How should a dog react to another dog attacking it?

[Lougle]

My own fault. I was walking the dogs to the river, had them off lead. As I rounded the corner, I saw a man down by the river with a dog on a lead. A terrier.

Instead of putting my dogs on their leads, then asking him if she was ok with other dogs, I called out first, by which time, just as the man said 'actually she's the one who's trouble' my dogs had reached her.

I called Patch, pretty much in vain. He was being snarled and snapped at, so was 'in the zone'. His response was to growl back. He didn't bite, and thinking about it, if he wanted to, he well could have, because he wasn't on the lead.

The man scooped his girl up, who was still snarling and snapping in his arms, and Patch jumped up a couple of times to try and reach her, still growling.

He didn't resist me finally getting hold of his collar and putting his lead on, and didn't snap at me when I did so.

Lessons learned:

1. Lead on immediately when another dog is sighted, so that introduction can be controlled and if hostile, I can simply lead him away.

(slightly longer term)

1. Teach to come to me when he sees a dog. Clicker and treat should achieve that, I think.

1. Ask people if dogs are friendly after putting lead back on

Anyway, after all that, I was pondering the situation, and thinking 'what would I want him to do?'

It's probably a bit unreasonable to expect a dog not to growl/snap back if another dog is intent on taking a chunk of him, isn't it?

I would have thought any dog will defend itself if it is attacked,(except my spaniel it seems!) my collie will attack first if she is not sure, which is nearly always as she is nervous, she is always on a lead around other dogs even if she meets them regularly!
I agree with the put lead on first and then find out if the other dog is friendly. Better that way than finding out that they are not friendly when they attack first!

My spaniel takes no notice and tries to walk around other dogs, although he may have his hackles up. He hasn't defended himself on the two occasions he has been attacked, he just tried to run to me. The last 2 days we have met the local dogwalker with a large (8 plus) group of very vocal and some quite aggressive sounding loose dogs and he managed to weave past them all looking disinterested!

Depends on the dog, some just go all submissive, some defend themselves and yes defending themselves from an aggressive dog doesn't indicate any problem at all if they're normally fine.

I think it depends on breed, some are more feisty than others.
My lab has never growled or snapped. If there's plenty of warning he'll avoid a potentially aggressive dog and give it a wide berth but he never runs, just carries on at normal walking pace. If the dog runs up and is right in his face he goes into "ignore mode" keeps very still and looks away. He once had two very aggressive yorkshire terriers growling and snapping at him for ages and he just stood there, head and tail down until they went away. I used to wish he'd stand up for himself but now realise he's seems to have worked out a good strategy as he's never been bitten.

Very useful replies. He's a Staffy X of some description, but usually very submissive, nervous. I guess his breed traits would be to attack in the face of attack, rather than retreat.

If another dog tries to attack my dog she runs off. Fast. Failing that, she lies down flat on the floor and does her uber-submissive act. There are some dogs that she just loves to be dominated by apparently .

If I see another dog on its lead, I try to either distract my dog with a treat/ stick/ ball or put her on her lead (if she's close enough). Sometimes I can't do either and she runs up to the other dog anyway, but I always apologise and go and get her. Its dog walking ettiquette innit.

My lab X collie gets attacked ALL the time. He's actually good with other dogs but is crap at the initially "size up" he walks up like Johnny Big Bollocks then gets his bum kicked. He is only young and still learning. When he was 5 months he was "properly" attacked by a mastiff type, he ran away then back to us and hid behind us. The chavvy owners then walked off laughing.

This is such an interesting thread and an excellent question to ask.

From all the responses the dog who is standing up for himself the most and showing excellent doggy communication skills and "don't argue with me" is Wiggofan. Your dogs behaviour is very confident and shows that he is very sure of how to behave and gives off exactly the right signals to not need to fight, but to clearly show the aggressive dog who is in charge.

Naysa it is interesting how some dogs need to learn the "size up". Try to get him on lead and then walk to any approaching dogs in an arc, he will learn from the dogs different behaviour that this is the most polite way to approach another dog and the approaching dog will be more chilled hence a calmer greeting.

Lougle your dogs behaviour does show some anxiety and stress with the situation unlike Wiggofans dog. I would work on some socialising with a few calm, solid, polite dogs. Could you meet up with Wiggofans?

Most dogs we've meet are calm polite and solid. He's quite a nervous dog, though. He'll approach, but it's tall between the legs and darting away then returning, style.