Pup viciously attacked on SD hunt

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Moose

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Since interviewing several breeders, investing in a pup, obedience, and hunt training, and the time to work and bond with my pup, I am convinced dogs are he best part of bird hunting.

I accepted an invitation for a hunt in SD from a close friend even though questioning one of the members of the party was something less than a sportsman; shooting birds on the ground, taking other's shots, and shooting in the direction of and over other hunters. I figured I would just be watchful, and keep my distance as this " hunter" is loud mouthed and insulting anyway.

My pup being just 2 is fantastically coming into her own, and on the first two fields was flushing birds the other dogs had missed and retrieving across the field. On piling into the back of the pickup the birds in one corner the gentlemen referred to above's golden lab nipped at my pup and the other dogs for sniffing the birds. My pup was startled as she gets along with all dogs and being a family pet allows any child to poke and pull her tail without protest but after giving her a treat it was soon forgotten.

However on getting out of the truck while she stood next to me this gentlemen's golden lab charged my pup from twenty feet away, no birds in sight, and viciously attacked my pup. I immediately tried to separate them and the golden turned lunged at me knocking me to the ground. Pulling them free I proceeded to stay to assess the damage disinfect and apply first aid while the golden's owner laughed about that teaching a lesson, no remorse or apology and urging to get back to the hunt.

12 puncture wounds, one next to her eye, swelling it closed and requiring a specialist to determine any eyesite damage, and or fracture to the orbital bone, several savage bites in and around her mouth preventing her from eating for several days, and at first indicating a cracked tooth that might require extraction, but the dental specialist determined chipped and could be ground.

I left the hunt to attend to my pup, which as agitated as I was probably prudent. My friend graciously offered to this gentlemen to shoot his dog, which later attacked another member of the party's dog.

Good news- pup has healed, no impairment, has hunted well here at home this last weekend.
Bad news - out of pocket unused SD out of state license, hotel non refundable, gas to and from, thousands of dollars in vet bills and worry.
Besides the disappointment for missing a great hunting opportunity, my pup is a family member and to suffer a vicious attack from someone who not only does not take responsibility to train or control his dog, actually laughs about it is difficult to resolve.

Being a non- resident to the area of the incident makes it difficult to press charges, and the legal fees would cost more than compensation for my vet bills. I moreover feel responsible to do something as this golden is a time bomb and do not want to see a maimed child on the news, wishing that I had ...

While at the pet store yesterday my pup made friends with a huge, over 100 lb golden and we're friends in a minute, I wish I could get over this and put it behind me as well as she has.
With respect,

Moose
 
Wow! My dog is my companion so much of the time I don't know how I would react to something like that. I'm pretty sure the other dogs owners would end up paying the vet bills but who knows, confronting him could end up with me facing legal issues. It sounds like you handled things the only way you could. I'm glad your dog is ok and can still hunt with you.
I guess this is why I mainly hunt alone.
 
It never ceases to amaze me of the stupidity some people have, and display. The owner of the other dog should pay the vet bills. Without question. But you handle things your own way. My way is probably wrong. Sorry to hear you had such an incident. I guess in the future, if I ever went back there, I would insist that the idiot with the dog not be allowed to hunt with your group.
 
Glad your pup is doing better but sorry she had to go through this. I was in this situation but on the other end many times with my last lab. He was a big male lab that was well trained and fantastic with people but he was just a jerk to other dogs. The few times he did inflict damage on other dogs I always paid the vet bills and felt sick about it. My left hand has multiple scars from breaking up his fights. It got to the point where I would always hunt alone and wouldn't even take him to parks where there would be other dogs. It was frustrating no matter what I did he just wouldn't play nice. I am no way condoning the acts of this other dog and especially the owner as he handled the aftermath all wrong.
After Indy passed away and it was time to search out a new family member I went to about 20 different breeders putting the main focus on temperament. My lab now , Zeus, is 100lbs of teddy bear. Its so much nicer hunting with other people again and not worrying about my dog stirring up trouble. In fact I do not think Zeus even knows how to be mean. I bet an 8 lb Yorkie could get him to submit.
 
Yikes! That does sound like a misadventure you'd want to put behind you. What should of been a great hunt ended up a very expensive ordeal.

That's an issue when you join a group(or person) not well known. I'd rather have the dogs separated for transport. Ideally only hunt with one or two at a time, depending on specifics and number of hunters. Best yet, once you park, two with one dog go this way, the other two go the opposite.

Every fall I hear misadventures with hunting dogs, lost, taking off after a deer, whatever. Then there are the owners who don't mind the dog scrap, as long as theirs is on top.

Just to sum up, lesson for us all, do research ahead of time, avoid if at all possible.

Take the song 'I drink alone' by George Thorogood and rearrange the wording to 'I hunt Alone'(with your pooch). :D
 
you have way more tolerance then I do, if his dog had done that to mine and he sit there and laughed about it he would of been paying his own dental bills..when my I first bought my house I had 5 beagles as I used to rabbit hunt a lot, the neighbor next door told me right off before we even knew each other that Id better keep my dogs on my own property or else.. I nicely told him I could either be a great neighbor or the worst one hed ever met entirely up to him, also told him that if one of my dogs did get out of the pen and something happened to it the same would happen to the individual that inflicted the injury or worse...we are good friends now but the couple times one of my dogs managed to get out he just called and told me my dog was out..
 
I used to have a dog I could lend you. He was a 100 lb Lab and he thought anything and everything was for him to have sex with. He was a lover. He wouldn't start a fight but if another dog would he was oh so happy to pile on. Mind you he would not start it but was happy to participate. Usually came out on top too. Never went tooo far with the fight but the other dog knew who was boss when it was over.

He did lose one real bad though. He disappeared for two days and I thought he was gone. You know, being a lover and all. Well, he must have run into a 120 dog somewhere cause he laid in the yard for three days near dead. Someone had bit his tail amongst other things and it had a 90 degree kink in it for a week or so.
 
I used to have a dog I could lend you. He was a 100 lb Lab and he thought anything and everything was for him to have sex with. He was a lover. He wouldn't start a fight but if another dog would he was oh so happy to pile on. Mind you he would not start it but was happy to participate. Usually came out on top too. Never went tooo far with the fight but the other dog knew who was boss when it was over.

He did lose one real bad though. He disappeared for two days and I thought he was gone. You know, being a lover and all. Well, he must have run into a 120 dog somewhere cause he laid in the yard for three days near dead. Someone had bit his tail amongst other things and it had a 90 degree kink in it for a week or so.

I might be related to that Lab, sounds an awful lot like me :roll:
 
I was lucky enough to have that one bird dog that I think every responsible hunter deserves. Every attribute you could put on a dog, well that was her.
She was tough as nails in the field and sweet as a vanilla shake at home
She did have one quirk though. If a male dog was to come up behind her and put his nose in a private area, she could magically turn inside out. Where the private area had once been, was now a pearly white 80 horse wood chipper.
No male ever ever did that a second time.
 
When I read through this I could almost put myself at Saginaw bay duck hunting with my dads chessie. He had a large male that was very smart, he would dive under after a wounded duck and more than once brought in two at a time. Well there was a particular hunt that stands out where another hunter who was also a loud mouth acting the same way you described and his dog came over stifflegged and after a couple long seconds of his dog posturing my dads dog, snarled and nipped my dads dog, needless to say I think I heard a spark in the air when my dads chessie, “Jake” came to life and tore that guys yellow dog a new ass! In fact he hated all yellow dogs after that! Lol
 
Ahh, Saginaw Bay. Fish Point???? Im going to go off topic for one quick story.

My brother and I hunted Fish Point (duck and goose) for the first hunt one morning. We came back to check out and a hunter (well thats what he thought he was ) carried around a swan like he was the greatest hunter ever. Bragging about his trophy Snow Goose. Do you laugh, do you cry, do you get the heck out of there????????????????
 
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