Dog scared after accident

Hallo thar,

There was an accident last week where my staffy cross knocked over a fresh cup of coffee on him and my son. He burnt his belly (and willy) but that seems to have healed. When the accident happened he was really excited to see my son but is now scared of him.

He doesn't mind playing with my son playing but you can tell he's scared. He hides behind the settee, stays out in the garden and hides behind the shed when he's around. My son is awesome and is very good with dogs, he even used to have his own.

I was wondering how I can stop him being scared of my son? He's 4 years old and my son tries to play with him, gives him treats and tries being really nice.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

Hi,

When the dog knocked over the cup was he shouted at, punished or reprimanded in any way? How badly was he burned? did he need vet treatment?

I thik that over time, your SOn would need to rebuild the trust with the dog. It's possible that your dog is associatign any punishment or the pain from being burned with your Son's presence.

Your Son should spend a lot of time with the dog. Take him for walks, train him, reward him, play with him. Try to do thigs with him but away from the area in the house where the coffee was knocked over. this will help to rebuild the trust and he should be able to get back to not being afraid.

It can take quite a while for dogs to get back to how they were before an accident of any sort, certainly more than a week I would have thought. Please persevere and I hope it all works out for you all.

Laura xx

Awwww poor you and your son, and poor dog.

When the coffee was split did your son shout (I know coffe has been knocked over here and it makes you jump when it happens) as maybe he feels in trouble, plus being burnt causing pain he's porbably associated the two with your son, dogs don't think like us unfortunately.

Have you had him from a puppy or was he a rescue, I ask as if he is a rescue maybe something happened similar previously .... painwise I mean.

Anyway your son has a lot of trust building to do, apart from treats he needs to play games, walk him, make himself very attractive sit on the floor with him giving cuddles all the things to regain trust, which may take time, but Im sure with patience he will realise that its not going to happen again

Best wishes to you

Nothing further to add except patience, patience, patience.

The trust will come back, I'm sure, but it will take some time.

Good luck!

Thanks for all your replies. Trevor wasnt shouted at I was worried and upset about him. My son also got badly burnt. We took Trev to the vets they said he would be fine and that his skin would flake off which it is doing. At the time I thought the coffee had gone on his back and had not realised it had run down to his belly etc. I think it will take patience to rebuild the trust with my son. He does stroke him and attempt to play with him. Trevor is a rescue dog but we have had him from a few months old. It must have been very painful for him and quite an ordeal. Thankyou