A Hungarian Vizsla just chased my daughter down the road-should I worry

[majormoo]

Hello. My DD, who is 4, was playing outside our house just now, while DH did some work on our car. All of a sudden a dog came bounding down the road up to her and my DH had to jump in the dog's way to stop it going for her. The owners then saw, shouted at it and put it back inside their house. I have spoken to them and they were very apologetic and said normally the dog-a Hungarian Vizsla-is very good with children and they have never seen him behave like that before. The owner said they thought maybe the long white dress she was wearing (it is quite windy so the dress may have been blowing in the wind) caught his attention. I wondered if anyone knows anything about this breed and whether I should be worried or just put it down to one of those things. My DD and her friends are always running up and down the street on the way to and from school, so I am a bit concerned now.

I would be inclined to say to the owners, that this was the dogs one and only chance and if it in any way endangered or scared your daughter again, that you will go to the dog wardens/police.

Do you mean it was running over to her to say 'investigate' - but in a very bouncy energetic (and scary for a 4yr old) way or that it looked like it was set to attack?

Those are rather different scenarios, the latter should probably be at least reported to some authority if not acted upon. If it was more the first, then yes the owners need to ensure that it does not get loose and be able to run around like that.

My dog is amazing with my dc, but is bouncy and enthusiastic in his greetings to people, which I appreciate can be intimidating for children and people who are unsure of dogs so I make sure I control those situations.

If you say the dog was "going for her" then I would say that's serious...

... as a rule of thumb i don't think the vizsla is an aggressive dog as such but if it has a problem with "long white dresses" then it sounds like it could have issues with anything that it considers out of the ordinary...

... the worry in my mind would be how the hell you are supposed to know what "out of the ordinary" may mean in the future.

Dogs that have problems with unusual objects etc can get scared by them... and many dogs will become aggressive once scared.

Can you talk to them about your concerns? Perhaps you could ask them to keep it on a lead if it is in the street from now on?

I have never met a nasty vizsla ,are you sure it was going for her ? was it barking ,growling ,snarling or was it hurtling full pelt at the big blowy white thing ? Vizlas are like weimarraners ,pointers and that ilk ,they are generally a bit mad when young ,but on the whole make great family pets . Is your dd ok ? ,it must have been fairly scary for her .

thanks for the comments. I didn't see it myself as was inside the house so didn't see its expression as it were. DH said it came pelting down the road so I suppose it was hurtling full pelt at the big blowy white thing. DH said he got in between dog and DD and sort of squared up to it, by which time the owners were shouting at it. I don't know much about dogs but I guess if had wanted to attack her wouldn't it have tried to attack DH?

The owners were very surprised themselves. DD doesn't seem bothered by it. DH was more shaken up