Will Now Always Trust Instincts--Almost Lost Piper

[Jkpal]

I'm so upset and angry--probably more at myself than anyone, but ignoring my instincts--WHICH I WILL NEVER-EVER DO AGAIN--at neighbor's request I held Piper toward his "friendly" Akita on the other side of fence. And that damned dog grabbed her! It happened in a nano second and I'm not sure exactly what transpired, but I grabbed back, got Piper and then he went for her again. This time owner got hold of his dog.

Piper is shaken, as I can well understand, but not a scratch on her, thank God in Heaven above. I'm very shaken, as well, and so damned mad at myself that I let Pipe down. My instincts said we were close enough, but being "neighborly", I almost got her killed. It was truly horrible and Akita is big and Piper so little and he had her--just for a second, but he had her and any longer you could absolutely see that he would have killed her in, literally, a second.


I will never-ever again ignore my instincts when it comes to Piper. This is a lesson hard-learned, but ingrained, I think, in my very soul. Again, the speed in which this dog had Piper is almost beyond comprehension.

I thank God for saving Piper, and thus me; the above is yet another reason that I believe in God and His miracles. Because, to me, it is truly miraculous Piper is laying, unscathed, on the couch next to me.

[Maximo]

Very scary! I'm glad Piper is safe and sound.

Akitas tend to have a high prey drive. Plus, it's generally not a good idea when dogs meet to hold one while the other is 'loose.' I've read this relative to dog parks too. Ideally, a leashed dog should not meet an unleashed dog. in other words, they should meet on equal footing.

I understand feeling the pressure of allowing dogs to meet. Trust your instincts for sure.

[matese]

Thank heavens Piper is ok, ALWAYS FOLLOW YOUR INSTINCTS and GUT FEELINGS, I would rather have a slighted neighbor then a dead baby. Give sweet Piper girl extra cuddles and kisses, sweet little girl.

[MarkFromSea]

Glad Piper is ok. I've had fears/concerns of that happening when we meet dogs while we're on our walks. Sometimes I pick my boys up till we pass the other dogs, sometimes I don't. It could happen, and super fast.

[Jkpal]

Thank you all. Piper shares backyard fence with this Akita, but when returning from our morning walk neighbor came out and I picked Piper up so he could say hello...then the rest. Believe me, I will never again make the mistake of ignoring what I know to be right...After ensuring she wasn't at all physically hurt, I decided to walk her around the block for normalcy-sake; however, we made wide birth around Akita's part of sidewalk upon return! After apologizing profusely to my little girl, I treated her as usual---well, ok, speaking of treat...one of us indulged in an extra treat or maybe two this morning! Thank you for your kind words and well-wishes for Piper--it helps tremendously, truly.

[Jkpal]

Originally Posted by MarkFromSea

Glad Piper is ok. I've had fears/concerns of that happening when we meet dogs while we're on our walks. Sometimes I pick my boys up till we pass the other dogs, sometimes I don't. It could happen, and super fast.

In this past year, learning what I have here, if medium to large dog(s) come within 1/2 block, I always pick Piper up. Because you are right, it could happen and if it should happen, it'll be beyond super fast.

[Yorkiemom1]

Originally Posted by Jkpal

Thank you all. Piper shares backyard fence with this Akita, but when returning from our morning walk neighbor came out and I picked Piper up so he could say hello...then the rest. Believe me, I will never again make the mistake of ignoring what I know to be right...After ensuring she wasn't at all physically hurt, I decided to walk her around the block for normalcy-sake; however, we made wide birth around Akita's part of sidewalk upon return! After apologizing profusely to my little girl, I treated her as usual---well, ok, speaking of treat...one of us indulged in an extra treat or maybe two this morning! Thank you for your kind words and well-wishes for Piper--it helps tremendously, truly.

Can they communicate thru the fence? Will/can this Akita grab your baby thru the fence without you holding Piper right up to the fence? I have a wooden fence, which that cow chow next door would hit the boards until they broke, then stick his vicious snarling Yorkie grabbing mouth thru the hole he had made in the fence....so then I ran another barrier...had a chain link fence installed on my side of the wooden fence so the 80lb chow could not break thru the wooden fence and end up in my yard. But then MY sassy 4-7 lb yorkies would run and try to get the chows head sticking thru the fence.....and THEY could stick their heads thru the chain link so the chow could have actually grabbed a couple of them thru the chain link.....so then I went back and TRIPLE fenced by putting a fencing fabric that has 1/2 in. tiny rectangles that NONE of them can get thru....

Make sure that Akita can not get to your baby THRU the fence if they each get close to the fence! You might do well to double fence by riunning that hog wire fencing down on your side of the chain link. As you saw, it only takes a split second for that big dog to snatch your baby thru that fence, and then it is all over but the hole digging.

All this "visiting" and making friendly with the neighborhood dogs, has never appealed to me...I dont subject my dogs to that danger....what they have never done and do not know, they do not miss.....and they are safe from THAT issue!

[Jkpal]

I am with you 100% on everything you said, Yorkiemom. Thank you. The fence is chain link, when walking out back his dog notes, but generally has no interest in Piper and on her own, Piper keeps a foot or two from fence. Plus, I go out w/Piper; she is not left unattended. As I said, it was a hard-learned lesson, but I got it...I most assuredly got it and am just very blessed to have been given the lesson and not have the loss.

[Cherie6446]

Not only was this frightening for you can you imagine how scared little Piper was? I'm so glad that she did not have any damages.

[Mayzoo]

I am very glad YOU and Piper are okay. You could have been hurt as well. Yeah, you gotta trust those instincts.

This type of issue is one of two big reasons I went ahead and got Mario accident insurance. He goes with us everywhere, and some places have dogs that I do not know if they are trained or not. We ran across what I think was English bulldog at Lowes the other day. Both dogs were on a leash, but both wanted to play. Mario was working, so he was not allowed to play. But, I still worry some day he will get hurt since his exposure is so much greater, and so many folks do not control their dogs.

We had an Akita mix that seemingly out of the blue attacked our sheep. He killed one and almost killed another. Looking back, the signs were there, but we ignored them out of love for the dog. He had attacked a duck previously, and had bit me once where we rationalized that he just ran into me with his mouth open and he did not mean to bite me. With a special needs child, who was very attached to that dog, we simply cannot take that risk. Akitas, Shih Tzu, etcs....are known as high prey dogs. I did not know that prior to our dog attacking. Now I check that stuff before we get any dog.

Thankfully, Mario's prey drive is very low. He does not even damage his toys while playing with them.

[Jkpal]

Oh, indeed, little Piper was absolutely terrified. When we were safely walking away and I had ensured she wasn't bleeding, etc., she was squirming to get out of my arms and would not look at me. I was devastated on so many levels and feared I'd lost her trust. As I said, I decided to extend our walk around another block to give her a sense of normal, routine and the like. I let her out about 10' then called her and when she came to me in her lumbering, head down, sorta steer-like way is when the tears came--I felt so humbled and relieved. I love her beyond all words. I want to again, thank you all for caring about Piper and me; your advice, concern, and kind thoughts are healing and reassuring.

[yorkiemini]

Yep, it always happens so very fast!!! So glad you are both OK and that you have a new respect for your "gut feeling''! Seems like we do keep learning, don't we

[Jkpal]

Originally Posted by yorkiemini

Yep, it always happens so very fast!!! So glad you are both OK and that you have a new respect for your "gut feeling''! Seems like we do keep learning, don't we

Exactly right!

[lovestiny]

Shoot. I totally get it and how easily n quickly it can happen. Big hugs. Lesson learned but don't beat yourself up! I feel awful for you both but thank goodness all is ok.

[Wylie's Mom]

So sorry you both had to go through this, you poor things, how scary! But please, do not beat yourself up. Honestly, I think any of us would've trusted that our neighbor knew their own dog, and trusted that the neighbor knew their dog was great w/ all other dogs -- we probably would've introduced the dogs too. I put a huge amount of responsibility upon the neighbor for not knowing their dog....not good at all.

Maximo gave great advice about introducing dogs too. At the shelter where I volunteer, I'm approved to do dog-to-dog intros and we not only require a class to do it, but also 5 supervised intros before being approved -- and we have a very specific process for intros. Before doing intros at the shelter, I was way more lax about introducing my own dogs to other dogs, but not any more. So believe me, it is a learning process for sure....so again, don't beat yourself up so harshly; you don't deserve that .

So glad everything turned out okay in the end!