Urgent - Problem with my Black Labrador

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Originally Posted by Jared2608

The only thing is that his throat seems a bit raw, my mom said his bark is a bit off pitch and he seems to be a bit hesitant to swallow. She's gonna keep an eye on him till I get home, and then we'll decide if he needs to see a Vet, but at the moment he isn't in any danger!

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As long as it doesn't stay that he will most likely be fine as long as he doesn't do anything strenuous with his throat (excessive barking, gobbling food... things I doubt he will do anyways if it hurts). Just like (god forbid) if a human is strangled, or even struck at the throat, it will take some time for area to heal and stop being tender.

I have to agree wholeheartedly with Theresa. It may SEEM like a solution to just keep the dogs separate during feeding time, but that is just treating the symptom and not solving what can turn into a very serious problem. And as she pointed out, that problem can erupt in a heartbeat, at any time, if both dogs are nearby when a bite of human food is accidentally dropped.

Start now, while the issue is still at a manageable stage. You CAN train away food aggression if you're careful and persistent. But it may take some research and speaking with training experts to learn how to do it safely. It will be VERY worth it in the long run, and such training techniques can be applied to many other areas of the dogs' lives together.

As for the sore throat...the injury from a dog bite is more than just the puncture wounds. There is probably a great deal of bruising involved that goes much deeper than the punctures did. I would think that so long as he continues to improve over time, he'll be fine...but it will probably take longer for that to heal than the actual visible wounds.

Thanks guys, I'm going to try my best to sort it out. I want to take her for some more advanced training, like the sport type training they do, but I need to get her spayed because the schools won't take her 'unfixed' because they say it can cause trouble. I'm hoping the extra stimulation from more advanced learning might settle her down a little bit.

Thanks for everyone who answered, the yorky is ok, he's just feeling a bit sorry for himself and enjoying a nice sleep under the blankets with my mom...Bella has been keeping a very low profile and seems to have confined herself to her basket!

Sport training might make her less hyper, it's not going to address the dominance issues. Look into some of the Cesear Milan training. While I don't agree with all his stuff, he gets good results with aggression issues, especially dominance issues.

And JLC is right, the visible wounds are not the worst of the injury. The shock/adrenlin and the bruising damage is worse than the minor scratches and punctures on the surface. If he's experiancing any inability to bark etc like you described, his throat was partially crushed. So just because he didn't have tearing and open flesh doesn't mean it wasn't a severe attack. Bruising and crushing can be more dangerous than bleeding, after all, bleeding can be easily controlled and seen.

If he's doing well, just stiff and sore, he may very well heal up with no issues. But the shock and trauma is very hard on small dogs.

I hope he's fine and is up and around fast. Being a yorkie, I bet he milks it for all he can. I know mine would.

This morning he's much better, he's drinking, and he ate, so we're not really worried about him anymore, but he is definitely taking advantage of the situation!