My dog attacked by another dog

VitaK

I think its a very resonable worry. Further, there is a very real chance that an owner gets a bite, when trying to seperate two dogs.

Jay_Tee

Peterward2008 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice.

The words on attacking a child next were ill chosen but came mainly out of shock.

Hold on, I thought your words were well chosen

Peterward2008 wrote: »

The vet cost naturally but what worries me is if the dog does this to another dog or person again. I went to the owner who did not apologise or has not offered to pay the vets bill. I have also lost a days work as a result.

I am angry as it was implied I should walk my dog elsewhere. But why have a gate flimsy enough to let a dog escape.

All you've stated is your concerns about another dog or a person being injured, given that this is a large dog someone could be injured without it being an attack, just due to the size and strength of the dog.

The extremely poor attitude of the dog's owner makes this a possibility, you have no reason to apologise for your views.

Hope you and your dog get over this distressing incident

Peterward2008

Agree on the fact that breed is irrelevant. I stated it as a fact in this case. Not a factor (although the mismatch in size perhaps made it more scary for my dog.) He's a well socialised yappy Jack Russell and I hope he stays that way. Would I leave him alone with a child? No. But then I would never leave any dog with a child unsupervised.

There is recourse where I am in Scotland under our dangerous dogs act but its not a road I want to go down (the Act is a deed not breed Act, that is the fact my dog was attacked by a dog out of control.) The result of that is a dog control order, that may get them to fix the gate in such a way that prevents escape.

Thought the other owner attempting to blame me or my dog a bit rich.

ali-t

Peterward2008 wrote: »

Agree on the fact that breed is irrelevant. I stated it as a fact in this case. Not a factor (although the mismatch in size perhaps made it more scary for my dog.) He's a well socialised yappy Jack Russell and I hope he stays that way. Would I leave him alone with a child? No. But then I would never leave any dog with a child unsupervised.

There is recourse where I am in Scotland under our dangerous dogs act but its not a road I want to go down (the Act is a deed not breed Act, that is the fact my dog was attacked by a dog out of control.) The result of that is a dog control order, that may get them to fix the gate in such a way that prevents escape.

Thought the other owner attempting to blame me or my dog a bit rich.

OP, since you are in scotland you have the animal control Scotland bill to back you up. You have significantly more opportunity to take it forward than someone in England or Wales.

In Scotland the dog doesn't even have to have done anything, merely the fear that it may do so is enough for the dog warden to take action and action can involve muzzling, destruction of the animal, a ban from keeping dogs, enforcing training etc etc.

In my view the law in Scotland is not targeted correctly but it might be worth giving your local dog warden a call.

Peterward2008

Thats why I don't want to go down that road (the possibility of destruction)...I would hope muzzling or enforcing training or better, keeping it in the garden with a fence and gate strong enough to keep it in.

I won't walk my dog that way any more. Worried his confidence will have taken a big knock.

Miss_Spendalot_2

The fact that it was not secured in it's environment is the real issue. Nobody knows what the dog is capable of, just because it did not bite the adult does not mean it will not bite a smaller child.

True If the dog had been a 'killer Dog' then OP would not have got his dog back in one piece regardless of whether he had whipped it out of harms way, but that could have just been that he saw the adult human as his superior so did not pursue the smaller animal, especially if the OP did not show any fear to the attacking dog.

A child would have shown fear in these circumstance so who knows what kind of message it would have sent to the Rottweiler.

My son's Ankle was bitten multiple times by His friends neighbours dog when knocking for his friend a few months ago ( and that was a Jack Russell) So any dog regardless of its size or breed is capable of aggression towards others.

I say there are too many people taking on dogs that they do not understand as a breed, that give good dogs, (regardless of breed) owned by knowledgeable good owners a bad press..

Don't jump to the defence of a dog just because it is a certain breed and because it has got a bad reputation, in this case the Rottweiler saying things like oh it is obviously only aggressive to other dogs etc, You do not know what it's intentions are or were, just because you might own a Rottweiler that has a good temperament that does not mean that this ones temperament is anything to write home about.

I think at the very least the OP deserves an apology and some kind of assurance that he or his dog will not be confronted by the Rottweiler running loose again.

krlyr

Miss_Spendalot wrote: »

The fact that it was not secured in it's environment is the real issue. Nobody knows what the dog is capable of, just because it did not bite the adult does not mean it will not bite a smaller child.

Don't jump to the defence of a dog just because it is a certain breed and because it has got a bad reputation, in this case the Rottweiler saying things like oh it is obviously only aggressive to other dogs etc, You do not know what it's intentions are or were, just because you might own a Rottweiler that has a good temperament that does not mean that this ones temperament is anything to write home about.

Equally, you don't know what the dog is capable of, just because it bit a dog does not mean it will bite a smaller child. You don't know what its intentions are or were, and just because your son has had a bad experience with a dog, that does not meant that this one's temperament is bad.
I have not brought my dog's temperament into this because it has no relation to the incident, but the fact is, a dog went and bit another dog. It did not bite the human that was present. The only thing we have evidence of is dog-aggression - and even then, we can't say this is a behaviour it expresses to all dogs, just OP's dog. It could be that the dog suffers from a predatory drift - it sees small dogs as prey, and jumped to just it just like it would a rabbit or a squirrel. It could be that it's not been socialised with other dogs and doesn't know how to behave with all of them, it may have been attacked by a JRT or another dog and have a fear that results in it becoming aggressive as a form of defense.
We don't know what triggered it so we cannot say that it is human-aggressive. I know that equally, we cannot say it isn't, but you could say the same of any dog.

Wellyboots6

Eeeek I hope you and your dog get over the shock OP.

My pooch has been attacked a couple of times. Mainly by dogs smaller than him! No matter what size or breed the other dog is, it is a scary thing to happen, and you never know what will happen when you split the dogs up.

I don't think it matters whether the dog is likely to attack another dog, a human or a double decker bus! The fact that the dog can get out of the garden should worry the owner as it could get hit by a car, attacked by another dog, shot by a farmer if it bothers sheep etc.

I don't really know what I would do in your situation. When it has happened to me it has always been when I have been on a walk and the other dogs owner has been around.

We got attacked once by a staffie whose lead snapped. The owner didn't seem that bothered really, but luckily no serious damage was done. I can't say it was his fault as the lead snapped, but a 'sorry' would have been nice!

I agree with getting your dog out socialising asap though. Mine really took badly to other dogs after the staffie attack and it is taking an awful lot of work to get him used to other dogs again.

Good luck!

universalady_2

Peterward2008 wrote: »

I managed to pick him up and get him away before any damage was done

From experience of this breed, I find it very difficult that you managed to just pick up your dog and get away unscathed from a rottweiler IF it was attacking your dog. A rottweiler is actually a herding breed, with guarding tendancies, and perhaps it was actually warning your dog to keep away from it's territory

I do not for one minute think that the dog should have been able to escape from the garden, the owner has a responsibility to ensure that it is kept securely

However, once a rottweiler has got hold of anything, it takes a HUGE amount of strength to get something out of it's mouth. Once a dog is in 'fight' mode it would still want to get to it's 'target' regardless of whether it is picked up or not, so TBH I think this incident is actually not quite as bad as you first thought

I thoroughly agree that if it escapes again, it could attack another dog or child/adult, however any dog could

I would contact the local council, dog warden and RSPCA (incase it isn't being looked after, possibly not if the owner allows it to escape) inform them of what has happened, and leave it at that, you never know, the owner/dog could already be known to them

I would also be continuing to exercise my dog as normal, perhaps for the time being a slightly different route, and also enrolling into some obedience classes, so that your dog can be in an environment with big dogs under control, to help build any confidence he may have lost

Miss_Spendalot_2

krlyr wrote: »

Equally, you don't know what the dog is capable of, just because it bit a dog does not mean it will bite a smaller child. You don't know what its intentions are or were, and just because your son has had a bad experience with a dog, that does not meant that this one's temperament is bad. .

My Point was that the dog should have been secured, and because you have a dog you trust does not mean all dogs should be trusted.

I for one would not want a dog that I did not know running loose around my little children ( If I had any that is) As for the incident with my son I was making the point that ALL Dogs regardless of size can be aggressive.

My son is 19 he was not overly concerned about the dog he shook it off and it ran back to it's house, If for instance it HAD been a Rottweiler or equally sized dog the outcome could have been much different...