Helping your dog recover from a dog attack

Have you ever experienced a dog attack? Do you know what you would do in this situation?

Dog attacks can range from a scary experience that gives you a fright, right through a life changing, or deadly ordeal. We will go through the common causes of dog attacks, and how to respond, and act for the best outcome in a terrible situation.

Dog attack recovery can also take time, even once the physical injuries have healed, the trauma can remain.

Dog attacks can happen.

A dog attack could happen to you, it could happen to one of your kids, your dog, or your cat.

They can happen in an instant, with a random dog on the street, or a dog that is known to you.

In some situations, they can be predicted, and diffused, but in other times, they can seem to come out of the blue, and are out of your control.

Dog attacks are scary

This can be very scary, and life threatening in some situations.

Small dogs, children and cats are particularly vulnerable to attacks by bigger more robust dogs. A small dog or cat can be grabbed from the top, with a bite force pressing down on both sides of the body.

Any breed of dog can be aggressive

Can you prevent a dog attack?

Some dog attacks cannot be prevented. It can occur from a bad series of events that unfold, resulting in a dog attack. It can be from a dog escaping from containment, or an unrestrained dog coming up to you.

If there is a known aggressive dog that is often unrestrained, or a dog that is behind a flimsy fence on your walk, change routes.

How to recognise an aggressive dog

An aggressive dog will generally show warning signs. This can start as barking, hackles raised, growling, a stiffness in the body. If these warning signs are not heeded, they may escalate the behaviour to snarling, lunging and biting. If you come across an aggressive dog, don't try to approach them, and slowly step away. Do not try to run away,

A territorial dog may be bold and approach you.

A fearful dog may express their aggression differently. Tail between the legs, retreating and barking from a distance. Hiding away. These dogs can attack if cornered, or may attack as you are retreating, and my sneak out of hiding straight into attack.

Fear and territorial behaviour can cause aggression

In the moment of an attack

This can be a very scary situation, and there is a lot of adrenalin and its high energy.

Its loud, and there is a lot of movement.

Remaining calm is the most important thing you can do. I know. Easy to say, but hard to do.

If you can remain calm, the situation will de-escalate faster, and you will be able to take the appropriate steps to diffuse the situation.

Dogs can become disoriented during a fight, and even your friendly dog can turn around and snap at you if you reach in with your hands to separate them.

If you have a hose or water bottle handy, you can try and pour water on their heads. This can sometimes shock them enough to break up a fight.

If this doesn't work, you can use a lead to slip over the dogs head, down to their neck, and lift them up. This can give you something to help pull them off the other dog.

Breaking up a dog fight can be difficult

First aid and emergency steps in a dog attack

If your dog is injured, it can be a good idea to fashion a muzzle onto them if possible to stop them biting you. They can still be disorientated, and may bite at you as you try to move them. Even the friendliest dog can bite when they are in pain.

There may be a lot of blood, and especially with fluffy dogs, it can be difficult to determine where the blood is coming from. If there is an obvious area of blood that is flowing, Apply pressure to stem the bleeding.

Many of the injuries can occur with minimal blood, such as internal crush injuries, and closed fractures.

When lifting a dog that has been injured try to lift them without causing much movement.

If you have any rescue remedy®, this can be given to your dog (and you). This can be popped into the mouth onto the gums, or rubbed into the inner ear.

Do not squirt this down their throat, as you will risk aspiration. Rescue remedy® can be used as part of the first aid process, however this is not prioritised over stopping bleeding, and getting them to the emergency veterinary clinic.

All dogs should be examined after a dog attack

Any dog that has been in a dog fight should be assessed at the vets.

Some wounds can be puncture wounds which can penetrate deeper than you can see. They may also need clipping to determine the damage. Small dogs that have been attacked by larger dogs are often grabbed and shaken, and you will have bite marks from both the top jaw and the bottom jaw. There can also be bones crushed in this type of attack. Just because you cannot see external injuries, does not mean they are uninjured.

Helping your dog recover from a dog attack. Healing involves physical and emotional recovery

Healing from a traumatic experience like this involves the physical recovery, and also the emotional recovery from the trauma.

The nervous system and adrenal glands will have been affected, and there can also be PTSD and fear responses that develop from this.

 

Physical recovery

Physical healing requires good nutrition. The tissues need protein, zinc, vitamin C for healing. There can also be an increased need for iron rich foods if there has been a significant blood loss.

Herbs can help to improve tissue recovery. Herbs such as gotu kola, arjuna, comfrey, arnica, calendula yarrow and horsetail.

Infection control can also be important, with herbs like echinacea, calendula and yarrow helping to reduce infection, colloidal silver can also be useful.

I also like to support microcirculation to support the healing. This helps to ensure the nutrients and herbal constituents are transported to the appropriate site.

A general herbal formulation Recovery - Injury and Inflammation support mix

can help tissue healing and improve recovery time, whilst also helping to manage pain.

Depending on the types of injuries sustained, we can also look at a topical product to improve healing and reduce infection locally. I love the Sore Salve for this.

Recovery from the treatment itself

Dogs may require different types of medications to aid in the healing process. Anaesthesia, sedatives, antibiotics, anti-inflammatories, etc. These can be necessary for recovery, however can have side effects.

These can all impact the microbiome, digestive system and nervous system.

Supporting the Gastrointestinal tract during recovery is going to help reduce these drug side effects.

Bone broth, gut support and probiotics can all be indicated.

Body work

 Body work can have an effect on both the physical body, an the emotional recovery. Some trauma responses can be stored physically. Working with a good body worker, or chiropractor can help to relieve muscle tension, and release stored trauma.

Massage and body work can help with recovery

Emotional recovery

Emotional recovery can be one of the biggest and most challenging steps of recovery. There can be anxiety that develop around walks, stress and worry whenever seeing another dog, and even PTSD that occurs. And I'm not just talking about what is affecting your dog…

Recognising this as a major traumatic event, and supporting the nervous system can help to reduce the ongoing impact this may have.

There are many herbs and nutrients that are beneficial for the nervous system. Passionflower, chamomile, kava, skullcap, licorice, withania, rehmannia, zizyphus, vitamin C, B Vitamins, essential fatty acids.

I have a free ebook on herbal medicine for the anxious dog which can help you to find the best herb for your dog.

For extreme fear and anxiety, I recommend working with a trainer to overcome this, and work out safe strategies for walks and interactions with other dogs.

Address any issues as they arise. This can help to prevent small anxieties developing into major anxieties

And most importantly, allowing time for recovery to occur. Do not expect the recovery to be immediate. Allow time to overcome the fear of the walk, or the situation it happened.

Remember, in recovery

Slow is smooth, and smooth is fast.

Finding the right herbs and supplements for your dog can be a challenge. There are so many great things out there. If you need some guidance around what is best to support the recovery for you dog, book a consultation today.

Give your dog a pat for me.

Kerrie x