Recently saw a dog walking along all skittish, looking this way and that, and when I asked the owner about it, she said it had been recently attacked by another dog.
That got me to wondering - (never owned a dog, btw, so hoping ignorance will be fought) - how should a dog owner deal with their dog getting attacked? I wouldn’t have the faintest clue what to do, and would probably end up doing something rash like trying to make something of it with the offending owner.
And conversely - have you ever owned a dog that’s atttacked another? How did you deal with that?
I’ve fostered dogs that had came to shelter all beat up from other dogs.
Nothing sadder than a young dog scared of his own kind.
It’s a long process. Usually they’ll glom on to a kindlier dog and learn to join in.
A person will do sometimes. It takes a dedicated owner. Fear biting from attacked dogs is often a problem.
I’ve had 2 dogs who would have been awful attack dogs. One was a 10 lb. teeth on a stick, bossy, Rat Terrier. She tried to bite every person and animal she got close to. I had a miniscule muzzle to take her to the vet with. They despised her. I had to keep her close at hand when people she didn’t know were around. She did learn to leave cats alone, tho’ she hated every hair on them. She would’ve fought bigger dogs if I didn’t catch her up if one was close.
My other mean dog was the most adorable Dalmatian rescue. Every one wanted to pet her. She could a took a hand off. She was never around other dogs. But my own. She took a set apart place in the pecking order. We rarely took her away from the place. Could never trust her. She loved me tho’.
I figured she’d been beat down as a pup, or bought from a puppy mill and mishandled. Dalmatians are a very stubborn breed. Not a dog for a casual owner.
It takes patience to deal with a frightened dog and a different tact to deal with a mean angry dog.
Case by case. And lots of love for the poor things.
ETA… remember, these things are created by humans. Poor breeding, poor training, no control over the person’s own dog. The dog, whatever he is, is not at fault.
My wife and I own a dog that reacts violently to other dogs.
He’s a rescue, a golden retriever with an apparent touch of collie, and we knew he had this problem when we accepted him. He was 5 when we got him. He’s 14.5 now.
He’s great with people, even small kids and babies. He’s great with our cat and other neighborhood felines. But any dog that comes near him is the enemy. No idea why. We were told he was raised with a sister from the same litter and he got on with her ok, but that’s the only dog he’s ever been ok with. They got separated long before we got him.
He is leashed all the time when we’re outside with him, unless we’re deep within our own property. And we live in a rural area where we own 60 acres of woods and fields. Even so, neighborhood dogs are often left to roam on their own, and they come on to our property, approach our dog, and our dog goes berserk.
We have had him to classes, had him with groups of other dogs with the other owners consent (still safely leashed with a control collar) to try to habituate him to other dogs. His aggression has dialed down a bit as he ages, but I think that’s due to him not seeing or hearing so good anymore, rather than a change in his nature.
He’s attacked puppies, small dogs, and dogs MUCH larger than himself when they get close.
We deem it our responsibility to keep him restrained and controlled around others. We did spring for another dog’s vet bill when our dog managed to get a quick bite into the other canine, but that was the only fraught encounter.
What we hate is people whose dogs roam unsupervised onto our property, as they will approach him when he’s out on his rope in the yard (he maybe spends 25 minutes a day total on the rope without us, he gets 3-4 long walks a day leashed with us). We also hate those who walk with/near their dogs but don’t leash them and can’t control them with verbal commands. Countless times we’ve had such dogs rush to meet us and our dog when he’s on his leash. I’ve had to get assertive with uncontrolled dogs that would not leave our pup alone in these settings.
But unless another dog comes onto our property, we consider ourselves responsible for his behavior with other dogs. We’ve put ourselves between him and other dogs, mainly focusing on getting our dog’s attention and getting him to focus on us. We’ve never been bitten by our dog, nor other dogs in the encounter with our dog.
I’d advise you to NOT get between two dogs in a fight, though. People can get badly damaged that way. Respective owners should grab their own animals and remove them from the fight, if possible to do so safely.
The onus to control the dog is on the reactive dog owner, but other people need to curb their own hounds and obey the local leash/control/private property laws to prevent conflicts too.
I know what I should do if my dog is attacked by another dog. Generally, Qadgop has the right idea - remove your dog as best you can, let the other dog’s owner do the same. Don’t grab around the collar or neck; if possible, grab the hind legs and pull them apart.
However, the best time to intervene is before it reaches that point. If a dog is approaching that doesn’t look friendly, put yourself in front. If your dog is already reacting, whether whining or pulling away or getting hackles and lips up, make yourself a barrier between them. For the vast majority of dogs, that’s gonna make them think twice. The height advantage of a human, combined with thousands of years of “don’t bite people” training/breeding, can shut off dogs that otherwise aren’t paying attention to anything else.
That said, an out-of-control dog that WON’T STOP may inspire stronger measures. It was just a year ago a rottweiler went flying because his owner was unable/unwilling to step in, and being more concerned for my family was the only thing that prevented said owner from going flying as well.
My terrorist is shy, to say the least. Sniff butts? All day. Run around and chase and tug and wrestle and play? Not a chance. She just leaves. The only time she stands her ground is with other dogs in the family, and only once she’s annoyed. Other than that, she learned as a puppy that Papa is always there and ready to step in. So when dealing with snack-sized dogs, or any dog that just doesn’t get the hint, or we’re just out on a trail and someone’s coming from the other direction, she immediately checks in and will sit next to me if at all possible and let me handle it. Which is good, because she doesn’t play with her toys. The small animals she’s caught didn’t suffer, and an angry chihuahua wouldn’t have time to cry out if she decided to take matters into her own jaws.
To play off Qadgop’s final point - just leash your damn dog. Keep them on a rope, or a lead, or inside a fence at home. “Their freedom” isn’t worth the vet bills, or worse, their lives. Just because your dog is friendly doesn’t mean the one walking by is, too. And it only takes one participant for a dog fight.
aaawwwww…
Great input so far.
Hoping to hear from someone whose dog actually did get attacked.
My daughter’s dog was attacked at the park 2 summers ago. It was at the start of the 4th of July weekend, Friday early evening. No vets within 50 miles could take her dog in for emergency treatment until the next day because they were already so swamped.
We at least learned to have an extensive list of emergency vets ready ahead of time because the last thing you need is to be desperately trying to find care while your pet is badly injured.
Make sure you get good contact info from the other pet owner - snap a photo of their driver’s license. If you have time and wherewithal, get witness phone numbers. Of course, also take photos of the injuries when you’re able.
The other owner refused to pay the $1600 vet bill. My daughter sued her in small claims court and won.
My dog was attacked a few months ago by another dog. My dog is a 25-pound Jack Russell Terrier, and the other dog was a 40-pound mixed breed. While on a walking path I saw a women with a dog up ahead about 50 yards. My dog was on a leash and her dog was not. I could see the other dog was staring at my dog even from that distance, and as we approached my dog stopped moving, so I stopped walking to let them pass.
I could tell that the other dog was stalking my dog and my dog started to back away. The other dog kept slowly walking toward us while the women was fruitlessly calling it back. When it was about 20 yards away it suddenly broken into a full run heading straight for my dog who was now a few feet behind me. By the time I realized what was happening the other dog was running full speed so I quickly put myself between the other dog and my dog and it crashed into me biting and snarling at my dog, who by now had backed even further away.
In the moment I reacted by kicking the dog as hard as I could, which stunned it enough for me to grab my dog. The other dog again came after my dog and I tried to kick it away again, but missed. By this time the owner was screaming at the dog and I started to walk off with my dog away from the area. I yelled at the owner that she had a vicious dog and that it should always be on leash so this doesn’t happen. Had I been wearing my sidearm her dog might not be alive today.
I also told her that if it happened again I would contact the sheriff. She begrudgingly apologized, leashed her dog, and walked away. I have since seen her and her dog while walking and avoid any contact with them. My dog is petrified of that dog, and I don’t trust that she can effectively control it. This was the second time my dog was attacked by a dog for no apparent reason. Because he’s small, I think some dogs think he’s an easy target.
Generally it is best to stay out of it but I get that is almost impossible to do. You want to save your dog.
I was at a dog park and a big dog went after a little dog. The little dog’s owner, a small woman who was clearly freaked at what was happening to her dog, went behind the big dog, grabbed his two back legs, and lifted them off the ground and walked backwards.
The big dog was not pleased but was unable to do anything about it. The dog was completely under her control as long as she had his legs like that.
Of course, the problem with grabbing a bull by the horns is letting go. But, in this case, once she let go the dog was completely done with all of it (also, its owner had appeared to control him).
I am NOT saying anyone should try this. Getting involved in a dog fight can be dangerous. But, this seemed to work. YMMV
I ran into a similar situation years ago and one guy 40 miles away told me that if I just show up at some place, they’re much more likely to try to see the dog (and stabilize if needed) than if you call. There can be a difference between “can I come in” and “I am in your parking lot [this was ‘rona times so we couldn’t go in] with a sick dog”. YMMV
Dog attacks are scary. It’s usually pitbulls, German shepards and Rottweilers along with Huskys that attack small dogs if they are not properly trained by the dog owner. In my neighborhood there is an aggressive pitbull that’s barks aggressively at humans but the owner controls at with a leash.
Dogs are not born aggressive. Any breed.
Some can be taught to be aggressive and mean. Any can turn into fear biters. Most can respond to kind training.
It’s the HUMAN that causes this. Not the dog.