When Dogs Attack Over Food: My Horror Story

[KingpinMedia]

I have 4 dogs that my wife and I have rescued over the last 6 years. Two of them she actually had when we first got together and have been best friends and inseparable ever since. One is a male dog, about 40lbs, some kind of weird mutt mix who my wife rescued from the pound, and the other, a female, is a black/white terrier mix, and weighs about 5-6lbs. My wife found her on the side of the interstate. The Female clings onto the male, even sits on top of him while he lies down, they are like 2 peas in a pod. But since she lived on the streets, she can be very territorial especially when it comes to food.

Two nights ago my wife was giving the dogs some left over pizza when the female tried to snatch a piece from the male dog’s mouth and I guess he finally got pissed off and attacked her. I say “finally” because usually she snatches food from him and he usually just takes it. Now I didn’t see the attack, nor did my wife because it happened so fast. I heard them get into it, but dogs growl and fight all the time, so I didn’t even get off the couch. My wife said something like “oh no”, so I could tell that she thought the fight might have been a little more serious. However she couldn’t see the dog yet, because she was hobbling into the livening room where I sit. All I could see was her hobbling around with blood pouring out of her eye. I figured he had bit her eye pretty good, so I told my wife to call the emergency VET, so I could go get her stitched up. Well as she was on the phone walking around the island in the kitchen she all of a sudden screamed and said “her eye in lying here on the fucking floor!

When he bit her he must have hooked her eye with his tooth and it ripped the eye right from the socket.
My wife started freaking out. So I had to calm her down, take her and my son into my bedroom, and out the other dogs outside. I then scooped up her eyeball and wrapped it in a paper towel, grabbed the dog and went flying out of my house. Then I raced as fast as I could to the hospital. She made it there okay, she had stopped bleeding and surprising wasn’t freaking out. I was shaking so bad when I got to the VET that I could barely film out the forms.

After waiting an hour the VET came in and told me the procedure. Of course the eye was lost, but they had to cut off her eyelids and muscles and use those to form the enclosure over the eye. It was either that or they could just leave a hole in her head. Of course I told them money wasn’t an object and to do whatever they could. The surgery went really well and she’s been home since yesterday morning. She’s all doped up but seems pretty normal. They said she was really calm for being through so much trauma. She’s an older dog, probably 12 years old or so, but she is a trooper.

Now she’s already been cuddling with the male dog that took out her eye. They both have no fucking clue as to what happened.

Funny side note: ( Its funny now that it’s all over, looking back of course) While I was holding her right after it happened and picking up the eye off the floor, the male dog was sitting in the corner finishing his piece of pizza.

I still can’t believe this happened. I’ve had dogs all my life and haven’t even ever heard of this type of thing happening. It’s been a really bizarre couple of days.

I have pictures of all of this, but didn’t want to just post them because they are VERY graphic. I have some when it happened to after she got home all stitched up. Let me know if you want to see them.

[Ayla_SquareTurtle]

Ok I know nothing about dogs at all, but I do know that if I had two animals of any kind and one ripped the others eyeball out, I would never let those two get together again. Does this not apply in dog land?

[payd2purv]

Good read!

Dogs are insane about food.. They have no problem trying to take other dog's or human's food but if you try and fuck with food they have decided is their's they will flip the fuck out...

[LauraLee]

That was painful to read, to say the least. Heartbreaking in fact. Is it possible the larger dog didn't even know (or realize) the damage it had done? I don't know, but if they were that close and cuddly I have a hard time believing the big dog would intentionally do that server damage. Either way it's a tough call and I am just thrilled to hear the little one is bouncing back and not 'holding a grudge'.

Best of luck, and thanks for being the kinda of dog owner that 1) can afford to make their baby better and 2) chose to

Bless.

[Socks]

Wow man, very sorry to hear about your ordeal. :/

I hate to say this thread makes me feel better, but it does.. I had a Viszla, also rescued for maybe 5-6 years. He was a great dog, never barked at people or other dogs, was fine around children, just generally good natured and loving.

But, he would bite people randomly sometimes, one bite and retreat. This would especially happen if I had to go somewhere and leave him with friends, etc. The first big dog fight I was witness to happened at my dad's cottage, I had my dog there, he has a dog too, they get along great. My dad's dog is a bit bigger, and my dog just constantly tried to hump him, the other wouldn't let him.. Just back and forth with that, no problems.

However.. Since he was off leash outdoors, he had staked out his territory (or at least was protecting it for my dad's dog, aka their territory).. And when other dogs came within his boundaries, it was on.. He would just race over as fast as he could and attack full force.. He got into his first fight with a dog who had killed 30 sheep, and was there because it's so far away from the city, yadda yadda.. I got my hand bit pretty bad breaking that one up.

Then he kept doing it.. whenever a new dog would come into the picture, he'd just fuckin attack.

So I had a baby recently, and thought it would be okay.. I brought the baby home, the dog reacted pretty good.. But after seeing that my little petite wife was going to have to shield the baby from the dog jumping up etc, I realized this wasn't gonna work out.. Too much stress and hassle, and if the dog did something bad one day, it only takes once..

I made my decision, and I sent my dog to live with family in Mexico.. Since then, he's bitten at least 12 people there, and beats up their elder Rottweiler any chance he gets. Sigh.

Anyways, makes me feel better knowing that I made that right decision, as painful as it is to come home and not have my dog welcome me.. Shit right now he'd be here under my desk at my feet :/

[KingpinMedia]

If i had thought he had done it intentionally I would definitely keep them apart. But all they know is each other and they snap at each other all the time over food. I don't even think he realized what he had done. I think it was just a freak accident, they could have snipped at each other a million times and the time his tooth gets stuck around her eyeball and it gets ripped out. The whole "fight" only lasted 2-3 seconds. He snipped at her and went back to his food.

Its just a sad situation.

Originally Posted by Ayla_SquareTurtle

Ok I know nothing about dogs at all, but I do know that if I had two animals of any kind and one ripped the others eyeball out, I would never let those two get together again. Does this not apply in dog land?

[CaveCreek_Russell]

That's horrible Would have been a really tough decision for me keeping the larger dog around.

[collegeboobies]

These posts are funny. Of course a dog doesnt realize the damage that can be done like tearing out an eyeball. But the smaller dog also accepts this punishment for being out of line. Its nature not humanity, much simpler.

[collegeboobies]

Originally Posted by CaveCreek_Russell

That's horrible Would have been a really tough decision for me keeping the larger dog around.

Tell you what some asshole runs up and tries to steal my food they better hope all they lose is an eye.

[Trixie]

That's so freaky; I am pathetically paranoid and freaked out about dog fights so I can only imagine being incapacitated by something like that. Like has been said, it's nature, though.

We have a thirteen year old female Siberian Husky who has never bit a person, but I totally don't trust her around small animals. My sister and girlfriend insist she won't kill my sister's cat in their house, but I cannot relax if there's even a chance she could take. Our dog also can't figure out how to play with small dogs so we have to keep her away from them otherwise she picks them up in her mouth and shakes them like chew toys or stomps on them with her paw like they're little spiders. It's horrifying. When I first got together with my girlfriend she (the dog) was also really bossy with other dogs her size and larger, fighting with my sister's dog and any other dog we brought in the house. I couldn't handle seeing it -- made me sick to my stomach. I can't walk her because I'm so petrified by dog fights.

[DixieDash]

Aww, that is sad I couldn't stand to see that happen to a dog.

[halfpint]

Sorry to hear that hapened but they are animals and animals no matter how tame they are can be unpredictable. We have a dog and he is part of the family and we love him to bits, but I always have that in the back of my mind that he can turn on any of us or other dogs if he decides he dosent like something. One of my old work mates had a similar thing with his two dogs that had lived together for 6 years without any probs. Then he gets a phonecall while we were at work from his dad saying one of his dogs had just ripped the other dogs throat open.

[tony286]

Originally Posted by halfpint

Sorry to hear that hapened but they are animals and animals no matter how tame they are can be unpredictable. We have a dog and he is part of the family and we love him to bits, but I always have that in the back of my mind that he can turn on any of us or other dogs if he decides he dosent like something. One of my old work mates had a similar thing with his two dogs that had lived together for 6 years without any probs. Then he gets a phonecall while we were at work from his dad saying one of his dogs had just ripped the other dogs throat open.

I have to disagree dogs arent lions. If a dogs behavior changes there are tons of signals before something happens but people ignore it. Most of those things if you sit with the owner and say really think have you seen changes in behavior or have you changed daily routines. Once they think back there is always a reason.
Now the dog taking the other dogs eyes,Im shocked it didnt happen sooner. Over 3 dogs they start to exhibit pack behavior and you can wind up with dead dogs.

[tony286]

Originally Posted by Socks

Wow man, very sorry to hear about your ordeal. :/

I hate to say this thread makes me feel better, but it does.. I had a Viszla, also rescued for maybe 5-6 years. He was a great dog, never barked at people or other dogs, was fine around children, just generally good natured and loving.

But, he would bite people randomly sometimes, one bite and retreat. This would especially happen if I had to go somewhere and leave him with friends, etc. The first big dog fight I was witness to happened at my dad's cottage, I had my dog there, he has a dog too, they get along great. My dad's dog is a bit bigger, and my dog just constantly tried to hump him, the other wouldn't let him.. Just back and forth with that, no problems.

However.. Since he was off leash outdoors, he had staked out his territory (or at least was protecting it for my dad's dog, aka their territory).. And when other dogs came within his boundaries, it was on.. He would just race over as fast as he could and attack full force.. He got into his first fight with a dog who had killed 30 sheep, and was there because it's so far away from the city, yadda yadda.. I got my hand bit pretty bad breaking that one up.

Then he kept doing it.. whenever a new dog would come into the picture, he'd just fuckin attack.

So I had a baby recently, and thought it would be okay.. I brought the baby home, the dog reacted pretty good.. But after seeing that my little petite wife was going to have to shield the baby from the dog jumping up etc, I realized this wasn't gonna work out.. Too much stress and hassle, and if the dog did something bad one day, it only takes once..

I made my decision, and I sent my dog to live with family in Mexico.. Since then, he's bitten at least 12 people there, and beats up their elder Rottweiler any chance he gets. Sigh.

Anyways, makes me feel better knowing that I made that right decision, as painful as it is to come home and not have my dog welcome me.. Shit right now he'd be here under my desk at my feet :/

That's not the dogs fault, that's a lack of training.

[tony286]

When I started rescuing dogs I read up on this a ton and both my dogs within a month of being with me went to school. It is so important to work with them, the work pays off. You have dog that doesn't give you surprises and is a well behaved part of the family.

[halfpint]

Originally Posted by tony404

I have to disagree dogs arent lions. If a dogs behavior changes there are tons of signals before something happens but people ignore it. Most of those things if you sit with the owner and say really think have you seen changes in behavior or have you changed daily routines. Once they think back there is always a reason.
Now the dog taking the other dogs eyes,Im shocked it didnt happen sooner. Over 3 dogs they start to exhibit pack behavior and you can wind up with dead dogs.

Yes Tony you are right a lot of dog owners dont train thier dogs correctly and there are signs that a dog is getting pissed off and people dont reconize it. But it does not matter how much the dog has been trained they can still turn on a another dog or humun if they feel the need to. Many moons ago I had a security job and we had one dog which we used to take out on patrol around the factorys at night times. This dog had been trained by the owner who was a former police dog trainer, anyway to cut a long story short, he had to have it put down as it attacked him for no reason as he was geting it out of the back of the van. I love dogs but I am always weary of what they are capable of doing whether they are trained or not

[Mr Pheer]

I guess she just didnt see that coming.

[CherryLipsRosa]

That is painful

[V_RocKs]

Sad. Sounds like your dog family needs an Alpha Male.

[dig420]

Feed them seperately

[LadyMischief]

It's because you haven't taken ownership of the food. They need to respect that the food is from you, and that they aren't competing for it. You establish that and the fights will end. The cat can walk up in front of my dogs and they will sit there and watch her food and not make a move to eat it until I tell them they can. That's the pack way and it's what helps prevent major fights in dog packs.

[wyldblyss]

Watch the dog whisperer, seriously lol That show has taught me so much about controlling the "pack" and being the pack leader. That may help you to avoid future issues between the dogs.

I hope your dog is doing better and there are no more issues...reading it almost made me cry. I'm a huge dog lover.

[dig420]

Originally Posted by LadyMischief

It's because you haven't taken ownership of the food. They need to respect that the food is from you, and that they aren't competing for it. You establish that and the fights will end. The cat can walk up in front of my dogs and they will sit there and watch her food and not make a move to eat it until I tell them they can. That's the pack way and it's what helps prevent major fights in dog packs.

They're fighting amongst themselves, not fighting to lead the pack. For fuck's sake, just feed them seperately. Problem solved.

[Axzar]

How do I control theeeeese kiiiids!

[tony286]

Originally Posted by LadyMischief

It's because you haven't taken ownership of the food. They need to respect that the food is from you, and that they aren't competing for it. You establish that and the fights will end. The cat can walk up in front of my dogs and they will sit there and watch her food and not make a move to eat it until I tell them they can. That's the pack way and it's what helps prevent major fights in dog packs.

Your right and this is off topic looking at you avatar. Your looking really good.

[Spunky]

Good lord..hope the dog makes a speedy recovery,what a ordeal to go through

[Peaches]

I have a friend whose pug lost an eye under similar circumstances. She said the worst part was the screaming he was doing on the drive to the vet - said it just broke her heart

FOR YEARS my dogs will fight over food, sofa space, perceived injustices (my old male will wake up and for some reason decide my old, sleeping, deaf female has done something to him and he'll arbitrarily attack her which stirs all 4 of them up), etc. I mean fights so wild that I got in the middle once and had a mark on my leg that didn't go away for several weeks.

But oddly enough so far (knock wood) they've never hurt each other. One of them might get a little bloody on the mouth by getting a nail or something in it but it's barely even noticeable.

And yes, I have the world's worst behaved dogs ever. The Dog Whisperer would cry.

[Fucksakes]

man growing up with a family dog, husky.. we got into so many fights.. it was just like having a brother.. thou I guess I deserve everytime I got bit.. surely she could of ripped me apart but she knew how much it took to keep me away.. she could bit my hand enough to hurt like fuck but not make me bleed.. it took pratice thou lmfao.

[Anna_Miller]

Wow! That's quite the ordeal! Poor little dog! & Poor you guys!
I would have totally freaked out if I found my dog's eye on the floor!!!

[papill0n]

fuck me that is really full on man. props to you for handling it so well.

[Laurel]

Wow..What a horrific story. Thanks for sharing.. I just got a new cat and I've been letting him and my dog play very rough. Maybe I should keep a closer eye on these two..especially since I feed them around the same time too.