13-year old girl attacked by own puppy

Read Time:4 Minute, 10 Second

As a long time dog owner and trainer I always get nervous when people insist on putting their faces in my dogs’ faces.  Dogs don’t like that and people shouldn’t do it.  I wish I took my own advice because what happened to this little girl does happen and we just aren’t sure why.

A teenage girl was savagely attacked by her own German Shepherd after the puppy ‘suddenly flipped’, tearing off part of her face.

Iona Manson from Birmingham, needed two hours of facial reconstruction surgery and more than 50 stitches after the mauling, which tore a chunk out of her nose.

madmikesamerica.com

And the 13-year-old, who had raised Fidden since he was nine days old, is still mystified why her 13-month-old pet suddenly attacked her.

Remarkably plastic surgeons managed to piece together Iona’s face and today the teenager has barely a scratch to remind of her of the terrifying attack.

But her mother Mhairi Manson, 39, said she was still struggling to sleep after witnessing the ferocious incident.

‘It was horrific,’ said the former ambulance worker. ‘Iona just bent down to give him his plate of food and he just went for her.

‘He just flipped, even afterwards when we put him in a cage he growled and barked angrily every time one of us went near him, something had changed in his mind.

Attacked: Iona Manson, 13, needed more than 50 stitches after was mauled by her pet Fidden, who she had raised from a puppy Recovery: Iona Manson spent three days in hospital after the attack, the 13-year-old is now wary of stranger’s dogs

‘When he got off Iona there was so much blood in Iona’s eyes that she couldn’t see a thing and we were sure the dog had got her eyes.’

Luckily her father, Scott Manson, an army trainee nurse who previously served 18-and-a-half years as a tank commander, was in the living room and heard the dog growl and Iona scream during the attack.

‘I rushed into the kitchen and saw Iona holding her face and screaming as blood poured out,’ said Mr Manson.

‘I grabbed the first thing I could find to dress the wounds and stem the bleeding which, as it happens, was socks from the washing basket.

‘My wife called 999 and shut the dog outside whilst I just went into triage mode to treat my daughter.’

And the family say they have no idea why Fidden, who was later put down, suddenly changed.

Mrs Manson said they also adopted his brother, Bracken, who has never behaved aggressively.

She said: ‘The attack was so vicious, it even traumatised Bracken. He cowered in the corner and wouldn’t come out for days.

‘We’ve had them since they were nine days old, you just do not expect that to happen from a friendly dog.’

Iona spent three days in hospital recovering from the attack.

She said: ‘I don’t remember much which is probably a good thing. I remember Dad telling me to sit up so that he could see my face and then the next thing I can recall is being in the back of the ambulance and looking out of the window.

‘I don’t even remember having a cannula in the back of my hand, and I hate needles.’

Today: Iona Manson has made a full recovery and is still close to Fidden's brother Bracken Today: Iona Manson has made a full recovery and is still close to Fidden’s brother Bracken

 

Greg Markham, a First Contact Practitioner from West Midlands Ambulance Service, said: ‘We were told by control that it was an animal bite and, to me, it was one of those jobs that could’ve been nothing.

‘When we walked into the house there was too much calm and it was very quiet. As we made our way into the kitchen we found a very calm but shocked Iona with bandages on her face, a lot of blood everywhere.’

‘She’s an extraordinary young girl,’ added Mrs Manson. ‘When she came back from the hospital the first thing she did was go up to the window to go and see our other dog.

‘She’s not so sure about other people’s dogs but she’s not scared, I think the whole thing fazed me more than her.

‘The plastic surgeon has done a brilliant job, you can barely see a scar on here which is amazing considering massive bite she had on her face.’

I would hope that this incident doesn’t cause a rush to judgement against German shepherds.  Any dog, of any breed, is capable of impulsive behavior, and sometimes it can be dangerous behavior.  The fact remains dogs are the most loyal of companions and if treated well they won’t bite you.  I’ve no doubt that this poor young girl was good to her puppy, but something happened to make this dog bite her and we may never know what it was.

MadMike’sAmerica thanks Mail Online for parts of this story.

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About Post Author

Professor Mike

Professor Mike is a left-leaning, dog loving, political junkie. He has written dozens of articles for Substack, Medium, Simily, and Tribel. Professor Mike has been published at Smerconish.com, among others. He is a strong proponent of the environment, and a passionate protector of animals. In addition he is a fierce anti-Trumper. Take a moment and share his work.
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MSS
5 years ago

A friend had a lovely puppy of a breed she loved. It started getting aggressive without provocation at about a year. Eventually it was diagnosed by specialists with having a severe structural abnormality of the brain which would only get worse. They had had a number of dogs before and after, all well loved and well behaved, and were heartbroken but had to put the dog down before anyone or other animal got hurt.

dave
9 years ago

She makes a good point

1. Dogs do get illnesses like us, and that can alter mood.

2. Dogs generally won’t act out UNLESS. A. They have been trained that way. B. They are loyal to one and not to another. C They feel you are trying to push in on their food D. You are nasty to them.

Karma is a bitch at the end of the day, and anyone who HURTS a dog will get their due at some point.

I don’t say this girl hurt this dog, as i don’t know her and wasn’t there.

Its done now. Leave her be.

Ali
10 years ago

Pitbulls, rotweilers, and german shepards can be really vicious! (Lol theyre all german dogs!) But wow her face looks.. wow! Ouch! And really gross! Over 50 stitches.

Iona Manson
10 years ago

Actually they can like the dog that attacked me, he had the equivelent of down syndrome in dogs.
To be honest and you may not like this but I don’t care what happned to you. I have enough shit from this dog attack to care what happend to others especially with that spellings.German Shepards are not viscious dogs and that’s coming from a girl who got attacked by one. The dog just wasn’t right and it didn’t help having a 13 year old mother and 11 month old father that was why it was mentally ill. So please stopp the commenting because this story has been so twisted its unreal to its Biased to comment on it unless you know me or the real story.

John Cox
Reply to  Iona Manson
10 years ago

You were very brave Iona, and far more intelligent than the fools who are criticising you or making assumptions. Well done, and good luck for the future.

10 years ago

German shephed are the most dangerous dogs I had one since he was 6 weeks old nd was meanis fck he knew all of family nd one he bite my cousin nd he knew her since I got him nd he started to try to bite my dad nd my hole family for notin nd I seen a german shepherd allmost kill a lil boy nd they did not on the new but they allways put pitbull for attackin anything a dumb ass cat any dog can turn on it owner

Anonymous
10 years ago

it rahhh ent

Iona
10 years ago

Errm bit extreme

Anonymous
10 years ago

i don’t wanna live on this planet anymore

Iona
10 years ago

:*

Iona
10 years ago

Lovely compliment.

Iona
10 years ago

Wow was that supposed to hurt? 🙂

Anonymous
Reply to  Iona
10 years ago

NO IT WAS A COMPLIMENT

Anonymous
10 years ago

BITCH YOU UGLY BUGLY

Iona
10 years ago

Fact is Fidden I had the dog version of
Down syndrome-therefore the dog could
Suddenly flip out.
He was an extremly reliable dog.
Especially to me.
He listned to me more than my family that’s
Why it was a shock.
These comments that people have placed is
Irrelivant.
We didn’t get them at nine days…please he
Would probably be dead because we wouldn’t
Be able to care for him.
We knew them since they where born but got
Them at 6 1/2 weeks old. The dog was not molested please stop trying to be funny
By putting your ten pence in.

Anonymous
10 years ago

#Jupiter has no relative atmosphere, as it is mostly liquid condensates of light gases. also Jupiter is basically a ball of atmosphere, therefore you statement is irrelevant

Iona
Reply to  Anonymous
10 years ago

Clap clap. Well done! You can do science
So why don’t you instead off commenting on
This learn grammar “you comment” in that
Paragraph didn’t make sense. Yeah f*ck off.

Anonymous
Reply to  Iona
10 years ago

my apologies for missing a letter on an overused keyboard 😀

Iona Manson
10 years ago

says you, if my arse is the size of jupiter whats yours the atmosphere around it?

amie
10 years ago

Iona is in my school and we all know when she is coming cuz the ground shake, her ass is the size of jupitar

Iona Manson
11 years ago

i am that girl and i wanna say that i got the dog at nine weeks not days and when the dog got put down we found out it had a brain tumor due to a very old mother and a young father the dog was very loyal to me until this happned it was a shock !!!

Anonymous
11 years ago

bitch shouldnt had the dog in the first place she probly molested the dog and it was trying to get away she got what she deserve

josh
11 years ago

another of the zombie theories? man eating man now dog eating girl? hmmm

Jared
11 years ago

I’ve allways said that German sheperds are unstable.

BakersfieldK9
Reply to  Jared
10 years ago

You are clearly without an ounce of dog sense. German shepherds are among the most intelligent, well behaved, loyal dogs in the world. To say they’re unstable makes you a complete idiot.

So sad.
11 years ago

This is sad. But it’s even worse that Fidden was put down. Dogs don’t just attack people for no reason… why don’t people understand that?? It’s all about the language barrier between human and canine. Sadly, most owners are generally inexperienced and are unable to actually communicate with their dog using language that they understand.

Watever
12 years ago

I know Iona Manson and she has still got a scar on her face she is doing well but the incident was terrible x

Bill Formby
12 years ago

Very strange incident, especially for a shepherd. People should understand that some dogs, like most people, have personal zones and they do not like people or even other dogs in their face. They have learn their dog and respect their likes and dislikes.

Poppy
12 years ago

I would suggest something else happened. I can literally take the food out of my dog’s mouth and they will let me as I from the moment I got them made sure I was the lead dog in the pack. I would suggest given the dog’s age it was beginning to test who was the pack leader.

Owners of dogs need to understand how they think and make sure they always recognise the human as the leader of the pack. This is why small children and babies get attacked it is the dogs sorting out the pecking order of the pack. ie Faithful family pet attacks child. (that and the fact that numerous people have animals as defacto children allowing them inside on beds etc and then when the baby arrives suddenly the dog has to stay outside.)

We tend to treat animals as humans and then wonder why they act “out of character” when in reality they are acting totally within character for an animal.

Carlita C.
12 years ago

I agree with Mike. There’s something more to this story. Still, I feel for the girl and whatever mistake she made with that puppy I doubt she’ll make it again and I’m glad she wasn’t scarred for life.

Reply to  Carlita C.
12 years ago

i am sorry yeah but the dog might have been pushed into rage by summat else and not by the little girl who is only thirteen so dont be so quick to judge she had the dog since it was nine days old so get it right before acting on the facts

S Manson
Reply to  Professor Mike
12 years ago

Just goes to show how some people believe what they read in the press.
We had the dog at 7 weeks old, and had been around it since it was hours old.
She was NOT playing with the the dog by putting her face down at the dish.
SO UNLESS ALL YOU PEOPLE KNOW WHAT HAPPENED KEEP YOUR ASSUMPTIONS TO YOUR SELVES.

Anonymous
Reply to  Professor Mike
11 years ago

are you ok darilng pretty girl 13 years old

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