We were attacked and my dog ended up hurting the attacker....

[LucyJ]

Echowe-
Maybe you condition her to be more tolerant of agressive behavior by taking her back to a crowded beginner's obedience class where there are lots of little dogs behaving badly. Then you can work on the "leave it" in a more controlled atmosphere (controlled meaning ALL dogs are on lead). While you also are ignoring the other dogs, keep talking to your girl so all her attention is on you and your commands. Eventually she'll become desensitized to the behavior of the other dogs and will follow commands through the distractions. My boy has actually been bitten by tiny dogs on three separate occasions and didn't retaliate once. Each time I gave him the leave it command just before the actual bite occurred and he was really ticked off but remained calm and under control. I was sooooo proud of him. I wanted to smack the crap out of the other dogs' owners but I too remained under control ;) . Good luck.

[ajaxsdad]

yes, please don't consider your position about having multiple dogs. maybe if you walked them seperately you might have more control if a similar situation occurs. as a relatively strong guy i wouldn't attempt to walk two rotties simultaneously. no matter how much training, or how often your dog fails to react to a hostile dog you cannot predict with 100% accuracy what your dog will do each time. although your dog could stand more socialization (never can have too much) the other animal provoked the situation. i have the same concern, and with an animal the size of the peke provoking a confrontation, it wouldn't take but a split second for and average rottie to ice him. and i wouldn't want to see any animal get hurt; on the other hand i will and have defended my dog against attacks by hostile dogs. maybe next time an on-side kick might be the prudent option versus a vet bill, angry neighbors, law suit, and possibly the death of another dog.

[Echowe]

I like the idea also on going to beginner's training class also. Tayler was never in a group class. She behaved well around group of dogs when we went on a ranger led K9 hikes. Every dog there was well behaved. She is also good at dog park. (Um...that's another topic...) I am a bit sad to have to do certain things seperately with them from now on but it will be quality time spent together just me and my little girl or my boy.... Any more suggestion when I can creat more situation??

[Storm]

Echowe,

I think your'e doing a mighty fine job with your dogs. The mere fact that you take the initiative to assess your dogs reaction to the whole situation and try and see what areas require "attention" etc. shows that you are not only responsible but also are careing when it comes to animals. ;) Don't let this incident discourage you, capitalize on what you have learnt and move on. How many people out there would be able to have their dogs under 100% control while some "piranha doggie" is biting the hell out of their dog's legs. Not an excuse just a FACT! You know now what to work on and seem responsible enough ( which is more than I can say of a lot of doggie folks out there) to pursue this. This is definately to your advantage. I remember one night while walking my Rottie bitch (still fairly young), I heard a weird noise behind me. When I turned to see what the heck was going on, here were two rotties scaling a six foot wall. Well I wasn't prepared to hang around to see "Whats Up". I picked my puppy up and ran like my A** was on fire. I must have set a new 100 M record time, just a pity it was not official. :D Yeah will we ever be 100% ready for every situation? But we can damn well try our best. Once again it boils down to RESPONSIBLE OWNERSHIP. Unfortunately we have to suffer due to other dog owners negligence but this should not discourage us but drive us on even more.

Best of luck.

[Miss Dyxy]

K-9 is right to post that link, I agree with his comment. I think ECHOWE is being hard on themselves & just needs more experience, information to gain the confidence to handling these situations. I was sad to read ECHOWE's last comment, they sound like a responsible dog owner :(

[Diane Heller-Vaccaro]

I still find it very aggravating that people do not obey leash laws. I extremely PO when its up to me to control not only my dog but to prevent the other dog from biting as well. I've talked to hundreds of people that are so impressed by the way there little dogs are just fearless they will attack the biggest dog, they have no idea of their size and strenght. I hear it over and over again. Then one day Fifi runs into a dog that knows how big she is and it ends rather ugly. My dogs are very well trained and I was walking Nero and we were attacked by a woman walking her husky off leash, he ran right up to us and I just got done petting him when he proceeded to attack Nero I told the woman 3 times get your dog I wasn't going to make my dog sit there full of blood, the woman ran down with her boyfriend grabbed her dog and it bit her twice now she was bleeding to a good thing I had witness standing around because she insisted my dog bit her right as she started to say that her boyfriend said I can't believe your own dog bit you. So not only did my dog get hurt but I almost got sued. I was going to the hospital for bite impression measurements.

[winniecnm]

I can relate to the off leash thing. Just last week I had to pepper spray a very large stray GSD that was coming after my hubbie, Bear, Jas and I. I felt horrid, but he was coming at us and obviously meant business. :(
There are many small and large strays here on base, and while I feel sorry for them, it is my priority to protect my dogs from injury.

And I am sorry to say that I would have more than likely given that peke a whiff of the hot stuff too before he even got within five feet of me, then reamed out the owner for allowing her nasty little anklebiting dog off lead.

I agree with everyone else...about needing further training, for the dogs to be walked seperately, and HAVE PATIENCE!!! It is not easy having a multiple dog household. :)

[DianaC]

I agree with the post "walking one dog at a time". You may think you have total control of them both, but it only takes something to go wrong and then you can't really chase after 2 dogs. After saying that I did take 3 dogs for a walk at the same time for about a week, but found it too hard to keep an eye and correct all 3 of them. I know how hard some days it is to fit in more than 1 walk but I think it's the best option. Do you have someone who can walk the other dog with you?

[RottnKid1]

Hi Bruce,

I did answer your question. I stated that my dogs may give a nip to a dog who presented such a small threat, but that they would probably use their (large, strong) paws to fend the dog off. If the dog persisted, they would most likely pin it with their feet. If the owner wasn't around, I'd do one of those stupid things that everyone is warned against - I'd capture the dog and use my dog's leash. If possible, I'd rig a muzzle with the leash - or one of my socks (or even my shirt, if necessary) until I could turn the dog over to animal control. And no, I wouldn't leave my dog to walk along without some form of "control." I'd lead it by the collar or another article of clothing :).

[DianaC]

[quote]Originally posted by RottnKid1:
[b]Diane,
I would be very angry at the OWNER of the Peke and, if there's a leash law in that area, would report the person for allowing their dog to run free. ]

I agree with leash laws but where we live very few people obey the law and when it happens to you that a dog rushes up you are too busy trying to fend off that dog and too anxious to get away from it and many times the owner that you don't get their name or address so it is very hard to report them.

[ March 09, 2001: Message edited by: DianaC ]

[Sheenagirl]

While Sheena and I were sitting in the waiting area at the Vet's office a older lady came in with a small dog and sat down across from us - Sheena was fine until the little dog started yapping/barking/growling like crazy while jumping up and down (that owner did nothing to stop her dog) - so Sheena stood up on her back legs (while I was holding the leash) showed her teeth and started barking back at the little dog. I pulled Sheena down and at the same time a vet assistant came out and immediately took us back to a private exam room. Like the other people wrote - the Rottie is always going to be picked on even though the other dog starts it - I don't know if Sheena would have bitten the dog or not (but I did have her constrained). Glad the incident didn't go that far.

[Echowe]

Unfortunately I don't have anyone else who could walk my dogs with me.
I am meeting my trainer at his dog club meeting tonight. He'll have a chance to see how Tayler interact with other dogs. He had suggested a couple things I could do to teach her 'leave it' better. He also said I could bring along a spray bottle with vinegar and water mixture while on walks.... I really feel this is a good lesson in many ways. Keep this up, I will recieve my Master degree in DOGS in no time. I only hope this neighbor of mine will learn something too.

[Bruce Lanthier]

My post wasn't directed at anyone in particular, it's just that Echowe reported an incident and most of the replies seemed to say "don't walk two dogs at once" "train your dogs to respond to your commands better" etc. It seemed as if no one was addressing the issue of how to deal with an UNLEASHED, RUDE DOG regardless of size. Some of the later responses did. I like the pepper spray comments. That seems as if it would be very effective. There was another thread (I've searched but can't find it) a while ago that had to do with "what would you do to protect your dog" and everyone seemed to be of one mind. They would do whatever it took to protect their dog. If that meant carrying a stick, pepper spray, water bottle or cattle prod, folks responded with many ways to do it. While the comments regarding additional training and perhaps walking one dog at a time were very good I just thought that was only half the response and I was just trying to generate ideas on HOW TO PREVENT a rude, off-leash dog from biting you or your dog.

[ March 09, 2001: Message edited by: Bruce Lanthier ]

[RottnKid1]

Bruce,

I know that you weren't directing your question to me in particular - I just thought I'd answer how I, personally, would handle such a situation.

DianeC

I completely understand the dilemma you're referring to. First and foremost, the situation at hand needs to be taken care of. Reporting an unleashed dog is secondary at that point. But, if you know who the owner of the dog is, then I definitely think it should be reported once you're safely home.

[Echowe]

Bruce, I know what you mean. When I started the post I want to find out what else I could have done to prevent the situation. I can't control other people's unleash dogs but I can control my own dogs. In case like this, if I were more prepared, I might have stopped the attack and save my poor dog and the little guy. My first mistake was taking for granted that the dog just came to 'investigate'. I thought by being calm and having my dogs sit, the peke would just 'investigate' and the owner will soon come get him. If I were prepared, I would stand in front of my dogs with the water bottle aiming at that s--ker.... My second mistakes was thinking I have control over my dogs. I don't have full control.... I will be more prepare now with unleash dogs but in case they get past me, at least with the little ones, I want to have control over my dogs and spare the life of the little ones. I certainly don't want someone or myself beating on my dogs' head trying to save their little guys. The whole situation with unleash dogs makes me sick. I just want to do everything I can to make the situation easier to handle. For those who carry batons or pepper spray, please check with your police department for weapon laws. Don't want you guys be in trouble for that.