Attacks by off lead dogs

[harkback]

There have been above average numbers of posts recently about attacks by off lead dogs, mainly attacking on lead dogs, but worse a person also. I have had a fair share of my own dogs being attacked by off lead dogs. A couple of things I now do that 1: gives the owner a kick up the backside into thinking twice about letting their dog off the lead again, and 2: gives the attacking dog/s a short, sharp shock (literally).

1: Sick to death of small to mid sized dogs racing up and latching onto my large breed by the haunches or neck, well thankfully the ruff or feathering as they are coated. 9 times out of 10 these little s"!*" do not even wear a collar and if they do there is no tag on it. I pick the snapping mutt up by the scruff of the neck and walk off sharply with it. Said owner then gets furious and races up demanding what the hell do I think I am doing with their dog. "Well madam (invariably a woman). Your dog? It attacked my dog. The dog you claim to be yours has no ID, therefore I am taking it to the dog warden immediately. " I usually walk a fair distance then drop the little s"!*" and the next time I see the owner and dog is on the lead.

2: Carry one of those battery powered electric bug zappers that look like a small tennis raquet. You can get them with a strap on the handle that I clip onto a belt loop. Any dog that gets within inches of mine I touch them on the nose and off they go shrieking. Cruel? Not in my eyes, and it seems to work as next time I see the offending dog it does give us a wide berth.

We live in a coastal area and the beaches in are a minefield. Of poop and loose dogs. I love to walk ours on the beaches, but they are off lead only when there is no one else in sight. Yes I do trust mine, they do obediance, we do pack walks in large groups of other dogs, but always if we or myself alone see other dogs in the distance we always out of respect put ours back on a lead.

 

[Spudlet]

It is all very well to always put your dog on a lead when you have mutiple dogs, but for those of us who have single dogs I think it is unfair to stop those dogs from ever having the chance to play with other dogs. I always put mine on the lead if I see dogs approaching on the lead, but if they are off lead I allow him to interact with them. I have rarely encountered any problems with this approach.

 

[galaxy]

do you not even let a friendly dog come up and sniff your dog? Do you call to the owner first and tell them to call their dog back? If someone zapped my (friendly, polite, sociable) dog, I would probably call the police!

Saying that, if someone has their dog on the lead, I always call my dog back and put him on the lead.

 

[Annette4]

Dogs off the lead jumping on my on the lead dog has left me with a fear aggressive on the lead dog. He's faaarrrr better thanks to me becoming the ruddest person out. However, if he's off the lead and there's another off the lead dog I allowed them to meet and if we meet a dog on the lead when he's off he gets called back, put on the lead then allowed to meet.

I would never stop him being social but both sides have to be polite or it doesn't work.

 

[prosefullstop]

Touch wood, but I have never had a serious problem walking my dogs in the parks in New York nor at the dog run. A few growls, warning barks, some Tasmanian devil stuff, yes, but considering that there are 1,000,000 dogs in NYC, I think we've done pretty well.

Saturdays and Sundays, you get several hundred dogs off leash in the big parks and it's quite a sight to behold. In Connecticut, too, we've had only good luck; 95% of the dogs up there are Labs and Goldens, so maybe that has something to do with it.

Which is not to say we don't meet aggressive dogs in the city. My neighbour has a dog-aggressive Pit mix, and rather than let the dog run rampant in Central Park or at the dog run, they go cycling/jogging together every day. Maybe some would disapprove of a dog kept on leash all the time, but I, as the owner of two small dogs, am glad for responsible owners like my neighbour.

 

[BAILEY67]

Oh dear, i feel as though i have pre empted this

we get attacked by medium large dogs, we should set up a doggie group for all of our dogs, they all have something in common it seems

 

[prosefullstop]

do you not even let a friendly dog come up and sniff your dog? Do you call to the owner first and tell them to call their dog back? If someone zapped my (friendly, polite, sociable) dog, I would probably call the police!

Saying that, if someone has their dog on the lead, I always call my dog back and put him on the lead.

My feeling is that if we walk off leash on the hiking trails, I will always let a dog say hello to mine. It is a place where people go specifically to walk dogs off leash, so nobody turns up with a leashed dog. Neither of mine go racing up to others, but they're more than happy to have a sniff or a quick run around.

One of my biggest annoyances is people who walk their dogs on city streets off leash. Not in Central Park. Not at the dog run. Not even on a quiet street, but down Broadway! Fine, you obviously trust your dog not to run into the street, scavenge through binbags etc. but it's unfair to let an unleashed dog run up to mine in such a congested setting. I often see this woman with her 3lb Yorkie walking fifty feet behind her, and I swear, one of these days that dog is going to get totalled by a guy on a delivery bike.

 

[prosefullstop]

Oh dear, i feel as though i have pre empted this

we get attacked by medium large dogs, we should set up a doggie group for all of our dogs, they all have something in common it seems

Actually, I know they're becoming more popular in the UK, but it mightn't be a bad idea to find a doggie daycare centre near you. The ones in NYC vet dogs before they're allowed to join, and they're usually grouped according to size.

 

[CorvusCorax]

I'll go for number one, please......

 

[blackcob]

I would never stop him being social but both sides have to be polite or it doesn't work.

This. Mine is always on a lead but in parks and fields usually a long one, anything up to 50ft, so she can still interact with other dogs as appropriate. The amount of people who walk their dogs off-lead, let their dog approach mine without even trying to call theirs back and then when the strange dog is within contact distance suddenly shrieking at me "he's aggressive with other dogs, stay away!" is ridiculous.

Had to pull a terrier off her neck just yesterday morning - she was on a long lead but I'd called her in and she was sitting at my feet, as the track was narrow and I don't want to clothesline anyone with the lead accidentally - as the woman made no attempt to call the dogs I let the terrier approach and sniff her, whereupon it snapped and latched on to her neck. The lady apologised, saying the dog was aggressive, and I asked her why she didn't call it back if that was the case - "oh, it's my neighbour's, I'm just doing her a favour, it won't come back to me."

Off-lead dogs approaching a a dog that's walking to heel on a short lead is a real bugbear of mine; an on-lead dog has no defence if attacked, they can't run away, will probably be reprimanded for snarling and in the case of mine wouldn't even dream of retaliating anyway because she's a big dope. That way fear-aggressive dogs are made.

 

[MurphysMinder]

The OP isn't talking about generally letting dogs interact as I read it, but dogs off lead having a go at hers on lead. Having a breed that can be reactive I tend to call them back if I see other dogs approaching, and it has happened many times to me that out of control dogs have had a go at mine, but if mine had retaliated you can guarantee the shepherd will get the blame.
As to how to deal with it, well I was walking with a friend last night with her very large GSD male who she has had problems with as he was quite dog aggressive, he is pretty good now, competes successfully in working trials (think 10 minute stay with other dogs), but she always keeps him on lead when walking where there might be other dogs. Near her home she has recently had problems with a black lab (sorry not blaming the breed) having a go at Bud, she has now started carrying a pet corrector spray which is like an air canister. She says it proves enough of a deterrent to make the other dog think twice, and then the useless owner can try and catch it. You would of course think the owner would put her dog on lead when she sees my friend as she knows there is a problem but apparently that is beyond her intelligence.

 

[kirstyhen]

After what I witness at the weekend I would be very careful about reprimanding someone else's dog.
An old man in his 60's kicked a dog that in his opinion was attacking his dog (no idea whether it was, but given it was fine with our I find it hard to believe) the owner of the other dog went mental at him and it ended up in a proper fight, there was blood, what looked like a broken nose, and IMO it was lucky that more people weren't dragged into it - the bloke looked like he was ready to deck anyone that got in his way, he had to be dragged off the old bloke by two joggers and was squaring up to the old bloke's wife afterwards.

Yes, it is annoying when your dog is being harrassed by other dogs, I had no end of JRT grabbing Otto by the neck at our old walk, but after last weekend I would be honestly scared of doing anything about it.

 

[mik]

I have 5 dogs ranging from jack russell size to great dane. The little ones are allowed off when there is no one around with a dog on a lead, but if the dogs are off the lead they are allowed off and go and play. They come when called anyway.
The large ones are only allowed off when no one is near as they are big and could scare someone. They walk at heel anyway but it's great to go to the beach and let them rip!
The ONLY problems I have is small dogs off and on lead, attacking/barking at the danes, who look on with amusement but don't react. It is so bad I can't take the danes, to watch dressage, despite the fact that they don't move, bark, do anything at all! as all the little dogs have hysterics? It annoys me that some of the owners think it is funny. I had this chat with a lady with a boxer pup this year at the sunshine tour, and it was her first larger dog, she was having a nightmare with a terrier attacking the pup, who was sweet as pie, and when she saw the danes she panicked, 2 min later they were in the empty show jumping ring having a great game on the grass. ignoring the aggressive terrier, heaven knows where it's owner was, and playing pull and chase with their leads!
Size is clearly an issue!

 

[Jake10]

There have been above average numbers of posts recently about attacks by off lead dogs, mainly attacking on lead dogs, but worse a person also. I have had a fair share of my own dogs being attacked by off lead dogs. A couple of things I now do that 1: gives the owner a kick up the backside into thinking twice about letting their dog off the lead again, and 2: gives the attacking dog/s a short, sharp shock (literally).

1: Sick to death of small to mid sized dogs racing up and latching onto my large breed by the haunches or neck, well thankfully the ruff or feathering as they are coated.

My dogs are always on the lead (no recall) my dog trainer told me to drop the leads (so I didn't get tangled) and let dogs defend themselves if another dog decides to latch on (only time it happened other dog a JRT came off worse)??

Used to walk my grandads rotti (V. dog aggressive so always on the lead. Most of the regular dog walkers know about her and put their dogs back on their leads) Some owners of off lead dogs pay no attention to 'sorry this dog is dog aggressive can you put yours back on its lead?' Hardly my fault when small designer fluffy thing ends up in rottis mouth being shaked, fluffy things owner starts screaming about reporting rotti. I clearly pointed out if she had put it on the lead as asked fluffy thing would not need to now go to the vets and walk off.

If you have no recall or don't know what the other dog is like with other dogs then either keep it on a lead or put it back on when you see another dog simples Saves a hell of a lot of shouting

 

[CorvusCorax]

I have to say too, yes, it is JRTs who come charging up barking all the time including one who followed us for about two miles down a tow path shouting 'LEMME AT HIM!!!"
And because I keep my fella on a lead when we are likely to meet people, as he isn't great with some other dogs, but no longer IMPOSSIBLE with all other dogs, he hasn't ended up with one in his gob yet, but he has been sorely tempted.....

Labs do bomb over but they are usually very nice, sniff bums, get the message and then go away again, Spangles come over, try to hump the bitch and then bog off when they get the evil eye
Had two greyhounds very gobby, but on leads, and a collie totally EXPLODED at them when we walked past the other day.
My two lunged but I had the measure of them and gave them both a roar and a slap on the nose with the end of the lead - people with collie said nothing to their dog, and walked on......

 

[kirstyhen]

Spangles come over, try to hump the bitch and then bog off when they get the evil eye

SO true, my Parent's boys are awful for it! One of them goes for the front leg on EVERY dog we meet!

(Before I am lambasted, they are saying hello to dogs off the lead that the other owners have said it's ok, AND they get off quick-sharp after a growl from my Dad!)

 

[Indy]

I never put my two collies on a lead when we come across other dogs.

Reasons why - they both turn into maniacal, frothing at the mouth lunatics and they seem to feel the need to rip the other dogs throat out before the other dog rips theirs out. I don't know why, they've never had a bad experience with other dogs.

If they aren't on a lead they will sit and give the other dog the evil eye until other dog has gone by.

If a leadless dog is looking like it's going to attack, my two just normally leg it until other dog is exhausted and gives up.

But if a leadless dog comes up to say hello a rather rough looking game of tag ensues until other dog is exhausted and gives up.

They are both relatively intuitive as to what dog is going to try it's luck and what dog just wants a couple of playmates.

I have to say though, if somebody ever zapped either of my dogs on the nose they would be getting a very large piece of wood to the back of their head.

But they again - if my two were ever rude enough to pounce on an 'on the lead dog' they would get their arses kicked from one end of South Yorkshire to the other!