Bite fright

Sometimes dogs do bite the hand that feeds them. One of our ag journalists was bitten by an injured heading dog. The two-year old dog had jumped across a ramp, where it was knocked off course by another dog. Landing hard on its abdomen, it went into confusion mode and lashed out at the nearest thing within five metres… a handy exposed knee and then an arm.

The dogs’ internal injuries were so bad it had to be put down. The arm required a quick bit of pressure (a clean merino sock off the clothes line) and a sluice out and stitches.

Any lessons learnt? Try to stop dogs zooming when they get let out? Easier said than done to get young ones to sit and wait. A chain on the collar (and a clothes line handle) are gold when trying to immobilise a biting dog. Dog insurance is well worthwhile.

Unlike posties and meter readers, who deal with unfamiliar dogs, farmers have a known team. Even friendly dogs in distress (e.g. a leg caught in a fence) can lash out, so throw a coat over their head before rescuing.

The Massey University Working Dog Centre ran a five-year study on farm dog health, through the TeamMate project. The study involved 150 farmers and 765 dogs. Fifty percent of working farm dogs had an injury during their lifetime.

Hurunui has the most registered dogs per 1000 people in New Zealand (421 dogs/1000 people). Southland is next at 380 dogs/1000 people. There are about 32,000 huntaway dogs and 18,000 heading dogs in NZ (Department of Internal Affairs). Between 2014 and 2019 there was, on average, 690 dog-related injuries a year requiring hospitalisation. Half were dog bites. Bites from working dogs were not singled out. Most involved children under 10.