I have a 4.5 month old Lab puppy. She is very sweet and very outgoing. She was attacked by my roommates 4 year old shar pei. A patch of hair between her eyes was ripped out, and half of the patch has scabbed over. I am concerned about her fur not growing back over the patch. Has anyone had a similar situation like this, or does anyone have any information or tips on what I can do to make the hair grow back?
Hi Abby and welcome to the forum. I'm sorry, I don't have any advice on the patch of hair, I just wanted to say how sorry I am that this happened. It must have been a frightening incident for everyone concerned. I'd be most worried right now that it would affect her behaviour around other dogs, so I'd be ensuring I got her into social situations with as may known, friendly dogs as possible. It sounds like you have to put some plan together for keeping the two dogs apart, which must be difficult if you're living together. Do you know what caused the fight?
Really sorry to hear that - must've been scary for you and your puppy. I'm afraid that there is nothing you can do to make hair grow back faster. You'll just have to give it time. I'd say that if it was just a scrape to the skin (even if it was bad enough to form a scab) then the fur should grow back. It can take quite a while though (like a couple of months).
Hi and welcome from me too. Only comparison I have is when Lilly has had tick bites she sometimes has a small bald bit which grows back over a month or so. And she had a bald bit on her leg for a while at a biopsy site on her effect which split open and had to heal from the bottom up. That reward back too. I'm guessing your puppy will grow it back. Not a nice situation for you though. Are they " friends" again?
Hi there, I'm really sorry this happened to your pup. My dog was badly attacked earlier this year: It was sewn up, and now six months later it is completely healed but there is still a small patch that is not covered by fur.
Ah that was a horrible fright for all of you,I second Fiona's suggestion about setting up some really fun ,happy social meetings . Dexter had a sore spot on his tummy about 6 weeks ago and the vet shaved around to get a better look ...it's only really grown back now so it does take a good while. Feel sad again seeing Poppy's wound Karen x
Sometimes hair from damaged skin will come in white. Proud flesh is another worry, though remote. I've only seen proud flesh in one horse. I have heard people swear certain creams and ointments will protect and speed up healing and even hair regrowth but sorry, I don't know what they are. A danger with anything you put on the spot is puppy might wipe it into her eyes with her paws. When the scab gets itchy she might paw at it and knock it off. Did you see the attack? Was she being a rude puppy and pushed the older dog too far?
Proud flesh (excessive production of new tissue) is an issue in horses but I don't think it's something to worry about in dogs A few years ago my dog was bitten and he had quite a big wound in his side. It was a full thickness wound, as in it went through all layers of skin, to the muscle. It did take a long time to heal up and for the fur to regrow but you can't see a thing now. In the pic the wound has been sewn up internally and the outer layers of skin stapled together by the vet. It doesn't sound to me like your pup's wound actually went through the skin, even though it might've looked very raw and may have bled, so I think in time it will disappear.
He got bitten by a Border Collie that cornered him in a cubby house at daycare.... The BC was expelled. And we don't go to that daycare anymore. All fine now though. And he stills likes (most) BCs
I probably shouldn't even have mentionned it, but in my reading dogs do get it but it tends to be spots they've aggravated, such as lick granulomas. It's the aggravation part I was thinking of, if puppy swipes at a scab too much. You know who is more prone to them? Black people. We have a male friend (human) who has suffered for over 20 years from proud flesh (that's what he told us his Doctor called it) from prostate surgery when his urethra was nicked. The area heals over, completely blocks the urethra and tissue keeps growing and has to be regularly cleared out. It got so he was doing that himself, the whole thing is just awful, he had to take a medical leave from work and never returned to work. Anyway, my sister is an RN in a hospital clinic that cleans up wounds like that, external ones, and the first thing she said was, "Is he black?" Oh, and he's white. @Abby6 please don't worry about proud flesh, it really is a very unlikely thing, I shouldn't probably have mentionned it.
Charlie has had more bits of shaved fur, for ops, and x-rays, and heart checks and CT scans than I don't know what (he's all fine now though ). For him, the time fur takes to grow back depends on where he is in the shedding cycle. If fur is shaved just before he is due to grow a new winter/summer coat, then the fur grows back more quickly - I guess because he is in 'growing fur' mode. If he is not due to change his coat it takes much longer. For bits that are shaved where there is no undercoat, fur grows back quicker than if an undercoat is grown then a top coat (the undercoat always grows first). Fur on wounds has always grown back completely and in the same colour. So, anywhere between about 2 months and 6 months for Charlie to replace fur.
A lady at our dog club does fly ball with her whippet cross? Who collided with another dog and got a nasty scratch on her face, a surface wound not deep. The owner was pleased that the scab had been knocked off a few days later as she said this would help the fur grow back and less likely to leave a scar. A dog fight is a nasty experience. Do you know what caused it? As you live in the same house life will get difficult if they always have to be separated ans supervised.
Dozer had a few close encounters. First time was by another lab looked just like Dozer but was female. We were walking and this lab came charging growling, showing teeth with her owner running behind her. As much as I hate to admit it, I did kick the dog right in the face as it reached us. The dog yelped and ran back the other way. I wasn't going to give the dog a chance of attacking Dozer. Second attack was at my sisters place. She lived in some apartments and I was taking Dozer out to do his business when this little Dachshund came charging. I held Dozers head and the dog was biting him. I knew if I let Dozer go he could do some bad harm to the dog. This happened three times and I told the lady that if it happened again I was not going to hold my dog back. Sure enough the little guy came charging again and I did nothing. The little dog ended up with some broken ribs, 3 staples and was bruised all over. Little did I know at the time but holding him back caused him to develop aggression towards small dogs. The last encounter was with a pit bull. I was not around for that one but it happened over at my dads place. Dozer was outside on his property when a Pit came in to the yard and tried fighting Dozer. Dozer put a gash from the top of the pits head down the side to were its mouth was. The guy tried to claim Dozer was the aggressor but thankfully my dad had a camera system that caught it all and the guy ended up getting a few fines that totaled about $500.00 I know one was for not having his dog licensed but I'm not sure what the others were for and really didn't care. Dozer was uninjured in all the attacks.
Umm....well, very unfortunately small dogs are often snappy and have 'small man syndrome'. My dogs face this every day on the Common in London. It is not at all desirable. But the best thing to do - if you have the opportunity - is to work on your much larger dog simply turning away and ignoring these dogs. I know it's not a natural thing to expect a dog to do, but it is perfectly possible if you have the opportunity to train it. I'm afraid your dog attacking a small dog and causing this amount of injury is really unacceptable - I do appreciate that, from your posts, you think this is a proportionate response by your dog, but it really isn't the best thing that could have happened from your dog's point of view. He probably now thinks his aggression towards the dog was successful in making that dog go away. Removing your dog from the situation, or grabbing the other dog and holding the two dogs apart until the owner reached you would have been the best thing to do if you couldn't have your dog avoid, or stand behind you etc.
Thank you all so much for your support and feedback! I have taken her out every day since the fight happened, and she seems to be unaffected by it. She is just as friendly and playful as she was before so that is a relief! I have kept her away from the other dog, and she doesn't seem interested in socializing with him anymore. The bite did scab over within a few days, and the scab fell off today leaving smooth pink skin. The area seems to be healing quickly. It's a relief to hear that her fur should come back.
Yeah I'm aware of the snappy issues the smaller dogs have. My sister has one along with Dozers brother and he was always biting Dozer but Dozer just got up and walked away most times. Some times he'd smack the little dog with his foot and it detoured the little guy for awhile anyway. That and he was used to getting bit as we had 3 ferrets that loved to nip at Dozer. He's no longer with us. His arthritis was so bad I had no other options but to have him laid to rest. However, I knew that it was a mistake allowing him to do that but each attack happened with-in feet of my sisters front door so there really was no time to avoid the situation. Yeah you're right but I wasn't going to risk getting bit because the other person had no control over their dog. I refuse to make my dog feel as if he was being punished for not allowing him to defend himself properly. I gave the lady more than enough fair chances and she still could not get a handle on her dog. What I did forget to mention is that these attacks happened on 3 different reoccurring days. The 4th time the dog came at us I did not instantly release Dozer, I did try to prevent the dog from attacking him but when Dozer yelped, I became angry and outraged and at that point let him defend himself. I did not let Dozer maul this poor little thing as it may appear I did so but what he had done was picked up the dog by the back end and shook him. I did grab Dozer and tried to break it up. Yeah maybe I didn't try hard enough because I was pretty angry but I did make an attempt. I even paid the vet bill even though the law was on my side. I made every attempt to make the situation right for everybody. There's more to the story but you get the general idea of how it went down.
