Please help! Although I have a fairly good idea what is going on, I am looking for any help or similar experiences that might help me.
We have a two year old Akita who has been a great dog for us. Very friendly with my 8 year old son and his many friends from the neighborhood, he has never bit anyone, nor another dog despite meeting many in our front yard, until now. In fact, strangely enough twice in less than a week.
Here are the facts. As I said, "Niko", has never bitten a soul until this past week and the pieces as to why are starting to fall in place. A month ago I had some new tile put in my backyard. They had to temporarily remove a section of my chain link fence. To make it short, they did not put it back properly and Niko had been able to sneek out underneath the fence. Well I was not aware this was happening until a neighbor came over and said Niko had bit her son. Thankfully they are dog lover's and did not make too big an issue, BUT, after talking to the Mother I found out that her son's were playing with him and then starting to tease him with a tennis ball. HMMM! He had to have a couple of stitches and when taken to Hospital it is mandatory they report it
In the meantime, it happened again. This time a little girl 11 or so in front of the house. I could not believe it and felt horrible. This time animal control came and made a report then. I introduced Niko to the control officer and he, as usual, was friendly with her. I told her I do not get what is going on. Again, as usual I had to keep him indoors for 14 days, but in that time I discovered where the workers failed to put fence back properly. I informed animal control of this as well. I did not mention the first bite because the lady told me she had no intention of calling animal control but at the time did not know about the mandatory reporting. So, I get the call tonight about them getting another report of a bite. Great!
Now I know something is not right. After talking more with my Son, I found out that he has seen a number of kids teasing Niko behind our fence as they were walking home from school. Also, we had discovered someone has been opening one of our gates apparently to let him escape. Well now I have locked both gates, fixed fence and obviously there have been no problems. It just doesn't make sense. He has been with us for two years never bitten anyone and in 1 week bites two kids. I think it is interesting to note that neither of the kids bitten are friends that have been over to our house to play with my Son and Niko. This coupled with all the teasing have really gotten me concerned that it is more to do with these children teasing him than him being a vicious dog. He is NOT a vicious dog. Of course, I did not feel comfortable telling this to the parents, nevertheless the fact remains. Fortunately the parents of the second child are huge dog lover's as well. In fact, they were out chasing there three dogs that had escaped when Niko bit there daughter. I also find it interesting that despite my offer to pay all Doctor bills and such, none of the families has even bothered to call. Of course I called each to make sure their child was okay. I believe that in private, both kids told the parents that some teasing was involved. Certainly we know that with the first child, but the second is not so clear.
So tomorrow I am going to go to animal control and try and get this resolved. If anyone has any suggestions or anything to add in helping with this I would be grateful. We love our dog and as a member of the family I don't need to tell any of you his value to us. I realize this is long and I appreciate anyone taking the time to read it. I am all ears.
Merry Christmas!
