Is it your dog, or a stray? Do you know a vaccine history? If he bit you and broke the skin you really should get yourself and the dog checked out, there's the potential for rabies there.

He is not our dog, TEchnically stray, But WE have no vaccine history, however Its not agressive, NEver has been, Always has lived over there, we think the owners either don't care for him, or his owners moved away and no one technically owns him now, But he always has been over there just...kinda being a guardian of the whole area in general, and he didn't so much bite me as in to be agressive, more that he was trying to get away from pain as he was hurting.

I'm aware of why he bit you, but an infected animal can be asymptomatic at the time and still transmit the disease. There's also different forms of rabies; it's not always aggressive behavior. All bite cases should be treated as a possible rabies case unless you know the vaccine history. A lot of people aren't aware that if you start showing symptoms of rabies, there is no saving you. The vaccine will not protect you at that point, you're already dead. You should call animal control in your area and have the dog quarantined and/or tested.

We are aware of that, And We also know that If the dog is dead within 10 days we will get it checked as you -cant- test a dog, To test for rabies like that, They have to check its brain, to check the brain kills the dog to cut the head off and what not, So If I go get rabies shots because I got bit, They also will want to check the dog to see if it was positive or not, before giving me the shots, so No, we do not want to kill a dog that is 99% most likely just -very old- and in pain from age/injury, rather then kill it on the tiny, -tiny- chance it might have rabies with how its' acting at this time, so I can get a shot. It's acting fully sane, still trying to go and return to do its duty as a livestock guard dog, even though it's in no condition to do so, just like it has been for the past sevral years. We are just letting it rest and recover, and trying to just let it be still fro the hurt back leg that it has. We have worked with animals as a shelter/rescue for my whole life pretty much so 30 years, so we are pretty sure it's fine.

Oh geez... I honestly don't know what you could do other than call an animal place to come and help. I have no experience in this issue. Poor thing! ;~;

Well, we are trying what we can, but most likely all an animal place would do would be to put him to sleep considering his age and everything, but we do work with Ozark Homeward bound, an animal fostering and re-homing group, And have done things before, so we are going to try to help and if anything...At least try to get him back into a 'stable' and semi healthy condition...before we have to just let him return to his duty of guarding the area over way...because he -wants- to return to his job....We had him here probably a year or two in a not well fed state to try to help him once before, and he broke out of a kennel to head back over there so..he is insanely dedicated.

Thats terrible :c

Yes, I'm aware of how rabies is tested. Ultimately human safety and lives are more important. An unvaccinated dog who's biting people, from pain or otherwise, is putting not only yourself but others at risk. If you've truly worked with animals all your life you should know this by now.

Not only that, but if you're still living in Arkansas as per your profile, it's against your state's laws to not report the bite to health authorities. As well as the fact that if you were willingly letting this dog live on your premises, by law you were responsible for keeping the dog rabies vaccinated.

Even if rabies is widely controlled in the United States, it's still a deadly disease that shouldn't be brushed off just because you feel you know better.

http://www.healthy.arkansas.gov/ima.....ControlAct.pdf


Edit: Meant to reply to your post, but whatever, this works too.

Thank you, for one, IT doesn't live on our property, it lives int he general area, around -several homes- and people as it is a -livestock guarding dog-, If it had rabies it would of been found and reported long ago, I know your worried, but really, All your coming across to me right now is as if you would rather we just kill it for the sake of killing it 'just in case' it might have something, and if it doesn't well then "At least it's dead and not around anymore" Considering this dog has been in the area -ten years- and that we do believe he -might- be owned, considering where he lives it would be a shock if he is -not- vacinated But I love that your over assuming and freaking out, Just calm down please. We are taking all the nececary precautions, and aware of all these issues, considering -we have worked with local care and the like- both my family -BEFORE I WAS BORN- and all my life, So please, Calm down, If I die because freak rabies accident then well fine, I die, and it was our fault for not killing a dog that we have seen, and has been around for several years for rabies on the off chance that it might have it when it is most likely vacinated, and just old and in pain.

I was going off the information you provided. I'm also not "freaking out", I work as a licensed veterinary professional and have to handle people and pets from sketchy ass "shelters"/"rescues"/breeders all the time. I'm explaining how the situation SHOULD be handled. If anything, you should be asking around to see if anyone in the area has had him vaccinated instead of assuming he is. I'd never "kill an animal just to kill it", it is a high risk animal and should be handled as such. Whether or not this animal has rabies after 10 days doesn't matter, if you work with animals you should know how these situations should properly be handled for the safety of everyone in the area, gambling because you think you know better is extremely illogical and unsafe. I don't care how long you've worked with animals if you don't know/follow extremely basic health laws regarding animals. But I'll drop it now, it's your life. Unless the dog bites anyone else. :P

Alright, Besides, As I amended in the journal above, it wasn't a -bite- it was more that a tooth scraped off me when he was trying to get away from the pain, and -barely- broke the skin at all. and also Here is the "Sketchy" shelter we work with, who also has deticated vets and the like who are major parts of it. http://ozarkhomewardbound.com/

If you work with dedicated vets and they're ignoring a BITE WOUND (Animal's tooth broke the skin, thus the potential transfer of saliva into the wound) from a potentially unvaccinated animal, it is a sketchy shelter. A website doesn't make that whole situation less sketchy, sorry.

I don't live with the vets, hun, And It's something we are going to check out anyway when we can, I understand your worry, and that this seems unorthadox, but if anything blame my grandmother, If anything I can -try- to get a rabies shot just to be safe, though If I get one they will still most likely want to try to check the dog for it anyway, and only give me one if the dog -did- have it, thats why we don't want to just instantly assume it does, though we can check around about the owner and vacinations, but the current main worry is its own health and safety with how bad of a condition it is currently in. I know I have not provided a super detailed every single minor issue explained and video/everything to show the situation but if it is any consolation we are trying to do what we can.