Puppy attacked by terrier dog whilst out on a walk - should I report to Police ???

[Steppy1]

God I think I'm still in shock tbh but during this evening's walk with my 17 week old pup on her lead, a woman came hurtling out of her house shouting to the local farmer "is with you because there's a puppy coming"

I could see the farmer in the distance taking hay up to horses field when the terrier (not on a lead) turned around, spotted my pupp then ran towards her...then launched itself at my pup's throat. having grabbed her it took three of us (yes 3 adults, two men and me) to get the terrier off..... blood everywhere, and one previously happy go lucky pup now terrified.

We've got her home, checked her over, thank god she has only a small puncture mark and the vet has said to take her in tomorrow to get her checked over....fortunately she's settled now into her bed and the puncture mark seems minor.

Since I've got back and had chance to reflect, I'm thinking what if my DS (6) and DD (4) would have been with me and they would have ended up being bitten ( the bloody thing nearly had my finger when I was trying to prize it off) ???

I have phoned the owneres (2 dear old souls!!) one of who has profusely apolgised but says that it's "his dog and he suffers from a mental illness, and I've said that we should have it put down but he won't take any notice" etc etc. Frankly I don't give a . My thought is that If the dog is dangerous it shouldn't be out in a public place, let alone off of a lead and should be probably muzzled until it's used for its purpose which is to 'rat' on the farm...so what do I do....report it to the police ? or hope that they will do something about it ??

To add to the story have only just moved into the Village (very small, everybody knows everybody) so sure information will be around the village by breakfast time !!!!

A very shaken Steppy & Frisbee....

My dad's dog was attacked by another dog off a lead, my dad also got bit while trying to rescue his dog. They did report it to the police.

There is clearly a problem with this dog and the owners are aware of it. It is irresponsible of them to let the dog out of the house without a lead. OK it was your pup this time. Next time it might be a child.

I think you know what you have to do.

Sorry you've had such a frightening experience. As for reporting to the police I'm not sure what good it would do. My mum's dog has to be kept on a lead for walks as he is very unpredictable with other dogs. He is generally ok with bitches but he will attack other dogs even when they are bigger and stronger than him.

He is a golden retriever and he once attacked a doberman and hurt it. The owner was understandably very upset and angry and my parents paid for all the vets fees. He would never ever attack a human though - unless someone was hurting one of us in which case I'm pretty sure he would defend us but otherwise he loves people.

I know this doesn't help much but thought it might reassure you that althought this dog is clearly aggressive to other dogs it doesn't necessarily follow that it is dangerous to humans.

at least your mum is being responsible, anm, and keeping her dog on a lead.....

I think your better off reporting it to your local Dog Warden -(via council) and if theyve had any other complaints they follow it through with the Police. I did this and they sent a letter out to the owner reminding them to keep their dog under control in a public place.

I think your better off reporting it to your local Dog Warden -(via council) and if theyve had any other complaints they follow it through with the Police. I did this and they sent a letter out to the owner reminding them to keep their dog under control in a public place.

As Freckle says this is not right.

The owners new your puppy was in danger before the attack, because it was out of the house and she had to shout to the farmer to see if he knew where her dog was.

Its not right.

If it were me I might call the owners again and say that you don't want to cause any upset, but this is not acceptable and you will have to contact the police, so that the incident is recoreded, as next time it may be a small child that is hurt.

So sorry for you & little puppy.

apparently it's only attacked 'one other dog'

...one of their own

Just to back up what amynnixmum said about aggression. Dogs being aggressive towards other dogs does not necessarily have anything to do with aggression to people. One of my dogs is muzzled on walks because she can be a little snappy around dogsshe doesn't know. However, around people she is as soft as you can get.

You could report it, but I'm not sure the police would do anything. Unless other people have complained it will just be seen as dogs being dogs.

I'm sorry, I know that doesn't reasure you at all.

With your puppy it is really important that you socialise her other dogs again asap to give her positive experiences around dogs, particularly terriers if you can find any nice ones. I think alot of my dog's issues stem from being attacked when she was a puppy.

My mums dogs problems definately stem from an incident with a black labrador when he was young. He started out just disliking this one dog, then it spread to all black labs, then to all black dogs and then for a while all dogs. He is much better now but Mum would rather be safe than sorry so he goes out on an extender lead and she reels him back in when she sees other dogs coming.

I do agree that it doesn't alwaya follow if a dog is agressive to other dogs that it will be towards children.

But Steppy mentioned the dog who attacked, suffers from mental health illness. Maybe the terrier is not in the right frame of mind to make that choice of dog/human which to attack? Just a passing thought!

I agree that a dog being aggressive towards other dogs doesn't automatically mean that it will be aggressive towards people. However, the owners clearly knew there was a problem and were panicking before the attack. And who knows how many other dogs it has attacked? Or whether it has attacked another person but it has gone unreported? Or the owners have played it down as "oh goodness, he's never done that before".

If you do report it, at least it is on file in case there is another incident involving either a dog or a child.

We had our dog put to sleep a few weeks ago because she squeezed out through a gate that someone had left off the latch (an easy mistake that would no doubt have happened again), and charged accross the lawn to attack an innocent little old dog.
It was very upsetting for the old man who was walking the dog, and of course for the dog itself, who was lucky to escape without too much physical injury.
Dh and I were both adamant after that incident that she be put to sleep immediately. It was a clinical decision. Emotionally we were torn up with guilt as she was always a happy healthy dog and always very friendly towards all humans.
But although she was never a physical danger to humans, her behaviour towards other dogs/cats etc could be so extreme that psychologically she could cause devastation to anyone young or old who might witness her attack. And in the ferocity of an attack, yes - a human hand or limb could very easily just get in the way and get shredded.
I would call the police if I were you.
We have an 8 week puppy ourselves now so I can imagine how distressed you must be feeling. Our old dog would probably have had this pup for breakfast if she was still alive, but I would like to think - wherever she is - that she would be glad another dog was enjoying our home and surrounding countryside in just a little bit more safety.

I agree with you about socialising..she's always been so excited about seeing other animals (cats , horses etc) as well as other dogs, but always on a friendly basis...I'm sure that she'll be petrified now...there's a puppy trainig class on a Wednesday morning that I'm on a waiting list for so I'll phone them to see if I can get her along on Wednesday...she's really been shaken up poor little love..

I also agree with what you're saying about dogs only being aggressive towards other dogs but surely the point here is about the owners being responsible....this dog should not be off of a lead in a public place where other people walk their dogs if it's prone to attacking...somebody WILL eventually get hurt !!

Goosegg, I was so sorry to hear your story, that must have been heartbreaking for you

Co incidentally the dog training class lady called this evening about the puppy classes we've enrolled her on and when I mentioned that she'd been attachked int he village responded with "I bet it's Dribble, she's always attaking other dogs" Sp this dpg has a history.

Anyway, i HAVE called the police, and will also call the Dog warden tomorrow....and I will phone the owners to let them know that is what I've done......

Hi, I used to be a dog warden. I doubt the police will do anything - they usually don't with dog on dog attacks. Hopefully your dog warden will though as the owners of the dog shouldn't let their dog be out of control in a public place. Even if its a public footpath across their land it still needs to be under control. Hopefully the dog warden will contact them about this and they'll keep the dog under control. If they don't keep harrassing your dog warden. He could pick it up as a stray then they'd have to pay a fine. There isn't alot more you can do.
I hope your poor puppy gets over it soon, I'd try and get him to meet lots of friendly gentle dogs as soon as you can so he doesn't develop a fear of other dogs.

How do you get hold of the local Dog Warden? Would it be on the local council website or something?

morning all...

Frizz and I will be going to the puppy socialising class tonight to watch as a bystander - the local trainer has been really kind....We've arranged to get there early so Frizz won't be too unnerved....

Will contact the dog warden this morning

DH was a bit pissed that I called the Police saying that not the best way of building good community relations

...I then suggested that it wouldn't be a 'good community relationship builder' if our children would have been with me last night (which is quite often the case) with them ending up as really upset (best case) or bitten (worst case)......

she's absolutely fine

Doesn't seem to have affected her one little bit... 'mummy's more affected than her tbh, Bumped into another couple in the village today and it turns out that their dog was attacked by this mad terrier too........ but they didn't report it