Coming in the opposite direction this morning was a lady with an Alsatian walking off the lead. He went flat when he saw my dog, Lady, also flat just behind me. Looked like two timid dogs meeting each other. The lady said he's two and still a puppy as she approached me. Her dog then got up and trotted past towards Lady with an extremely aggressive posture and it was then I noticed he was muzzled. All too late. A full-on attack on my dog who tried the submissive approach then tried to leg it but was brought down screaming blue murder with the Alsatian trying it's hardest to bite! The muzzle stopped any real damage other than to Lady's dignity. So the reaction to all this. "Sorry about that he's a bit bouncy". And she was off round the corner and gone. I just mention this because I do believe she was completely unaware that her dog's behaviour was totally unacceptable, that he was out of control being off lead like that when she knew he had a bad attitude to other dogs, and that she was going to end up with a potentially very dangerous dog unless she addressed the socialisation problem with other dogs very quickly - assuming it wasn't too late already. I had no chance to offer any (probably unwanted) advice as I was coping with a terrified dog and she was off across the fields. Please give me strength!
Oh heck David, that's just awful, poor Lady , is she alright ? Thank goodness the dog was muzzled, but its hardly the point is it ?
Hi Kate, Yes she's fine, but she wouldn't have been if the muzzle hadn't been in place. It was one of those cloth strap affairs so not obvious when I first saw the dog or I might have fielded the situation a bit better. Although it sounds wrong, Lady would have been better on the lead than off. Her plan A in a confrontation is submissive and leg it. On lead she has no plan A available so she goes to plan B which full frontal assault which would have been all that was required for the Alsatian to back off.
Sorry to hear this David. Poor Lady. People don't take advice well even if you know them. Sadly. Hope you don't come across them again
That's awful....I dread those sort of experiences. Thank God the other dog was muzzled. Still, not a good experience for poor Lady. Hope she has happier encounters with big dogs soon!
Awful! It's really good that the other dog was muzzled, but that doesn't mean that the owner's responsibility is done with. We had a similar thing when I was out with Shadow when he was 9 months, in the UK. A Husky wearing a muzzle - off lead again - really tried to savage him. No physical harm was done, but it's left him very wary of Husky-types and I wonder if it contributed towards his own bad attitude towards male dogs. I really hope Lady brushes it off well.
Dreadful experience ,thank goodness she or you weren't wounded,I fear someone is going to be before long though.....
Well I think you are being too kind to her. She must be aware, if she's not then why is the dog muzzled? She's aware but she's just as much a bully as her dog is. Poor Lady, is she ok now?
Hi Guys - SBD seems fine thanks. One of the things I admire in dogs is that they don't carry stuff. They just seem to shrug and get on with life. I posted originally more because I thought it was indicative of what could go badly wrong if an unwanted behaviour was ignored.
Poor Lady! Glad the dog was muzzled, but really you have to wonder about the owner. Unwanted behaviour being ignored....yup coping with this in my own family. Brother-in-law has a husky that is about 4 years old. He spoils this dog terribly, lots of treats, toys, etc. The dog (who technically is his college-aged daughter's dog, but he does most of the care) is very possessive and aggressive. BIL is always bringing home toys for the dog, which get strewn all over the house, and if someone goes near a toy the dog reacts, growling or attacking. This really isn't my problem at all, as they live in a different city and I see them rarely. Except that my son lives in the house as he is in University. He has already been bit on the toes because he got too close to one of the toys. Dog has recently bit a neighbour - he and BIL were just standing and talking and suddenly dog leapt up and bit the man's arm, leaving it bloody. The dog is possessive of the people in the house (BIL and daughter, not my son though) as well, but who knows what provoked this. It's just awful. Supposedly they are taking dog to a behaviourist, etc etc but this never seems to happen. I do worry about my son in this house, he knows to be wary, but really, it is so ridiculous. That dog is going to seriously harm some person or dog (he also attacks any dog that comes into his yard or house) and BIL basically laughs it off. Yeesh.
Very annoying, @David. I met someone similar today. There are a lot of them about, it seems! @Lisa - that's all a bit worrying. And poor dog, probably not going to end well for anyone.
Our next door neighbor on Mt Hood used to have a GSD named Ginger (Same as our dog) which hated all other dogs and would attack. She got our Ginger once and she had to have a couple of stitches in her tail. Our Ginger hated all GSDs after that. The GSD also attacked one of our friends Yellow Lab puppies when he was only about 5 months old. We were good friends with the GSD's owner and she was very apologetic about her behavior. They also owned a large male GSD that had been trained as a guard dog, but he was OK around female dogs and pups. They have had two more GSDs since. Ulle was trained to Schutzhund II and was fine around other dogs, but very subdued. Willow was a farm raised rescue and kind of a bully but she and Tilly have spent quite a bit of time playing together. I think she likes chase games a little more than Tilly but they are just playing and no damage is ever done. She may meet her match this Spring with Cooper since Coop is almost as large, and a lot younger now.
My first dog after growing up was Malemute, Probably not a good choice for a first time dog. He was ok around other dogs and people, but you could not go near him if he had a fresh bone. He warned you in no uncertain terms that you should leave him and his new bone alone. One time I pressed the issue and got a minor bite for my trouble. It was not an attack, just a statement that: "You didn't listen when I barked, You didn't listen when I growled, so I bit you". After that I didn't go close to him if he had a fresh bone, but the rest of the time he was an interesting dog to be around. He had a strong prey drive though and would kill any small animal that got too close.
Hope Lady is ok today, what an awful thing to happen. This morning we had a similar situation: two muzzled collies, a large Saluki type dog and one other were walking on a different footpath to me, but I could here the owner calling the dogs again and again, so clearly not much recall going on so decided to keep my distance from them and wait for them to go on ahead. So much for my plan, the dogs all came rushing over, surrounded Maisie who was now cowering down and the two collies started to growl and jump on her. Dog owners still calling their dogs! They stroll over as if nothing is wrong. I dragged Maisie away by her collar from the dogs who by now was crying. What is the matter with people? Maisie was attacked last summer by a Collie which left her very frightened and we have had no end of problems with reactivity to dogs, etc, but we have been making really good progress with her confidence and then this happens, again. It's like one step forward two back all the time.
Hard to say. He is graduating from University this spring but needs to find a job before he can move out to his own place. I have offered to have him back here but somehow the thought doesn't appeal It is a bit of a worry, to be honest. Most of the time he gets on fine with the dog, he is dog-sitting quite a bit when his uncle is away on holidays (quite a bit!!!) so they have quite a bit of interaction. But the dog (Kyton) will still growl at him every night when he walks by his uncle's bedroom on the way to his own room, as Ky will be chewing on his bed-time treat the uncle gives him. (Have I mentioned this dog is getting rather overweight...) You can't trust the dog, in my opinion, and that isn't good. @Debs poor Maisie! Again, good thing the dogs were muzzled, but still, what is wrong with people??
I'm starting to think that collies don't like labs.......especially fox red labs! Harley has been attacked by 3 on 4 separate occasions. Last week we were in the middle of a huge field with Harley and my daughter - a collie and its owner were walking the perimeter. Harley sat, I told her to wait whilst I walked away.....I got to 10 steps when the collie ran over and jumped on Harley. Harley moved and sat again, focusing on me. Collie ran to its owner the full pelt back to us just as I sent Harley to find her ball which was hid in the grass.......collie ran straight into Harley knocking her over. Harley goes around the collie to look for her ball when the collie went for her. My daughter split them up. The collie owner just carried on walking, ignoring what was going on!!! Harley is missing a chunk of hair near her eye! I shouted to the owner to get her dog.......she ignored us and carried on walking! I'm worried about collies now and am worried Harley will start getting defensive with them
