to not know what to do when confronted with aggressive dog?

[KnitPurlKnitPurl]

DH and I were out geocaching at the weekend in a country park which is mainly forest. Beautiful area, really peaceful. Passed several dogs along the path, no

issues. Owners said good morning and walked on. Then a bit further along we saw a large dog bounding around in the distance and barking. Thought nothing of it. Went round a corner and the dog is coming straight for us. Stopped about 10 feet from where we were, hackles raised, growling, barking aggressively.

It was a large dog, no particular breed I don't think but big - bigger than a Labrador. Sort of Great Dane in shape, maybe crossed with a Doberman? Owner was 100 feet away at the top of a hill. DH called to owner to call his dog back. Owner called, dog ignored him. Dog continued growling, barking and edging towards us until owner slowly made his way towards us, calling the dog all the time and the dog ignoring him.

It was probably only 3 minutes but it was terrifying. I am never sure what do do in these situations, running away is the obvious but probably stupid option, so we just stood there frozen until the owner finally got level with the dog and clipped its lead on.

(Oh, and twatty owner never spoke a word to us, never said sorry, or even acknowledged that we'd been in a mexican stand-off with his out of control dog)

What ARE you supposed to do ?

Don't look directly at the dog, stand perfectly still, smile or have a neutral expression NOT showing your teeth. Look over into the distance. Ignore the dog.

It's really hard, and really scary. And there are a few twatty dog-owners around that treat their dogs like actual children who can do no wrong.

As you did, stand still do not run. If a dog starts jumping up turn your back, if it starts to attack drop to the floor and curl up, legs on floor, head tucked into knees with your hands over the back of your neck and your elbows protecting your face, bit like the picture but with both hands protecting your neck. You will still get bitten but the idea is to protect your vital areas.

Not sure they would do anything as they did nothing when someone I know was actually bitten by her neighbour's dog, but I think you should go to the police.

A friend said you can throw something in a different direction that might distract him. I don't know if that's really safe though. I've also heard of dogs contenting themselves with attacking a person's bag rather than a person so if they do approach maybe they can be distracted with a bag for a bit?

I have an agressive reactive dog and these sorts of dog owners are one day going to get me arrested for punching the shitty owner in the face. Too many owners are irresponsible with dogs off lead and im fed up of it.

I know its not helpful for what happened but i usually carry a walking pole with me. I know you shouldnt have to but i do. I will use it on any dog that gets too close to mine. Its for their protection as well as mine.

You may also want to raise it with the local dog warden so they can keep a eye out.

What if the dog is aggressive, but not so big. Should we fight back in that case?

How about shouting to alert passers by, or would that annoy the dog even more?

No point in going to the police - we were walking in an area which is about 30 minutes away, we had never been there before, no idea who the owner was, where he lived, no CCTV in the middle of a forest.

I appreciate the advice not to look at the dog and it does make sense - but it's also a bloody hard thing to do when you've got this aggressive animal threatening you.

You did pretty well, staying calm and not running is key so you did the right thing there. After that it gets harder, don't turn away from the dog but also don't make eye contact, no screaming or high pitches noises or shouting. You could try and back away slowly to a distance that dog eventually stops. I have been known to firmly say no and go away to dogs that have approached me and and my dog aggressively and it often works but I only do this when the dog is approaching not when they've already stopped and settled into their behaviour (bit like they've claimed that territory) and I'm not afraid of backing down and walking an alternate direction.

I'm sorry this happened to you, try not to let it shake your confidence with other dogs. That owner should not let her dog that distance away if they act like that, a long lead would've best for that dog in a high traffic area (you mentioned other dogs/walkers).

Agree with @Crimesean. I've found that even in the parks in London, there are an unacceptable number of off-lead uncontrolled dogs. The owners just let them run wild and bound up to anyone and harass people and other dogs. I have a small dog and our walks in the parks have left her very nervous around big dogs. She's been snapped at many times and had one very close call during which I put myself between her and the other dog, while 7 months pregnant. I just don't understand why people think it's ok to allow their dogs to run free in public places that are not designated, fenced, off-leash dog parks. And when I say something to the owner about needing to control their animal, they look at me like I'm in the wrong. It's absurd!!

I've taken to picking my dog up every time one of these irresponsible owners' dogs approaches us, which is fairly constant. This is my least favorite thing about living in London. This does not happen in parks in Manhattan.

And just to add, this is not a dog-hating post. We passed numerous other dogs off the lead that day who were utterly disinterested in us, and were happily sniffing leaves and doing what dogs do. Or wagging their tails as they trotted past with their owners fully in control.

You did right. You just stand, don’t stare at dog, don’t show teeth, don’t make any sudden movements. (Throwing a stick would be a very bad idea).

It’s terrifying and I have been bitten by an out of control dog (Great Dane).

I've also had the out of control, bouncy "he's just being friendly" dogs in the past but they are annoying, not threatening. Out of control yes, but you never really think you're going to get bitten or attacked, just jumped up at and muddy paws on your clothes.

This was really different and even DH who has a lot more experience around dogs than I do was intimidated.

Ignore the dog, don't give it any eye contact and turn your back on it.

I always make myself turn my back on dogs that run up like that. I find it nearly always takes the wind out of their sails. Staring at them, which most people understandably tend to do, will often be interpreted by the dog as a challenge and potential threat and will prolong or exacerbate the behaviour.

Definitely do not run. Many dogs love a game of chase, so would run after you, getting more and more excited/wound up. They would run after you. Give them nothing to chase.

Its good to see all this advice. Was confronted by a huge dog recently. It ran up and then started doing that one slow step at a time towards me, growling.
It was on a long lead but the owner couldn’t pull it away. I was terrified but just stood still and didn’t look at it.
Im not afraid of dogs and see lots that are lovely, so this isn’t an anti dog sort of post. Im glad I seem to have done the right thing because my first instinct was to climb a tree .

I was walking my GSD in the middle of nowhere and suddenly two large aggressive pitbull-types came belting towards us growling. A man some distance away yelled 'Run, love, they'll kill it!' Scariest moment of my life. I turned to face them and made myself as intimidating as possible (billowing black coat, aggressive stance) and in as deep a voice as I could muster yelling No! at them. Luckily they stopped about 10ft away, as if they realised that it would be a two on two fight rather than a two on one. Brief stand off, then they backed down and I turned and marched away with my dog. So, so scary for what could have been. I avoided the area for months afterwards. Sympathy, OP.

@Beachsidesunset I had a very similar incident with two huge mastiff/bull
breeds while walking my border collie many years ago.
They both charged my dog very aggressively and I decided to charge them back equally as aggressively telling them to go away (or words to that effect 😄)

Luckily it did work because running 100% would not have worked. I would try the same thing in the situation again as it worked very well, they were more shocked than anything else…a bit like bullies being called out!

Sorry OP, this sounds terrifying. I've always been a dog lover but following lockdown, there seem to be an awful lot of really poorly trained and controlled dogs out there and I'm actually quite nervous of some breeds/ big dogs now. I know the lockdown puppies didn't get the same socialisation/ puppy classes etc cut some quite big dogs have jumped up at me and my pushchair and it does frighten me now

I'm not sure how old this one was - once they are past the cute puppy fluff stage it's hard to tell. Perhaps a lockdown puppy, who knows. What was very clear was that the owner had no control over it at all - the dog completely ignored him calling it, even from 5 feet away.

Agree that every instinct is telling you to run away and climb the nearest tree but that's probably the worst thing you can do. Let's hope I don't have to put all of your good advice into practice!

I carry a walking pole as pp suggested but also a 'pet corrector' spray. I bought the spray originally as a training aid for my puppy but stopped using it with her as she was absolutely terrified of the hiss noise.
I've no idea if it would help in a situation with another dog but it's always in my pocket just in case.

Terrifying! It's rare that I see a dog growling at someone. I've read that if you think a dog will jump up to pop your knee out rather than turn your back although I've been told both methods by dog trainers but the curl up advice if you are being attacked seems spot on.

Fingers crossed it never happens again!

So scary. I just can't understand why owners can't keep their dogs on leads if they don't have perfect recall (which most dogs don't it seems). We foster so never let ours off lead on walks - we have a 30m long line which we use in wide open spaces so the dogs can have a run but if other dogs are near they go back on the short lead.

This. My dog goes off lead but he does have amazing recall. He gets pestered all the time by other dogs 'just saying hello' He doesn't want to say bloody hello!

It is worth going to the police, as similar happened to me and I called them on the non-emergency line. They put it all on record and said they would keep an eye out for the dog, but they also said it was good to have on record in case the same thing happened again to someone else. So please do report it - and the owner. Hope you're okay.