Dog Attack - Advice Please

AmyMay

AmyMay

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Very upsettingly my little dog got attacked this morning by a black lab, whilst we were out walking. (9 month old Bichon).

We were on a bridle path, and I'd popped her back on her lead because the owner of the lab was calling his dog back to him, so I figured it wasn't friendly.

Lab ignored owner, owner stopped calling, and Daisy and I just stood quietly to the side.

Dog actually seemed friendly enough, wagging tail etc. They sniffed noses, and then bang, he was on her. Pinned her to the floor and had a real go. Thankfully two swift kicks to his body and he let her go. She's bruised, but ok.

I'm not sure if I did the right thing in just standing quietly to the side. Clearly I shouldn't have allowed any contact, but could I have avoided it?

Feeling really meh!

What would you guys have done??
 
Gosh, your poor dog. Quite honestly, you were just very unlucky. Labs are not a dog you expect to be aggressive and particularly in a situation when when your dog wasn't hyper and neither were you.
I would probably have acted as you did. If the other owner was trying to recall its dog, I'd put mine on a lead too but if the dog came over to sniff, I'd keep everything low key, as you did. Unless you're psychic, you couldn't have reasonably anticipated the dog turning as it did.
2 swift kicks from you seemed quite effective in stopping the attack. Good for you.
 
I hope she is none the worse for the attack, in that situation I would always block the other dog with my leg, our little dog always has her 2 bodyguards with her who will always protect her but never look for trouble, I would have bo******d that owner up hill and down. Have you checked her thoroughly to make sure she has no puncture wounds and have you the owners details in case of a vets bill, I would also report them to the dog warden as the next attack the owner might not act so quickly as you.
 
Your poor little bichon :(

Have to say I'm wary of black labs, I've met too many who were pretty aggressive, so many have had a pop at my dog he's now nervous of them too, which doesn't help
 
I would have done exactly the same. It's not unrealistic to expect that if a dog is off lead on a bridle path it is a) friendly and b) under control.

My little dog got attacked a year ago by an Alsatian that escaped it's garden. It's a terrifying experience and I spent ages going over it and thinking how much worse the outcome could have been. I am definitely more wary now of other dogs in general and I think my dog is too. As soon as he recovered I made sure we socialised with dogs we knew were friendly.

I did report our incident with the dog warden, just to log it rather than make a complaint.

I hope you both recover quickly from your ordeal.
 
I hope your little bichon is ok...the happened to us a few month back...an offlead rott cross attacked my very young dog ,who was on lead ,bowling him to the floor and biting his belly.We also had to kick the dog off...I didn't expect it either.
I did take my dog back the next day to the same area to be sure he was not traumatized by the place and he was his normal happy self.
Now my hub carries a walking stick if we go to this area as it is full of offlead dogs ,mostly intact males and oblivious owners on their cell phones.
 
A dog fight is very scary, you poor thing and your poor dog. So often it is labradors, I suppose because there are so many of them around. I would report it, and have taken owners details if they would give them.
Do you know anyone with a black lab you could take your dog to meet? My m-in-laws border is frightened of black labs now having been attacked twice by them.
Don't let it effect how you react when you see other dogs coming towards you, more often than not they get over it but we keep reminding them, unintentionally.
 
I'm really sorry to hear this. I don't know what the answer is and I am most probably the worst one to give advice, so I won't. I have just started taking our two little Chi's out, and I know I shouldn't be nervous about other dogs, but we have so many badly behaved ones around here and the boys are so tiny that I can't help but worry. Really hope you are both OK.
 
Clodagh said:
A dog fight is very scary, you poor thing and your poor dog. So often it is labradors, I suppose because there are so many of them around. I would report it, and have taken owners details if they would give them.
Do you know anyone with a black lab you could take your dog to meet? My m-in-laws border is frightened of black labs now having been attacked twice by them.
Don't let it effect how you react when you see other dogs coming towards you, more often than not they get over it but we keep reminding them, unintentionally.
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We often walk with a friend who has a black lab, so no problems there.

Didn't take the owners details, but the attack took place just outside his house (on the bridlepath). As the dog turned into it after the attack, followed by the bloke. Perhaps that was the trigger.

Daisy is fine. She's been playing with the cat all afternoon, and luckily doesn't have a mark on her, amazingly. I thought he was killing her, what with all the noise they were both making.

Thanks for the comments so far. It just feels good that people understand.
 
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Hope your dog is ok, it could be he was being a bit on guard as it was near the house- no excuse tho.

For the record I have always been told by many dog trainers in a dog fight- noise means it's not that bad if they go silent then you really are in trouble!

My black lab is teneramental he is by a fan of little dogS but will avoid them- if they annoy him he just growls and tries to get away from them- I wouldn't trust him completely tho- we are getting a pup next year and I ideally wanted a springer but he regularly socialises with lots of dogs and he only tolerates lab puppies so it's going to be another lab!
 
How awful, I would have done exactly the same thing, and have done in the past with similar consequences. I know get right out of the way or if I'm out with a puppy I pick them up, and I don't let anyone elses dogs near mine so preempt it.
 
I would agree entirely with that, my oh who was a huntsman always used to say if hounds were making a noise it was fine, it was when they went quiet that they would be seriously hurting each other. Funnily enough after a few years of living next door to hounds I did learn the difference between a scrap and a full on killing each other job, def a completely different sound but it took me years to work it out!

Seems to be a thing with black lab owners because I was in the vets yesterday waiting to admit my little Cyprus rescue to have his back dew claws removed and a woman came in with a baby and a black lab. She immediately let the lab off the lead in the waiting room and although not aggressive it was all over my dog, who was on a lead, and he got very wound up with it. Not sure why she couldn't have just kept it on the lead or made it sit beside her.

Anyway, I digress, very pleased to hear your little dog is ok, horrid thing to happen but I don't think you could have done anymore because picking them up is often far worse.
 
I'm afraid I pick Zak up sometimes, but mostly I walk as fast as I can away from bother, or I ask people to recall their dog. I'm not a popular walker round here because people think their ill-mannered dogs should be allowed to do what they like.

Good for you kicking the attacking dog. I'm appalled that the owner didn't say anything, I would have been absolutely mortified if mine had done that.

I know you know this, but for anyone else who's never had to deal with this, make sure the pup is walked with tons of dogs over the next weeks so she's happy in company: our error was not doing that after Zak was attacked and he's very aggressive now :(
 
amymay said:
Didn't take the owners details, but the attack took place just outside his house (on the bridlepath). As the dog turned into it after the attack, followed by the bloke. Perhaps that was the trigger.

.
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Quite possibly. One of my labs is awful to other dogs that go along the footpath next to our house, or past the front, yet at other places she is fine. I daren't let her out off lead in that field. She is an extremely greedy lab but even food won't distract her when near her house.
 
cinnamontoast said:
I'm appalled that the owner didn't say anything, I would have been absolutely mortified if mine had done that.
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He did. He told me his dog only wanted to play. It didn't, I know the difference.

Any way, it sounds as if I probably did the right thing. But in the future, if the situation should arise again, I'll position myself in front of her.

Please don't think I'm vilifying labs. I'm not. It was just wrong dog at wrong time.

We're off for lots of fun at training class tomorrow so she'll be around other dogs.
 
Fab. Hope she has a lovely time!

I've heard the 'just wants to play' thing lots. Sadly, mine doesn't, he just wants to attack, so he's not allowed near other dogs and the 'playful' thing is often an excuse for an untrained dog that the owner can't ruddy control. :(
 
Yes the only other thing I'd have done would have been to block the other dog or catch up it's collar and hand dog back to owner. I suspect, as you do, that it was because the dog was right outside its home, still not right but at least understandable. I have no qualms about kicking fighting dogs so no grief from me on that score. Glad your little Daisy dog seems fine and well and hopefully there will be no lasting worry over this for her.
 
amymay said:
Righto, noted. Thanks, that's really useful to know.
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My collie will pin my jrt a few times a year, usually because the jrt is being a little sod. Stig never uses teeth or does anything, just pins him and let's go as soon as we clap our hands but the noise is unbearable. When dogs are warning or scared, they make noise. When they are attacking, they concentrate on hurting and not being hurt. There are exceptions, but silence with dogs in stressed situations is generally a very bad sign.

As for what you did, the only thing I would do differently is not allow a strange dog to get near mine. I am happy to do that though and can usually get them to back off before they get close enough to do anything but some won't respond and at that point, damn right you kick or do what is needed to protect your dog and yourself, try to never get your hands in to break them up though, that's when really nasty bites can happen!!
 
Oh bless her poor Daisy. You were only saying the other day how pleasant your walks etc are where you live and how well socialised she is. Hopefully she is none the worse.
The noise makes it seem worse than it actually is. My last dog (German Shepherd) was very unpredictable so I had to avoid all strange dogs. You did the right thing by keeping still. Good luck for the future with her.
 
Poor little dog and poor you, its so scary when that happens. I have three labs and would be mortified if one of mine did that. I would be looking out for you with a sorry present and a treat for Daisy!
 
Well we had a fab walk today. Lots of fab dogs, including a black lab. Daisy didn't bat an eyelid, and was her happy exuberant self. She and the lab had a lovely play on the beach.
 
I'm sorry to hear about what happened to your Bichon, and I can only ditto what others have already mentioned, in general, the more horrifying it sounds, the less likely it is that the other dog is actually trying to kill your dog. But that doesn't make it an any less shocking to experience. I hope that your Bichon's bruises heals as quickly as possible.

amymay said:
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I'm not sure if I did the right thing in just standing quietly to the side. Clearly I shouldn't have allowed any contact, but could I have avoided it?

Feeling really meh!

What would you guys have done??
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amymay said:
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Any way, it sounds as if I probably did the right thing. But in the future, if the situation should arise again, I'll position myself in front of her.

...
We're off for lots of fun at training class tomorrow so she'll be around other dogs.
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Mostly in such situations, I place myself in front of my dogs, and do my best to shoo the oncoming dog/dogs away.

But sometimes it happens that I do what you did, and just stand next to my dogs. Normally nothing happens, and they just say Hello to each other.

You ask if you could have avoided it, and you say that if something similar happens again, you will stand in front of your Bichon. But even though I personally think it is a good idea in that situation, to basically block oncoming dogs, I don't think anyone can say, that if you only had done like this, it would definitely not have happened. Because nobody knows for sure if it had worked. E.g. sometimes the other dog just tries to run around you, and if you're unlucky, he could still have succeeded and reached your poor Bichon.

(((Hugs))), I'm glad to hear that today's walk went well, and I hope that you and your dog also enjoyed the training class.
 
Not nice. I think there is a misconception about labradors as being nice, friendly, aloof dogs. My dog has real issues with black labs and I can only assume she has some history with them. Noise and having a bit of a bark or even a bit of a "get out of my spacem type reaction is acceptable to me but a dog pinning another on the ground and continuing to have a go is a serious issue and is not just a dog 'having a play'.
Me being me wouldn't immediately blame the owner for this one occasion but I'd expect them to learn from it and gain control of their dog in the future.
A yellow lab near me has gone for my dog twice, unprovoked. Now on the odd time I see her the owner has her under control (i assume mine isn't the only dog she's gone for!). I commend them for that. They have learnt
 
As previously said most scraps are just noise. We also have problems with black labs around here and my pack is regularly charged by them when out walking, not much fun for me.

I think there are several reasons, novice owners buying labs because they are "great" family dogs and a lab wouldn't hurt anything you know, so there is generally a lack of training/knowledge and socialisation with the ones I meet. They are also generally under exercised and full of pent up energy/frustration when they are let loose. Also the fact that some dogs can find it harder to read the expressions on a black dog probably doesn't help especially when they are running full speed at you.
 
Sorry to hear about what happened, but I must say sometimes I think we could be a little naïve thinking we can have dogs and they will always get along with other dogs.
That's not to say the dogs owner wasn't irresponsible, he was. He should have called the dog back if you weren't happy for them to meet, or as it was going up to an unknown dog.
However, I think just like people we don't all get along, it might have just been a case of the black lab not liking something your dog was giving off/doing and took offence to it. One of my dogs is the type that will put up with anything from another dog, especially puppies - too much so, so he will let them climb all over him etc. The other dog (having had a litter of her own pups) is very strict with puppies, she will not allow them to mouth her or jump at her etc etc. I'm definitely not saying its acceptable for that dog to come up and behave like that, but just that sometimes dogs react to the other dog (and owners) cues, especially as it was happy to come up and say hi initially.

Hope that all makes sense.
 
samlf said:
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That's not to say the dogs owner wasn't irresponsible, he was. He should have called the dog back if you weren't happy for them to meet, or as it was going up to an unknown dog.
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Amymay said that the owner was calling his Labrador back to him, but when the dog only ignored the owner, he stopped calling the dog.

It makes sense to me, there is no point in continuing to shout "Come, Come here" like a broken record, xx number of times, if the dog just ignores it. It just teaches the dog, that what the owner is shouting, doesn't have anything to do with them.

I just hope that the owner of the Labrador, at least becomes more observant in the future, so that he can call his dog back to him, before he loses control over his dog another time.
 
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