Had to take Niles to the emergency vet last night...

My sister has this bordeux, that's about 145lbs. Niles fluctuates between 11-13lbs. The first time they met Barron snapped at Niles, but it was more like a tease, the next time was more like a pinch. This is in the course of their year and a half relationship, so we always keep a close eye on Barron.

 

So last night we went over to my sister's (Dad is dog sitting both of their dogs, while her and her husband are out of town) and brought Niles along (I should of listened to my intuition, because something told me not to).

Anyway, everything is fine and we see Barron trying to get too close to Niles and we tell him to back off. Later on, we put Niles in the pool and while we were seating in the lounge chair drying him off, Barron grabbed Niles by the neck and dropped him on the floor! I screamed and Barron let go of Niles, Niles then quickly gets away and of course the little guy was absolutely freaking out, he couldn't stop shaking. Of course everyone jumped on Barron and my Dad quickly put him inside. While we were trying to calm Niles, DH noticed blood on his hand so we started looking closely for the wound. We found a puncture right on top of his head and looked like a deep hole, of course I panicked.

 

DH reacted immediately and started calling vets. My Mom came with us and my Dad stayed behind, he just couldn't believed what Barron had done. Once we got there My Mom and DH went inside with Niles and of course they found a second puncture at the bottom of his neck. The vet was surprised how lucky Niles was, he could of had his skull punctured and she was shocked! Thank God all Niles needed was a clean-up, a shot and he was sent home with antibiotics.

 

He's doing well, but he's still scared, if we leave a room he panics and wants to follow he doesn't want to be left alone at all. Of course Niles will never be back to my sister's house, I will not put him through that ever again.

 

So my question to you is... Do you think Barron will turn on me, since he can smell Niles on me when I go over there?

 

Barron is a complete pussy cat and is afraid of his own shadow and he moves extremely slow. I have never seeing him move as fast as he did last night, we didn't see it coming at all and I thought he was very daring jumping on him while we were seating right next to Niles.

Oh Sandra - that sucks so bad i am SO GLAD that Niles is OK and is just scared.

 

OK, as for Barron, It is really important that you do not show fear around him - just because he doesn't get along with Niles, doesn't mean that he will turn on you or anyone else. Some dogs are very dominant and territorial and dogs are social animals and sometimes they just don't get along. It sounds like Niles is just trying to mind his own business and not start any trouble but his passiveness may disturb Barron, who probably doesn't realize he is 7x the size KWIM?

 

I would keep them seperated since you really don't have to have Niles at your sisters or together. As for you and Mark, make sure that you treat Barron the same and don't have any fear - he needs to know you are still dominant and 'a pack leader'.

 

Do you watch Cesar Milan the Dog Whisperer?

Poor Niles. I know how scary it is to have to take your puppy to the emergency hospital! I'm so sorry that you had to go through all of that, but relieved to hear that he'll be ok.

I don't think dogs necessarily react to other dogs in the same way that they do to people. If Baron is good with people in general, I don't think he'd be any different with you, if you're not any different with him. That being said, I'm no expert...so I could be totally wrong.

I hope Niles get his confidence back soon!

I agree with Aylssa you can't show fear.

 

It was his territory and even though Niles did nothing to him he's probably not realised how much he has hurt him because lets face it they are bit of a difference size wise!!

 

Don't treat him any different because honestly he's probably not realised what he's done and if he has dropped him as soon as you shouted it kind of sounds like he was playing - if he'd meant to hurt him he would have killed him whether you shouted or not.

oh no! I am glad he is okay! Poor little thing. Give him lots of love!

Does your sister know what happened yet?

 

I have no advice, but I agree with Alyssa, don't show any fear around him.

Yeah, that is what i was thinking Sandra - if Barron wanted to hurt Niles, he wouldn't have let go that fast - it sounds to me like Barron feels the need to exert his dominance over Niles but b/c of their huge size difference it is a major problem for Niles.

aww poor baby, I'm glad he's okay. What a traumatizing experience for him that must've been. I dont own any pets so I really dont have any advice.

Thank you so much ladies. No my sister doesn't know yet, but she'll find out tonight. They get in around 4pm and my Mom is going to call them.

You're right Alyssa, I have to make sure not be scared around him and treat him the same. Right now I'm a little mad at him so I'll stay away from him right now.

Ladies, thank you all for your support and advice. You're so right Barron probably didn't mean to hurt Niles that much. You're the best!!!

I would stake my life on it!! he's probably thought "ooo play thing" lol Meg thinks that but then runs behind my legs!! lol

Good insights Alyssa and Harty.

 

Poor little Niles! I can only imagine how scary that must've been for him. I'm so glad he's OK!

 

Our little Dachshund Ollie has it out for Bulldogs. Martin's brother has a bulldog/boxer mix named Rosco and Rosco never bothers Ollie but every time Ollie sees Rosco he all of a sudden thinks he weighs 100 lbs (he weighs 10, lol). I have never seen Ollie act this way around any one else or any other dog. It is so strange - something about Bulldogs (even puppies) turns him into Kujo - we have to hold him back! It can be funny at first, but also scary because if one of these dogs were to snap back they could easily take Ollie out. Martin's bro tries to just let them "have it out" but there's no way I'm letting my little Dachshund get into that mess!