My dog has just been attacked! Long, sorry

benjacksmum

We live in an area built by a mill owner 150 years ago and it consists of rows of Victorian terraced houses all surrounding a walled park. This park is regularly used by children and dog walkers alike who generally live in one of these houses. I took my ole lady out (9 year old collie/lab cross/heinz 57/who knows) who is a lovely gentle dog but already frightened of her own shadow and it used to be that if she saw another dog, even if it was happily minding its own business, she would turn tail and scuttle home as fast as she could. Just recently though she has been getting a bit braver as nothing has really happened to her and she would at least stay in the park with us even if she stuck close to us.

When we got to the park we went in by the middle entrance, there was a guy walking his dog on the lead at the top, and a family playing with another young dog at the bottom, Pepsi (my dog) kept a watchful eye but went about her business and I picked up after her and she had a little toddle round, heading towards the top of the park as the single guy had gone home by then.

I heard a scuffle between dogs and looked to see a big German Shepherd on the lead with an old man that had taken exception to the young dog at the bottom. The family then left the park and I then made the decision, knowing Pepsi is a scaredy cat, that we would exit the park by the top entrance, avoiding this big dog and walk home that way. Pepsi decided she needed to go, (again!) and while she was busy I looked down the park to keep an eye on that German Shepherd again who was by now off the lead and doing his own business, still fairly near the bottom of the park. I looked back to Pepsi who had just about finished and I was getting ready with my bag when she started scuttling. I called her back (and she came) but what she had seen was that big German Shepherd hurtling towards her and I could see she was torn between staying with me and bolting. She bottled it and bolted for home and the German Shepherd was a lot faster and was on her back almost immediately. She was still running but started screaming and I shouted to this guy "Oi, your dog!" He momentarily stopped picking this brute's poo up and looked up, didn't call it back or anything and just stood watching until Pepsi had cleared out of the park and was no doubt headed home on her own. Luckily, the German Shepherd had stopped chasing at the gate. I shouted to the old man "You shouldn't have it off the lead if it attacks other dogs!" he just replied "He's only chasing, not attacking" I just shouted "Idiot!" back at him and ran off to find Pepsi. She was cowering in the alley waiting for me. She was shaking and had this brute's slaver all over her back.

I took her home and checked her over. She isn't bleeding but I think she may be bruised and has since been very subdued and it will no doubt have put her right back to being petrified of other dogs now.

I was, and still am furious. How dare this silly old man think his dog was just chasing, what if it wasn't Pepsi but a two year old child toddling away? I feel like tracking him down and reporting him to the Police but don't know whether they would take me seriously with a dog on dog attack. It just disturbs me this old guy seemed to have no control, no desire to control his dog infact. I did everything I could to stay out of this dogs way but it still came and attacked Pepsi. I feel so sorry for my dog just right now.
Are German Shepherds under the Dangerous Dogs act?
Thanks for reading this - I would love to know your thoughts if I am over-reacting or not.
Angela

stripey

Hi Angela - hope your dog is ok. No i don't think you are overreacting at all - he should be able to control his dog when its off the lead not let it chase other dogs ( or children).
I hope you and your dog feel better soon.
Regards Stripey.

ali-t

benjacksmum wrote: »

Are German Shepherds under the Dangerous Dogs act?

Any dog can be prosecuted under the DDA. My dog has serious issues with GSD's, mainly because she appears to perceive the 'chase' as an attack and goes on a serious defensive. You could also report the man to your local dog warden which might get some action. Hope your poor poochie isn't too traumatised by the attack - poor wee thing.

orlao

I'd report this to your local dog warden, contact details should be on your council website. You can report to the police but they are unlikely to take action as no person was hurt and although Pepsi was terrified you didn't incur any finacial loss ie vet bills.

If you can find out where the dog lives I'm sure the warden will be grateful;)
At least by reporting this there will be an official record that this dog has or may cause problems in the future which means that the DW can at least talk to this guy and hopefully educate him as to whats acceptable behaviour in public?

If you feel able to, it might be an idea to have a chat with guy and explain to him how scary and upsetting it is to have your dog terrified as he may honestly have no idea how unfair it is to let his dog behave this way....not that's any excuse BTW.

Hope Pepsi gets over this ASAP

sammy_kaye18

Aaaaaaawwwwww..............poor baby. I hope she is ok and not too scared of everythgin thats happened to her today. What a horrible thing to have happen.

i agree i would report it to the dog warden. And if possible have a word with the young family (if you can recongnise them) and see them again because liek you sai there was a scuffle between their dogs and maybe there is more to that too.

shelley_crow

It really winds me up when people choose not to control their dogs.

A german family let their dog off the lead when we were on holiday, their dog was running riot and they didn't give a crap that it was trying to attack other dogs. It came up to my dog, who went on the defensive because the dog was trying to come up to my 2 year old son. As soon as my dog started growling at this other dog, the family were straight over demanding to know why my dog was "attacking" theirs, err alright then! We had nowhere to escape other than by trying to get past this dog, i was holding my son and couldn't pick the dog up as well. Their attitude really annoyed me, if you don't give a damn about what your dog is doing then don't have one.

I hope your dog has recovered, it must have been frightening. I'd be inclined to keep an eye out for him and find out where he lives. If his dog went for yours then it will happen to others too. At the very least i'd want the dog muzzled in public.

Chesnut1

I hope Pepsi is doing better now, please please report this moron for the sake of everyone. Many years ago when I was a teenager there was a dog in our local village owned by a middle aged fool. It would attack every dog is saw and the owner did nothing as it was only playing. If you saw it comming you fled with your dog but if you had to pass it's house it would still get over the gate and attack. The owner would not listen, the police only finaly got involved after it attacked and old gentlemans collie while he was walking it on the lead. The sad end result was the collie needed many many stitches and the old gentlemen took a fatal heart attack an hour after the dog attack.

Di-Dough

I hope your dog is o.k. Something similar happend to me last week when I took my mum's dog out for a walk. My mum's dog is a little westie and very friendly. We were walking where a lot of people take their dogs and he was off the lead. An older man with a collie was coming towards us and the collie lay down on the floor, my mum's dog slowly walked up to him with his tail wagging and when he was a couple of feet away the other dog jumped up and went for him - my mum's dog turned to run but being 12 and with little legs stood no chance - the other dog jumped on him and made him squeal ... I ran other shouting and the dog ran off ... its owner did not do a thing and when I went past after my mum's dog who had run away he actually had the nerve to tell me "its o.k. he only telling him to go away" I was so angry that he had seen what his dog had done and did not feel that he should apologise or anything - I told him that his dog should be on a lead and muzzeled if it went around attacking other dogs because he seemed to know that this is what his dog was going to do ... Some people just don't deserve to have animals

Hope Pepsi recovers soon

Di