My little Stan was attacked

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bex1984

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Stan has just been on his first proper holiday and we had a lovely time, apart from the fact that he got attacked by a large dog :( It was absolutely one of the scariest experiences on my life.

Stan was off his lead, on a footpath in a field. There were 4 collies off lead running round not far away - Stan had met them already and been playing with them so we knew they were OK. I saw them coming into our field, but didn't see the enormous dog with them until it burst round the corner and just went straight for Stan. It was awful, it really went for him and he was squealing and crying, and it seemed to take ages for the owner to come and grab his dog. Stan ended up in the nettles, absolutely terrified, he had pood himself and was shaking :(

Checked him over and thought he was OK, but when we got to the pub on the way home I found a bite mark on him :( So he went to the vets and is on a course of antibiotics. Really he was very lucky not to have been badly injured. He is fine in himself and hasn't developed any fears - he went to Burghley XC day so saw millions of different dogs there!

Apparently the dog responsible is going to be muzzled. The vet we saw clearly knew the dog from our description, and I made sure I talked loudly about it in the pub (it's a small town...).

I felt like we should have done more at the time, I don't know what others would have done to get the dog off? It was a big dog, looked like some sort of rottweiller x akita maybe...although I know any dog can be aggressive but it was just so big and strong.

It was a really horrible experience, please tell me things like this don't happen too often!
 
Poor little man! Glad it hasn't made him afraid of other dogs and hopefully it is all healed now!

Not too sure what you can do in such a situation and not get bitten yourself, it's a very dangerous position to be in. I think you did the best allowing Stan to hide and letting the dog's owner try to deal with it.
 
Poor Stan :(

Our pup was attacked by a staffie type of dog (x breed) last year in the park. Same, lots of squealing and crying, and poo-ed himself :(

My ex kicked the other dog in the head (thankfully he was wearing his work boots and the dog was quite small) until it let go.

We reported it to the local police. But they weren't that interested. The dog warden was though... so maybe worth a call to the local council to find out who the dog warden is, and notifying them.

On a similar vein, a magazine has been reporting how many guide dogs get attacked each year by other dogs, even when they're working, and how the law cannot do anything as the attacks are on dogs and not people. Which makes me kind of wonder as I distinctly remember someone in this town being prosecuted for their dogs attacking and maiming someone else's. Maybe someone here can verify what the law says on the matter.
 
I think you did the right thing in letting him escape but I would not hit or kick a dog in drive, in attack mode, hanging onto anything like an object or another dog/person - it makes a driven dog hang on harder. Rotts and Akitas are both high-drive breeds.

If you must get involved, and if the dog is being held onto, I personally would choke, or ask the owner, to choke the attacking dog off using whatever you have to hand (belt, spare lead, dog's collar) high up around the ears and hold it's front feet off the ground if you are strong enough until the air supply has been limited enough to force it to let go. It also removes some of the drive - IE breathing becomes the priority, not attacking the small furry thing - and focuses the dog. Someone to support the attacked dog is helpful to prevent tearing of the skin.
However this is not without risks either (you did ask!!!) and it is better if the dog's owner does it....but like I say, when we train our dogs in sport, they naturally display firmer and harder bites when 'threatened' by the decoy swinging a leg like a kick or simulating hitting the dog with a stick.
Panic, high tension, shouting, screaming, punching, kicking will only make the situaton worse IMO, (think about how service dogs behave in riot situations - winds them right up) although it is the most natural thing in the world for us humans to do.
Sorry to hear about this and glad Stan is OK.
 
shiresrus123 said:
imo you should have had him on a lead
Click to expand...

really? in that case he'd never be off the lead?
The other dog should have been on its lead (and, I am told, would have been had they known we were there...they shouldn't have taken the risk). I have a feeling it may have still gone for Stan if he was on a lead.

It felt like we did nothing at the time and we were a bit useless, but it sounds like we probably did the right thing.

I do actually feel quite sorry for the aggressive dog's owner, it can't be any fun owning a dog like that :(
 
First reaction, shout at, kick the other dog or anything to get it off, but as CC says, these dogs lock on, I must admit I'd have to try and do something, get the owner to stick THEIR had in, its their flamin dog.

When it was all over, I would have asked for the person's address and insurance details for you to send the vet bill to, reported it to the police, although they would only want to know if you'd been injured, from past experience, unless another dog has killed you they won't do anything ! absolute waste of time other than they might give you an incident number for insurance purposes. I agree with the warden getting involved.

I blame my dogs sometimes reactive behaviour (only on the lead) on her first experience of the dogs I had a problem with. Nothing was done in the end, I believe they have moved now thank god. Had my nephews with me at the time, but it would have taken for them to have been attacked before the police got involved, I was like WHAT ? talk about doing something after the event !

My suggestion is that the attacking dog should have been on the lead and it wouldn't have happened
 
My cara (in sig) was attacked by a staffie when she was 8 months old. I had a actually put her on the lead as the dog coming towards us was on the lead. The guy let it on a long lead come over to sniff and it just grabbed her, no growling or any sort of warning.
she had her by the face and she was screaming. The owner was too scared of her to do anything apart from punch it in the head a few times, i had to prise its jaws open. I think i must have been given super human strength for a minute and got it off her. When i went away, i let cara back off the led and didn't make too much fuss and she recovered quickly. I now put her on the lead if i see anything staffy or pit bullish coming towards us. shame because i hate being predjudiced against any breed. I refuse to take the risk now.
I am so glad stan is ok, hope you are too because i know how horribly scary it is for you.
 
bex1984 said:
really? in that case he'd never be off the lead?
The other dog should have been on its lead (and, I am told, would have been had they known we were there...they shouldn't have taken the risk). I have a feeling it may have still gone for Stan if he was on a lead.

It felt like we did nothing at the time and we were a bit useless, but it sounds like we probably did the right thing.

I do actually feel quite sorry for the aggressive dog's owner, it can't be any fun owning a dog like that :(
Click to expand...

IMO if there was ANY risk it should have been on the lead end of, can he see round corners ? over hedges ? NOPE ! for all he knew a child could have been holding your dog on a lead or something, sitting on the floor petting it and that great lump comes over and attacks your dog/child near by, you never know how it might react, if the child started screaming the dog might have gone for it, you just don't know, not worth risk

It sounds horrific, I think I'd be traumatised by it let alone your dog.

You should try and recover the vet bill though if you can, it wasn't your fault
 
You need to wheelbarrow when you are in that situation again.

Me and Abe have just finished a bite class that we had to take for the delta society.

You have to grab the offending dogs back legs and as soon as he goes to take another bite wheelbarrow him round and round in a circle until someone is there to either restrain the dog or it has calmed down.
If the dog is hanging on? Finger in the anus. While you may think that is gross it works. Then wheelbarrow.
 
I msut say with my smaller dogs or whippets if I see any bigger dogs in the distance approaching I call them close, I never take a chance as to "how the dog may be" in that situation, I have choaked a dog (it was attacking my friends shepherd and it was a mastiff) I place a slip lead around its neck as in not slipped it over but under its neck and grabbed both ends and over lapped the rope and pulled like my life depended on it and choaked it till it turned blue, (it was a stud dog and it mounted her and proceeded to savage her back):eek: I then told my friend to run down the road we where on to get her shepherd to run after her and get her out of sight, (she ran like the clappers):D by the time I let go the dog was struggling for breath, my heart was going like the clappers and my arms where numb I had enough adrenalin to run after her before I became supper:D
I also slipped a lead over a mahussive wolf hound whilst standing between it and my whippets (I never had a big dog then) again my heart was going ten to the dozen knowing if I made one wrong move it was going to eat my whips or attack me, once on the lead I tied it to a fence, and walked on fast, when the owner apperared I shouted * keep the lead knob head*
I also got my hands shreaded dragging a shepherd of a small collie, it had a choak chain on so I dragged it with all my might but it turned and had my hand, I never let go till I got it behind a door and shut it in, that was in a back garden.
I used head lock tactics on a staff, savaging an old terrier:D

I have seen alot of dog fights, its not a good idea to jump in, but I have seen the damage one dog can do to another and when its your own especially you really jsut go into over drive.

I would in the OP situation, reported it to the local police and dog warden in that area with description and asked about insurance also, and probaly would have been full of hell.
 
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