Murphy our ACD, bit me in the face on Friday
I had to go to the ER and get stitches (eight of them) and I look as if I have been in a bar fight. I've had dogs my whole life, I have never even had one dog growl at me, let alone bite me.
Murphy was lying on a bed a few feet from the computer. I took a break, stood up and walked over to him and pet his head. It happened so quickly. He jumped up and got my face, no warning growl or anything. He was awake, or so I thought.
All other things seem normal, he is eating, drinking and doing his business as usual.
We have to quarantine him for 10 days to watch for rabies. I'm scared and mostly in shock that this even happened. He is current on his rabies vaccination and had his other shots this past summer.
Anyone else ever experience this? The only thing I can think of is that we are missing part of our pack for the day (my husband). He has been doing taxes at H&R Block for the past four weeks and working six days per week and 10-12 hour days. I walk the dogs by myself twice a day, but I don't run with them as my husband does. We are usually all at home together since we are retired (since 2007).
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I'm not afraid of Murphy, but I am watching what I do with him. Everything happened so fast. I thought he was awake, but maybe he was dreaming with his eyes open.
Yes, I told E.R. and they had to file a report with the county health department. However, I live in a different county, the E.R. I went to was closer than the one in my county. We live out in the woods - it was 20 miles away to get there.
Thanks for your support.
I knew that you guys would know what I mean about cattle dogs....Murphy has always jumped up and got out of the way when we are walking anywhere near him, whether he was startled awake, or wide awake when we walk by.
He seems fine now. Hopefully, this is just an isolated incident. He hates vets, has never even had an exam. But he has never snapped at them, or bitten them. Everyone else, once he knows them, he wants to lick them to death and couldn't be happier to see them.
Murphy is getting older now, so who knows what kind of dream/sleep state he is in at times. I will be careful to let him know I'm coming 
. Being a cattle dog, he has really quick reflexes, even at his age (9 years). He's always jumped up quickly when you are approaching him, as if to get out of the way of flying hooves.
I'm calming down, thanks to everyone's support and input .
That is about all I can say.
If word gets out about this, who know what might be recommended. 
I hope you are ok!!
It was about 10+ years ago that I got bit by a stray cat (I was living out in the woods at the time as well). The cat ran away and no one knew what happened to him and I was told that if the cat didn't show up FAST, I'd have to get the rabies shots (ugh!!).
To make a long story short, the cat was seen a couple of days later and I was told I didn't have to worry because if the cat had rabies, he'd likely be dead within a short period of time after I was bit.
As far as neighbors go, we had a similar situation where my neighbor's baby got bit in the face by their dog. She wanted me to take the dog and I told her no. She managed to find another home for the dog as they were recommending she have the dog put down being it had bit the baby.
Glad to know you are ok so far. Try not to worry!
He doesn't have rabies. Trust me, you'd know... he'd be acting completely insane and foaming at the mouth. By this time he'd be dead from it anyway.
PA just doesn't care if you have documentation of a current rabies vaccine or not - they still make you go through the 10 day protocol.
I know how you feel though. They're so serious about it and act like your dog is infected so it gets you thinking maybe somehow he is even when you KNOW he has current vaccination for rabies. Maybe talk to your vet to reasure yourself. I felt a whole lot better after mine explained absolutely positively that Boo didn't have rabies, and it was just having to go through the protocol that was scaring me.
and it is good for three years. I'm irrational 
The other problem with Murphy is that he has never had a decent veterinary exam. He won't let anyone get near him. All of his shots have been administered with a surprise attack. We took him to four different vet offices in the 4 years we lived in CA prior to moving to PA (We're both from Pgh. originally). Since we've been back in PA, he has been to 2 offices with the same result. Fortunately, Cindy is not a problem at the vet office.
I'm not happy with the current vet office and that leaves no one else within a 35 mile radius. Not one vet has given us any positive input to what we should do to change his behavior. I probably should call the current vet, but I don't have much faith in her either.
Five more days to go and Murphy seems as normal as can be.
Even if it means a cage muzzle. I definitely prefer the cage type muzzle because when dogs get scared they need to be able to pant or breath faster, and a muzzle that clamps their mouth shut just makes them more terrified. I always had Boo wear a cage muzzle at the vet since he was scared of the place. Mostly though it was him picking up on ME being nervous about how HE was feeling, so that just made it that much more scary for him. He tolerated anything they needed to do ok, but he wasn't happy about it, and I just didn't want to run the risk of him lashing out at anyone, but mostly it was other dogs I was worried about. He didn't like dogs he didn't know, and I didn't want to have to deal with other people letting their dogs come up to him or if the place was really busy and there really wasn't any real way for him to be able to avoid other dogs.
I thought he'd hate the muzzle, but it was surprisingly easy to get him accustomed to having me put it on and wearing it. He definitely would have preferred not wearing it, but it didn't freak him out at all since he could still open his mouth and pant as much as he needed to. Being a hairy beastie Akitas rarely have their mouths closed anyway since they almost constantly need to be cooling themselves.
I really like the Jafco cage muzzles... they're tough, easy to clean and fit comfortably and well. Regular wire cage muzzles may be fine for Murphy though. They didn't fit an Akita very well with their shorter snouts combined with their huge heads.
I got my Jafco muzzle at Leerburg. com since I couldn't find anything but the more flimsy wire basket muzzles that didn't fit right or cloth muzzles in the stores. Somewhere on their site they have really good advice about getting the dog to accept having it put on and wearing it. A tiny little peanut butter smear on the inside, and Boo was more than happy to stick his face in the muzzle.
If Murphy only needs to visit a vet once or year or so, then I'd consider traveling to one you're comfortable with. I'm really really lucky as all get out to have the most wonderful vets in the whole world just a few miles away, so I'm REALLY uncomfortable if I have to take one of my dogs somewhere else (like a late night ER visit).
Murphy will probably always be scared of the vet. Boo always was, and I never could think of why. The Akita I had before him LOVED the vet... the problem with him wasn't getting him to go, it was getting him to leave! So far, Yoshi loves the vet, too, but who knows if he always will. Dogs seem to make up their own minds about whether or not they'll like the vet's office and that's that.
But it's really important that you find a vet that YOU feel good about, and that might take some shopping around. I think it's worth it to travel a bit if you don't have to do frequent visits as long as you work with a vet that you feel comfortable with.
I really don't think you have anything to worry about with Murphy. The protocol just makes you feel like he's got everything wrong with him. I understand they need to take these things seriously, but they do it so well it scares the hell out of you.
I'm going to get him a muzzle and try the peanut butter trick (he loves peanut butter). Maybe between the muzzle and some sedatives (which we have for him), he can get a decent exam.
There are instructions on the Leerburg site about how to measure the dog so you get the right size and they have pictures of dogs wearing them so you can see if the one you get ends up being too close to his eyes or otherwise doesn't fit right. They also have a great forum there with many knowledgeable people that can help you out. A lot of the people at the Leerburg forum have specialty police or other working type dogs and are very familiar with behavioral issues or tools to help for all kinds of stuff. I've gotten great info there either in the forum or from the massive amount of free articles there.
Boo went berserk with a closed mouth muzzle on... it sent him straight into panic mode. I was certain he would never tolerate any kind of muzzle, but I was just amazed that with the advice about how to get him used to the cage muzzle and using that kind instead that right away he didn't freak out with it on.
The first time you go to put it on let him sniff it as much as he wants, rub it around on him to put his stink on it, let him bat it around a bit if he wants to so he gets the idea that it's not a scary thing, etc.. When you think he's not so leery of it, put just a wee bit of peanut butter on the inside where his nose will end up when it's on. I thought Boo would bug out and hit the ceiling the second I went to put it on him but he stuck his own face right in it on his own because of the peanut butter.
They recommend that the first time you put it on his face to take it off again right away and do that a few times before actually strapping it on him. But Boo didn't want his face to come out of it once he found the peanut butter in it, so I went ahead and strapped in on anyway. After he licked all the peanut butter molecules up he only then realized this thing was stuck on his face and tried to rub it on the floor a bit, but mostly he was ok with it when he realized he'd been wearing this thing for a couple of minutes already and could breathe just fine, so there was nothing to be scared about it.
I let him wear it for a couple of minutes and then put it away and pretended nothing unusual had occurred. Later that day I went through the process again, and he was fine. I let is stay on for a little while and just cleverly watched him without seeming to in order to see what he'd do. He tried pawing at it a bit, but that was about it.
Leerburg was also really great about letting me return the first muzzle that I thought was a little too big and replacing it with another one a little bit smaller and they were really fast about it, too.
This is the page for all their various muzzles...
http://leerburg.com/muzzle.htm
The Jafco muzzle is the thick plastic one that comes in white, black or clear. If you click on any of the muzzles shown it goes to a page with instructions on how to measure your dog and how the muzzle needs to fit properly with photos of dogs wearing them so you can see what they should look like when worn along with a list of all the various sizes and types. The Jafco muzzles can also be had with a third strap that goes from the center of the muzzle up between the eyes and connects to the main strap. I'm not really sure what the point is for this, but that's the one I got because it just made me feel more secure that it would stay on. Mostly the muzzle was really for ME. It made ME feel more at ease which made Boo feel more at ease since a lot of his being scared he was getting from me. The muzzle with the center strap is a little bit more difficult to get the hang of since you have to manually poke each ear through the right space for it, but for me I liked it that way better just becaue it made me feel more secure.
Boo's muzzle ended up coming in very handy when we were first training him to be a cadaver dog... he wanted to EAT what he found! GROSS! I think it also helped him to tolerate the muzzle because we used it for that so he never got the idea that if the muzzle went on it meant we were going to the vet.... a lot of times it meant we were going to go outside and run around hunting for delicious rotting dead stuff. Ugh.
You know, what I also found out with Boo is that he was a lot more tolerant of being examined or getting shots or whatever if I wasn't in the room. I thought it would be the opposite, but since a lot of his being scared was being scared for ME since he felt he always had to be protective of me things seems to go much smoother if I stayed in the waiting room. You might want to try either/or and see what the vet thinks might work best to help Murphy feel more comfortable. I was really surprised by this but with Boo I think it made sense especially because I really think he was picking up on MY being nervous because I was nervous for him, but all he knew was that I was nervous when we went to the vet. Sometimes I think maybe it was me that should have been taking the doggie valium. LOL!
What also might help is bringing some of Murphy's favorite treats with you to the vet to give to them to use. Boo was a bit wishy-washy with the kind of bribe treats they used, but I started bringing a few snausages that he loves with me for the vet to use with him. Sometimes Boo would pick up on the sent on them on the vets hands and then he didn't care what the vet did to him because he was too busy sniffing the vet all over for where he KNEW those treats were. The right bribe can work wonders sometimes.
Best of luck to you in finding a vet you feel secure with and working with a muzzle for Murphy. Sedatives might be a good option, too. I never tried them before, but that might work well also, or like you said a combination. Whatever works I figure is a good thing.
or physical symptoms.
I have five more days before the stitches come out. My face is still swollen, despite putting an ice pack on it 20 minutes out of every hour.
I'm calmer than I was, thanks to you and everyone else's support . My family and friends keep calling and I want to talk with them, but I don't think moving my lips and face for all that time is helping with the swelling.
Thanks too for helping all the pets you have rescued. Both of ours came from shelters and both were 8 weeks old when we adopted them one month apart.
Every vet we have taken Murphy to in the last nine years has said that something must have happened to him as a puppy to make him so fearful of strangers, especially vets. He has never had a complete exam as he won't let any of them touch him. He has never bitten anyone though - except me now.
So far, so good and we are on the 5th day since the incident. He seems fine, back to normal. I am healing.
It could even have been something as mundane as static electricity. Maybe you accidentally zapped him when you touched his head. It certainly seems that he was startled by something out of the ordinary. I hope your wounds and your trust will both be fully healed.
We are both doing much better . It may have been static electricity. He's really furry now and our winter has been dry this year. I know I've zapped him before and maybe that's what happened in this incident since he was/had been sleeping and it startled him.Thank you everyone, for your advice and support 
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Murphy has passed his 10 day quarantine and is as healthy as ever (so no rabies which is what I irrationally thought this might be). His behavior is normal and we took a three hour long hike this morning and he just seems like his usual self.
I think I may never know what caused him to bite me.
My face has lost the major swelling. I had some of the stitches out yesterday, but my doctor had to leave a few in from the one wound because the area started to split. I have a hematoma there that is 1"x1" in size and she thinks that is why the wound hasn't totally healed yet. If those stitches don't fall out on their own, I am to go back this Friday.
I feel a heck of a lot more calm than I did 10 days ago. So thanks again everybody.
I'm doing so much better than two weeks ago. Everything seems normal - the way it was before this incident. 
Bookmarked these 
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but we adopted him from a shelter when he was just 8 weeks old and really don't know his full parentage. He looks like an ACD .
Here 's Murphy:
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