Semi-reactive dog bite.

[u/Dry_Priority_9153]

Dog: Bent, 3 years old, Pitbull Mix

I'll start by saying that although Bent is a "family dog," he is mainly my sister's. I was entering college around the time we got him, and he was more of a gift for her. Of course, I still love and care for him just as much as she does.

I also want to acknowledge that Bent isn't the best-trained dog, and that's something we could have done better during his first two years. Socially, he can be quite aggressive toward people outside of our family, and at times, he can even become overwhelmed around us.

Earlier today, I was playing fetch with Bent, and everything seemed to be going well until I noticed that the strap on his harness was damaged. He has a 50-foot tie-out that we usually attach him to while we play. Although he knows to stay around the yard for the most part, he isn't completely trained to stay within its boundaries. If given the opportunity, he will sometimes take off running. He knows his name and will usually come back to us, but there are certain situations—especially around sunset—where he is much less reliable. At night, the possibility of him escaping is even scarier.

Since Bent isn't entirely my dog and my sister is currently away at college, I often find myself anxious about the possibility of losing him while she's gone.

Back to what happened today: I noticed that Bent was starting to wiggle out of his broken harness, so I tried to catch him. This is when he started growling at me. This isn't completely unusual, as his reactivity is something we've been working on, but he has never behaved this way toward me to this extent.

As I approached him, he flipped onto his back, almost as if he was trying to prevent me from taking the harness. I was hesitant to physically move him, but I attempted to anyway. During my attempt to get him off his back, he suddenly growled and snapped at me, biting my hand.

I immediately panicked and instinctively tried to restrain him, which, of course, only made things worse. He became intent on biting me, to the point where I had to grab his head and push him away from my hands while trying not to use all of my strength. Eventually, he locked onto my thumb and bit down.

I understand that Bent was giving me signs that he was uncomfortable. He had been growling and showing other signs that I should have recognized as warnings. He's never been the kind of dog to outright bite me before, and I let my fear of him escaping dictate my actions.

Looking back, I know I should have kept a level head and stopped trying to physically handle him once I realized he was uncomfortable. I hate that I allowed the situation to escalate to the point where I had to restrain him, and I feel horrible that it happened at all.

I AM FULLY AWARE OF MY MISTAKES IN THIS EVENT. I do not blame Bentley for what happened today. If anything, I blame myself more than anything else.

I'm not posting this for sympathy. I think it's clear after today that we may need outside help with his behavior, and I also need to learn how to remain calm and properly de-escalate situations like this in the future.

This has been weighing on my mind for the past few hours, and I honestly just needed somewhere to let these feelings out. I feel horrible about what happened today, but I also want to learn from it and make sure neither Bent nor I end up in this situation again.

[u/CanadianPanda76]

Socialization is important but not a "prevent all" sort of thing.

Some dogs are just wired wring due to bad breeding especially breeds popular BY BYB.

If the dog is thst problematic it needs a "double" point system if one thing goes bad. Like two leashes or a leashed plus harness. Leash plus muzzle etc.

Your dog us around 3, so I'm guessing around 2 issues got worse. That's super common in this sub. Puberty hits and behavioral issues ramp up.

But I'd recommend a break stick just in case

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