I warned the person to stay back. Dog Bite - need help! (Xebby)

 Sorry you have to cope with this, it really is upsetting, I know.

Did the guy really need to go to urgent care?  I often just use hydrogen peroxide on a bite, multiple times a day and pray it doesn't get infected.

If he did go, then the doctor is required to report the dog bite.  So expect a visit from the animal control officer.  I hope all Logan's vaccines are up to date (especially rabies), as then you can likely keep him with you.   I think the city ordinances vary, our city requires a 10 day quarantine, which we are allowed to do at our home as long as the vaccines are up to date.  All that means is the dog has to remain at home, no outings, for the 10 days.

 Do let us know what you hear and how things develop.

The rules vary, so much, from place to place, about where things are reported and whether quarantine is required...

I had the cuteness issue with Emma, and she did end up biting someone, seriously. I did not muzzle her, anywhere but the vet's office, because she really did not need it. I did keep her in heel position, and use my body between her and people who insisted on petting her. I didn't let most people touch her, and just told them she was busy working. I worked very hard on watching me and not worrying about what's going on around us, and it helped her confidence a ton! Do you have a regular trainer? That's someone I'd talk to, immediately.

I'd get the booklet Cautious Canine and start that protocol.  I agree with the above advice about putting yourself between Logan and any approaching strangers.  Hopefully, the legal aspect of the incident won't be too bad.  I would always have only one of the dogs at a time as dealing with this would be much easier if you aren't trying to juggle two dogs. 

I'm sorry the man continued to move in when you clearly warned him.:(  Despite it being his fault for precipitating the bite, it's your responsibility to keep people safe, so you might want to condition Logan to a muzzle while you work on the reconditioning.

First off please calm down and breathe.  You have so far done everything correctly. You warned the Neighbor,  you followed through first by apologizing and then by checking on him. Do NOT buy a gift, or continue to go out of your way to apologize over and over.  That can make it look as if you KNEW he was a dangerous dog and that he would bite, ( as opposed to he had not been himself for a day or two and you worried he might bite),  therefore he should have been muzzled. If you feel you simply must check on your neighbor again, do so in the next few days, drop off a copy of his shot record and express your shock that the incident had happened. Tell him how much you appreciated his understanding and that you have taken the dog to your vet to see what might be going on. Be concerned but not  in a panic. Sympathetic but not guilt ridden. His snapping at someone who put their hand into your yard is not the absolute definition of dangerous. Yet it is a Giant Red Flag for you that something is going on. Now it's your job to figure out what that something is.

Taking him to the vet is not just something to say to your neighbor. You said this is a sudden change in his behavior, so you do need to rule out a medical problem of any kind.  Have your vet check his mouth, in case he is having dental issues. I mean really, you know how YOU feel if you have a tooth ache right?   Have his vision checked ( you may need to go to a specialist)  the test is called  CERF , we have all of our breeding stock tested , and we would have any dog who suddenly became aggressive checked as well). Just think what you would feel like if your vision suddenly become fuzzy or have a black dot in the middle of your line of sight? It would scare any of us, if we had no clue so keep that in mind for your boy. And have the vet check his Thyroid level,  Preferably a MSU4 test, which involves drawing blood and sending it off. It is much more comprehensive than a simple thyroid test done in office. The office tests basically show if there is a MEGA difference. Most dog owners do not know that when a dog's thyroid goes off the optimal levels it causes many things, and among them is aggression.  What may seem like the end of the world because of unexpected behavior can be fixed with a small daily pill to rebalance his thyroid levels. (BTW if he does have a thyroid issue get your vet to write you a prescription and have it filled at Wal Mart for a teeny tiny fraction of what it would cost from the vet's office!)

If you can rule out any health problems then you must look at what's happening around him that could be making him feel insecure or afraid? Most of the time aggression happens with Insecure animals. People often think the Top Dog with a swagger in his walk is the one who will be a  biter. But it is far more likely the quieter dog, the submissive one will be the insecure one. Insecure Dog = Fear Biter.  Sit down with a pen and paper and go back at least a month prior to his begining to change and jot down what has changed in his and your world?  Has your work schedule changed? Are there new people in his life? Do you have new neighbors? Is he left outside during the day while you are at work? You mentioned a new puppy.  This is a Huge Change in both of your lives. Is there any chance that he is feeling insecure because of all the work that naturally goes into training a new kid in the home? Your Boy may be very sensitive, and being a herding breed he is obviously very smart. Chances are good, he could be reading your concern / worry over things going on in your life right now,  as something HE needs to correct or protect you from. With Show Dogs we tell our owners what YOU are feeling goes right down that leash into your dog.  If the owner feels as if they are going to faint from nerves, or they are stressed just going into the ring.... well they have 2 options, #1 Get over it FAST, or #2 Hire a handler.  Getting over it slowly Is just  NOT an option.  That is when you  ruin a good show puppy. They can go from happy go lucky pup in your yard to.... either a cowering, frightened dog, sulking around the ring, or Worse, an aggressive dog who will growl and / or potentially bite the judge!!  They have figured it out,  every time a stranger comes up to you, talking about him, You become nervous, acting differently or seeming ill.  I have seen dozens of dogs go from unhappy dogs who look as if they were beaten when in the ring with their loving owners, to a cocky, relaxed and tail wagging dog with a handler.  The handler has no emotional investment in working the dog in the ring, the owner does.  The dog has no emotional investment in the handler but would take a bullet for their beloved owner. Makes sense doesn't it? So draw up that time line of changes in your lives for the past month or two. The reason may be there once you have it written down. 

While you are working on getting him in to the vet for health testing there are simple things you can start doing. Work the dog on and off his leash. 2xs a day for 15 to 20 minutes each time.  Work the basics that you know he already knows.  Sit, down, stay, heel, come etc... lots of praise as he executes each behavior on command.  Hopefully you have crates for each dog. You can put the dog who is not working,  in their crate where they can watch you work the other dog.  This allows both dogs to see that you are not treating either one differently, that you are not "playing favorites". ( Mom doesn't love the new kid more than she does her older kid .... believe me this is a very real concern in working with Hounds) .  As you gain confidence in his attention to you, you might want to consider getting a good trainer in your city to reintroduce him to basic social interactions. I would tell you to just do this on your own ,except you are already really frightened and you don't need to re inforce that feeling in your boy.  A solid trainer would be able to help you walk through this with the right amount of caution, and should be able to keep you from over thinking every step you are taking. If the expense of a handler is more than you can manage on top of the vet bills you can do many things yourself.  For example when walking him by himself and someone passes you , instead of freezing up, make it a planned stop to work on his sits and downs. Allowing the other person(s) to pass by with out either of you worrying about them. Get him to focus on you.  If someone looks as if they are the kind of person who dive bombs a dog to smother them with love and hugs ( stupid, dumb people!!) then you need to perfect a move most Moms and Dog Handlers use that will allow you to step inbetween the human and the dog, using your bidy to block their effort to get to the dog. I learned this trick when I was a young mother. People would want to pet my children and admire them. ( They were gorgeous babies!) But all it took was one person touching my child who had Pink Eye for my Baby to be miserable for over a week! From that error on No one got to touch my girls with out my permission. I found that manuever to be effective when working dogs too! By watching others, I could body block someone who might be intent on dive bombing the puppy / dog and potentially scaring them.  Two last thoughts,   Do not allow him out in your yard unattended. Don't hover over him, But don't take un necessary chances either.  And finally until you know what is actually going on. Do not put up a "Caution Watch Dog" warning kind of sign,   in many states that is an admission of guilt  for the owner, should a bite happen.  It is far less expensive to increase the height of your fence than to potentially have a law suit for knowingly owning an Aggressive Dog

Good Luck and please keep all of us posted on what you find out!

 I know this is off topic; my vet was the one suggested the hydrogen peroxide.  They use it in house often.  When I first got my Willy, he was a biter (he hasn't bitten Dad or I in over 8 months, think we worked through that; he only ever bit his owners, long story).  Anyway, as I was over the city limit for dogs, no way I wanted to have the bite reported, I lose him right away and one of the other dogs as well. 

If it were me, I would just make sure I had everything in order like up to date vaccinations, dog licenses (if that applies), etc in case animal control pays a visit.  If the man already admitted, twice, that the bite was his fault, I wouldn't press the issue with him other than being friendly during normal neighborly exchanges.  If he wants to sue you then that's between your neighbor and your homeowner's insurance.  I'm not familiar with Logan's breed but with a GSD, if a man came up on my property while I was there with my dogs leashed and under control and I asked him to stop and not touch my dogs and he did anyway, I wouldn't have a whole lot of sympathy if my dog reacted.  Granted I don't have to deal with the cuteness factor with my dogs, but people often assume they are police dogs (and for whatever reason that means anyone has the right to walk up and molest them).  Pan my younger GSD is super friendly, he loves all people and loves other dogs.  Nikon is more aloof.  He is not outright aggressive but he's not real interested in random people walking up and touching him and just because he is calm and obedience doesn't mean I should force him to tolerate it.  If I do have him outside of our backyard fence (sometimes I will tether a dog to my hitch while I'm working on my van), I have only him with me, so if people are coming by and I get a bad vibe, or a vibe that they might be the sort to charge my dog without asking, I can quickly move him away and prevent an exchange. 

You can try the backpack or patches or whatever but honestly, for now I would just stick to handling only Logan if you have him out around people.  Sometimes that other stuff just draws *more* attention and right now what he needs is for people to act neutral and not pay him any attention, not have people pointing and staring or asking why he can't be pet.

I can't add a whole lot except when we first got Billy -- heck we planned for him to be a THERAPY dog.  Saw him with a handicapped boy when we first met him -- *rolling eyes* -- who KNEW he had been abused by a little **GIRL** while in foster care.

We didn't uncover for a while that he turned into Cujo when confronted with a squealing 3 - 7 year old gilr (particularly a blonde) OR many many hands reaching at him all at once.

I was beyond devastated.  Like I said, we adopted him specifically to use in pet therapy (after looking ofr MANY months) but re-homing him was never an option for me.  It took YEARS for us to counter-condition but we did.  Eventually he was great even with little blonde girls (and I credit my vet -- who had a little blond **daughter** who ultimately was pivotal in helping me re-train and extinguish that horrific fear he had).

But I will say this -- and for me this was BEYOND terrible -- it's not in my personality to ever be harsh with anyone.  So for me to get someone to STOP, BACK AWAY and NOT PET MY DOG?

It was just beyond the worst thing for me, personally, to try to do.  It took months for ME to turn on "Mother Protector" and literally say in a totally no-nonsense, DON'T EVEN THINK OF NOT LISTENING TO ME kind of voice and say:

NO - you may not pet my dog.  Do not even approach him.

or

STOP -- DO *NOT* pet my dog. 

I found no explanation was best -- just plain NO -- DON'T.

It was so difficult for me because I didn't want to alarm anyone -- BUT one of the reasons he began to relax was because he knew *I* was in control so he didn't have to be. 

I also learned to watch his body language far far better.  And it took a trainer to point it out to me.  When he got "uncomfortable" with someone it wasn't always immediate -- but when he'd "had enouhg" -- he would "huff" (literally you could see his cheeks blow in and out just slightly -- it was almost like he was deep breathing for control or something.

But see him start to huff?  DISCONNECT AND MOVE AWAY.  **NOW**. 

But I found it VERY difficult not to do what someone said above -- I was too apologetic and too wussy -- and it makes you look guilty. 

Liesje

If he wants to sue you then that's between your neighbor and your homeowner's insurance.  I'm not familiar with Logan's breed but with a GSD, if a man came up on my property while I was there with my dogs leashed and under control and I asked him to stop and not touch my dogs and he did anyway, I wouldn't have a whole lot of sympathy if my dog reacted..