Hi all,

Feel a bit stupid posting here but don't really know how to handle the situation. My family have 2 dogs, and I've always gotten along with both of them as you would expect, play around and both are always super friendly with me.

About 2 weeks ago they went out for a walk with my parents and one of the dogs got stung in the inside of her ear by a bee. She's a bit of a wimp and didn't take the pain well and was off for a few days. When she was feeling better a few days later I was play fighting like we used to do and I guess I caught her ear and it must of hurt as she yelped and ran away. Later on she seemed ok again so things was normal. The next day i was just sat on the floor stroking her head and scratching around the ears (which i have always done for both dogs as they normally like it) and again must of caught something. Again welp and run away.

Obviously I felt really guilty and its just forgetfulness on my part that her ear might still be sore? But the problem is the dog now seems totally scared of me. If i come into the room she will run away to someone else and look like she is cowering. If i go over to stroke her or something she starts whining and looks like she is gonna shake. I thought this might just be temporary but its been 2 weeks and this is still going on. I've tried just leaving her alone for days to see if she might gain some trust back or something but its not happening.

Just wondering if anyone has any advice, i have no idea what to do and I don't like how it is at the moment, but it feels impossible to change the situation?

what does she love the most? toys/playing fetch/food?
Basically associate yourself with her loves, so if she likes food then be the only one who feeds her treats.
If she likes playing ball for example then play ball with her lots.

You need to get her to associate you with good things which hopefully will make her forget the bad experience.

oh poor you and poor dog

I would do as wench suggests - shower her with what she loves - esp if its food! dogs will soon forget if their favourite treat is on offer when she sees you

good luck

Hi,

yes, don't push it and don't go anywhere near her bleedin' ears for a while.

Animal or human getting stung by a bee in certain areas and the associated pain is not being a wimp.

Back off a bit around the head but plenty of treats, they will come around.

Should the ear still be sore from a bee sting after 2 weeks? Perhaps the dreaded trip to the vet is in order.

If it was a bee, maybe the sting is still in there ?
If I couldn't see the site of the sting clearly I would take her to the vets for a cheque up.

The dog will come round in time, they're very forgiving animals and don't tend to hold grudges for very long (unlike cats and humans).

Guess it depends if anyone removed the stinger and washed his ears out

think my parents are taking her to the vet today just to check, in the mean time I will try all the above advice - thanks everyone

I would pop along to the vet to get the ear checked, then just don't touch it even in play, many dogs have a sensitive areas they don't like being touched, one of our late dogs hated her ears touched so unless we were examining her and we held her head we never touched her ears, another hated top of his head rubbed, so we avoided that.

So...tell me about this humpy cat.

Personally I'd get rid of it and get a new dog.

I would also add that if when you do try the positive things on her and she looks scared, dont push it, walk away and leave her be, give her time to come to you

Jesus, that's very over the top

just to update - she was taken to the vet and it turns out some sort of seed was stuck in her ear. They removed it and said it was lucky it didn't perpherate (no idea if that's spelled right) - on some medication now to reduce the swelling.

Still very distant from me but getting a bit better each day. She still won't sit by me or anything yet though. will come up to me to say hi but then run off the minuete I go down to stroke