Sister was attacked by a dog and now is terrified of our dogs

Originally posted by user Yaboyred5577 in r/ dogs

Original: Aug 8, 2019

Update: Aug 9, 2019

Status: concluded

Mood: slice of life

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Original: [help] my sister was attacked by a dog and now is terrified of our dogs, our parents said we might have to re-home them if this continues.

Four days ago my 9yr old sister and i (14M) were out in the front yard pulling weeds and doing yard work when a large Anatolian Shepherd ran down the street directly at us, i tried to put myself between it and my sister but the dog got to her first and latched onto her arm and snapping at her leg. I kicked it off and it went after me but i was able to fend it off with the small shovel i was holding (but not before it had taken a snap at my hand).

It ran off and i later found out that the owner was out of town and it attacked the dog walker when she came to walk it, running out the door and finding us a few blocks over, animal control caught it shortly after.

So anyway i had walked away with a small puncture wound on my hand and my sister with a sprained wrist, a large messy bite on her arm, and a puncture on her thigh. We were taken to the hospital by our father and sent home with a brace for my sister, a few stitches on her arm, and a cleaning and bandage for both her leg and my hand.

She is now (understandably) petrified of other dogs, and was even terrified of my aunts super sweet yellow lab that shes known since she was 4 when they visited on Monday. She becomes super tense when one of our dogs (our GSD and Malinois) approach her and even started to cry when the our Mal curled up next to her on the couch yesterday.

My stepmother and father had a discussion and decided that if they were going to cause so much fear from her that we might have to re-home them, i am personally stunned by this as we all love both of them a ton and neither have ever shown even a hint of aggression.

I grew up with our Shepherd King and hes my best friend, the thought of me never seeing him again makes me super upset, and even our Mal who we only adopted a few months ago ive gotten super close to and love like hell.

I dont know, im kind of freaking out and i know that my sister is terrified and that makes me feel like a POS for wanting to keep them around. I could really use some honest opinions on what you would do in this situation, its my parents decision though and i know i cant stop them from making it but i would like some peace of mind.

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Comments:

Comment1: Definitely get her to a trauma therapist and discuss the issue. Have that person guide you in this decision.

Your parents are discussing rehoming the dogs, even though they pose no threat, because children come first. They're good parents and aren't doing this against the dogs, but rather for your sister.

Hopefully a therapist can help find a happy outcome to all of this. I'm sorry this happened to you - heal up fast and keep being an awesome big brother. I'd be proud to have a son like you!

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Comment2: Therapy. Therapy is a better option. I was bitten as a child, and as a result spend my life avoiding dogs like the plague - I'm talking changing the side of the street when someone walking their dog was approaching me, screaming from afar when I saw someone with an off leash dog in the woods, not entering a house when a dog was inside etc. It had severe impact on my life.

Your sister needs help with this now. If it isn't tackled, she will most likely develop a deeply ingrained fear that will affect her life. It's a fear/phobia that is relatively easy to live with, but life is a lot easier and more fun if you are not afraid of dogs. It took me almost 40 years to get over my fear and I wish I had resolved it much earlier. It is possible, though - I have a dog myself now.

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Comment3: This is definitely a difficult topic that goes well beyond what we on Reddit can do to help, but, running away from the fear and issues with dogs won’t help anything down the road in my opinion.

Seeing a therapist and learning that most dogs you’ll encounter aren’t out to get you will be very beneficial . Learning and pushing past the fear at a young age should definitely be better in the long run than living an entire life with a fear that could have been prevented. Best of luck to you and your family either way though!

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Update: (next day)

First off i want to say a huge thanks to the people who offered their advice, it really helped me clear my head and feel better about this whole thing.

I talked to my parents and offered the idea of trauma therapy, i explained to them that it would benefit no one if she is afraid of dogs for the rest of her life. I also called my own therapist and she recommended a trauma therapist who would be able to help us for a reasonable price.

With this I've put their re-homing on hold for now and hopefully it doesn't have to happen at all, and on a happy note i talked to my sister and she doesn't want our dogs to be re-homed either, even if she is scared of it happening again.

Again, thank you all so much for the advice and kind words, i dont think i would have been able to approach it in this way if i didn't have it.

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