my dog attacked by another - any advice?

relay

The trouble is the law doesn't view dog on dog attacks the same way as dog on human attacks so cases like this one a rarely (if ever) followed up.

Last year a Japanese Akita got hold of a Spanial in our local park & ripped it's throat open in front of the kids, several people called the dog warden and they all got the same response - all they could do was make a note of it & nothing more was heard of it. They said that if they got lots of reports of repeated incidents with the same dog then they 'might' be able to investigate but one dog on dog attack was not enough to take action unless a person was injured.

I know it sounds cynnical but you will probably not get very far reporting it if our experience is anything to go by. Maybe your best move is to make people aware of what happened so that you can help prevent any more incidents.

Under the circumstances i don't think it would have been wrong to pick your dog up at least to get her away from the other dog - of course that presents the problem of the other dog jumping up at you to reach her.

Fair comment - it 'could' have been a small child - but it wasn't & that makes all the difference as far as the DDA is concerned.

MrsTinks

That's why i said police and not RSPCA or Dog Warden
Under the dangerous dogs act the animal does infact not even have to attack but merely being dangerously out of control: "making it a criminal offence to allow a dog to be dangerously out of control in a public place. This includes instances where there is fear that an injury might occur. "

relay

I know that, but i doubt even the Police will act on one person's say so regarding a dog on dog attack. Thier first question will probably be 'Was anyone injured?'.

Lynxette

candygirl wrote: »

If a dog doesn't have 100% perfect recall it shouldn't be off lead in a public place at all:rolleyes:

I'm not sure I believe this is fair.

Bella is a 14 month old collie/lurcher cross, who was rescued. She has far from perfect recall - about 1/3 attempts will recall successfully, and if she doesn't recall the first time you won't get her back for the duration of that incident. However, she is by no means a threat to anyone - She is extremely timid and although she will approach other dogs, it is with extreme caution and tail hung sorrowfully between legs!

She has been attacked before, (although only very minorly - Is that a real word?!) and even when 'under attack' I have never known her to ever growl, let alone bite.

We live in the middle of nowhere, with no roads and no dangers around, so I see no need to leash my dog at any point. I do take a leash with me if I do need to leash her because of another dog, but over the last month or so, I could could the number of times I have leashed her on one hand!

foreign_correspondent

Picking up my dog would have been counter productive, for the following practical reasons, never mind all the associated messages it gives the dog..

I could not have held the dog out of the boxers reach, If i lifted her I would be holding her at the boxers head height, which would probably help him attack her

I would be holding my dog still and reduce her opportunity to retaliate or escape

I would have my hands full and be unable to defend myself or my dog.

Grabbing the boxer was the best option, and it was sucessful, so to keep debating whether to pick the dog up is a side issue.

What I am interested in is any constrctive ideas about how to tackle this issue with the owners, bearing in mind that I am likely to see them on the park on a regular basis.

I very much doubt whether the police would get involved, as a person wasnt injured and my dog has no obvious physical damage. I was concerned as the boxer was clearly on the attack, not play fighting. I have had dogs all my life and can tell the difference, and this dogs behavior worried me, he really meant business.

Stephb1986_2

i was bitten by a customers dog a few weeks ago it drew blood and everything but to save the arguement with the customer we just left it as the owner said that the dog didnt bite before i touched it, we're on about a bull mastiff now not a jack russel or anything. Its made me more aware of dogs now even though at my age i still do ask the owners permission if the dog bites or not.

perhaps look in your local paper for a dog trainer and give him the number that way it helps him aswell as getting the message across that his dog is a numpty

Steph xxxx

relay

Lynxette wrote: »

I'm not sure I believe this is fair.

Bella is a 14 month old collie/lurcher cross, who was rescued. She has far from perfect recall - about 1/3 attempts will recall successfully, and if she doesn't recall the first time you won't get her back for the duration of that incident. However, she is by no means a threat to anyone - She is extremely timid and although she will approach other dogs, it is with extreme caution and tail hung sorrowfully between legs!

She has been attacked before, (although only very minorly - Is that a real word?!) and even when 'under attack' I have never known her to ever growl, let alone bite.

We live in the middle of nowhere, with no roads and no dangers around, so I see no need to leash my dog at any point. I do take a leash with me if I do need to leash her because of another dog, but over the last month or so, I could could the number of times I have leashed her on one hand!

I have to say one of my biggest bug-bears is dogs with poor recall. I spend time every day working on my Rottweiler's training in the park & i have lost count of the amount of times other dogs mess up our session because they have no recall.

I don't have any objection with my dog interacting with other dogs but it really annoys me when people can clearly see that my dog is working & they let thier dog screw our lesson up - sometimes i don't want other people's dogs aproaching my one when i am trying to keep her focus on me, i would agree in principle that if people don't have a reliable recall then they should not be letting thier dogs cause an unwanted distraction to other dog owners while they are training.

Only yesterday i had words with a woman on the field who could clearly see my Rottweiler was working yet still let her dog off the lead to jump all over my dog ruining our session & i had no problem at all in telling her that perhaps she shouldn't be letting her dog off the lead if she can't get it back.

I have to be seen to be in full control of my dog in public because of her breed, she is trained to a very high standard & i have to say i do get cross with dogs that make a pest of themselves when we are working (half of which have no recall whatsoever).


....And now i've gone waaaaay off topic. LOL

candygirl

LYNXETTE I can see what you mean , but imo if your dog doesn't have perfect recall it could get hurt by other dogs before you get chance to get it back on lead.It is obviously up to you, but mine are staying on the lead in public places, for their safety, and the safety of other dogs and kids:D

relay

foreign_correspondent wrote: »

Picking up my dog would have been counter productive, for the following practical reasons, never mind all the associated messages it gives the dog..

I could not have held the dog out of the boxers reach, If i lifted her I would be holding her at the boxers head height, which would probably help him attack her

I would be holding my dog still and reduce her opportunity to retaliate or escape

I would have my hands full and be unable to defend myself or my dog.

Grabbing the boxer was the best option, and it was sucessful, so to keep debating whether to pick the dog up is a side issue.

What I am interested in is any constrctive ideas about how to tackle this issue with the owners, bearing in mind that I am likely to see them on the park on a regular basis.

I very much doubt whether the police would get involved, as a person wasnt injured and my dog has no obvious physical damage. I was concerned as the boxer was clearly on the attack, not play fighting. I have had dogs all my life and can tell the difference, and this dogs behavior worried me, he really meant business.

I tend to be confrontational with this sort of thing & just tell people how i feel - in fact i do it whenever i have a situation with another dog owner if they were at fault.

If you prefer to avoid situations then maybe get an idea of the times he is more likely to be there so you can avoid meeting. Does he seem unaproachable? (not that it would bother me because i'd just tell him to control his sodding dog!) lol :rotfl:

The other option would be to perhaps force a meeting & walk with him and his dogs so that your dog can get to know and be comfortable around them.

squidge60

i got very angry with a woman who let her dog come bounding up to me and she made 0 attempt at calling it off ....even the next time i saw her she did nothing!i rang the dog warden who said they would have words have seen this stupid woman since with the dog on the lead .whats the matter with some people.