Dog owners: Protecting your dog..

shifty_uk

shifty_uk

shifty_uk

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How do you protect your dog from other dogs when walking? If a threatening situation arises, of course...

Had my Papillon pup for 8 months now(first dog I've had on my own) and training is going well, he's off the lead every walk and interacts well with other people/dogs... I had my first dodgy encounter the other day, though. Two labradors came out of nowhere(no owners in sight) and ran at him very aggressively, almost fighting over each other. He's quite nervous given his size so he darted into the forrest in fear before I could grab him. As I'm running after all I hear is loud yelping so I went ape and started manhandling the labs before the owners ran up and got an ear full.

Luckily, he was fine; The yelping was out of fear and the other dogs jumping/falling on him with excitement presumably.

The instance put the fear in me though and I'm thinking of carrying something to protect him in future incase another situation arises...

Anyone else had problems or take any precautions? What's your typical reaction to other dogs that could potentially be aggressive? Leash up and walk the other way or let them be and hope they just socialise?

Inb4 get a bigger dog :p Always had Alsatians in the past, you don't have to worry about them as much.
 
Sink your boot into the offending animal. That simple. It's up to the owners to have their dog under control at all times. If a dog is off a lead and "out of control" then you can deal with it however you want. I've done it myself in the past. I own bull breeds, so they're never off the lead, because if something went wrong, they'd be destroyed no questions asked. I've had people cross paths with me and their dogs are being aggressive towards my dogs and I've told their owners to get them under control or I was going to deal with it.

Even if my dogs on the lead and a dog off the lead gets too close to my dog and fur starts flying, just by the fact I have bull breeds, I'd be the one having to defend myself and the actions of my dog, despite it being on the lead and under control.
 
My mate used to carry a heavy walking stick , never saw him use but he said if it came on top and dogs where attacking his and injuring them , he wouldn't risk getting bitten the stick would be deployed :p
 
Dogs fighting each other tends to look and sound much worse than it actually is. 9 times out of 10, they'll go at it for a few seconds until one submits to the other, so it's rare for there to be serious injury. You have to use your judgement of course if you think your dog is actually in danger.
 
Raggs said:
My mate used to carry a heavy walking stick , never saw him use but he said if it came on top and dogs where attacking his and injuring them , he wouldn't risk getting bitten the stick would be deployed :p
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There's been many instances were sticks aren't enough when dogs have been savaging people. Many actually end up stabbed to death because a big stick isn't enough to get the animal to stop.

http://www.manchestereveningnews.co...ews/dog-stabbed-death-harpurhey-after-6482155

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/u...ath-to-try-and-save-her-daughter-8923631.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1520069/Mastiff-stabbed-to-death-as-it-mauls-woman.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...abbed-23-times-irate-pet-owner-fight-dog.html

If your own dog is being attacked by an out of control dog, you're more than likely well within your rights to kill the out of control animal to protect your own.
 
I've never had any trouble with calmly and firmly grabbing them by the scruff of the neck.
That's worked on everything from Pitbulls/Alsatians and one particularly massive wolf hybrid creature.
YMMV I guess. Carrying something to beat them with is a bit unnecessary and OTT IMO.

I'd maybe suggest that your interpretation of aggressive may not have been quite accurate in this situation tbh.
 
All a dogs power is in their chest and jaws so if ou want to err on the side of caution you can grab them in front of their back legs and thumbs over their back and squeeze hand and roll most dogs over and away just enough so they let go. But you'll need to back off yourself. Or give that area a shove with your foot.

I'm an idiot and a couple of times I have grabbed them and pushed my finger just above the collar bone. Can work, just like it does on humans but obviously leaves you in the firing line.

Most dog scraps amount to nothing. The noisier they are (agression wise) the less severe it is. Just aways be looking ahead and get your dog restrained as soon as you can. If you see another loose dog and if they apear agressive put yoursellf between them before they get chance to lock horns and don't be afraid to give them a kick away. If the other owner doesn't like that they need a lesson in a) restraining their dog and b) reminding how much in vets bills you just saved them.
 
Uncle Petey said:
I'd maybe suggest that your interpretation of aggressive may not have been quite accurate in this situation tbh.
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Perhaps but as I said, I'm new to dog ownership(having only had dogs in the family, i wasn't totally responsible for). When two dogs run at mine growling and fighting over each other to get him (they were going at each others necks) then my immediate reaction is fear for his safety.

SlyReaper said:
Dogs fighting each other tends to look and sound much worse than it actually is. 9 times out of 10, they'll go at it for a few seconds until one submits to the other, so it's rare for there to be serious injury. You have to use your judgement of course if you think your dog is actually in danger.
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I use to think this until I was sat in the vets witnessing a bloody, cut up mess of a half crippled Dalmatian that had just been rescued from a Staffordshire terrier. Apparently Dalmatian are pretty bad for fighting though?

Raggs said:
My mate used to carry a heavy walking stick , never saw him use but he said if it came on top and dogs where attacking his and injuring them , he wouldn't risk getting bitten the stick would be deployed :p
Click to expand...

This was my thinking. Was speaking to an ex-forces chap on one of my walks who asked if I'd ever had any problems on that particular route. He mentioned his stick and said he's had to use it on a couple of occasions. Again, he had a small dog.
 
I had a staffie, not a breed exactly behind the door when it comes to fighting.

My stance was, my dog could do serious damage in a very short period of time = my problem.

I've run across parks and plucked him out of flailing teeth and snarls - putting myself and my dog a risk.

You have a potentially dangerous breed its your job to control the animal.

Assuming I had a smaller more vulnerable animal I wouldn't think twice about sticking my size 10s in if the owner did nothing.
 
shifty_uk said:
Perhaps but as I said, I'm new to dog ownership(having only had dogs in the family, i wasn't totally responsible for). When two dogs run at mine growling and fighting over each other to get him (they were going at each others necks) then my immediate reaction is fear for his safety.
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I understand mate. I was the same when my one was a pup.
I wouldn't have been at all cool with that happening either and you're right to have been afraid for his safety.

What I will say is keep your cool in these situations if at all possible. Don't go in all kicking etc unless it's absolutely neccesary.
Every situation is different, so there is no one size fits all approach for everything.

Just don't end up being one of those ever fearful owners who always brick it and walk the other way when they see another dog. :) You'll just end up teaching your dog to be even more fearful.
Also, the only people I've seen who carry sticks or even golf clubs to beat away other dogs are miserable old men who may have had one or two bad experiences and think that it's standard that all other dogs are going to attack theirs. They usually have little dogs too.
 
Uncle Petey said:
I understand mate. I was the same when my one was a pup.
I wouldn't have been at all cool with that happening either and you're right to have been afraid for his safety.

What I will say is keep your cool in these situations if at all possible. Don't go in all kicking etc unless it's absolutely neccesary.
Every situation is different, so there is no one size fits all approach for everything.

Just don't end up being one of those ever fearful owners who always brick it and walk the other way when they see another dog. :) You'll just end up teaching your dog to be even more fearful.
Also, the only people I've seen who carry sticks or even golf clubs to beat away other dogs are miserable old men who may have had one or two bad experiences and think that it's standard that all other dogs are going to attack theirs. They usually have little dogs too.
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I have seen owners of 'dangerous' dogs stand back and do nothing.
 
Uncle Petey said:
Yeah, because guess what, some people are idiots. What's your point?
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What's my point?

My dogs life is (was) in danger.

I have gone in size 10s flailing then chinned the owner afterwards.

And I am not a slightest bit on the aggressive side, but dangerous dogs out of control really gets my goat.
 
We've all got a story to tell mate.
I'm still not sure what your point is though.

Is this just going to turn into the same old dangerous dogs argument thread full of the usual sweeping generalisations?

You had a bad experience and the owner of the other dog was a clueless ****. Sadly, it happens sometimes.
 
Uncle Petey said:
We've all got a story to tell mate.
I'm still not sure what your point is though.

Is this just going to turn into the same old dangerous dogs argument thread full of the usual sweeping generalisations?
Click to expand...

So many ****s with 'dangerous dogs' though.

I have NO PROBLEM with the animal if it is under control = owners responsibility.

My mate had an American Pitbull back in the 90s when they were legal, nice animal tbh.

Much better than the legal American bulldogs you see today. (IMO)
 
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