Just felt I needed to post and wanted to check I did the right thing at the time . My dog Rhubarb, a toller, is 10mths, so still a bouncy friendly pup, I was walking him yesterday along a public footpath, rounded a corner a 3 rottis were coming towards us, owners a fair way behind with a GSD. 1 of the rottis leapt on him, pinned him to the ground, snarling at him and shaking him, he's yelping away, the other 2 rottis circling us, i reached out to pull him off , then realised putting my hand out was not a good idea, so screamed and yelled at the rotti, who did let go, then turned to check Rhubarb and the rotti jumped on him again, I yelled, it let go, turned away again, it jumped on him again. Eventually it let go and went back to its owners, who'd been strolling along. I checked Rhubarb, who seemed ok but yelped when I first touched him. Spoke to the owners who said they usually have the dogs on a lead if there are other dogs around, I pointed out that my dog was next to me (although not on a lead) and they should have had their dogs nearer to them to control them, what if my dd (2.8) had been with me too and got in the way!
I was shaking when I spoke to them, they offered to cover any vets bills, Rhubarb seems ok, he limped slightly on the way home, but seems fine today, the rotti just grabbed his scruff and bruised him I think, but it was awful to see, he was yelping so much. I'm sure it has probably shaken his confidence and don't want this to affect his sociability with other dogs. What should I do to make sure it doesn't affect him too much? And if it ever happens again should I just yell again(I was hoarse for the rest of the day I yelled so much), DH said I should take a stick, but my concern would be that if I used a stick against the rotti, it and the others might have turned on me. I'm also worried as its one of our regular walks, I'm scared of meeting them again. I don't think its worth reporting it as I know dog on dog attacks aren't acted on and Rhubarb was only bruised, I'm not even sure which of their 3 dogs attacked him, they asked me as they were too far away to see what happened I do know it wasn't the one with the studded pink collar but the other two looked the same. By the way I have nothing against rottis, I've met some nice ones, but they are very big dogs, and if they know their dog is like this shouldn't it be kept on a lead? There was no reason for it to attack my pup, he's not aggressive, is friendly and slightly submissive when appraching new dogs, or he was . Advice and sympathy sought please.