The dog’s behavior was dangerous and the owner’s behavior was unbelievable. I would call the police and animal control.
Probably some from Column A, some from Column B. There was indeed a period of time when pet-quality cockers* were very prone to being what is politely and professionally known as “temperamentally unsound” and what is colloquially known around the vaccine cooler as “crazy little alligator bastards.” It tends to happen with any breed that becomes suddenly very popular**–unethical assholes start breeding/inbreeding shitty specimens to get as many pups as possible as quickly as possible to cash in, with all the attendant problems one might reasonably foresee. Then the breed becomes less popular and breeding gets more responsible, so eventually you don’t see as many of that breed and the ones you do see are less nutty.
And as you say, people don’t tend to train and socialize even well-bred little dogs appropriately, even people who otherwise seem to have good sense. I’ve seen clients with scars all up and down both arms where they allow their despotic little ball of fluff to bite them on a regular basis, had them fucking giggle when the tyrant who rules their house with an iron paw tries to rip my hand off…but who don’t put up with any kind of disobedience or destructiveness or disrespect from their actual human children. And if you have the sort of person who will run out and buy a mill puppy just because the dog in the movie was so darn cute, that sort of utter lack of raising is pretty much guaranteed.
The worst, though, is when that sort of person winds up with a large, athletic puppy mill dog during a movie-fueled breed craze. Because then they not only don’t train it, they don’t give it enough exercise, so it’s a) not right in the head to start with, b)untrained and unsocialized, and c)bouncing completely off the walls all the time. Have you ever seen a 120-pound Dalmatian literally climb a wall and rip blinds off the windows while simultaneously shitting uncontrollably and lunging for someone’s throat? And then repeat the process when you move it to a clean exam room? Twice? It’s not pretty. The owners just left and sat in the lobby and explained to me that he was “a little high-strung.” (After scrubbing shoulder-high shit off the walls in all three exam rooms, I was feeling a little high-strung myself.)
*It may have also been an issue with show-quality ones, but I never actually dealt with any show-quality spaniels so I can’t really say.
**Movies/tv shows featuring a certain breed of dog are quite bad for starting this sort of thing. Disney, I’m absolutely looking at you.
We had our dog on a leash in our yard when the neighbor kid came into the yard and started chasing our girls by swinging one of those plastic jump ropes. My dog nipped him on the ankle. No blood drawn, just teeth marks. They called the police, quarantined the dog, and sued us. They got $1100.
That’s nuts. The dog was PROTECTING his people. :mad:.
Re “cocker rage”: I’ve known two cocker spaniels in my life, both in the early 80s.
One was born and bred in England, and was the nicest, smartest, most pleasant dog you could ask for.
The other… was none of those things. We think she was a result of overbreeding in the US when the breed became popular. Badly raised, as well. Her human was my housemate - I sublet a room from them. And per the dog, it was VERY clear where I stood in the family hierarchy, and it wasn’t second-in-command. She growled every time she saw me. Her human would just say in a sing-songy voice “now, that’s not NICE”.
The human was nice. The dog was a bitch in every sense of the word. Only time the dog was nice to me was the day roommate was moving out - and had people tromping in and out taking furniture. The dog was so freaked out that she saw me, apparently thought “HUMAN!!! FAMILIAR!!! COMFORT ME!!!” and came to me to be petted.
Sucker that I am, I did NOT drop-kick her. I actually petted her.
(note: I happen to truly love dogs, and made ever effort to befriend this animal).
I am a dog-lover and this woman was NUTS! It is absolutely the owner’s responsibility to control their animal, especially off of their property.
You should pursue this as far as you can. She shouldn’t be able to get away with this, I’d be mortified if my dog bit someone.
It’s short-dog syndrome. My chihuahua is very snappy because getting stepped on can be fatal when you’re only 9 inches tall.
That kind of aggression can’t be tolerated. I know people love them, but in my opinion he should have been humanely put down for the protection of the public. And then the jump rope should have been returned to his parents.
Ugh. I was at a “people and dogs” event two years ago and a late teens/early 20s girl was walking a tiny chihuahua by letting him trail several feet behind her on a long leash. In a dense crowd of people and large dogs. Eventually, predictably, someone backed up a few steps and stepped on the poor thing, breaking his leg.
Shame your BF didn’t kick that mutt up onto the roof. Tell him to drag his macho ass into the doctor’s office; no more nooky until he does.
Bleiz, if your boyfriend doesn’t want to report the attack, can you do it instead since you witnessed it?
This really doesn’t sound like a situation that will get better on its own.
No, but if you post a vid, I guarantee a youtube buzz.
Holy mofo. Did the vet practice ban the dog (and/or its owners) from ever coming back after such a performance? I can’t imagine not doing so.
Definitely report the mutt to the proper authorities, the boyfriend may think it’s “all cool” right now, but what happens at the next full moon when he starts lycanthropizing on you… make sure you have a decent stock of silver bullets on hand, just in case 
Seriously though, press charges, idiot won’t learn otherwise…
I’m trying to wrap my mind around a 120 pound Dalmatian. That is seriously overweight for the breed.
I know, seriously! My dalmatian was around 55-60 lbs.
Huh. And that’s why the weight seemed completely out of place. I was imagining a harlequin Great Dane instead of a really fat Dalmatian. Dogs shouldn’t be allowed to get that fat, or behave that badly. It’s not that difficult to socialize a dog, but it takes time. It also takes time to make sure that the dog doesn’t panic whenever it goes any place new, but it’s a necessary part of being a dog owner.
Did you ever see those stuffed rocking-horse-type animals they used to sell at the Disney store? He looked like the 101 Dalmatians version.
And no, he was not banned from the clinic. His owners were, however, informed that he would require sedation at their expense for future visits. They never came back.