TW: description of injury / child injury
Throwaway.
Okay, so, I’m sorry for the way this is written - I’m on mobile and I’m extremely upset right now and very emotional. Please bear with me; I’ll try and be brief.
So, I, 30F have been friends with Sarah 28F, for 10~ years. About 4 years ago, she adopted a GSD mix (unknown breeds) from a shelter named Jennie (6) Jennie comes from a tough, abusive background and is very, very anxious. She reacts badly/loudly to other dogs and she gets stressed out super easily. We don’t know much more on her past as she was abandoned as a young dog at this shelter with not much to go on other than her looks, nature, and scars.
Fast forward to this Friday. I get a very emotional message from Sarah, saying Jennie bit her baby Zachariah (1-ish M). She explained to me that Zac was waddling around, stepped on Jennie’s tail, and she freaked out and gave him a “warning bite” while growling.
Now, I don’t believe this was just a “warning bite” as Sarah tried to make it out to be. It was a level 4 bite. Zac needed stitches. He had to have cosmetic surgery on his arm. He was put under anaesthesia to clean his wounds and stitch him back up. That’s freaking terrifying to me.
Sarah keeps attempting to minimise this event, saying it’s understandable that Jennie freaked out, that the dog was in “her own space”, and that it’s “not too bad” because the baby is fine, the dog is fine, and it’s all okay. Sarah then said she’d be getting Jennie retrained and that the dog and that baby would be kept separate, which hasn’t happened.
I was sent videos yesterday of Jennie all over Zac again, licking and snuffling him. I don’t know how to feel about that.
I also don’t know how to get through to Sarah that I don’t think “retraining” is enough for this emotional wreck of a traumatised dog. Sarah keeps sticking to her story about just not catching Zac in time to stop him from stepping on the dog, and that Jennie didn’t mean it, that she was stressed and freaked out.
Please, Reddit, help me. I need help with a few things.
1) how do I get Sarah to see that this is, in fact, a very big deal?
2) is this at risk of happening again?
3) if this does happen again, what then?
4) should I be trying to convince Sarah to re-home Jennie?
ETA:
We are in the U.K.
Social services, the police, the hospitals nearby, and even Zac’s nursery are aware and involved. I’m one of many people that have contacted the first two and quite literally nothing is happening. I promise we’re trying.
Throwaway.
Okay, so, I’m sorry for the way this is written - I’m on mobile and I’m extremely upset right now and very emotional. Please bear with me; I’ll try and be brief.
So, I, 30F have been friends with Sarah 28F, for 10~ years. About 4 years ago, she adopted a GSD mix (unknown breeds) from a shelter named Jennie (6) Jennie comes from a tough, abusive background and is very, very anxious. She reacts badly/loudly to other dogs and she gets stressed out super easily. We don’t know much more on her past as she was abandoned as a young dog at this shelter with not much to go on other than her looks, nature, and scars.
Fast forward to this Friday. I get a very emotional message from Sarah, saying Jennie bit her baby Zachariah (1-ish M). She explained to me that Zac was waddling around, stepped on Jennie’s tail, and she freaked out and gave him a “warning bite” while growling.
Now, I don’t believe this was just a “warning bite” as Sarah tried to make it out to be. It was a level 4 bite. Zac needed stitches. He had to have cosmetic surgery on his arm. He was put under anaesthesia to clean his wounds and stitch him back up. That’s freaking terrifying to me.
Sarah keeps attempting to minimise this event, saying it’s understandable that Jennie freaked out, that the dog was in “her own space”, and that it’s “not too bad” because the baby is fine, the dog is fine, and it’s all okay. Sarah then said she’d be getting Jennie retrained and that the dog and that baby would be kept separate, which hasn’t happened.
I was sent videos yesterday of Jennie all over Zac again, licking and snuffling him. I don’t know how to feel about that.
I also don’t know how to get through to Sarah that I don’t think “retraining” is enough for this emotional wreck of a traumatised dog. Sarah keeps sticking to her story about just not catching Zac in time to stop him from stepping on the dog, and that Jennie didn’t mean it, that she was stressed and freaked out.
Please, Reddit, help me. I need help with a few things.
1) how do I get Sarah to see that this is, in fact, a very big deal?
2) is this at risk of happening again?
3) if this does happen again, what then?
4) should I be trying to convince Sarah to re-home Jennie?
ETA:
We are in the U.K.
Social services, the police, the hospitals nearby, and even Zac’s nursery are aware and involved. I’m one of many people that have contacted the first two and quite literally nothing is happening. I promise we’re trying.
