Hi y’all,
Apologies in advance for the long post!
Background: I have an almost 2 year old unneutered (for health reasons) Doberman named Caspian and he is my world. He is also my first dog. In general, he’s incredibly well-balanced, socialized, and gentle, with everyone who meets him commenting on how intelligent, aware, and gentle he is. He’s always loved dogs and he’s recently (since late summer) started playing with a small group of dogs (large, medium, and small) by this green patch in the park in our neighborhood and he’s in the process of learning through socialization to play rough with certain pups, not play rough with others, to not bother initiating play with specific ones, etc. I can’t stress enough that I myself hate the concept of taking your dog to the dog park, and this group functions more as a playdate with well-established friends than a dog park, which is why I even allow it. (We rarely get new dogs trying to join.) He naturally gives all pups breaks during play and we all watch our dogs and prevent them from playing in ways that can lead to large dogs accidentally harming the little ones. He’s also very gentle, even when playing rough, and all the times a smaller pup has cried out in pain, it’s been because of his weight, not his teeth, and he’s stopped right away or been stopped. Everybody in this group LOVES Cas and their dogs love him too. (I wasn’t sure if I should also mention this but it could be relevant; he’s overcoming a bit of a GI problem right now and may be under the weather as we figure out his allergies and sensitivities.)
The incident: Yesterday when Cas and I were with our usual group, a small white dog approaches without their owners. The owners were far away but had let their dog wander into this group. Cas is naturally curious and we’re working on impulse control as every owner should, but I was near him, watching him, and I let him approach this dog. I genuinely don’t know if the dog was on edge or not, but it must have been for it to react so intensely to what happened next. It all happened very quickly, but my best guess is that Cas went to initiate play with the pup by nipping his ear and the dog FREAKED OUT and started screaming, which caused Cas to freak out. I pulled Cas away as quickly as I could (within seconds) and was bitched out by the owner about why I would let an aggressive dog off leash (I obviously would not.) The owner took my info and looked over her dog, at which point she noticed a little blood coming from the side neck/ear area (I’m not downplaying the situation, it truly was a little bit) and the dog was limping slightly.
Now when I mentioned before that all of the people whose dogs Cas socializes with are amazing, I meant it. One of the regulars jumps into action and begins to handle the chaos, intermediating the situation, monitoring the dog’s injuries over 30 minutes and reassuring them that Cas is not an inherently aggressive dog, that he’s still a pup and regularly plays well with little dogs. At the end of the 30 minutes, he relays back to me that the dog’s shaking, limping, and bleeding stopped within 5 minutes and he walked back home with just a scratch and nothing more to show of his skirmish with Cas. He also mentioned that if Cas had truly been ATTACKING him and not approaching him playfully, that it would have been a bloodbath and not what it turned out to be. He also mentioned that this small dog was not neutered, which could definitely be a factor for why things transpired how they did.
Aftermath: I was really comforted by everyone in the group who came around me and Cas, consoling us and telling me that I should keep bringing Cas to our little socialization playdates and that they loved him and their dogs loved him. (This was because I had said I don’t know if I should bring him around anymore.) They also said that as a group, we’ll have to take more precautions, like everyone looking out for new dogs joining the group, watching Cas closely around small pups, etc., but that it was totally fine. Immediately after the incident, I had him on leash but after about 30 minutes, they encouraged me to take him off leash and he was doing regular dog things, like sniffing, chasing a ball, and initiating play with other dogs. At one point, he initiated rough play (growling, jumpy movements) with another small white pup who is a regular and the similarities between the dog who got injured and this dog overwhelmed me so I sharply stopped them. The owner told me that it was okay and that their dog could clearly communicate when she didn’t like certain play, and she hadn’t, so it was fine to let them play. She also mentioned what they were doing looked like completely normal play.
Now I’m in this conundrum, and I have a couple questions for y’all, as this is my first dog and I want to take every precaution and keep my dog safe and other dogs safe too.
Apologies in advance for the long post!
Background: I have an almost 2 year old unneutered (for health reasons) Doberman named Caspian and he is my world. He is also my first dog. In general, he’s incredibly well-balanced, socialized, and gentle, with everyone who meets him commenting on how intelligent, aware, and gentle he is. He’s always loved dogs and he’s recently (since late summer) started playing with a small group of dogs (large, medium, and small) by this green patch in the park in our neighborhood and he’s in the process of learning through socialization to play rough with certain pups, not play rough with others, to not bother initiating play with specific ones, etc. I can’t stress enough that I myself hate the concept of taking your dog to the dog park, and this group functions more as a playdate with well-established friends than a dog park, which is why I even allow it. (We rarely get new dogs trying to join.) He naturally gives all pups breaks during play and we all watch our dogs and prevent them from playing in ways that can lead to large dogs accidentally harming the little ones. He’s also very gentle, even when playing rough, and all the times a smaller pup has cried out in pain, it’s been because of his weight, not his teeth, and he’s stopped right away or been stopped. Everybody in this group LOVES Cas and their dogs love him too. (I wasn’t sure if I should also mention this but it could be relevant; he’s overcoming a bit of a GI problem right now and may be under the weather as we figure out his allergies and sensitivities.)
The incident: Yesterday when Cas and I were with our usual group, a small white dog approaches without their owners. The owners were far away but had let their dog wander into this group. Cas is naturally curious and we’re working on impulse control as every owner should, but I was near him, watching him, and I let him approach this dog. I genuinely don’t know if the dog was on edge or not, but it must have been for it to react so intensely to what happened next. It all happened very quickly, but my best guess is that Cas went to initiate play with the pup by nipping his ear and the dog FREAKED OUT and started screaming, which caused Cas to freak out. I pulled Cas away as quickly as I could (within seconds) and was bitched out by the owner about why I would let an aggressive dog off leash (I obviously would not.) The owner took my info and looked over her dog, at which point she noticed a little blood coming from the side neck/ear area (I’m not downplaying the situation, it truly was a little bit) and the dog was limping slightly.
Now when I mentioned before that all of the people whose dogs Cas socializes with are amazing, I meant it. One of the regulars jumps into action and begins to handle the chaos, intermediating the situation, monitoring the dog’s injuries over 30 minutes and reassuring them that Cas is not an inherently aggressive dog, that he’s still a pup and regularly plays well with little dogs. At the end of the 30 minutes, he relays back to me that the dog’s shaking, limping, and bleeding stopped within 5 minutes and he walked back home with just a scratch and nothing more to show of his skirmish with Cas. He also mentioned that if Cas had truly been ATTACKING him and not approaching him playfully, that it would have been a bloodbath and not what it turned out to be. He also mentioned that this small dog was not neutered, which could definitely be a factor for why things transpired how they did.
Aftermath: I was really comforted by everyone in the group who came around me and Cas, consoling us and telling me that I should keep bringing Cas to our little socialization playdates and that they loved him and their dogs loved him. (This was because I had said I don’t know if I should bring him around anymore.) They also said that as a group, we’ll have to take more precautions, like everyone looking out for new dogs joining the group, watching Cas closely around small pups, etc., but that it was totally fine. Immediately after the incident, I had him on leash but after about 30 minutes, they encouraged me to take him off leash and he was doing regular dog things, like sniffing, chasing a ball, and initiating play with other dogs. At one point, he initiated rough play (growling, jumpy movements) with another small white pup who is a regular and the similarities between the dog who got injured and this dog overwhelmed me so I sharply stopped them. The owner told me that it was okay and that their dog could clearly communicate when she didn’t like certain play, and she hadn’t, so it was fine to let them play. She also mentioned what they were doing looked like completely normal play.
Now I’m in this conundrum, and I have a couple questions for y’all, as this is my first dog and I want to take every precaution and keep my dog safe and other dogs safe too.
- I was thinking about getting a muzzle for Cas and regularly using it while he’s in his playdates until I’m back at a level where I can trust him. Is this a bad idea?
- How can I stop rough play in the heat of the moment? I’m currently recalling him with an e-collar (when he doesn’t respond), holding his collar once he gets to me, and having him lay down. How do I teach him to avoid certain situations with certain dogs and not play so rough, but rather, let smaller dogs play rough with him?
- Should I pay for the vet bills incurred by this accident? The lady sent me the bill and it’s just the cost of an emergency visit, a physical look over of the dog, and a topical spray for the scratch site.