Asking for your prayers (those that believe in it)... My 3 yr. old daughter was attacked last night (Tues.) by a dog while we were looking at someone's house to possibly buy it. She will be fine in the long run, however it bit her face. She has bruises, scrapes, facial lacerations and three puncture wounds (one inside her mouth) that need to heal up. They have stitched up one place that had flesh missing, and referred us to a plastic surgeon for follow-up care. They have said scarring is most likely to be visible... the visible area now is from her right eye/bridge-of-nose area to her right cheek/corner-of-mouth (2 punctures outer, 1 inner) and chin. More than the physical evidence, I am concerned about the psychological after-effects of the dog attack on my daughter. She seems very resilient, and she was very, very brave throughout the immediate aftermath and the ER visit. She has been jumpy though. All of us have. If any of you have experienced a traumatic event such as this, or have relatives (especially kids) that have recovered from a similar event, please lend me some of your wisdom... The single most helpless feeling I've ever felt in my life occurred at the moment of the attack... I was right there in the same room less than 10 feet from it all. It was freaky. It took all of 4 seconds, but seemed like minutes. I have concern for my 5 year old son as well.. he witnessed it all too. We did keep him home from school today (Wed.) to let him see that she was okay (in general). Anyway, please pray that this all heals up, and that she will not be terrified of dogs from here on. We were about to buy the house too probably, but now I don't know if that would be right for her, or my son... btw-the dog had it's recent rabies shots, etc. on 9/16, so that is at least one less worry... the dog, by state law, is in quarantine for 10 days of observation. If signs of any rabies would present themselves, then we have more to deal with. Also, my daughter is sooooo sweet. She already talked to the dog owner on the phone and forgave her and said, "it's okay, it was an accisent" (we hadn't even met her until about 25 mins before the attack). Thanks for your prayers.
People really shouldn't have pets loose in the house when buyers are coming over to look at it, mostly because of incidents just like this. Anyway, it sounds like your daughter is doing well and i hope everything works out well for you and your family. Prayers for your daughter's swift recovery.
That is awful. People really need to keep better control of their pets. I hope your daughter fully recovers. I'm curious, what kind of dog was it?
Makes me feel sick just thinking about it. I hope she is ok. FWIW, when I was very young (about 4) I used to play with a dog that walked past my house every day with its owner. One day it bit me on the face. I didn't effect my love for dogs, and I cried for days when I found out the owner had it put down because of the attack. Do you mind if I ask what sort of dog it was?
My wife had a similar attack happen to her when she was very young. There weren't any facial lacerations, but she had serious head lacerations and had many stitches up over her scalp to repair the damage. I wouldn't say she's the most resilient of people, but she doesn't have a problem being around dogs, just big dogs that are aggressive (even playfully so) and particularly dogs of the breed that attacked her. I'm sure it is a very scary thing, but as time goes by I'm sure the terror of it will subside.
I don't remember it since I was too young but apparently I was attacked by a dog and had facial injuries. There is one barely visible scar on my face, that you have to really get in kissing range to notice if you try really hard. Initially the injury on my lip region made my upper lip look like a hair lip or lisp. Whatever it's called. I never had to go through any plastic surgery but I look just fine. At any rate, I don't remember it all and own two dogs currently. I know the situation might be different from yours, but I've never been paranoid around animals unless there were legitamate concerns, and have no psychological damage because of it. I hope the situation with your daughter is as convenient as mine was given the circumstances.
I will pray. If it was my kid I'd hunt that animal down and kill it with my bare hands if necessary. Those people need to be taught a lesson and watching their mutt die would do it. Yes I am partly saying that so all of you animal people will get flamed but my God, his kid was attacked by this animal. I cannot imagine the fear he felt.
Hearing about this makes me really angry ~ sounds like your doing a great job Iroc handling all this with a cool head. Hopefully your daughter will soon forget about all of this mess.
IROC it, Sorry to hear that about your daughter and I'll definitely remember her and your family in my prayers. As someone who owns, essentially, 2 dogs, you have to obviously keep your dogs under control when you have company. At least have them on a lead if you are not going to place them in a separate room. Our older Cocker who is 9 has acted like he was going to bite people so many times but has yet to do. We have always said that if he or Jake or any other dog we own ever bit a person, we have them put down. It is only the right thing to do, IMO, as having a dog that bites a person is unacceptable, especially a young child. And I know what it feels like to get bit by a dog (I posted about that whole experience in detail on this board). Of course, I was an adult and not a small child, so I think it is very impressive and commendable on how you and your daughter are handling this whole situation. Getting bit has not dampened my love for dogs, but I am a little more wary around them (ones that I don't know) than I was in the past. Just remember - there is no such thing as a bad dog, there are only bad owners.
Damn, thats terrible Iroc. Hopefully your daughter gets through it ok. I would never even think of having my dogs at home when potential buyers were stopping by.
prayers extended. extremely sad that this happened to a child because of irresponsible people that couldn't even keep the dog on a leash while you guys were visiting.
It sounds like your daughter is handling this really well. You must've brought her up really well. You are going to sue these people aren't you? That's a slam dunk case for negligence.
So sorry to hear this. Your daughter seems to have handled this better than most adults would. She sounds like a really special little girl.
IROC, my prayers go out to the healing of your daughter. Was this dog shown to be dangerous? It should of been contained w/ a muzzle or some other contraption. Man, that makes my skin boil to hear an innocent little girl getting mauled.... This might be out of frustration reading your post, but I would ask to put the damn thing to sleep....
Sorry to hear it IROCit. Hopefully this was a one-time incident with this dog. Sometimes they freak out like that for no reason. My wife had a chunk of her face ripped off a few years ago by a dog she spent a lot of time with. For some reason, something my wife was doing spooked the dog and he attacked. It sounds like your daughter is handling it very well. Our prayers are with ya'll for a speedy recovery with no lingering effects down the road.
man, i'm very sorry to hear about this. i've had several personal experiences that are similar to yours (mostly through my friend's kids.) since your daughter is so young, there will probably be little to NO psychological effects as pertaining to dogs. in fact, the scars may turn out to be not too bad since children tend to heal well/fast. out of curiosity, did they actually stitch the lacerations/puncture wounds? it has been my exprience that they usually "super glue" such lacerations on children. it's what that stuff was designed for anyway and usually leaves less of a scar. again, i'm sorry this had to happen to you/yours, but you're handling it well and i'm positive everything will be ok. cheers.
