What to do if your dog is attacked?

twinklie

Someone did this when I was walking my 36kg girl past a bus stop. He sat and watched us walk past, then at the last minute booted her in her rear! If it wasn't for the fact my girl wanted to run away (I'm only 8 stone, so I had to calm her down quickly or get dragged down the street) I would have smacked him. He just sat laughing!!!

So I calmly went further along the road and sat on a bench with my dog. I called my husband who arrived at the bus stop a few moments later to have "words" with the chap in question!! I have found people to be the far more aggressive compared to the dogs.

CFC

bagginslover wrote: »

I always put myself between my dog and any approaching dogs, if one ofthose dogs went for him, thet'd probably get me first,and so bypass the self-inflicted thing for breaking up a fight. I'd far rather I was bitten than my dog, I'm better equipped to get over the pyscological impact than he is.
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I do this. My dog is always on a lead, and larger dogs off lead come up to him. I like to control the interactions carefully, a couple have gone for my dog.

tango

My dog got attacked by a lurcher I kneed my way between them them and and put my hands in the air,shouting ,it worked for me

Caroline_a

tango wrote: »

My dog got attacked by a lurcher I kneed my way between them them and and put my hands in the air,shouting ,it worked for me

This really isnt a very safe thing to do at all. My ex (who wasnt great with dogs, I must admit) tried this when our 2 dogs were wrestling. They did it all the time, but did make a lot of noise, but never any damage to either dog except the smaller one would get a bit wet sometimes. When they got too noisy, the kids would shout 'down' at them, and both dogs would drop, look slightly embarrassed and stop playing. No problem.

However, said ex thought he'd be clever and use his knee to part them. Result, a large gash on his leg that needed 6 stitches. Neither dog was going for him, and it wasn't aggressive play, but dogs have teeth, and if you interrupt what they are doing, they very often misjudge distances etc.

Shouting is ok, but just beware of getting too close to snapping teeth, as the dog who they belong to might not even intend to bite (as was absolutely the case with ex)

Buttonmoons

Can I ask how do you tell if the dogs are just playing or it's leading to an aggressive point?

I look after a friends husky a lot and walk it, her recall isn't the best so I only let her off lead on the beach, and she is perfect! Until another dog walks past.........

She just wants to play, but I stand their fretting thinking she's gonna get in a fight or something, actually she isn't aggressive at all, when she plays she always leans forward with her bum in the air, tail wagging all over the shop, but someone told me its aggressive cause both dogs were mouthing at each other, but there was no yelps, just them running around trying to get each other on the ground, then whoever was down, would get back up, and they'd keep playing, but as I have never owned a dog I never know.

On the beach some little dogthing, kinda like a sausage dog I think, was dead mean though! She only walked past it and it was launching itself barking and snarling at her, I had to get her away with a bonio because the daft sod kept thinking it would play with her :rotfl:

Humphrey10

Buttonmoons wrote: »

Can I ask how do you tell if the dogs are just playing or it's leading to an aggressive point?

When you say she leans forward, is she bowing? Like front legs out in front on the ground, chest on/near the ground, bum in the air? That means she is playing, to tell the other dog that whatever comes next is for fun. Hitting other dogs over the head with front paws is also playing, it does look very strange when you see it happening though. Mouthing and chasing is also normal. If a dog wanted to bite a chunk out of another dog it could easily, if they are just mouthing they are deliberately not biting so I wouldn't be worried.

Tail wagging can be due to excitement rather than just friendliness though, we used to look after a dog that would attack anything smaller than him that wasn't another dog, and he would always be wagging his tail once he started attacking.

Buttonmoons

Yeah she is bowing! Bum right up in the air and her leaning right forward.

Yeah the little dog that was trying to bite her, tail was wagging ten to the dozen, but his ears were back? They move so quickly it's hard to look for signs sometimes!

In other news, I let her out for a wee at 2am this morning, and she bolted, cue me running round the streets shaking a bag of doritos to get her back :rotfl:

She always goes to the same place though so she's easy to find, its just getting her back thats the problem. She doesn't go near roads or anything as she is scared of automatic doors :rotfl:

fannyanna

I think it's probably instinctive to jump in and try and stop your dog being attacked.

For a lot of dog owners dogs are more than pets. They're part of the family. And just like most people would try to protect their children the same is true of dogs (or any other beloved pet).