# Accidentally hit puppy - Need advice



## The Rick (Sep 17, 2012)

Hello everyone... I am the proud owner of soon-to-be 11 week old Scottie, Ellie. She has a great personality, and is very loving, but like a lot of Scotties is a bit hyper and definitely at times independent. Here is a pic:










When getting her dog food, she has excitedly started to jump up at me, and bit my leg (she's teething). My natural reaction was to pull my leg back, which, on two occasions now, resulted in her flying down and landing hard on the carpet. She didn't yelp, doesn't appear hurt, but nevertheless, could be confusing to her.

She hasn't done this in a while, because I've made some progress with the "Stay" command. That said, will those two times that she was accidentally "hit" scar her in her adult years? I don't want her to develop into a dog that is tentative and insecure. 

Please advise, I could really use some peace of mind.


----------



## Rescued (Jan 8, 2012)

don't worry about it. She'll be fine. The fact that you are putting this much thought into it proves that.

People have reflexes, stuff happens. I've knocked hattie on the head a couple of times accidentally when I was trying to get something out of the oven and she wanted to dive right in. Same thing.

Don't panic! She's adorable, too!!


----------



## The Rick (Sep 17, 2012)

Rescued said:


> don't worry about it. She'll be fine. The fact that you are putting this much thought into it proves that.
> 
> People have reflexes, stuff happens. I've knocked hattie on the head a couple of times accidentally when I was trying to get something out of the oven and she wanted to dive right in. Same thing.
> 
> Don't panic! She's adorable, too!!


Thanks. This is kind of what I figured, but I wanted to throw it out there and asked more experienced folks. Whenever it happened, I made sure to be extra affectionate, so hopefully that quickly erased any potential damage.

And thank you, I think she's adorable too. That was her at 8 1/2 weeks. She turns 11 weeks Tuesday. The socialization, and basic training has gone quite well to date. Still not house trained though, but making progress. The crate training has helped a ton.

I do get a bit paranoid about things because this is the first time I've raised a pup on my own. I grew up with dogs, but of course that doesn't make you a worthy puppy owner. It helps, but raising a pup and being the person primarily responsible is a whole different bowl of wax. 

I've been reading the book 'The Art of Raising a Puppy' by The Monks of New Skete, which has helped change my perspective greatly. I'd highly recommend it.


----------



## aiw (Jun 16, 2012)

Is she acting fearful of you (or your feet)? If you make a sudden move or take a step does she cower? I am not a dog trainer but I would think those are good indicators of her level of fear (or not). 

I'll admit to having accidentally stepped on (and kicked) my little guy once or twice. He used to have a habit of darting directly under my feet while we were walking. I nailed him accidentally once or twice and poof he stopped getting underfoot. He is not the slightest bit fearful of me, my feet or anyone else's. I think for Pete it was actually a good thing, we travel on the subway and he's relatively small (17 lbs) so a bit of awareness about where people are stepping is a good thing and could save him injury. Every dog is different though.


----------



## The Rick (Sep 17, 2012)

aiw said:


> Is she acting fearful of you (or your feet)? If you make a sudden move or take a step does she cower? I am not a dog trainer but I would think those are good indicators of her level of fear (or not).
> 
> I'll admit to having accidentally stepped on (and kicked) my little guy once or twice. He used to have a habit of darting directly under my feet while we were walking. I nailed him accidentally once or twice and poof he stopped getting underfoot. He is not the slightest bit fearful of me, my feet or anyone else's. I think for Pete it was actually a good thing, we travel on the subway and he's relatively small (17 lbs) so a bit of awareness about where people are stepping is a good thing and could save him injury. Every dog is different though.


Good points, and thanks for replying. At first, she was a bit standoff-ish, but appears to have forgotten about it. I've just done a ton of research and I know that any kind of physical harm to your dog can be damaging. But common sense says it would have to be repeated, constant "abuse", not one-off mistakes. But the articles I've read never expound on that, rather, they tend to scare the crap out of you about what any kind of physical harm can do to your puppy.


----------



## aiw (Jun 16, 2012)

> rather, they tend to scare the crap out of you about what any kind of physical harm can do to your puppy.


Yeah.... I'm sure there are some dogs who could be scarred by that kind of accident but I think mostly those articles are trying to discourage people from using physical training methods or taking frustration out on their dogs (a very good goal). I tend to think that if the majority of your interactions are positive I wouldnt worry about the occasional accident, at least... I'm not.


----------



## Lucy Brees (Aug 20, 2012)

I stepped on Lucy while running and playing with her within her first few weeks home. She yelped pretty bad. She did not seem fearful of me afterwards, but did stop running with me for a while. She has forgotten all about it now, cuz she gets so much über love and good stuff from me.


----------



## kafkabeetle (Dec 4, 2009)

Well, Sydney got stepped on as a puppy when she wrapped her leash around my dad's leg. He sort of fell on her and it actually broke her leg. Today she still thinks he's the greatest and she's not fearful at all about being underfoot or anything like that, because since then she's had many more positive experiences with him than bad. 

Likewise, I've accidentally smacked her in the face on many occasions (well, usually in play she'll jump up for a toy and bang her face into my hand, lol!), accidentally stepped on her paw, etc. As long as you're not specifically intimidating her or actually harming her on a regular basis, I think most dogs have a pretty good idea about the difference between accidents and scary, overly aggressive punishment/abuse (things worth being afraid of/avoiding). That isn't to say that it couldn't become a problem for some dog somewhere, but if she's not showing any obvious signs of fear or apprehension I would assume she's already forgotten about it.


----------



## bgmacaw (May 5, 2012)

The Rick said:


> I've been reading the book 'The Art of Raising a Puppy' by The Monks of New Skete, which has helped change my perspective greatly. I'd highly recommend it.


Find the nearest trash can and toss that book in it. It has outdated, scientifically incorrect, and potentially dangerous advice.


----------



## Abbylynn (Jul 7, 2011)

What a cute puppy! I have an approximately one year old Eddee (Schnauzer mix of sorts ... maybe some Cairn in there due to his brindle coloring ... and feisty!) ... he is always underfoot. I have stepped on him a few times now. He likes to walk in front of me and stop while I keep on going. He is only 13 pounds. He is just fine. If anything it will make him more aware that feet equal "Ouch!" 


I just be sure to pet him and tell him I didn't mean to do it.


----------



## The Rick (Sep 17, 2012)

bgmacaw said:


> Find the nearest trash can and toss that book in it. It has outdated, scientifically incorrect, and potentially dangerous advice.


To be clear, I'm reading the revised edition, published in June of '11, which is supposed to have remedied a lot of the inaccuracies.

Regardless, do you have any recommendations?


----------



## Hambonez (Mar 17, 2012)

I inadvertently smacked Hamilton a few times when he was younger. It was completely a reflex when he randomly bit me HARD with those razor puppy teeth. I've also accidentally stepped on him and kicked him. Today is his 9 month birthday and he seems none the worse for ware. He certainly isn't afraid of me in any way. In fact, if I never left his side and was touching him every second of the day, he'd be the happiest dog on earth.


----------



## Crantastic (Feb 3, 2010)

The Rick said:


> To be clear, I'm reading the revised edition, published in June of '11, which is supposed to have remedied a lot of the inaccuracies.
> 
> Regardless, do you have any recommendations?


Do you want training books, or books about how dogs think? If it's the latter, The Other End of the Leash by Patricia McConnell is a really good read, and although I haven't read The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson yet, it's apparently great as well. For general training stuff, I love Ian Dunbar, and he has an entire training textbook online for free right here. 

There are lots of recs here, too:


----------



## RedGermanPinscher (Jun 22, 2012)

I can not tell you how many times over the years my dogs have gotten accidently kicked, punched, stepped on etc... simply cause they were at the wrong place at the wrong time... None of them have or had lasting scars. As long as the majority of interaction is positiv, there should be no issues.


----------



## Amaryllis (Dec 28, 2011)

I've accidentally smacked Kabota a couple of times and he's the softest dog in the world and he forgave me. Your puppy will be fine.


----------



## chubby (Aug 18, 2011)

The Rick said:


> Hello everyone... I am the proud owner of soon-to-be 11 week old Scottie, Ellie. She has a great personality, and is very loving, but like a lot of Scotties is a bit hyper and definitely at times independent. Here is a pic:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I stepped on my dog a few times because she likes to weave between people's legs as they walk in the kitchen. There were times she did this during walks as well, and she yelped. The best thing to do, is NOT react. Act like nothing happened, and she won't have a negative lasting experience of it. If you coo and pet her, then she will think it was a really bad thing that happened, and may react negatively next time. The best thing to do, is act like nothing happened, and take her for a walk to get her mind off of it. Then when she's acting good, you can act on your remorse by feeding her lots of tasty treats


----------



## chubby (Aug 18, 2011)

The Rick said:


> To be clear, I'm reading the revised edition, published in June of '11, which is supposed to have remedied a lot of the inaccuracies.
> 
> Regardless, do you have any recommendations?


Some positive training books:

Ian Dunbar.
"The Other End of the Leash" Patricia O'Connell (sp?)
"The Puppy Whisperer" Paul Owens


----------



## goffredo (Jan 14, 2012)

Amaryllis said:


> I've accidentally smacked Kabota a couple of times and he's the softest dog in the world and he forgave me.


The forgiving is kind of amazing.

My 12-week old Ridgeback manages to get his paw in a jam every other day or so. A few days ago, he got his paw stuck between the crate wires when I was trying to pull him out and it smarted him pretty bad. Yesterday, my brother accidentally stepped on his paw because he darted under-foot. And this evening, I think I mashed his paw slightly when playing with him, and he did his requisite yelping and then quickly jumped into my lap and began frantically licking my face. It seems each time I accidentally hurt him, *he* tries to console *me*. I don't quite understand what is going on! 

I guess that's one problem with a little puppy having big ol' polar bear paws flopping about. Hopefully he gets better inventory of his facilities before we inadvertently instill in him a paw-squishing-phobia!


----------



## EdDTS (May 30, 2012)

Hitting your dog comes down to what you're feeling when you do it and how you treat them afterwards.

If you hit your dog and stay frustrated after it then your dog will probably become scared of you.
If you hit your dog and worry it's a lot like being frustrated so they could become scared as well.
If you hit your dog and act like it was nothing out of the ordinary then they won't really care. This is the important one. I've hit my dog with a completely chill attitude and he doesn't care, he'll just go do something else.


----------



## spoiler (Aug 27, 2012)

I hit my dog all the time.
No big deal.


----------



## goffredo (Jan 14, 2012)

spoiler said:


> I hit my dog all the time.
> No big deal.


Haha, taken out of context, that sounds pretty bad!


----------



## aiw (Jun 16, 2012)

Our bigger dog Callie actually likes to get beat on a little. She's a rough and tumble dog and a good smack starts up the craziest zoomies!


----------



## spoiler (Aug 27, 2012)

We're sorry, our dog ate our homework this page.


----------



## seaboxador (Sep 23, 2012)

I'd really advise you to watch puppys play. They hit each other all the time. One little incident isn't abusing your dog. If you hit them as punishment on a regular basis then yeah you're going to have a problem. Much like with human children, if you make a big deal of something you did then it's going to be a big deal to them.

The bigger problem to me seems like you need to learn how to teach your dog to not jump on people. The first step of that is completely ignoring a dog who does that. Google stop dog jumping and start there.


----------

