OK..i am not above finger pointing when it comes to other peoples screw-ups and lack of outdoor skills so i'll turn that finger around and press it right on my own nose---
over the weekend we were off for some cross country skiing at a large park by the Mississippi River. i took along a old classic camp stove to get some shots for another site i inhabit and all was going well.after a few hours we were heading back to the car when a dog who was on a leash made a leap from the side of the trail and nipped me on the leg.the owner,a old man,threw himself on the dog.as my heavy flannel lined jeans were not ripped and----here it is--i was tired and just wanted to go home.....i did not get the mans name or any other information..at home i saw it was not a pinch but a bite with broken skin..we have dogs--the wet canoeing ones,and i'm around dogs all the time at the free-run parks so i never think about dogs being a problem..next AM i call the RN line at the Vets Hospital and i'm told to go into the clinic ASAP.
i took the jeans with the idea of showing them that they were not ripped so maybe the dog did not touch me...
WRONG--the Dr..who i know from working over there, asked one question--"where is the dog"---well i don't know.....
in less that 30 seconds i was set up for the rabies shots that i'll be getting for the next four weeks...
i asked the RN what i would do if i got bit out on a canoe trip??...paddle hard--you have five days to start those shots!
moral to this story--bads things really can happen,don't assume anything.

Ouch, but I believe that the required shots are not the old beneath the muscle ones (medical professionals please correct). My wife got a similar heated lecture from our vet. DW took pity on a stray cat brought it into the house. It bit her, minor one, but broke the skin. She didn't think much of it as we've had multiple cats for 30 years and stuff like that happens all the time. When she took the cat to the vet for a checkup, shots and spaying the vet saw the bite marks and just went ballistic. He said that if the cat got loose in the next 10 days she would have to have the shots.

So far everyone is fine. But that sure left a sobering impression on the DW.

Man that is rough. I'm sorry to hear that you have to get the shots.

What are the shots like these days? We've all heard the horror stories from long ago, but are they the same now?

The shots are not so bad now.
1 shot of antibodies where you got bit, followed by 5 shots of the vaccine in the arm.
If you are around animals a lot you might want to get vaccinated against rabies.
http://vaccineinformation.com/rabies/qandavax.asp

I got the series fifteen years ago. Four shots on day one(both hips, both shoulders), and one shot again on days 3,7,14 and 28. Not too bad: like tetanus shots. I was stiff on the morning of day two, but had to walk four miles in to a campsite to notify the other victims that the animal did test positive for rabies. By the time I had walked back out, the stiffness was gone.

And never assume a dog is friendly. They do bite.

Wow. I think I would have had choice words with the owner. Choice. Words.

Everyone seems to be missing the big question: is the nurse giving you the shots cute?

With sympathy,
-Blast

Not mangled by one, but lunged at...in high school I was at a friend's house, retriever was under the kitchen island. I pulled out a chair maybe 2 feet away, and the dog lunged with teeth bared...I got the hell out of there, and a few months later they didn't have the dog anymore due to behavioral problems. No breed is totally immune.

Yep, is over-generalization. No horror story, but I've seen a number that are quite surly.

-john

Blast--i got four shots in the butt today..the LPN was someone i worked with for years over at the VA..no Paris Hilton but still a very nice young lady--we both tryed to be very professional about it--however..we both could see how funny it was..i said that it was just not the same as the flu shots the staff got every fall,that got a chuckle out of her..

Did you at least bite the dog back?

Son #1 was playing with our German Shepherd. She put her mouth on his arm really gently to get him to start playing again. He decided to return the favor. German Shepherds are also know as German Shedders. He got a mouthful of fur and a gagging fit.


I thought it was funny.....

I thought I had read somewhere recently that dog rabies was all but extinct? Not that the dog couldn't get bitten by another animal with rabies, but I wouldn't have worried about it too much. Getting bitten by a wild animal on the other hand would certainly have me worried.

no it is not gone. If bitten by a rabid animal, you have less than 5 days to begin treatment, or to start selecting a casket. Once symptoms start there is no treatment that will prevent a really bad death. From what I understand, one really doesn't want to die in that manner.

My first bad encounter with a dog happened at Grandma's house. A neighborhood dog, a big irish setter, had gotten loose and we encountered it in the woods behind the house. I guess he just wanted to play, but I was only 7 and my brother 5, and so when he came at us we freaked. He ran us down and knocked my brother down. I went to shoo him off and swung at him (feeble 7 year old swing). My brother is screaming and trying to escape, I am screaming and trying to get the dog off him, so the dog decides to bite me in the arm. He gets a mouthful of my coat, and clamped onto my arm underneath. I freaked some more, and started a tug of war match with him, which is apparently just what he wanted was someone to play with. My brother got off the ground and took off for the house, at which point the dog released me, chased him down, and tried to get him to "play". This went on with the two of us taking turns entertaining the dog all the way back to Grandma's porch. At this point, dad came out, saw that we were playing with the neighbor's dog, and yelled at us to quit making such a ruckus and leave the dog alone. At this point, survival instincts and a fury at dad's nonchalance apparently kicked in, and with a mighty tug I managed to rip my coat sleeve where the dog had hold of me enough to reach the nearest rock and start beating the dog's nose with it. Once he let go of me (my brother had managed to escape into the house), I threw it at him as hard as I could. It missed him by a mile, but he saw it go sailing by and decided it was time to play fetch, so as he ran to get the rock, I took off into the house myself. He hung around for a while as we watched him out the window, then finally took off. We headed for the beach instead of the woods, opposite the direction he was heading, making sure we each had a rock and a stick with us.

We never saw the dog again after that. I reckon he got snatched by someone, because even though he terrified us to no end, he was a beautiful setter. Either that or traffic got him. In any case, I had my first lesson in doggie behavior, and what kind of an a**hole my stepdad could be at times. Thank God he was only trying to play with us. Had he been vicious, at least one of us wouldn't have made it back to grandma's house. While I respect dogs and their abilities, I quit fearing them long ago.

Thanks for the replies regarding the shots!

Well, at least the shots aren't in the tummy anymore!

My ex once let a strange dog bite her, dog went to the pound for ten days, and we got stuck with the bill, since she was stupid enough to stick her arm thru a fence into the dogs home territory.

Side note, if you are ever bitten by a critter, no humans around it, and you decide to shoot it in order to take it in for testing, do not shoot it in the head, they need the brain for testing. Or so I have been told...

Yep, they want the brain. Must be zombies doing the testing...

I love retievers, both Goldens and Labs and even the cross-bred Doods (with poodles). I've been around and had them, but even that is an over generalization.

My sister sent home a refugee from college in the mid-80s, mutt but mostly Golden. The only recognizable breed in her was Golden, right coloring and the hair amounts were textbook Golden. Very nice sweet dog, until it cmae to children. She was deathly afraid of children. Never bit one, but that's because we did not let kids get close. When a child approached her, she sat with her talk tucked under her, chin up and yelped in warning. She was good enough that she did not want to hurt anyone, but she was also very afraid of kids, and I'd never want to push her.

Good luck dealing with the shots CanoeDogs.