Should i be worried

[LovaBelle]

My nephew was over for a mere 30 minutes tonight and I'm guessing he won't want to come back!

He is on crutches right now for a broken leg. My BC's love this kid and want to play with him when ever he is here. Tonight though, Jake was barking at him when he came in the house. We guessed it was the crutches. All was well and then my nephew was standing next to me (with the crutches) and Jake started barking at him again. He went to sit on the couch and Jake nipped/bit (I'm not quite sure how to categorize it) him on the rear end. He was frightened and screamed, Jake and Belle were both just standing there. I secured both of them in another room until my nephew left. I guess I just don't know what to think about it. I'm sure Jake was just reacting to the crutches, not knowing what they were, but he's been so good with the kids. I hope this was a one-time thing. It will probaby be a while until my nephew wants to come back, all this and then he fell on his rear end while trying to manage the crutches going down my steps when they were leaving.

[WyoBC]

Crutches are evil. In more ways than one! It was probably the crutches. They might have scared him. I wouldn't worry to much about it. But I would keep an eye on him for a while anyway.

[OurBoys]

I agree with AJ. It's probably the crutches. If you can talk your nephew into coming over once he no longer needs them (and no cast), things will probably be back to normal.

[Kayleegator]

A similar nip from a BC was delivered to a girl I know, also on crutches. Could this be a BC trying to 'hurry her along' because she wasn't moving fast enough? I've also heard of dogs sensing weakness, as wolves will cull a herd of reindeer, but I think it's more a case of : "Get along there, you don't need those stick things!"

[mbc1963]

My dog doesn't lik any kind of assistive device, either. Canes, crutches - baseball bats in hand even bug him. I just try to catch people early on and say, "He's scared of that stick, and he's going to bark at you."

 

One good thing: early on, Buddy hated people in wheelchairs or scooters. But after I spent months on the concept of "toddlers approaching in strollers mean you'll get treats if you lie down calmly," Buddy started loving the approach of strollers. This seems to have effortlessly transferred to wheelchairs and scooters, too - Buddy gets all excited when wheelchairs approach, as if he's getting to meet a GIANT toddler who might have GIANT treats!

 

Mary

[bc4pack]

Kinda hate to admit it but I have one of mine is a butt nipper... Strikes me as a 'control of the environment' thing...

NOT a herding thing. Herding breeds are very 'movement concious' ,so to speak...

The one instance involved a male dog handler (co-worker).... after standing in my driveway for 5 mins, took a step foward,towards the house.

None of my 4 had ever met this guy. None had really paid much attention to him during the 10mins he had been there. The second he took that forward step, Rock circled behind him and nipped his back pocket... Thankfully it was a fellow k9 officer.

Joe stopped dead in his tracks ( EXACTLY what Rock wanted him to do), Joe looked at me and very calmly mentioned that my dog had just nipped him on the ass...as casually as if he were telling me the time. It happened so quickly . Joe just backed up a few steps and Rock was perfectly content.

 

Is it something I have to watch....of course. In my case, since I RARELY have any visitors it's easy enough to manage....easier than trying to have people over to try and change how Rock feels about a strange male at a

certain proximity. There's no 'public' access to my dog yard... so I'm not terribly worried about anyone getting

that close to the house where he might be...

[Meg's mum]

When Sox (the cat) came home from the vet with an e collar, Meg treated her like she was an alien. The minute the collar came of...she at least belonged in the house. If I stand with my hands on the handlebars of a bicycle Meg runs and digs in to a hideyhole... Maybe she thinks we're becoming vacuum cleaners. Haven't had the nip in the butt problem..but it sure sounds like the same thing.

[LovaBelle]

Well the more I look back at the situation, I am convinced that it was the movement with crutches. There was a big chunk of time that my nephew was sitting in the chair and Jake was was right up there with him, getting his snuggle and ear scratching. It wasn't until he was moving with them that this happened. I called my nephew and talked to him about the situation, trying to ease the fright of it for him. I don't want him to be scared of my dogs, they love that kid. He said that he doesn't want to come over again until he is off of his crutches. I assured him that it was perfectly fine. We will set a play day for when he's healed. Lesson learned here, watch the dogs with anything new, I took for granted that they would be fine with him because they were used to him. Inanimate object are sometimes scarey.

[Guest LJS1993]

Guess I lucked out with the whole crutch issue. When I was laid up due to knee surgery I would walk Freckles while on crutches.