My dog was attacked on the street yesterday by a dog the owners insisted was ‘friendly’. Dog is ok

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m so sorry, OP. I’m glad your dog is okay. Does she seem shaken up? More reluctant to walk? I hope she’s not fearful around other dogs now.

This is one reason why I don’t think young children should walk dogs alone. You’re an adult and you froze; what is a 10 year old going to do, particularly if the other dog is loose and there’s no one around to help them? My kids are teens and I made them learn what to do if another dog should attack our dog before I’d let them walk him alone.

Op she seems ok. I’m more bothered that I froze.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m so sorry, OP. I’m glad your dog is okay. Does she seem shaken up? More reluctant to walk? I hope she’s not fearful around other dogs now.

This is one reason why I don’t think young children should walk dogs alone. You’re an adult and you froze; what is a 10 year old going to do, particularly if the other dog is loose and there’s no one around to help them? My kids are teens and I made them learn what to do if another dog should attack our dog before I’d let them walk him alone.

What did you teach your kids to do in a situation like this?

Number one, not to feel like they had to break up the fight themselves. Summon help.

Number two (they can ask an adult for help), you’re supposed to grasp the attacking dog’s hind legs and lift them up. This is so disconcerting to the dog they’ll release the dog they’re biting. Then you kind of walk them around, wheelbarrow style, in a curved pattern (not straight lines) so they’re off balance and unable to bite you and you wear them out a bit. Being off kilter takes the fight out of them.

If I had waited to summon help (assuming the owner didn’t step in), my dog would be in pieces

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m so sorry, OP. I’m glad your dog is okay. Does she seem shaken up? More reluctant to walk? I hope she’s not fearful around other dogs now.

This is one reason why I don’t think young children should walk dogs alone. You’re an adult and you froze; what is a 10 year old going to do, particularly if the other dog is loose and there’s no one around to help them? My kids are teens and I made them learn what to do if another dog should attack our dog before I’d let them walk him alone.

What did you teach your kids to do in a situation like this?

Number one, not to feel like they had to break up the fight themselves. Summon help.

Number two (they can ask an adult for help), you’re supposed to grasp the attacking dog’s hind legs and lift them up. This is so disconcerting to the dog they’ll release the dog they’re biting. Then you kind of walk them around, wheelbarrow style, in a curved pattern (not straight lines) so they’re off balance and unable to bite you and you wear them out a bit. Being off kilter takes the fight out of them.

If I had waited to summon help (assuming the owner didn’t step in), my dog would be in pieces

I understand that, but I’m not going to tell my human children that even if they’re scared of an attacking pit bull or Rottweiler, they must take that dog on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m so sorry, OP. I’m glad your dog is okay. Does she seem shaken up? More reluctant to walk? I hope she’s not fearful around other dogs now.

This is one reason why I don’t think young children should walk dogs alone. You’re an adult and you froze; what is a 10 year old going to do, particularly if the other dog is loose and there’s no one around to help them? My kids are teens and I made them learn what to do if another dog should attack our dog before I’d let them walk him alone.

What did you teach your kids to do in a situation like this?

Number one, not to feel like they had to break up the fight themselves. Summon help.

Number two (they can ask an adult for help), you’re supposed to grasp the attacking dog’s hind legs and lift them up. This is so disconcerting to the dog they’ll release the dog they’re biting. Then you kind of walk them around, wheelbarrow style, in a curved pattern (not straight lines) so they’re off balance and unable to bite you and you wear them out a bit. Being off kilter takes the fight out of them.

If I had waited to summon help (assuming the owner didn’t step in), my dog would be in pieces

I understand that, but I’m not going to tell my human children that even if they’re scared of an attacking pit bull or Rottweiler, they must take that dog on.

I get it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Report to the police and animal control. The next dog may not have scruffy fur and be killed. The next animal attacked could be a person.

Agree

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m so sorry, OP. I’m glad your dog is okay. Does she seem shaken up? More reluctant to walk? I hope she’s not fearful around other dogs now.

This is one reason why I don’t think young children should walk dogs alone. You’re an adult and you froze; what is a 10 year old going to do, particularly if the other dog is loose and there’s no one around to help them? My kids are teens and I made them learn what to do if another dog should attack our dog before I’d let them walk him alone.

What did you teach your kids to do in a situation like this?

Number one, not to feel like they had to break up the fight themselves. Summon help.

Number two (they can ask an adult for help), you’re supposed to grasp the attacking dog’s hind legs and lift them up. This is so disconcerting to the dog they’ll release the dog they’re biting. Then you kind of walk them around, wheelbarrow style, in a curved pattern (not straight lines) so they’re off balance and unable to bite you and you wear them out a bit. Being off kilter takes the fight out of them.

This is a really good tip. I hope I remember this if I’m in this situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I jump in and break it up but that's not necessarily the way to go, just my instinct. I also have the "fight" responses when I have been (unfortunately) attacked by another human. Whenever I've had to break up a flight the majority of other people do totally freeze so that's not unusual. My dogs are trained to ignore and pass other dogs on leash and if I do let them say hi it is only to other dogs where I feel like I wouldn't be at significant risk of injury if it went south. It's just not worth it to me, my dogs have plenty of friends they don't need to meet every dog we see on walks.

This. It seems like fewer and fewer dog owners these days are properly training their dogs. Everybody says their dog is "friendly", but I've not found that to be the case. I keep my dogs away. I'll even lie and say they bite (they'd never) just to make sure there's distance. It's just not worth the risk.

Same. People are crazy, and if you don't know who they are and where they live, tracking them down to try to enforce whatever laws they've broken is challenging. Easier just to avoid from the start.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I jump in and break it up but that's not necessarily the way to go, just my instinct. I also have the "fight" responses when I have been (unfortunately) attacked by another human. Whenever I've had to break up a flight the majority of other people do totally freeze so that's not unusual. My dogs are trained to ignore and pass other dogs on leash and if I do let them say hi it is only to other dogs where I feel like I wouldn't be at significant risk of injury if it went south. It's just not worth it to me, my dogs have plenty of friends they don't need to meet every dog we see on walks.

This. It seems like fewer and fewer dog owners these days are properly training their dogs. Everybody says their dog is "friendly", but I've not found that to be the case. I keep my dogs away. I'll even lie and say they bite (they'd never) just to make sure there's distance. It's just not worth the risk.

Same. People are crazy, and if you don't know who they are and where they live, tracking them down to try to enforce whatever laws they've broken is challenging. Easier just to avoid from the start.

This is why I think anyone who wants to own a dog should be forced to have liability insurance as a condition of getting the dog licensed, along with an owner's test for basic competency/animal husbandry skills. It's nice that the other party in OP's story apologized, but an apology isn't gonna pay vet bills or any retraining an injured dog may need after a bite incident, let alone cover medical bills if a human gets hurt.

It's simply too easy for people who aren't responsible enough to own dogs to somehow have dogs anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m so sorry, OP. I’m glad your dog is okay. Does she seem shaken up? More reluctant to walk? I hope she’s not fearful around other dogs now.

This is one reason why I don’t think young children should walk dogs alone. You’re an adult and you froze; what is a 10 year old going to do, particularly if the other dog is loose and there’s no one around to help them? My kids are teens and I made them learn what to do if another dog should attack our dog before I’d let them walk him alone.

What did you teach your kids to do in a situation like this?

Number one, not to feel like they had to break up the fight themselves. Summon help.

Number two (they can ask an adult for help), you’re supposed to grasp the attacking dog’s hind legs and lift them up. This is so disconcerting to the dog they’ll release the dog they’re biting. Then you kind of walk them around, wheelbarrow style, in a curved pattern (not straight lines) so they’re off balance and unable to bite you and you wear them out a bit. Being off kilter takes the fight out of them.

While this is a correct suggestion, it puts me/my kid WAY too close to a dog we don't know that has already shown bite potential. I have a bottle of Pet Corrector attached to the crossbody purse we take on walks (along with pepper gel, but that's not legal everywhere and this is). It makes a great nuisance distraction that doesn't harm the dog(s). https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/training/stopping-dog-fight-confrontation-fighting-dogs/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I jump in and break it up but that's not necessarily the way to go, just my instinct. I also have the "fight" responses when I have been (unfortunately) attacked by another human. Whenever I've had to break up a flight the majority of other people do totally freeze so that's not unusual. My dogs are trained to ignore and pass other dogs on leash and if I do let them say hi it is only to other dogs where I feel like I wouldn't be at significant risk of injury if it went south. It's just not worth it to me, my dogs have plenty of friends they don't need to meet every dog we see on walks.

This. It seems like fewer and fewer dog owners these days are properly training their dogs. Everybody says their dog is "friendly", but I've not found that to be the case. I keep my dogs away. I'll even lie and say they bite (they'd never) just to make sure there's distance. It's just not worth the risk.

Same. People are crazy, and if you don't know who they are and where they live, tracking them down to try to enforce whatever laws they've broken is challenging. Easier just to avoid from the start.

This is why I think anyone who wants to own a dog should be forced to have liability insurance as a condition of getting the dog licensed, along with an owner's test for basic competency/animal husbandry skills. It's nice that the other party in OP's story apologized, but an apology isn't gonna pay vet bills or any retraining an injured dog may need after a bite incident, let alone cover medical bills if a human gets hurt.

It's simply too easy for people who aren't responsible enough to own dogs to somehow have dogs anyway.

The second part seems pretty unrealistic to me.

As far as insurance, don’t many policies require a home owner to disclose if they have an aggressive breed? And don’t some policies refuse to provide coverage for these breeds? Or am I making this up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I jump in and break it up but that's not necessarily the way to go, just my instinct. I also have the "fight" responses when I have been (unfortunately) attacked by another human. Whenever I've had to break up a flight the majority of other people do totally freeze so that's not unusual. My dogs are trained to ignore and pass other dogs on leash and if I do let them say hi it is only to other dogs where I feel like I wouldn't be at significant risk of injury if it went south. It's just not worth it to me, my dogs have plenty of friends they don't need to meet every dog we see on walks.

This. It seems like fewer and fewer dog owners these days are properly training their dogs. Everybody says their dog is "friendly", but I've not found that to be the case. I keep my dogs away. I'll even lie and say they bite (they'd never) just to make sure there's distance. It's just not worth the risk.

Same. People are crazy, and if you don't know who they are and where they live, tracking them down to try to enforce whatever laws they've broken is challenging. Easier just to avoid from the start.

This is why I think anyone who wants to own a dog should be forced to have liability insurance as a condition of getting the dog licensed, along with an owner's test for basic competency/animal husbandry skills. It's nice that the other party in OP's story apologized, but an apology isn't gonna pay vet bills or any retraining an injured dog may need after a bite incident, let alone cover medical bills if a human gets hurt.

It's simply too easy for people who aren't responsible enough to own dogs to somehow have dogs anyway.

The second part seems pretty unrealistic to me.

As far as insurance, don’t many policies require a home owner to disclose if they have an aggressive breed? And don’t some policies refuse to provide coverage for these breeds? Or am I making this up?

If we make people prove they're capable of driving safely, we can make people prove they're capable of handling a dog (or several) responsibly.

As for the breed-specific bit, I think this is a flawed argument that gets a lot of emotional pull without a whole lot of solid fact to back it. Any dog can bite. People tend to think little dogs are safer, but they're actually more prone to aggressive/defensive biting, and often kept in homes with small children, who can be seriously injured by even a toy breed dog. The real question is: What breed of dog do you want to be bitten by without recourse? For me, the answer is "none". I want to see all dogs leashed, responsibly trained, and owned by people who have a plan in place when animals do what animals do. All dogs can bite, so all dogs should be insured.

[Anonymous]

I am glad your dog is ok.

[Anonymous]

If this happens again lift the biting dogs back legs up. They’ll release immediately and be startled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I jump in and break it up but that's not necessarily the way to go, just my instinct. I also have the "fight" responses when I have been (unfortunately) attacked by another human. Whenever I've had to break up a flight the majority of other people do totally freeze so that's not unusual. My dogs are trained to ignore and pass other dogs on leash and if I do let them say hi it is only to other dogs where I feel like I wouldn't be at significant risk of injury if it went south. It's just not worth it to me, my dogs have plenty of friends they don't need to meet every dog we see on walks.

This. It seems like fewer and fewer dog owners these days are properly training their dogs. Everybody says their dog is "friendly", but I've not found that to be the case. I keep my dogs away. I'll even lie and say they bite (they'd never) just to make sure there's distance. It's just not worth the risk.

Same. People are crazy, and if you don't know who they are and where they live, tracking them down to try to enforce whatever laws they've broken is challenging. Easier just to avoid from the start.

This is why I think anyone who wants to own a dog should be forced to have liability insurance as a condition of getting the dog licensed, along with an owner's test for basic competency/animal husbandry skills. It's nice that the other party in OP's story apologized, but an apology isn't gonna pay vet bills or any retraining an injured dog may need after a bite incident, let alone cover medical bills if a human gets hurt.

It's simply too easy for people who aren't responsible enough to own dogs to somehow have dogs anyway.

The problem is that many owners of violent breeds like pit bulls don't license their dogs

I do agree with you though. The fines for not licensing should be steep.

[Anonymous]

I feel like dog owners should use color-based communication, the way horse people do. We put ribbons on tails and/or bridles, but leash colors or a ribbon around the neck would do the job in this case.

Red for an aggressive dog.
Green for a dog that’s inexperienced/a recent rescue/otherwise still learning socialization rules.
Yellow for an intact male.
Pink for a female in heat.