Went to the dog park today because my boy Max is excellent with dogs, often ignores them nowadays. Anyhow we were walking around when a labrador came up to mine who was in a perfect heel, then out of no where this German sheperd ran upto my boy socket punching him into his side then he chased mine and bit him! I didn't notice how bad the bite was until he turned/stretched his side...the worst part was when this was happening the owner of the German sheperd didn't even stop to apologise!!!!! This is the 2nd time a German sheperd has taken a chunk and I mean a CHUNK out of my dog. Being a dog walker I will muzzle a GSD because unfortunately they cannot be trusted. Ive only met 3 GSDs which are well behaved and dont attack dogs bums which i dont understand :S why do they always nip dogs bums. He's been attacked numerous times but luckily enough I'm not shy to stand in between and defend my dog as he is such a scardey cat Rant over.
Oh dear,that's not a nice experience for any of you.Shame on the other dog owner...it's beyond me how people can behave like that? Did you get Max checked over?Hope he's ok? I think GSD's are beautiful,clever dogs so I don't want to breed bash but...... When my dog was young I walked a lot with a GSD that was the same age,as they grew,he became a lot bigger and stronger than Dexter,his play style was very rough and I regret that I exposed Dexter to it..He used to nip Dex on the neck and pin him and not let him up.Eventually Dex was bitten and I stopped walking with them....... I hope Max isn't unnerved by this and he meets a nice playmate next time you take him there x
It definitely not something I want to experience any time soon. I too don't like to breed bash but for some reason it's always this breed which goes for Max I always read articles about staffies which I find bizarre as I've only met 1 bad staffie who belongs to my friend who yet again doesn't muzzle her dog I too used to walk with a GSD x Lab until he bit Max. My boy does play ruff but only with his best friend and although there's a lot of teeth showing and chasing they've never hurt each other and take it in turns
I hope Max is ok. I've never had a problem with GSDs, have always found them well trained and good natured. Our problem are JRTs, had lots of incidents with them.
I have a gruesome photo of it but wouldn't upload it as it is truly that gruesome. I think it's the area I live in they're becoming popular and unfortunately people aren't training them a nearby neighbour owns a GSD (another one that attacked Max) is kept in a porch and never walked ! I feel incredibly sorry for her Funnily enough a JRT growled and snarled at Max today!
I hope your lad is alright after this attack, poor thing I truly believe that there are good and bad in every breed including our loved Labradors , in fact there is a very aggressive one in our village who has to wear a muzzle, enforced by authorities . I don't actually like generalising over one breed or another , its the owners who are fault in most cases . I agree that by nature, one breed can be more feisty than another, terriers being a prime example and I know this because I own one and have owned many However , it is all about channeling and using traits to the best and not the worst, just my opinion
How awful Really sorry he got bitten I guess you've taken him to the vet? Sounds like it might need stitches and he may need antibiotics....
Poor boy...so easy to generalise. Only one GSD around us has had issues. Usually it is the terrier type that we find barky and a bit aggressive, but met a lovely pair of Cairn terriers today on our walk who were delightful. I think any dog can be aggressive but how you say the owner reacted (or not) says it all.
Poor Max I hope he is OK and it does sound like he needs a vet visit. I totally agree with Kate, it's not the breed but mostly the owners. I know lots of dogs with 'breed reputations' and they are lovely, whereas some breeds that don't tend to have reputations are not well trained and cause problems. I also agree with Jac, I have said this before that all dogs can and have the potential to be agressive no matter what the owners say, but it's how the owner trains and deals with it which is vital. Hope Max recovers and isn't worried in the future. Best wishes xx
I do believe that any dog could develop aggression issues and does depend on the owners but I'm a bit lost as to how owners can just shrug off their dogs behaviour As Max is nervous I feel incredibly sorry for people when he barks or growls at them! And to those who asked about the vets I'm booking him in tomorrow before work (I'm a dog walker 3 days a week so he'll be with me all day for the next few days) Would anyone recommend wearing a coat until he heals or leaving it be? I'm slightly worried as he often rolls in grass/mud, I'm sure the vet will let me know
I think some owners think this behaviour is 'dogs being dogs' they just don't understand dog body language or how to train their dogs so it just becomes part of daily life. As members of this forum we have learned how to train our dogs positively, ask for and accept advice about the best way to achieve good levels of training and behaviour for our dogs so we are lucky we found it! Maybe don't take Max out until you have been to the vets just to be sure. x
I've never thought about it like that thanks @charlie I'm in the process of doing a dog training course too so I try to pay attention to behaviour the best I can I always recommend this forum to fellow lab owners ! It's the best thing for me and for Max. I'll have to walk him 15 minutes to the vets which may be a nuisance as he can't use his harness as the bites on the side where it rests...lots of treats for him tomorrow haha I would like to thank each and every one of you for your posts, I was pretty steaming at first but now more relaxed about it xx
It may be worth reporting to the dog warden just in case it happens again, or to somebody else. Hope all goes well at the vet tomorrow.
Hope your boys ok and not too upset by this nasty incident. I had run ins with many types of dogs over the years and can't say one type is worse than the other. Size is an obvious factor but the funny thing is the owners always seem the same. Always the same excuses and denial or just walking off.
He'll be fine he just shrugs it off but it's me who won't forget. I guess we've been very unlucky to only have issues with one breed they're such an intelligent dog too I know a puppy GSD at training and he's gorgeous so well behaved
Just catching up with this. So sorry this happened to you and your boy. It must have been horrible. We don't meet many dogs at all, but the ones we have met have been all sorts of different breeds. The worst incident we had was when a Husky really went for Shadow when he was nine months old. Luckily, the dog was muzzled, which was a sign of a responsible owner, so I appreciated that and Shadow never seemed any worse for that particular incident. However, it's made me very wary around husky type dogs. I think it's very easy for me to transfer this anxiety to my dogs. A couple of months after that, we were walking in the mountains and a massive wolfdog came belting towards us. I was horrified and tried to keep between my two and it, but in the end, he just wanted to play - and my two pretty much ignored him and continued to play by themselves. I'm pretty sure if I'd had mine on lead, my tension would have transferred straight to them and there could have been a whole different scenario. I'm not saying that you're the slightest bit at fault, obviously, but I do think it's very easy for us to become sensitive and tense and that is picked up by the dogs around us. I'm currently trying hard to stay calm and positive when we're in tense environments and it does seem to have a positive effect. Definitely easier said than done, though!
In my area there are lots of dogs and we see the wave of the next fasionable dogs awhile ago it was rotties and staffies who are nice dogs then it was Huskies(who seem as a group the most dangerous) now its frencies and pugs(they can't breath properly so they can't ru fast). Its not the dogs its the people i don't trust. I had so many bad things happen to my dogs because of their owners lack of insite and training its hard not to get tense. I now adopt a policy of if I don't know it and it looks OTT I go the other way. 2 nights ago I was confronted with the biggest mastiff/american bulldog juvenille I have ever seen it was HUGE. Really massive and all he had for ballast was a very slight thin teenage boy on the end of a very thin cheap bit of lead which looked like stringthe odog came to his shoulder. The boy was grabbing lamposts and gates to stop the giant dog pulling him over. They dog looked over excited to be out(don't think he could get out much) and ready for fun. Midge looked at it and and me and we retreated. There was no way that dog was going to stop if he took off the boy would have been dragged. Some of dog walking friends saw it too and we all agreed it was an accident waiting to happen. I try to have a positive attitude but faced with this level of stupidity and danger it can be hard. in an ideal world I would have liked to have given the boy a good lead and collar that didn't hurt the dog or him and explained that rapping the lead round his hand was likely to result in him getting it broken one. Instead I left the area, sad but i am not risking my dogs to someone who needs a big dog to inflate their ego.
Thanks Snow bunny, I'm pretty calm around dogs as I work with them 3 days a week I am going to try avoiding GSDs for a while as Max had to have surgery on his bite wound. I don't blame the breed either but the owners it seems everyone doesn't care that their dog bites. I've only met 2 GSD owners that muzzle their pooch, one informed me that it's a breed trait of them nipping other dogs bums to show who's boss but I'm not sure if that's true. It infuriates me that one stupid owner made me spend £310 ! I'm hoping the insurance will pay some of it though but that's not the case. An old work colleague of mine owns a dog who attacks other dogs yet she still doesn't muzzle it! This is a staffie who's repeatedly gone for my dog (I do avoid her but she lives 2 minutes from me and bizarrely we always meet at corners where I can't see) When Max was about 5 months old that was the first time he tried attacking Max luckily he wasn't heavy then so I managed to grab him
