Jake BIT my nephew!

[stacwase]

Jake is 7 years old and has never bitten anybody! But he bit my little nephew Wednesday. He actually drew blood and left a big bruise on Nicky's face!

We were just floored. He's usually so tolerant.

We had just arrived at my sister's after driving down to Arkansas from Michigan. That was the longest car ride Jake has ever been on. There were a lot of people there. Jake went to sniff the garbage and Nicky went up and timidly patted him on the flank. Jake turned around and snarled, and in a flash he had Nicky's face in his mouth!! Lots of people saw it happen. Nicky didn't approach him quickly or bend over him or pull his hair or anything!

I wonder why he did that??? Nicky's 4 years old and has "bad luck with dogs". I guess he's been bitten 5 times already. Honestly - he wasn't doing anything to provoke it. I wonder what it is about him?

The next day they were fine together. Nicky brought Jake everywhere with him and layed down next to him and everything, no problem.

What do you think?

[binka_nugget]

I think maybe Jake was a bit distorted after being in the car for so long and being surrounded by a bunch of new people. Kai doesn't have an ounce of agression in him but I'm sure he would have acted similar if he had been in the same situation.

[micki76]

Please don't take this the wrong way, but if the child is 4 and has been bitten 5 times already I think there's something the child is doing or something about him that dogs can sense.

Plus Jake was probably stressed from the long car ride and all the hullabaloo.

[K9soul]

My best guess without actually seeing the situation would be that your nephew may be feeling anxious/fearful when he first greets a dog (after being bitten so many times). Perhaps Jake, already feeling stressed, sensed this anxiety and saw it as a threat.

It'd be really hard to know without knowing every bit of the circumstance, and it also does seem unusual for a child to have been bitten so many times. I wish I knew what to tell you.

[Kfamr]

I agree with Mommy... err Micki.


Jake was probably very stressed from the car ride.

[Dogz]

I also agree with Micki and Ashley.

[wolfsoul]

I think that the car ride might have made him overly excited, plus he was in a strange place with new people. The touch on the flank probably surprised him and he felt that he needed to let his anxiousness out.

[stacwase]

I think all of you are right. I feel terrible for even bringing him! I thought he'd enjoy it, but it just stressed him out.

There really must be something about Nicky.

[lizbud]

Originally posted by micki76
Please don't take this the wrong way, but if the child is 4 and has been bitten 5 times already I think there's something the child is doing or something about him that dogs can sense.

Plus Jake was probably stressed from the long car ride and all the hullabaloo.

I tend to agree with this. You would think this child's parents
would have sensed this might happen & kept a better eye on
Nicky. Someone should teach the child how to approach a dog.
Especially one they don't know. I wouldn't blame Jake for this
considering the trip & everything.