The Most Dog Friendly Community Online
Join Dog Forum to Discuss Breeds, Training, Food and More

Join Now for Free
New posts

What Would You Do In This Situation?

H

HopeRosie

New Member
Registered
Messages
171
Reaction score
0
Points
0

Join our free community today.

Connect with other like-minded dog lovers!

Login or Register
On a little dog walk today with my youngest son (only a little one as Rosie is in heart failure, but she was desperate for some walkies). We came across a treesurgeon in cherry picker type thing complete with Collie running around in the field.

JayP and I saw the same dog last week when I went with Jayp and her three whippys into the same field but then the collie just circled us at a distance and followed behind us for a while. (man in cherry picker oblivious and with ear protectors on and chainsaw wasnt exactly looking at his dog).

However this time, one adult, one 7yr old and one cavalier KCS, we got ran up to and barked at rather agressively and almost got rounded up. Rosie rolled over and was all submissive and I just told son to just not look and carry on walking determindly although he was very scared I told him to be quiet. I was always scared of larger dogs, and still am terrified of my ex-fatherinlaws GSD.

What do you do when a strange dog runs over to you and starts to act agressively, and the owner does zero for whatever reason? What if that dog has a go at yours? Im thinking that in several weeks time that I will be taking a puppy out as well, if this dog isnt there, there may be occassions when I meet other 'not so friendly' dogs.

what do you do?
 
Personally I'd go without a dog and try to talk to the owner first, he possibly has no idea his dog is rushing up to people. Perhaps he sees his dog's behaviour as playful rather than aggressive, so doesn't realise how frightening it might be?

If you aren't satisfied with that, the next step would be to call the Council Dog Warden. If his dog is aggressive and out of control in public they should take that very seriously and will go and talk to him.
 
I understand that if you say YOU felt the dog could be aggressive to you or your son (as opposed to your dog being on the receiving end of aggression), that carries more weight with the Dog Wardens.
 
as already said carry a good stick with you,i always have mine with me while out walking.
 
It's a common thing for Collies to wind up other dogs, basically because they stare at other dogs and it's seen as challenging behaviour. My gang detest them and I know other owners who've experienced the same thing. As Collies do this to challenge and round up sheep under instruction then in my eyes this dog could be seen as out of control because it is threatening and it is not under instruction to do so. From a legal point of view a dog only has to look threatening to a human for there to be due cause for complaint.

If it was me I'd do what's been said and approach the owner and inform them of the incident and the fact that not only did you feel threatened but it would be wise to take note that any dog would feel threatened by the Collies behaviour and that a larger aggresive dog may attack his collie. If he's a reasonable fella he'll realise the risk of the situation and take action, if he doesn't then I'd take it further.
 
Maybe you could prepare a note and put it in/on his truck, rather than wait for him to come dowm from his cherry picker. Is he working in the same area for a long time? You could avoid that place and only return when his job is finnished. :luck: :luck: :luck:
 
Im really not sure about the stick thing - Im not sure that the blame wouldnt be then on me if I had to use it and it might just make things 10 times worse. I think if hes there again I will go and have a word with Mr tree cutter man, as I do find his dog intimidating. I just dont want to be in the situation with the collie or any other dog that they start going for mine. If you pick up your own dog you just make the agressive one jump up at you, if you leave your dog on the ground then they just get bitten.
 
My personal opinion is that people who let their dogs act like this are clueless already. I have had this happen many times and in evey case the owner has been compleatly rude and angry that I have even brought it up that their dog is out of control. I got so tired of irresponsable dog owners that now I don't even try to speak to them, I make sure I carry pepper spray. I love dogs but if it comes to their dog or mine you bet I'll do whatever it takes to defend my dogs and myself.

I would definatly report it to Animal Control if you hoenstly feel threatened.

FoxyDog
 
So, pepper spray and a big stick :thumbsup: You need to protect your child and dogs if ANY out of control dog should threaten you.

 

I always carry a stick when I'm walking alone with the dogs (you never know) Just raising a big stick at a dog could frighten it off.

 

I was cycling one day with my dog beside me and a dog came from nowhere and started attacking my dog so, I kicked it with the heel of my boot and the damn thing got hold of my trousers and shook me ripping the leg of them :eek:

 

Wish I'd had some pepper spray then !!!

 

Reporting and all that can't guarantee it won't happen again, although this needs to be done too, especially if you see the same dog regularly and it's a problem to you ;)

 

 

Tracey X
 
Last edited by a moderator:
HopeRosie said:
Im really not sure about the stick thing - Im not sure that the blame wouldnt be then on me if I had to use it and it might just make things 10 times worse.  I think if hes there again I will go and have a word with Mr tree cutter man, as I do find his dog intimidating.  I just dont want to be in the situation with the collie or any other dog that they start going for mine.  If you pick up your own dog you just make the agressive one jump up at you, if you leave your dog on the ground then they just get bitten.
Click to expand...
It is very difficult to decide what is the best thing. You can never guess what the reaction of the other dog owner may be. Over the years I had only a handfull of unpleasant encounters. Three of them with Boxers whose owners just did not have a clue. while their dog was wrestling my terrified pup to the ground, they were telling me not to worry, he is only playing. The first of these playful encounters was with a fully grown and very large Boxer, and it took $250 in chiropractor fees for my Whippet's back to get to normal. The last Boxer encounter happened just last week when a Boxer and another large dog tried to play very roughly with Stella (6 months old Whippet). The owners stayed very far and did not even bother to call their dogs. In the end Stella was curled up shivering by my feet and i was pushing the Boxer away. When the woman finally decided to come to get her dog she started to abuse me for "hitting" her dog. Then her friend, owner of the other dog involved, came also over and threatened me. He told me me if i ever come to this park again i will be sorry. :(

I have not been there since, I hate the idea that he is winning, but I am afraid that if I meet him there and my dogs will come near him he may hurt one of them.

So please, be careful if you decide aproaching this man directly. :)
 
HopeRosie said:
Im really not sure about the stick thing - Im not sure that the blame wouldnt be then on me if I had to use it and it might just make things 10 times worse.  I think if hes there again I will go and have a word with Mr tree cutter man, as I do find his dog intimidating.  I just dont want to be in the situation with the collie or any other dog that they start going for mine.  If you pick up your own dog you just make the agressive one jump up at you, if you leave your dog on the ground then they just get bitten.
Click to expand...
It is very difficult to decide what is the best thing. You can never guess what the reaction of the other dog owner may be. Over the years I had only a handful of unpleasant encounters. Three of them with Boxers whose owners just did not have a clue. while their dog was wrestling my terrified pup to the ground, they were telling me not to worry, he is only playing. The first of these playful encounters was with a fully-grown and very large Boxer, and it took $250 in chiropractor fees for my Whippet's back to get to normal. The last Boxer encounter happened just last week when a Boxer and another large dog tried to play very roughly with Stella (6 months old Whippet). The owners stayed very far and did not even bother to call their dogs. In the end Stella was curled up shivering by my feet and i was pushing the Boxer away. When the woman finally decided to come to get her dog she started to abuse me for "hitting" her dog. Then her friend, owner of the other dog involved, came also over and threatened me. He told me if i ever come to this park again i will be sorry. :(

I have not been there since, I hate the idea that he is winning, but I am afraid that if I meet him there and my dogs will come near him he may hurt one of them.

So please, be careful if you decide approaching this man directly. :)
 
I can understand the Boxer thing totally. I had a rescue dog who was very dominant and so I kept him on a lead knowing he may fight with the boxer, and the owner just let boxer approach and guess what - a fight started and I was to blame because it was my dog being aggressive (think again boxer owner). I understand that not all boxers are bad but I have continuing probs with them.

One friend suggested carrying a rape alarm around to scare off other dogs but I was concerned it may also frighten my dogs. Pepper spray souns sensible though, or what about the canisters of gas used in some some dog training, no chemical just a big noise, fraid I don't know what they are called.
 
Canisters of gas used in dog training are called DOGSTOP I think :unsure:

Tina
 
It is very difficult to decide what is the best thing. You can never guess what the reaction of the other dog owner may be. Over the years I had only a handful of unpleasant encounters. Three of them with Boxers whose owners just did not have a clue. while their dog was wrestling my terrified pup to the ground, they were telling me not to worry, he is only playing. The first of these playful encounters was with a fully-grown and very large Boxer, and it took $250 in chiropractor fees for my Whippet's back to get to normal. The last Boxer encounter happened just last week when a Boxer and another large dog tried to play very roughly with Stella (6 months old Whippet). The owners stayed very far and did not even bother to call their dogs. In the end Stella was curled up shivering by my feet and i was pushing the Boxer away. When the woman finally decided to come to get her dog she started to abuse me for "hitting" her dog. Then her friend, owner of the other dog involved, came also over and threatened me. He told me if i ever come to this park again i will be sorry. sad.gif

I have not been there since, I hate the idea that he is winning, but I am afraid that if I meet him there and my dogs will come near him he may hurt one of them.

So please, be careful if you decide approaching this man directly.

>>Personaly, I would report this individual to either the police or SPCA/Humane Scoicety. A threat is a threat! Fortunatly for me, I work for Animal Control so usually all I have to do is show them my badge and they back right off. If you are getting threats this is VERY serious. People like this should not be getting away with it. Is there any way you could organize a group of people to walk your dogs with? Usually these kinds of people don't want to mess with a group and the dogs are safer all around, that 's what I did when we had a problem in our neighbourhood with a Rotti. The more responsable dog owners that unite the better. We now have a neighbourhood dog watch program with some of the dog owners in the area and we make sure that people like this get pressured to leave, we also make sure other owners pick up after their dogs too. That being said, that approach might not be for everyone. I just happen to have a strong personality and can be very theating myself when it comes to the saftey of my dogs!

FoxyDog
 
It is a problem, and it can be very frightening if you are approached by an aggressive dog. However (maybe I've just been lucky) I have to say in the last 20 years of dog walking it has only happened to me about half a dozen times, and only once has resulted in a serious fight, as opposed to a lot of noise and scuffle but little actual damage.

I think it is very important that dogs get a chance to meet lots of different dogs in an off-lead situation, as they will develop the right body language to head off threats and appease other dogs by themselves. I honestly think that 99% of the time well socialised dogs will sort things out by themselves best with no interference.
 
FeeFee said:
It is a problem, and it can be very frightening if you are approached by an aggressive dog.  However (maybe I've just been lucky) I have to say in the last 20 years of dog walking it has only happened to me about half a dozen times, and only once has resulted in a serious fight, as opposed to a lot of noise and scuffle but little actual damage.
I think it is very important that dogs get a chance to meet lots of different dogs in an off-lead situation, as they will develop the right body language to head off threats and appease other dogs by themselves.  I honestly think that 99% of the time well socialised dogs will sort things out by themselves best with no interference.

Click to expand...
I do agree, but there are 2 different issues here. One is dogs working out their pecking order, you know bit of raised hackles etc. Which is fine as long as the owners can "read" their dogs, and know how to break up a real fight. And i have some 50 stitches in my leg from a long time ago when I misread dogs and put my leg too close to 2 fighting dogs. I thought they are just playing roughly.

Another issue is people not understanding that while their dog is "only playing" it can inflict serious demage. I know a man whose miniature silver poodle had his back broken (had to be PTS) by a rottie pup that jumped on him playfully. Other very solid breeds can also seriously hurt or even kill a dog by being "playful".

It is up to the owners of these dogs to control them. I am speaking from personal experience as i had Great Danes in the past. All Boxers I ever met were very lovely dogs, I have never seen any agression in them, but their play is very physical, they crash into dogs with their chests and wrestle them to the ground. We all need to be in control of our dogs. I do not let my 3 Whippets terrorise the smalled dogs in our park. I always let my dogs have a a big run, to calm down, before we walk over to other people and let them to play with all the JRT and other littlelies. If any of my dogs gets too rough I call her back, and as they are pretty good on recall they usually come immediately. :)

To be on top of the cherry picker with a chain saw, while the dog is left to its own devices is just not on.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
FoxyDog said:
>>Personaly, I would report this individual to either the police or SPCA/Humane Scoicety.  A threat is a threat!  Fortunatly for me, I work for Animal Control so usually all I have to do is show them my badge and they back right off.  If you are getting threats this is VERY serious.  People like this should not be getting away with it.  Is there any way you could organize a group of people to walk your dogs with?  FoxyDog

Click to expand...
I did report this incident in writing to our council by-law officer. Have not heard back. There was a time when we had a group that met every morning about 10, but it just became unsustainable. We all have other things to do and the dogs get run whenever it is convenient. Most moved out of the area now, others got full time jobs. The people I meet there now (well, used to until this incident) are mainly old ladies, like myself, with little fat JRT, who do not move much. Dogs like the 2 bullies are not intersted in such a dog, there are not much fun if they do not run. Basically, I do not know anybody i would feel safe going to this park with. Not that it is a total tragedy, even better park is about 4 km from here, and dog beach about 5km. But that is not the point, i do not like to feel I cannot safely walk in my local park. Especially as there are lot of lovely dogs for my dogs to play with. In the other park and on the beach we hardly meet anybody. :( Stella was such a friendly puppy, talking to all people and playing with all dogs big and small, i want her to stay that way. Yesterday we went to the other park, and we met lovely people with 4 very old labs and Stella would not go anywhere near them. :(
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I think this all comes down to an issue between responsable dog owners and non-responsable dog owners. Unfourtunatly the responsable ones are always left to fight the battle against the others with little to no support from officials. I am sorry to say that not all officers are educated enough or care enough to treat this issue with the seriousness it deserves.

I don't see this problem going away anytime soon. In fact, it seems to be getting worse where I am. People forget that dog ownership is a privilage not a right.

I don't really have anymore advice other than to keep bringing it up to the By-Law official or Dog Warrden. If others feel the same way about this dog then get then to file a complaint also. The more people to bring it up the more weight it will have. Hang in there, I think we all know how unfair this kind of situation can get.

FoxyDog
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Welcome to Dog Forum!

Join our vibrant online community dedicated to all things canine. Whether you're a seasoned owner or new to the world of dogs, our forum is your go-to hub for sharing stories, seeking advice, and connecting with fellow dog lovers. From training tips to health concerns, we cover it all. Register now and unleash the full potential of your dog-loving experience!

Login or Register
Back
Top