# Shelter dog bite incident - high energy dog



## Chris250 (Aug 10, 2013)

Hey guys,

I was curious: has anyone ever dealt with a dog at a shelter where the dog attacked you (or lunged at you), showing obvious signs of aggression? That happened to me with a young shelter pitty (I think 2 yrs old) last week while I was volunteering. He got a hold of my shirt and ripped it. Luckily he didn't get my skin and some of the staff members were able to come to my aid.

My question is: if something similar happened or has happened to you, where the dog was being aggressive towards you, would you attempt to walk the same dog in the future or would you say "no thanks" and avoid him?

I think it would be awesome to overcome my fear and get him to trust/respect me, but at the same time, I'd be worried that the dog would attempt to do the same thing towards me since he's already done it once, and it'd also be tough for me to project confidence when dealing with him.

The only reason I'm contemplating this question is because I had walked this dog a handful of times previously with no problem (he even ambushed me with a face lick). I wonder if being cooped up in the shelter all day finally got to him.

Thanks,
Chris


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## Inga (Jun 16, 2007)

What were you doing when this happened? Was this truly "aggression" or was this just hyper frustration coming out in a burst of poor behavior? I mean, I see shelter dogs that walk nice on leash when you have them out but stand around a bit and they have springs in their legs. If the dog was truly aggressive toward you, I suggest you walk a different dog. Why take a chance? It isn't worth it to get hurt when you are trying to do some good. 

There was a lovely male Doberman at the shelter a few years back. I LOVED that boy and would have brought him home if I didn't already have so many of my own dogs at home. I probably would have brought him home anyway if I thought they were going to put him to sleep. The dog was amazing, high energy and full of himself but when I took him for walks he was so good. We could go for miles and he was just perfect the whole time. I played with him outside, took toys from him, bones out of his mouth, played with his feet, ears and everything else. This dog was perfect (in my eyes) There was another person there that chose to walk him one day and he jumped up on her and ripped her pants. She said he was aggressive and the manager chose to put him to sleep. Angry doesn't describe how I felt about that one. That dog was perfect, he wasn't aggressive he was just a big galoot. I am not saying that is what happened to you, it might have been very different for you. I just don't think you should consider walking any dog that has misbehaved like that for you. I wouldn't want to see you get hurt, or the dog get hurt. If your shelter is anything like the one here, there are plenty of other dogs to chose from.


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## Chris250 (Aug 10, 2013)

Inga said:


> What were you doing when this happened? Was this truly "aggression" or was this just hyper frustration coming out in a burst of poor behavior? I mean, I see shelter dogs that walk nice on leash when you have them out but stand around a bit and they have springs in their legs. If the dog was truly aggressive toward you, I suggest you walk a different dog. Why take a chance? It isn't worth it to get hurt when you are trying to do some good.
> 
> There was a lovely male Doberman at the shelter a few years back. I LOVED that boy and would have brought him home if I didn't already have so many of my own dogs at home. I probably would have brought him home anyway if I thought they were going to put him to sleep. The dog was amazing, high energy and full of himself but when I took him for walks he was so good. We could go for miles and he was just perfect the whole time. I played with him outside, took toys from him, bones out of his mouth, played with his feet, ears and everything else. This dog was perfect (in my eyes) There was another person there that chose to walk him one day and he jumped up on her and ripped her pants. She said he was aggressive and the manager chose to put him to sleep. Angry doesn't describe how I felt about that one. That dog was perfect, he wasn't aggressive he was just a big galoot. I am not saying that is what happened to you, it might have been very different for you. I just don't think you should consider walking any dog that has misbehaved like that for you. I wouldn't want to see you get hurt, or the dog get hurt. If your shelter is anything like the one here, there are plenty of other dogs to chose from.


Thanks for your reply. It was while I was attempting to get him out of his pen, so I didn't even have a leash on him yet. He actually did the same thing to another volunteer the day before (lunged at her, but didn't bite her). From what I can tell, it may be related to food aggression since he lunged towards the treat pouch I had on and ripped it off. I stupidly dropped the treat pouch outside the pen and then that's when he started going after me (it was actually two lunges, separated by about 30 seconds in between). and he was snarling his lip too which freaked me out.

I don't even know if he'll still be there when I go in next (he was going to be reevaluated), but I hope he is. I was one of the few volunteers left that would actually walk him due to his crazy energy.

Sorry to hear about your Doberman. I had something similar happen with a pitty I loved a few weeks back. That was tough for me to deal with. People weren't kidding when they said working in an animal shelter can be emotionally draining, but I still love it.


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## Chris250 (Aug 10, 2013)

Also, he is pretty great on a leash once he gets outside (as are most shelter dogs).

He was off leash inside a fenced area with the other volunteer he lunged at the previous day.


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## ireth0 (Feb 11, 2013)

The policy at our shelter is that if you're uncomfortable with any particular dog or getting bad vibes for whatever reason to ask a staff member to handle the dog for you. If the dog did bite you accidentally (being mouthy or over excited), they'd be that much harder to adopt out, maybe impossible depending on the shelter and the area. If it was just RG, then probably still best left with someone more experienced (I don't mean to say that you aren't experienced, just that a regular staff member would generally be more experienced than a casual volunteer) to help them get past it rather than allowing the dog to practice the bad behaviour. 

We have a dog currently who has issues with RGing her food, so a staff member hand feeds her meals, for example.


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