So last night me and my other half took Rocky out on his evening walk - we have lots and lots of fields around our house and a flat patch of grass just across the road. We always let Rocky of the lead as he's really good at staying with us and always comes back on call. He was having a good sniff around; he seems to have some strange obsession with eating rabbit droppings : when my other half shouted me to pick him up and as I turned around these two HUGE dogs came pelting down towards us. I think they were some form of Staffy,you could tell they were big with the thundering noise they made as they came at us! Luckily Rocky's still small enough to be scooped up. Their owner just shouted them back and they completely ignored him until he called again and they ran off again. He was at the top of this area though and wouldn't have been able to get down fast enough to pull these off us should anything have happened. I was terrified that they were going to attack me as well for having hold of Rocky! I know I wouldn't have been able to pick him up and rescue him if he'd have been bigger but at the size he is there's no way he could have held his own, especially two of them. It just really annoys me that people let their dogs run wild like that when others spend so long trying to train their dogs to be well behaved and have good etiquette when walking. I felt silly after because I'd just assumed that they were going to attack but i suppose it's instinct when something of that size comes running at you! Has anyone else had to physically rescue their dogs?!
Re: Quick Reactions! I have never thought dogs running toward my dogs/pups were out to attack! I must live in a gentle area as no dogs attack other dogs here, well up to this moment!
Re: Quick Reactions! I can understand your fear. My older boy has been badly bitten twice now by out of control staffies. The first time he got the brunt of it was when I had our young pup with me and had to grab him and lift him out the way so I wasn't able to protect the older dog. The pup would probably been killed if those horrid dogs had got him, he was about 16 weeks at the time. The second time the dogs came out of nowhere and attacked without warning. I'm extremely careful around these type of dogs now and do my very best to avoid them. The two incidents have left my older boy quite nervous and hex now growls at some dogs if they get to close, before this he was very placid and easy going. Unfortunately there's lots of idiot owners about these days.
Re: Quick Reactions! Hi Hollie, It can be very daunting when certain dogs rush up to you and I do think certain breeds have a stigma attached to them. Almost all staffy's I know are as gentle as anything. One in particular played quite a bit with Harley when she was 12 weeks old. I was a bit concerned but the owner was very reassuring and I'm glad I did let let her play as it helped her not be afraid of them . The fact the the owner shouted them back is a positive, he was obviously trying! Obviously his recall needs some work : You will find a lot of dogs who rush over to say hi in off lead areas, and 99.9% of them will be no problem. I trained Harley to not run off to other dogs (works 85% of the time), but she is still 9 months old, so still a puppy. As Rocky gets bigger I am sure lots of owners with little dogs will have the same reaction you had, but towards you and Rocky. Personally it annoys me when people with little dogs rush them out of the way when Harley is near!! I hope that your walk tonight was better. Hope this helps a bit
Re: Quick Reactions! I think i just had a panic on! I tend not to be judgmental about a breed of dog as i do believe a dogs behaviour has a lot to say about how it's brought up. Some friends have two beautiful staffs and theyre the most gentle things. I think a motherly instinct for protecting took over!!
