Once Bitten twice shy

[doc]

I took my daughter (she is 7) prefishing with me this weekend. Things got off to a beautiful start, nice weather, fish were biting, a good day. About 7 am or so I realised i had left my Glasses in the truck, and my daughter had to use the restroom. So we made our way back to the boat ramp. At the ramp, is a parking lot of course, with a campground and a little mom and pop store.

I parked the boat, and we walked across the parking lot to my vehicle, when we got close to our vehicle 2 dogs came out from around our truck. one was a chihuaha and the other a Pit. I guess we may have startled the pit by walking up on it, but it immediatly went for my daughter and bit her once on the pants leg. When that happend she screamed, like any little girl would and the pit got ultra excited, by this time I had moved myself between the dog and my kid, and had my daughter in my arms trying to get her in the truck. Every time I turned my back on the dog he would come in and bite my legs, grab, and shake. Once I got my daughter in the truck I was able to get my tire iron and take a couple of swings at the dog and it ran off.

No one was around, and I figured the dog belonged to some campers. I made my way to the store with my daughter (and the tire iron.). The dog belonged to a gentleman behind the counter of the store, who was verrrry apologetic. The dog never broke the skin on my daughter, but I have 2 pretty nasty bites on my legs( I have a tetnus shot this afternoon. Most of the time he was biting at me, he got my pants thank goodness. The owner, loaded the dog up and it was put down(he said), he had no shot records but swore the dog was up on his shots. Had it been my daughter with the bleeding wounds I would have pressed that a little further. I was just glad she did not get hurt. Jayden (my daughter) is pretty messed up about the whole deal, she is now terrified of dogs, sad that that dog got put down, and said she will never go fishing with me again (verrrrry, sad.. I'm hoping she was just upset.)

I did place a call to the sherriffs office, to ask that they pay the owner a visit and verify that that dog was put down, as this place is a public area, and I would hate to read in the paper next week that someone else was bitten or mauled.

I learned a very valuable lesson saturday, I will never go out with my kids again without my pistol. This could have very easily been alot worse of a situation. I almost sent my daughter across the field to the truck by herself as it's a very open area and there was no one around, luckily I did not. I should also add that this was not a full grown dog, 6 to 7 months old, had it been a full grown pit I think it would have been worse. I could have handled the dog fine on my own, but with my kid screaming, and me holding onto her trying to get her in the truck, and keep the dog off it was a handfull.

[WaffleJaw]

Jesus Doc...Glad everyone is ok and your got your daughter safe...Everything you did was the right move....Glad that tire iron was in reach!

[Bassboss]

Wow. that's pretty scary! Glad it wasn't worse then it was. Hope everything turns out ok.

[bcklash]

Jeez Doc hope you're ok and praying for your little girl. This is very, very scarey.

[MississippiBoy]

Man, that gave me chills. We've all seen the news stories about people being mauled by pits or rottweilers or whatever. You did a good job getting your little girl away from it...somebody that small would be in big trouble against a pit, even a puppy-ish one like that was. I have a daughter, about a year and a half old. I can't imagine having something like that happen to her.
I agree about having the gun, too. Animal rights, PETA, ASPCA....screw that. That animal is attacking my family, I'll kill it and never blink.
Hopefully this just gave her a bad scare without any lasting effects. I hope she doesn't keep the memory of the attack associated with going fishing with her daddy. Maybe you can slowly ease her back into fishing later on.
We'll keep you, her, and your family in our prayers.

[nofearengineer]

Originally Posted by doc

I learned a very valuable lesson saturday, I will never go out with my kids again without my pistol.

/applaud

Doc, I hope everything works out okay for you. That must have been incredibly scary for a protective father. I know you would have let that dog chew you to ribbons to save your little girl.

[doc]

Originally Posted by nofearengineer

/applaud

Doc, I hope everything works out okay for you. That must have been incredibly scary for a protective father. I know you would have let that dog chew you to ribbons to save your little girl.

It did scare the bejeebus out of me, but to be honest the dog wasn't big enough to really hurt me, he would not have even got to bite me the time it had if not for me trying to get my daughter in the truck. He was however big enough to tear her to shreads, and from the looks of things wanted to.

[BigBassin144]

Doc, I'm so sorry to hear about this awful experience. We'll keep your little girl in our prayers. I'm just glad it wasn't worse; it could have been.

BB

[everettvet]

I am glad that your daughter is safe and take really good care of your wounds. If someone goes to the doctor, in the state of Kentucky, and says they got a bite wound from a cat or dog, it gets reported to the police. The animal should get isolated for 10 days as a rabies observation. If a person elects to put down the animal, the animal should be submitted for rabies testing. That is at least the way it is suppose to be done here.

[bamabassman]

doc........man i too have chills running on me. i love dogs. but NOT pit bulls, sorry folks. it IS in the breeding, not in the way one is raised.

but aside from that, i am glad it was not a full grown one. even you would have had a LOT of trouble handling it.

glad everyoneis safe. and hopfully the owner DID have it put down. and like others have said, i hope you cn ease oyur daughter back into fishing. and hopefully she wil not be scaired of dogs in the future too. dogs can save your life. GOOD dogs that is.

[WatterBoy]

Doc, I'm glad to hear everything turned out as "OK" as it did. As the others have already said, it sure could have been worse. I hope your daughter is not permanently terrified of dogs by this incident, as there are plenty of nice, friendly ones out there. I don't know what the "dog laws" are in your parts, but there is a reason for leash laws like we have here, especially in a public place. Dog owners who think they can just let their dogs run around wherever they please might be due a couple smacks with a tire iron also.

Dean

[Bubba_Bruiser]

Doc, i am glad everyone is OK. My oldest son doesn't like dogs from being jumped on by a Golden Retriever when he was about 3. He will barely have anything to do with our mini wienie. But I am glad you got away with just few cuts and accompanied her back to the truck.

[doc]

Here are a couple pictures I took with my cell phone, I have pen markings around 1 of the bites done by my nurse, to make sure red doesn't spread and start heading up my leg. Not as bad as it could have been, but not harmless by any means.

[CamG]

Originally Posted by everettvet

I am glad that your daughter is safe and take really good care of your wounds. If someone goes to the doctor, in the state of Kentucky, and says they got a bite wound from a cat or dog, it gets reported to the police. The animal should get isolated for 10 days as a rabies observation. If a person elects to put down the animal, the animal should be submitted for rabies testing. That is at least the way it is suppose to be done here.

This is the way it is in most states.

Very glad you and your daughter are OK.

[bassinbob]

Glad it wasn't your daughter that got bit. I've been bitten before and have some nasty scars. I hate lawyers but I'd get one quick.

[Abbeysdad]

Man Doc, whadda story - sure glad it wasn't even worse and hope your daughter comes around - it wasn't the fishing trip that went bad, it was a cur dog.
Hang in there.

[carolina-rig-01]

Man doc I don't know what to say. That had to be a horrifying experience and I am glad everyone is ok (or at least no worse for wear). I agree that would have been a good situation to have a handgun.

[nova385]

Doc - you should make damn sure that dog is in infected.

[bamabassman]

well IF it were me, i would make darn sure that dog was DEAD!! those bites are not from a full grown dog? what do you think a full grown one would have done? i love dogs as much as anyone, but not THAT dog. he owuld be D-E-A-D, DEAD! grave-yard,dead as a door knob DEAD!!

[Jim80]

sorry to hear that happened man and I am glad that your little girl is alright . I've owned pit bulls for years and have never had them come close to putting their mouth on one of the boys , but if they did it would have to get put down . Again I am glad your little girl did not get hurt man .


Jim

[1/4 stick]

Wow Doc. I'm glad your daughter didn't get hurt. I had a mixed breed half pit half coon hound that had a thing for small people and animals. Wouldn't go after an adult unles they were protecting the smaller animal, but a small dog or a child, it acted like it wanted to tear apart. Had it put down before a kid got hurt. Don't know if it's something in the breed or what. But I've heard of many pits that were like that.

[Vegasspider]

Originally Posted by bassinbob

Glad it wasn't your daughter that got bit. I've been bitten before and have some nasty scars. I hate lawyers but I'd get one quick.

So if you hate lawyers, why would you get one quick?

[nofearengineer]

Originally Posted by Vegasspider

So if you hate lawyers, why would you get one quick?

The same way as if you hate plumbers; if $hit is backing up into your house, you're gonna call one.

[bassinbob]

Been divorced Vegas?

[Vegasspider]

Never been divorced, but I have been to Law School.

Originally Posted by bassinbob

Been divorced Vegas?