My First Dog's Last Day - Part 2: The Bite and Its Consequences

In Part 1 of this series, I described Casey and his last day.  Here is Part 2, a factual description of the bite and its consequences.  An analysis of the possible reasons why it happened and how another family might prevent a similar event is presented in Part 3.

A perfectly normal
morning activity

The Bite

Three-year old Casey -- whom we had since he was a puppy and who had never been aggressive before -- was sleeping on 11-year-old Grace’s unmade bed.  Grace was dressed for school, and pulled on the bedspread that was underneath Casey.  She thought he would just jump off so she could make the bed; instead, he jumped up and bit her in the face, scarily close to one eye.  She remembers our father coming in and forcing Casey out of the room when he heard her cry out, and our mother taking her to the emergency room.

The Consequences

When we got home after my mother picked me up at school, Casey was tethered in the far back of the yard.  I was told that my father had said he could not come back into the house and no one could go out to pet him.  Even though Casey was jumping, pulling and barking to come in, I was not tempted to disobey.  I don’t think I was afraid of Casey, but it was such a shock and such a new situation that it seemed best to follow the rules.  

When my father came home from work, he took me for a ride in the car and explained his belief that a dog that bit a family member could never be trusted again, and that Casey would have to be put to sleep.  I was sad, but we were a family where Father knew best so there was no arguing or questioning.  I was also very grateful that the bite had missed Grace’s eye, and the fact that it was so sudden and so close seemed to support my father’s position.  Maybe Casey would bite again, and next time maybe someone would lose an eye.  I can’t imagine how my parents felt when they first saw Grace’s face right after the bite.

Grace’s stitches were done by a plastic surgeon.  Boys made fun of her when she returned to school with bandages on her face.  She had to apply Neosporin and tape to her face for an entire year.  We happened to move during the year, so with tape on her face is how she started the next school year in a new state.  The procedure succeeded at keeping her face from being visibly scarred, and her inner strength kept her from being emotionally scarred.  It would be reasonable to assume that she would not like dogs after that, but she overcame any tendency to generalize her fear.  Her family got their first dog when her daughters were young, and now they have two.  She was surprised when I recently told her how proud I was of her for not letting that very scary incident turn her against dogs forever.

Were there other reasonable options for Casey?  I remember as a child hearing about dogs being sent to live on farms when they couldn't get along in city or suburban households.  We didn't know anyone who lived on a farm.  I do not know if there were shelters where we lived in the 1970s that would accept and rehome a dog with a history of biting a child, or if there were “dog rehabilitators” like there are now (or if Casey even needed that level of rehabilitation).  Even if there were, I do not believe my father’s strong conviction, that the dog wasn’t safe for anyone to own, could have been overcome.  No one knows if Casey would have bitten again.  This is a personal decision that was made in my family, and parents continue to have to make decisions about the fate of family dogs when something like this occurs.  They must put their children's safety first, and I will never condemn my father for making the decision he thought was right, within the context of the cultural norms and information and resources available at that time.  

Would the consequences to Casey be the same today?  While I feel I have learned enough over the past couple of years to analyze why this may have happened and how another family could prevent a similar event, I am not an expert on when to classify a dog as aggressive or dangerous and how to decide whether a dog can be rehabilitated. My personal opinion is that Casey was not aggressive by nature, and that he may have been able to live safely with dog-savvy owners in a family without children. Maybe, if we had access to the type of guidance and resources that are available to families now, he could have even lived with us.  In general, the topic of identifying aggressive dogs and determining the fate of a dog once it has bitten is very emotional and very controversial.  It is not taken lightly at the shelter where I volunteer.  Strong opinions can be found on both ends of the spectrum, and it is difficult to even find an objective discussion online.

Focus on prevention for the future rather than judging the past.  It is not my objective here to judge or to say what is right or wrong in any individual situation.  Each dog and each situation are different, and the options vary from place to place based on culture and what resources are available.  It’s a difficult situation, and the outcome is nearly always sad in one way or another.  Rather, I am focused on education and awareness so that families can take steps to prevent potential bite scenarios from occurring in the first place.  What those steps might be for a scenario like Grace's and Casey's is discussed in a  in Part 3 and summarized in this table.