Please Help Our 1 yr old male English Mastiff bit our daughter

[mountainfila]

6 year old girl is the right height to have the mastiff mouth right at shoulder level and if she was holding the ball it would be above her head if the 2 of them were playing with it, she would probably be trying to keep him from getting it. And seeing the ball was in the backyard already , i bet at her dinner party the night before one of her guests may have been playing ball with him in the yard as that is were the ball was when the little girl went to retrieve it, so maybe he got all excited when she picked it up and jumped for it, who knows. And taking him to the pound to be quarintined just messes the dog up even more in my opinion, im glad your able to go visit him, even just sitting with him outside his kennel will keep his bond to you and take your daughter if you can, hell take the whole family if possible lol, sorry your going through this and your daughter sounds like she will be fine, some kids become scared of big dogs when things like this happen.

 

[chuckorlando]

Well I play pretty rough with my dogs. I can say kona can leave "scratches" with her teeth pretty easy. But they bleed good. But It would seem to me very very odd for a dog to just up and bite the shoulder of all things. I fight kona everyday playing, and many other dogs Iv'e owned, and dont think any ever hit my shoulder. But equally as strange to me is the bite period. It seems totally out of character for the dog. I could maybe see playing, but from experience, dogs dont usually just play bite hard. They work up to that. Most would mouth you. Unless this was not the first time playing like this. Or it was aggression. And frankly, nothing here screams aggression to me. I'm not sure why animal control is even in this conversation. If the dog did not attack the kid, and the kid aint hurt, they dont have nothing to do with it. But it seems to me either this aint the first time the dogs played this way, the child hurt the dog so he bit(un likely), or MF is correct. I think Mountainfila might be onto something. That sounds the most logical out of the 3

 

[tojvan]

In my opinion quarintine is not a good idea since it stresses out an already stressed out dog. To me it seems like the dog was playing, a bite from a mastiff would leave much more than a scar; just to give you an idea a German shepherd's bite has around 258PSI compared to a 400psi of a mastiff the size of an EM.

 

[amandahorn]

I took a picture tonight of the "bite". I will post in a few once I get it to my computer from my cell phone. After talking to my daughter tonight her story changed a small bit. She said they were both going after the basketball and she fell down and he got the ball first and she tried to take it from him. It has crossed my mind several times that he may have got her with his claws ( he still has his dew claws).

 

[amandahorn]

. And frankly, nothing here screams aggression to me. I'm not sure why animal control is even in this conversation. If the dog did not attack the kid, and the kid aint hurt, they dont have nothing to do with it.

Animal control got involved because I took her to the emergency room after it happened because she was bleeding and in our county the hospital has to report an animal bit to the police which turn the report over to animal control.

 

[amandahorn]

A 6 year old little girl plus a basket ball and 100+lb mastiff = jumped on , i dont think he bit her at all, him biting your girls shoulder would have done more damage then a scratch, i think she had the ball and he jumped at her to get it not her. Thats just what i feel from what you write. Did you SEE him bite her or that is what your daughter told you? Not saying that he didnt bite her it just seems a little strange to me, if her back was to him and he jumped on her shoulders it would probably feel like a bite to her even though it was his claws. Can you post a pic of her bite if you wouldnt mind, im curious to see what it looks like.

She has a small puncture wound nothing really big and no I didnt see him bite her, thats just what she said happened, but i agree that he could have jumped on her, i actually thought that last night when I got to thinking about it, and he does still have his dew claws

 

[amandahorn]

Here are images of her shoulder, I took these tonight as I was cleaning it. What are your thoughts now that you can see the "bite"???

 

[raechiemay]

That to me looks like claw marks. Kind of somewhat resembles a paw. But that's just my opinion

 

[DMikeM]

No canine marks, sure looks a lot like a scratch even though there is that lower skin break.

 

[amandahorn]

No canine marks, sure looks a lot like a scratch even though there is that lower skin break.

I think it looks like a paw to be honest! and his dew claw could have broke the skin. Either way I am going to have the trainer work with him as soon as I get him out of doggy jail.

 

[thelady_v2010]

That looks like a paw to me. In order for all those teeth to break the skin, his canines would have had to go in. They would make the mark more square at the top, and they would go deeper.

 

[raechiemay]

Does the trainer have mastiff experience?

 

[LauraR]

Yeah, that is most definitely a claw mark. Hopefully they'll see that and release your dog.

On a different note, and please don't take this offensively, but please don't ever consider putting down a dog for one slip up. There are always other options, and there is no reason to put down a healthy dog.

 

[amandahorn]

Does the trainer have mastiff experience?

Yes she does have Mastiff experience. I posted a link to her page in an earlier post. That was one of the first things I asked her!

 

[raechiemay]

Ah ok. I must have missed the link. I'll have to go check it out.

 

[mountainfila]

looks like a bite but then it looks like a paw print, anyone else see a paw print? How long are his nails, have they ever been trimmed since you got him, just because you said they were both racing for the ball, if he did happen to land on her if his nails were long they could possibly make those marks. The mark thats at the bottom "could" be from a dew claw they seem to be a little more pointed then the regular toenails and the mark at the top could be from the foot sliding after it made contact, i dont know im just speculating but to me the marks dont line up and again sorry this happened to your little girl

 

[amandahorn]

He's nails are not really long but they do have some point to them. I have trimmed his nails but it had been awhile his dew claws are the ones that are pointed the most. His nails are kinda rugged at the end of them because being on concrete. After looking at the injury I really do think he got her with his paw and not his teeth. If it was his teeth, it was pure accident bc if it was on purpose I feel it would have been a lot worse!

 

[amandahorn]

Ah ok. I must have missed the link. I'll have to go check it out.

Raechiemay here is a link to her official page and to her facebook page. K9 Klass - Welcome to K9 KLASS https://www.facebook.com/K9Klass?fref=ts

 

[DMikeM]

looks like a bite but then it looks like a paw print, anyone else see a paw print? How long are his nails, have they ever been trimmed since you got him, just because you said they were both racing for the ball, if he did happen to land on her if his nails were long they could possibly make those marks. The mark thats at the bottom "could" be from a dew claw they seem to be a little more pointed then the regular toenails and the mark at the top could be from the foot sliding after it made contact, i dont know im just speculating but to me the marks dont line up and again sorry this happened to your little girl

Yes I see the outline of a paw but didn't want to say. I thought it was just my eyes seeing what they wanted to see.

 

[Smokeycat]

To me it looks like a paw hit not a bite. I have never seen a dog bite in person but I have received a fairly serious cat bite. Given that the basic dental anatomy of cats and dogs are similar I'd expect a dog bite injury to be predominated by larger wounds from the canine teeth and I don't see that in the pictures.