11-year-old Amir was bitten by a dog and was hospitalized at Rambam - where he received special and unexpected help

(haipo) - Amir, a boy who was bitten by a dog, suffered trauma following the incident. A therapy dog ​​he met during his hospitalization at Rambam helped him overcome.

A dog bit, a dog supported: they say that when a person encounters an obstacle, he should "get on the horse". Amir Fa'or, 11 years old from She'ab in the Lower Galilee, implemented the recommendation, but with dogs. A story with a happy ending, on the occasion of International Dog Day which is today (26/8/24).

Fa'or is an avid dog lover, he raises a sweet Pekingese dog, which he shares with his sister to take care of her. A few days ago, he took the dog out for a morning walk as usual, when suddenly a dog of the Belgian shepherd type (Malinois) jumped on him, bit him hard on the arm and ran away.

"Just two minutes after he left the house, I heard shouts from the street," Samah, Amir's mother, recalls the incident. "I thought he was yelling for help because dogs attacked our dog and he was unable to rescue her, but it turned out to me that he was yelling out of pain. I went downstairs and saw his hand, which looked terrible. He raised his hand to protect himself. The wound was deep and bleeding."

After being attacked by the dog, which was unknown to the family, Amir was referred for first aid treatment at the hospital in the area where he lives and from there he was transferred to Rambam, where he was hospitalized for several days in the pediatric surgery department. "He received various vaccinations, antibiotic treatment and stitches to close the wound," says his mother, "Luckily, the injury is considered superficial and there was no functional damage to his hand. It's not a pleasant situation to receive so many injections and lie in a hospital because of something like this."

In the last six months, Rambam has treated several cases of dog bites, including four injured in moderate to serious condition following an attack by a dangerous dog that is forbidden to keep according to law: a five-year-old girl from the Nazareth area who was attacked by a Tosa Ino dog, a four-year-old girl from the Golan who was attacked in April by -Yidi Rottweiler, 72 years old from Kiryat Motzkin who was attacked in May by a pit bull and a two year old from Motzkin who was attacked in the last few days, also by a pit bull, and is now hospitalized in the medical center.

Tinka broke the ice

In the circumstances in which Paor was injured, other children might develop a fear of strange dogs, especially large unfamiliar dogs, but in the case of this dog lover, the opposite is true. A meeting with Rambam's therapeutic dogs, in the hospital ward where he recovered, turned the recovery process into one that touched not only Amir's physical wound, but also his internal one. Dogs and the person in charge of the therapy dog ​​service at Rambam, "We realized that we had a challenge here and decided to face it. When he met Tinka, a Labrador who works as part of the service at Rambam, the connection was immediate. No words were needed. Despite the circumstances of the injury, he sat down next to her and immediately started caressing her. Tinka, who felt him, put her head on the floor and surrendered, reduced herself and approached him in a kind of belly crawl. He started laughing and that's how the ice and the other barriers broke. It was an exciting and charming moment."

Therapy dogs have been in use at Rambam since the beginning of the war and in recent months have been in the service of various departments at the medical center. The dogs treat the body and mind, and help reduce anxiety and lift the mood. In the case of children, the very act of being close to a dog gives them a sense of security and strength. These allow them to go through processes that cause them to fear - in a more positive way.

"Amir really loves dogs, and this incident didn't make him love them any less or fear them either," his mother points out, "he even felt sorry for the dog that attacked him. The days he spent at Rambam were not easy and the meeting with the dogs was right on point. He is so happy to see them and play with them. It made a significant difference. Then he asked what they were doing at the hospital, was interested in their activities. He is still afraid to leave the house with the dog, but the dogs themselves have a warm place in his heart."