My dog went for another dog - unprovoked. Advice please

[StrawberryMoonxx]

I have a 5 year old giant mixed doodle breed dog since she was a puppy. She has been trained and really well natured for her whole life, with zero instances of aggression towards dogs or people.

I have 2 young children. She adapted well to the new home environment with the little ones. She can be very excitable around visitors and food, but apart from that we love every aspect of having her in our family. She has a happy life and walked 3 times a day, very loved.

This morning, when we were leaving the house for our morning walk, she suddenly leaped down the drive, the lead coming out of my hand and attacked a dog that was walking past. The dog was completely innocent and walking calmly with their owner.

it was the worst thing I have ever seen. Had I not rugby tackled her to the floor (daughter in carrier on my chest) I fear she would have terribly injured the other dog. I feel horrendous about it and can’t stop crying. Incredibly upset for the other dog and owner. Thank goodness the other dog walked away after the ordeal. It all seems such a blur, I don’t really know. I apologised profusely.

please advise - I’m going to book a vets appointment to seek advice or if there’s a medical reason for this behaviour.

it has completely unsettled me and I am terrified about my two lovely daughters, as it was so random and completely unprovoked. Completely out of character.
please be kind with comments, I feel so so guilty and horrible about it all.

I'm not clued up on dog behaviours but a vets visit would be what I would do for something out of character.

If all's fine there then maybe a behaviour person might be able to help nip it in the bud?

Was the dog on your drive?

I appreciate you’re panicked but by attacked, do you mean barking, growling, pinning? She didn’t bite and you were able to get between the dogs, so is there a chance this looked worse than it was?

Any dog can move to protect its territory. Once you’ve seen the vet a good behaviourist can help on leaving the house routines etc if you’d find this helpful,

On the pavement just past our drive. Our dog was definitely biting the other dog, growling, snapping etc. she definitely had her jaws around the other dog

Sorry OP I can imagine how stressful this must be! I would definitely go to the vets as first port of call as a new and extreme behaviour could be pain or illness related.

How old are your children, is there a new new baby? Only asking really as we have a Labrador and he’s lovely, fab natured, never shown any aggression or anything at all, was never protective or similar but I know once my daughter was born he did become more protective. Still no aggression or similar but he sticks close to the pram and if we see another dog out and about he always goes to stand between the other dog and the pram, no barking or aggression but it’s a definite “keep away” behaviour, could yours be doing a more extreme version of this?

She wasn’t biting if the dog wasn’t bitten, but I know the mouth round dog etc is scary and it all happens in seconds.Training doesn’t stop for dogs and this one sounds like she’s doing her family protection job a bit too well.

She saw the dog as a threat, so here’s some ideas of things you can do:

back on a harness/double lead so she can’t ever get out of your grasp
practice leaving house calmly/focus on you
change up routine for next few days so you’re not on your own walking her

I wouldn’t walk her with the baby in a carrier again. I think getting involved in that with a baby on your chest was not safe (I mean, it was understandable in terms of your instinct to intervene, but something to absolutely avoid in future).

It must have been scary for you and I agree that a vet visit is a good idea but dog fights can be very "handbags at dawn" - lots of noise but no injury. Assuming neither dog was bleeding it may not have been a serious attack but you do need to keep your dog away from other dogs just in case and be cautious of other dogs approaching
I doubt there is anything to be concerned about with regards to your children

I would go to the vet for advice.

and I wouldn’t walk her with the baby in a carrier.

Can you get a gate so that if she runs when leaving the house again, at least she can't get to anyone going past? I have this with mine when we leave if a dog is on the pavement (we live near a footpath and often have dogs on the way) because they see it as their patch. She is always fine when we are on the walk. I also don't have a gate and need to get one to stop the pulling mine does to get to the bottom of the driveway!

She may have been feeling protective with the baby around. I have a reactive dog and usually know her triggers, but this morning she flipped when I wasn’t expecting her too and I think it was because it was on the of the first walks we’ve done with our toddler walking loose beside me rather than in a pram or in a back pack etc. I think she felt he was more at risk from other passing dogs.
definitely with getting her checked in case she’s in pain, but unless she shows problem around your children I wouldn’t worry past the usual common sense of giving her space, no near them when eating/sleeping and no climbing on her. Dogs are animals and have off days just like us, plus have a thousand senses we don’t have.

Obviously you need to investigate this in the way that previous posters have suggested, but please don't be too distressed or imagine the worst. This was a situation in which your dog's territorial instincts were naturally firmly engaged. And it may be that she recognised the dog as one who had "invaded her territory" (ie walked past the gate) in the past.
It isn't clear from your post whether she actually did any harm to the other dog, or whether it was just a very convincing display of fierceness. Dogs are very good at putting on a fearsome show as a form of communication.
Even if there was a real risk of harm to the other dog, this is still a very specific form of unwanted behaviour. You know the triggers, the project of retraining her in this specific situation is very well defined, and you can make things better.

It is tempting to think that your dear and precious dog has somehow revealed herself to be bad. We generalise and anthropomorphise in relation to the dog's performance of a very specific instinctual behaviour. She is still the same dear thing as she was; it's just that now you have more information about her behaviour in certain situations.
TLDR: Do take training action but please don't catastrophise

Thank you all very helpful suggestions. DD is 5 months so could be a protection method. Hopefully the vet can advise too

If this is the only incident she’s ever had, I would try not to stress. A dog having a go at another dog always looks and sounds terrible but realistically they have a lot of teeth - if she wanted to do damage, she would have. It could be down to a million different things so you’re definitely right to have her checked over and maybe have a session or two with a behaviorist or a trainer for your own peace of mind but it might’ve just been a one off.

I agree with others that I would look at different gear to walk her in for more control, even conditioning her to a head collar if you’ve got the baby in a carrier. The main thing is to try and control your own anxiety around her after you’ve been shaken up by this. You don’t want her picking up on that on a walk which is where a good trainer will come in handy.

I wouldn’t walk the dog with the baby in a carrier again. That could have ended very badly.

Do you not have a gate?

I think you need to relax and just be more aware in the future. I wouldnt be going to the vets or panicking.

I completely agree. I’ve always walked with the carrier for both my babies and no issues. She doesn’t pull at all on the lead and she’s mostly off lead with fields near our house. It’s completely out of the blue, but I will definitely have to re think this now.

we don’t have a gate, we have a porch as an extra barrier but she is trained to sit down next to the door in her harness and lead until we leave the house. She’s never ran out the door in all the years we’ve had her. Was a complete shock. But very valid point about extra gate

I think you do need to seek the opinion of your vet, just to check that there is no health issue. I've literally just had to have a dog put to sleep who started to become very aggressive, no health issues but he went for me in a way that said he meant to hurt me. There is a longer story about his previous life which I won't bore you with, but please be very careful. My dog really could not be rehabilitated, and in the interests of safety I had to make that decision. Hopefully you can train yours to be better behaved.

It sounds to me like she protecting you and the baby. It was all likely an episode of bad timing. My dog was attacked and it took 4 strong adults to pull that dog off, so I think you're thinking this was far worse than it probably was - that dog wasn't letting go of mine for love nor money. And like PP's have said, some dogs are just noisy rather than out to kill - it's a warning system. Get them checked at the vets, and just change how you leave the house so it can't happen again.

the one thing i haven't seen mentioned, if she is turning reactive, it might be worth beginning some muzzle training for when you're out.

I work with dogs everyday and even though this is a scary incident try not to panic.
It does sound like she is in protection mode.
There isn't simply nice dogs and nasty dogs, I have dogs that are completely submissive with some dogs and pack leader with other, some that love to play with some dogs and will go for others, just like people they like some and don't like others.
Also there is a difference with a dog that wants to kill another dog and one that is scared/protective/hurting. If a dog wants to genuinely kill another dog the first bite will be a puncture and frenzied.
A dog can have a very good scrap and look very aggresive without trying to kill the other dog.
With all that being said you still have a problem because anyone can report you for having a dangerous dog.
Your best best is to get a soft muzzle, be extremely careful with the baby around and take her to some classes to see how she gets on.

Just to add, my little dog is super-territorial at the gate. He will bark annoyingly at passing dogs if I let him (I try to avoid/minimise this). And when we encounter on our walks dogs that have antagonised him by walking past our gate, he has on a couple of occasions picked an argument.
He is extremely good at using sounds and body language that look fierce but in fact present no actual threat of harm, and other dogs seem to understand this.
Still not acceptable, I know, but it highlights the difference between communication and violence.
It is quite tough on dogs, that they have to learn to cope with a social world that doesn't match the territorial realities their evolution primes them to deal with.

You put your child into a VERY dangerous situation and they could potentially have been attacked by 2 dogs!!! THAT is the thing you should be concerned about NOT the bloody animal!!

Agreed, whilst cats literally walk around literally killing what they wants dogs are supposed to go against every instinct they have and behave better than humans

That is unwarranted scaremongering, @Nearly50omg. Way out of keeping with the actual situation the OP confronted, and not very helpful for her to hear at a time when she is upset, and clearly already attempting to deal with the situation realistically and responsibly

Helpful 🙄