old what happened and he said that he saw the dog sleeping in the back yard so he walked up to him and said his name and the dog jumped up and bit him. When i looked at the bite marks i could not take the chance of this happening again so i no longer have a lab.

You did the right thing not keeping that dog around

Scary

Gotta do what you gotta do. That ain't pretty, but I'm glad it wasn't worse.

When I was growing up I went out to feed our lab/golden mix one evening and he was laying out in the yard sound asleep. It was pretty much the same scenario but I was still about 20-30 ft away when I made a noise (can't remember if I said his name or not). Our fence was down at the time so we had him tied up to a tree. He jumped up and ran at me barking and growling, basically in attack mode. I of course jumped back and yelled at him 2 or 3 times and he snapped out of it between the rope tightening up and me yelling at him. As soon as he realized it was me he calmed down and was happy to see me. I was about 13 when that happened and I have been somewhat cautious when waking up any dog from a deep sleep since then. We talked to the vet about it and he said they can get into such a deep sleep that when they are suddenly awakened their first instinct is defense before anything else. That being said, you still have to be cautious. Ours wouldn't have hurt a fly normally but startling him like that caused a different response.

I believe there are details not being told..Getting rid of him is the right thing.

I couldn't take a chance on keeping him around kids. If it was just me it is one thing, kids are a different story.

Widgeon, i asked my son over and over about the details because i thought he might have jumped on him while he was asleep or something but his story never changed. I guess i will never know .If i knew it was something my 7 year old had done i would have just given him to someone but I couldn't give him away and take the chance he might do it again. I just find it weird that after 5 years of growing up together he turned on him. Oh well i will just have to get another one soon.

Im thinking your son straddled him or something and the dog reacted.It is a sad situation either way.

Sorry... I don't give a damn how deep a sleep my dog is in... Bite my son...die. Better safe than sorry.

x2

Let sleeping dogs lie~ Charles Dickens

Really sorry to hear this happened.

similiar situation occurred with my cuz several years ago, he and his lab were laying in front of tv asleep and my cuz awoke and jumped up to go get him something to eat, startling his lab. the end result with the lab getting startled was my cuz lip was nearly torn off and he had to have plastic surgery. lab just reacted to being startled from asleep. certaainly can not tolerate such behavior from any dog as much as i love them.

Ya'll can blast away at me but I wouldn't have put the dog down.Getting rid of it was the right thing to do but I think it could have been placed somewhere in a home with no kids and owners who understood the circumstances. It sounds like to me he was startled out of his sleep and was doing what he thought was protecting his family. If he had been hellbent on biting your son it looks like the bites would have been much worse even though it was bad.I would have had a hard time putting down what had been my son's best friend for 5 years under these circumstances.

I'll add...if you feel this way you should not get another dog soon. Any dog could and/or would do the exact same thing in a similar situation. You had 5 years previous knowledge of your dogs behavior and in one incident you kill him. Do your family and the next dog a favor and do not get another until you child is grown.

BTW, I'm all for protecting your family. I feel you did what you thought was best to do. But I would still not get another dog.

I've always said that I would kill my dog in a heartbeat if it bit me or one of my kids. However I had a situation happen a few weeks ago that made me think on that a little, and it goes back to the situational thing that laidback mentioned. A few weeks ago a thunderstorm blew up about an hour after it got dark. The thunder and lighting was pretty severe. I heard my lab come on the front deck and get up against the front door. I opened the door and she was standing in the doorway looking out at the storm and there was lighting popping everywhere. I guess she didn't hear me open the door and I reached down and put my hand on her back to calm her down. She jumped about a two feet straight away from me and the whirled and lunged at my hand. Just before getting to me she realized what she was doing and just bumped my hand with her nose. She was coming after me though... no doubt about it. In that situation, I would have forgave it and let it be because that was my fault. Those bites in that pic are pretty severe though..... I would be inclined to shoot it if it were mine. That's more than a little bite.

I thought long and hard about giving him to someone but 2 things kept me from doing this. One was that he was an escape artist, If i gave him to someone who did not have kids and he escaped and bit someone i would feel liable. Also he was diagnosed with hip displactia (sp). I dont know of anyone who would want a lab that has hip problems. So i did what i thought was best even though it was VERY hard.

I'm sorry Raven you had to do this and I know it was hard to do.I didn't mean to sound like the bite was not really bad as it was but the dog seemed to stop after biting him. There is no excuse for what he did but if he really was attacking your son on purpose looks like he would have mauled him a lot more.I'm guessing when he realized what he had done he turned your son loose.It's just a bad situation that happened.

The dog being asleep may have something to do with it. I've seen animals get woke from a deep sleep and go crazy until they come to.......just like we've done before.

You did the right thing. I know it must have been difficult.

Ultimately...your job is to protect your family.

I can't believe that anyone would assume that there is more to the story that what you have stated. Hey, but to each his own.