Injuries, illness, near death experiences... etc

Reminds me of when I was about 7, and our large Rottweiler quite nearly tore my face off, especially since she was possibly big than me. She managed to get my very-tall-brother's face, so I'm very surprised she missed me o_O I can still remember the giant jaws and teeth, even when it was so long ago...

I'm glad to say I'm not scared of dogs, despite that ^^

This is a dangerous forum huh?

I've been around dogs all my life and never been bitten. However we did take on a rhody cross somthing a few years back, sadly we couldn't keep it. He was a rescue and I loved him to bits but he was extremley possesive. It escalated from him taking my little sisters toys and destroying them to trying to take my sister from my mum, just to get her attention.

It was somthing we could have sorted, had my sister been older, but she was only about 6 then. We were told he was fine, just 'too big' for his owners I did feel bad for him.

Having said that I was bitten by a boa that was my own fault though. Luckily it was only a couple of years old, so nothing drastic!

I've never been bitten by an animal before. It's almost like I've lived my life in an animal free environment... =(

The closest thing I have experienced (when I was 6) was a horse almost biting my fingers of when I tried to gave it something to eat.. I'm so good with animals

I did that with a donkey, Aap - I was feeding it wrong.

Wow, pretty nice thread. I didn't think that you crazy europeans led such dangerous lifestyles!

Yes, we are crazy crazy people

This is the closest I got to near-death

My lovely little wolf friend who goes everywhere with me was the basis of this incident. I was being a careless fool myself, and at one point I had stepped on her tail. She wasn't too pleased about that. Still, she got better and went about her business. Time and time again it happened, by accident (She loves running under me and stuff, real playful little darling.) and she was getting fed up. So it was one evening that she set about punishing me for my foolhardiness. She managed to trip me up and she bit straight into my thigh (and let's not forget, wolf/dog/canine jaws lock for extra damage.) She ripped out some of the tendons and nerves in my leg, set about damaging other parts of my body and left me hospitalised for about a month. Naturally, I never ignored her again. My father spoke of having her put down for the behaviour. I told the fool that if he dared to punish her with death for a justifiable act I'd punish him too. Severely.

Now, my wolfie friend has forgiven me and we live peacefully together. I just wish I had never angered her in the first place. Friendships with such wondrous animals take years, and I imagine inside she still isn't completely my friend.

So, this incident was caused by me, in many cases. I probably won't forgive myself for ignoring her, even though she seems to have forgiven me. My father still thinks she did it because she's a savage creature, but what the hell does he know? He wasn't the one reading about animals for nine years. Still, humans are idiots and my father is no less human than anyone else...

That's probably the closest I have come to a near death experience. And she did hit me with all she had, so I expect I would have been very, very badly wounded by her, if she had not stopped by her own accord.

I still have a limp from where she punished me for my stupidity.

I love how people (who are stupid) blame the creature for something that comes naturally to them. You, Nid, are clearly not such a person, and neither am I. Animals, other than humans and some of the other primates, do not attack unless they have a damned good reason.

Indeed, you are correct, they are all idiots. My father is one of them, I am ashamed to say.

Never blame the nature of the animal- they cannot help it, and it usually has a reason, as you say.

I've always thought that most animals are like humans when angered, if you annoy them they'll lash out at you and about 9/10 you deserve it.
Well actually maybe that last bit about deserving it doesn't apply to humans... we're a pretty stupid and irrational bunch of creatures (no offence)

Well, as a long time dog trainer, I've always pressed people who I've helped to teach their dogs tolerance so that if you do accidently step on their paw or try to take away their bone, they won't attack.

Part of this comes with being the dominant one, pack animals live based off of dominance. In a wolf pack, if a lower ranked member gets stepped on by the Alpha, he wouldn't dare go after the alpha because he's the dominant one. In the story I told, this applies as well. The dog felt threatened and attacked me, but since I won that fight, he didn't attack me again after that since I established myself as the dominant one.

However it is true that animals have nature that causes them to attack often. I believe that using dominence tactics and training can counter that instinct, but you should still always take their nature into consideration. The incident I described was my fault because I wasn't being careful. Many humans don't know how to act around animals, nor do they understand why animals attack.

At my job, you'd be surprised how many people come in claiming a dog is "aggressive" when the dog simply just attacked because it was scared and defending themselves. Actually, only like 1% of dogs that attack people are actually aggressive, the rest were just defending themselves.

I'm glad to see that people on here realize this, it certainly warms my heart to know that not all people are ignorant about animal behavior.

Well, personally, Dominance and training my wolf to be my companion out of fear is not my cup of tea. I am equal to my companions. I would never be an alpha to Luna, nor would I dare to rule her life through fear.

Tolerance is also out of the question. I'm definately not 'humanising' her to be tolerant to humanity's stupid blunderings. As far as I'm concerned, I deserved it and she gave me the lesson I needed.

Thank you for sharing that info though. It's just not something I agree to.

It's not about aggression. As you say, Nid, animals rarely lash out for a reason, but I agree with copper in the way she speaks about dominance. Any pack animal that you 'own' needs to know you are alpha. I don't mean that in the way that you need to be aggressive as a balanced pack leader would never act like that as it is simply not worth his time.

But dogs, wolves, any pack animal see you as one of them, just a little more clever at getting the food and so on. Naturally the same pack mentality applies to everyone as a whole. You just have to make sure they regard you higher rather than equal. Still doesn't mean you can't cuddle and all that though.

For example, referring to copper's experiance, she stated she lent over him, in dog language this is asserting dominance. He challenged her over it and although injured she dealt with it calmly, as a pack leader would. We had a similar thing with our husky cross, who was also a rescue. Although i'd never hurt him in any way, we had to be quite 'dominant' toward him to begin with. Just little things, like making him wait before we went down the stairs and appearing to eat from his bowl first. He would jump up and try to bite, the only way to stop him was to hold his collar and put him out of the room for thirty seconds, otherwise the switch just got flipped.

He is now the most calmest and lovely dog I have ever met and I wouldn't swap him for the world.

I still don't like it, regardless. I am not luna's alpha, nor would I want to be. She is a wolf, I am a human, I have no right to be her Leader. I am merely her friend and we get along fine.

As far as I know, Luna is dominant over Taldar, making her Alpha.

Don't get me wrong, if she misbehaves I intimidate her something terrible, but she hasn't misbehaved in ages. Her attack on me was honest and justifiable, and if I ever hurt her again, I hope she attacks me some more. I would deserve it.

EDIT: I think you misunderstood me. Humans lash out for no reason. Animals ALWAYS have a reason when they strike.

I admire you Nidking, for your love of animals and willingness to take responsibility for your actions.

Yes, I understood Somthing I hate about the way humans lash out, it's always through selfish purposes.

I do admire the relationship you seem to have with luna and the way you view it, it's unique, from what I understand.

I guess I simply see things differently from other people, And thank you both for the compliment.

My love of animals has sort of shaped how I behave. It has also shown that while I am only 15 years old, in cynicism I'm about 97. Hence why I quite often sound cold, heartless and borderline cruel to humans.

Hold on now. I agree with Nid on most aspects, but for crying out loud people! HUMANS ARE ANIMALS. Though we are definetly much more pathetic than animals on alot of accounts, (Violent cruel, borderline evil) but it seems like you all hate your own species! In case nobody has noticed, humans, (Such as Nid) are capable of extreme love, sacrifice, and forgiveness. I don't know of any other animal capable of what man can do. We may be clumsy, stupid, and irrational, but can anbody think of another creature that can... well... use a forum?

HAH! Does any of that matter? Emotion? Intelligence? What, I stress what use is intelligence when humanity are as thick as they are?

YES, I HATE MY SPECIES! I admit that, I hate the very notion we exist! I hate humans, I hate myself for being human, I hate my very existence and everything I do, I hate just as much. I loathe myself. I loathe humanity. I only share love and respect with animals, and the Three (Yes, THREE) humans who have earned my respect. They would be Rebecca, Cyana and Blaze.

You don't know any animal capable of what man can do? Of course there isn't an animal like that. There is no such thing as an animal stupid enough to NUKE THEIR OWN KIND OVER RELIGION! Oh wait...humans. Meh.

Rant over. I am sorry, but you have activated my Beserk Button and I am officially defending animals to the hilt now.

Nidking wrote:Well, personally, Dominance and training my wolf to be my companion out of fear is not my cup of tea. I am equal to my companions. I would never be an alpha to Luna, nor would I dare to rule her life through fear.

Tolerance is also out of the question. I'm definately not 'humanising' her to be tolerant to humanity's stupid blunderings. As far as I'm concerned, I deserved it and she gave me the lesson I needed.

Thank you for sharing that info though. It's just not something I agree to.

I ment no offense to you nor was I directing that at you or anyone for that matter, I apologize if it came off that way. I was just sharing some info from personal experiences and my experience as a trainer.

Dominance training is not about fear, it's about respect. You can easily be dominant over your dog through positive obedience training and the occasional light discipline. I would never strike or yell at my dogs or use fear, but the occasional "No" is necessary for a dog to have a balanced life.

You don't have to be alpha to Luna, nor do you have to agree with that lifestyle. But, dominance and pack behavior IS a wolf's lifestyle, more so than a dog's. If you don't want to be dominant over her, then she most likely thinks she's the alpha over you. If you're okay with that, then that's fine. It's just the lifesyle you choose.

Also, tolerance does not mean humanizing, it's just training. It just means teaching the animal at a young age to tolerate mistakes that humans or even other animals might make. If I need to take a bone from my dog, I don't want it to attack me, I want it to give it up without question. Likewise, if my dog gets jumped on by another dog, I don't want it to attack the other dog right away either.

Tolerance training is just as much for the dog's protection as it is for the humans as well. If one of my dogs bit a child that was poking at its face, it would most likely get put down. I've seen this happen time and time again at the shelter, and just a little bit of training could have saved that dog.

Unfortunately, life isn't fair. I choose to be dominant over my dogs to protect them it helps keep their lifestyle safe and balanced. They see me as their leader, but they also love me and are all very happy with their life. They go hiking with me, they get to do agility, herding, and other fun events. Just because I train them and am dominant over them does not mean I don't love and care for them deeply, I would easily give my life to save one of them as a pack leader should, protecting their pack at all costs.

However, my knowledge extends mostly just within dogs and although wolves are in the same family as them, they are not the same, dogs are domestic and wolves are naturally wild. I know little about wolves and have only dealt with hybrids. You know your own pets best and I trust you will make the best decisions for them.

Also, if you wouldn't mind, I would love to see a picture of your wolf sometime, I'm sure she's a gorgeous animal.

oh, I forgot a couple.

When I was 14 I was walking through anbandoned construction site with a couple friends, we were fooling around and there was a little ledge that dropped down about 4 feet, Since I thought it was safe, I jumped down.... I realised my mistake when a 4 inch nail went through my foot

Nidking wrote:HAH! Does any of that matter? Emotion? Intelligence? What, I stress what use is intelligence when humanity are as thick as they are?

YES, I HATE MY SPECIES! I admit that, I hate the very notion we exist! I hate humans, I hate myself for being human, I hate my very existence and everything I do, I hate just as much. I loathe myself. I loathe humanity. I only share love and respect with animals, and the Three (Yes, THREE) humans who have earned my respect. They would be Rebecca, Cyana and Blaze.

You don't know any animal capable of what man can do? Of course there isn't an animal like that. There is no such thing as an animal stupid enough to NUKE THEIR OWN KIND OVER RELIGION! Oh wait...humans. Meh.

Rant over. I am sorry, but you have activated my Beserk Button and I am officially defending animals to the hilt now.

Nidking, while I find your respect for animals, Its seems almost disrespectful the way your talking about everyone. More or less what your saying is that everyone here (other than Rebecca, Cyana and Blaze) fall under the category Evil humans. While as a whole, yes humanity is a curse on this planet, but to generalise everyone as religious war mongering people is just plain disrespectful. I have, nor will I ever believe in violence as an answer to problems. I hate the fact that men, women, children even animals die, in war.. So to throw all humans into that category is incredibly narrow sighted. Plus, I'm not religious, however I don't hate people who are religous because, while small groups of religious radicals may use violence to get there way, most are kind caring people, and I'm speaking about all religions. I know muslims, I know christians, and they are genuinly kind people, they aren't trying to convert me, or force there beliefs on me.

My point is, you can't meerly class the entire human race as evil, until you've gotten to know each and every one of them.

Copperlou wrote:

Nidking wrote:Well, personally, Dominance and training my wolf to be my companion out of fear is not my cup of tea. I am equal to my companions. I would never be an alpha to Luna, nor would I dare to rule her life through fear.

Tolerance is also out of the question. I'm definately not 'humanising' her to be tolerant to humanity's stupid blunderings. As far as I'm concerned, I deserved it and she gave me the lesson I needed.

Thank you for sharing that info though. It's just not something I agree to.

I ment no offense to you nor was I directing that at you or anyone for that matter, I apologize if it came off that way. I was just sharing some info from personal experiences and my experience as a trainer.

Dominance training is not about fear, it's about respect. You can easily be dominant over your dog through positive obedience training and the occasional light discipline. I would never strike or yell at my dogs or use fear, but the occasional "No" is necessary for a dog to have a balanced life.

You don't have to be alpha to Luna, nor do you have to agree with that lifestyle. But, dominance and pack behavior IS a wolf's lifestyle, more so than a dog's. If you don't want to be dominant over her, then she most likely thinks she's the alpha over you. If you're okay with that, then that's fine. It's just the lifesyle you choose.

Also, tolerance does not mean humanizing, it's just training. It just means teaching the animal at a young age to tolerate mistakes that humans or even other animals might make. If I need to take a bone from my dog, I don't want it to attack me, I want it to give it up without question. Likewise, if my dog gets jumped on by another dog, I don't want it to attack the other dog right away either.

Tolerance training is just as much for the dog's protection as it is for the humans as well. If one of my dogs bit a child that was poking at its face, it would most likely get put down. I've seen this happen time and time again at the shelter, and just a little bit of training could have saved that dog.

Unfortunately, life isn't fair. I choose to be dominant over my dogs to protect them it helps keep their lifestyle safe and balanced. They see me as their leader, but they also love me and are all very happy with their life. They go hiking with me, they get to do agility, herding, and other fun events. Just because I train them and am dominant over them does not mean I don't love and care for them deeply, I would easily give my life to save one of them as a pack leader should, protecting their pack at all costs.

However, my knowledge extends mostly just within dogs. I know little about wolves and have only dealt with hybrids. You know your own pets best and I trust you will make the best decisions for them.

No offense was made, worry not.

If Luna is the master, I am happy to be a servant ^^

I don't really want luna to tolerate my stupidity. If I hurt her, she has a right to hurt me in response, and I would allow her to attack me simply because I deserve it. My loyalty to my friends is incredibly strong, and I believe in equality for animals. No other human except me sees Luna, so we needn't worry about the child incident either. A wolf has a right to be and act like a wolf. I would not want Luna any other way ^^

I honestly do not see my tiger and wolf as members of a pack, per se. I see them as my comrades, my allies. Trust me, when you hate humans as much as I do, it really helps to love animals a lot more also. Equality is the name of the game, and even if Taldar and Luna see themselves as more powerful than I, who am I to argue? One is a Tiger, far more powerful than me, the other is a Wolf, far more intelligent than me.

I sincerely respect your views and opinions, as being a master dog trainer you should of course know much about them. I just heavily disapprove of them myself, because these training methods are based on humans being greater than animals, which I just cannot accept. I can tell you now I know for a fact that your methods work, because they do. You see that the methods work in every tamed dog. They just don't work in my opinion, because I see things vastly different from any other human being and I treat my wolf and tiger as they should be in nature. I respect them as equals and I would never once consider myself dominant.

As I say, thank you very much for sharing, it is good to see different views and opinions. It's just not anything I would ever use.

@Reyes.

Thank you again for your points, but I'll warn you now, any attempt to change me is utterly futile. I am simply at the point I despise ALL humans, including myself, and there are only THREE humans I respect, because they share my love of animals, and my personal difference.

Changing me is utterly futile. Do not even try.