What would you do in a vicious dog attack? [MNHQ warning: distressing content]

[MarcoPoloCX]

If your dog was savagely attacked by another, at what point would you intervene and how much force would you use?
Would you wait for the owner to recall/pull his dog away or would you go straight in with all your might?
Would you just try and pull your dog away or would you hit and kick the other dog?
I am asking because this weekend I witnessed a little terrier being ripped apart by Mastiff.
The owner was of the terrier was screaming while the other guy was recalling and trying to pull it away.
It was over in seconds.
Was the worst thing I seen happened to someone’s pet.

Ender, most people aren't capable of a rational thought when their dog is being attacked.
Added to that in my case we were at the edge of the beach by a busy main road so had I let go of both leads there is more than a fair chance of them being run over.

Unfortunately there is no perfect answer in how to handle situations like this because all will be different.

The case had been assigned to an officer and we both have been asked to come in the police station to give a full statement. The other lady told me that a warrant will be applied for to seize her remaining dogs and have them assessed.

I'm glad they're responding appropriately, op. I hope they assess the owners too!

The case had been assigned to an officer and we both have been asked to come in the police station to give a full statement. The other lady told me that a warrant will be applied for to seize her remaining dogs and have them assessed.

I'm glad they're responding appropriately, op. I hope they assess the owners too!

Morethan, if unarmed humans encountered a pack of hungry wolves, they could say they were higher on the food chain, but they'd still be pooped out the other end
I've heard the best solution is stones, but you risk hitting your own. When was 12 and walking our elderly setter, she set on a terrier she saw everyday for years. She had a brain tumour that ruptured (didn't know at the time) and died shortly after. I was in total shock. The terrier was bleeding but not badly as she seemed to just lock onto him. Later the same day she went for our other dog (again blood) and the cat (again blood...hers) In both dog cases I went nuts, grabbed her and actually forced her jaws open. Now I know that any dog can potentially turn.
I would most probably throw stones or set of a rocket if I had one. I wouldn't get in like I did at 12 though, unless my dog was the aggressor.

The police take this sort of thing vety seriously now. My friend dog was attacked by A large breed she called the police .They told owners it would be illegal to walk it off lead or unmuzzled again and if she did shed be prosecuted and dog PTS.This dog didn't kill caused injury to friends dog .

Letting go of your own dog’s lead was what one of my neighbours did. She has a lurcher.
The other owner had two very large dogs on lead but could not hold on two dogs charging off.
The attacking dogs’ owner couldn’t get the dogs off and they managed to puncture bite the lurcher.
The neighbour then decided to let go of the lead as it could out run/sprint the large dogs.

Mine two were attacked. Both were on lead.
These two big dogs came charging from an adjacent field in the park.
I tried to stand in between them and my dogs but it’s impossible to block as they would just go around you.
They were attacking and the owner was running over, screaming and trying to recall at the same time.
My dogs are small… about 8kg.
There’s no way they can outsprint a large breed. There were two of my dogs and two of his dogs, so I did not let go.
God knows where they would run to and end up.
You are being dragged by your own dogs, one could be pulling one way, and the other in another.
Luckily, there were no puncture wounds but they were limping for a few day after that.
The other owner initially tried to pull the dogs off by the collar but they are so powerful so it was futile.
He ended up having to whack the dogs with a torch that he had on their heads, and giving them kicks to the body.
They finally backed off after a couple of minutes.
The guy was not apologetic and when I complained that they should be on lead, he turned round and said it’s because of my dogs’ barking.
And WWYD if you have two dogs, especially if yours are small and they are huge.

And WWYD if you have two dogs, especially if yours are small and they are huge.

If there weren't enough people to safely use the lift technique, I'd use anything and everything I had to hand. Water, pet corrector, hand-held fire extinguisher (particularly effective in multi-dog fights).
Weapons, missiles and stomping as a last resort.

As sisters said... Unfortunately there is no perfect answer in how to handle situations like this because all will be different.

If I was genuinely concerned that mine might be attacked (or fight), I'd carry a car size co2 fire extinguisher on walks. The sound is enough to deter most aggressors and break up most fights.

...actually, if I was genuinely concerned mine would instigate a fight, they'd be on lead and muzzled!

Its posts like this that scare the utter crap out of me!

I'm going to carry the dog's ball launcher stick on every walk from now on. I walk my 2 GSD along with a double buggy and I have no idea how the hell I would react if I had too

I couldn't help thinking of this thread on my lovely walk this morning. Really horrible.

DH thinks that my stick (3" diameter and up to my bust) looks like a club - I found it on a walk, peeled the bark off, dried it and sanded/waxed it so it looks harmless.

I have thought about this a lot - I would use it like a spear, as hard as I bloody well could.

As for letting go of the lead - my dog wouldn't run away from me.

years ago, a neighbours staffie killed our cat. she was sat on the fence in our front garden and the dog ran across the road, grabbed her in its mouth. both me & dh jumped on them both, dh put his hand in the dogs mouth to try and force the jaw open, also punched the dog on its head and chest.

we both were bitten, dh quite badly on the hands. the police did very little as the dog had attacked the cat and not us directly, the owners response was 'dogs chase cats, what do you expect' (i kind of expect my cat can sit in her own front garden and not get ripped to pieces).

from what the other neighbours told us, this was the second cat the dog had killed, and it also had a history of attacking other dogs too.

owner said to us the dog was as soft as anything and wouldn't hurt a fly

it was eventually put down when it bit the owners granddaughter's head.

Not all terriers are stroppy, I have had two fox terriers and now have an Irish, in each case I put masses of effort into getting them socialised. This dog has been the hardest as we no live in a rural area, but so far she is doing really well (on just over a year old now). She was attacked a few weeks ago completely out of the blue by a dog she had played with once before, a deerhound. Deerhound came bowling up suddenly and literally just went for her, the deerhound had been on a path, and just appeared round a bend with a child in tow and the adult owner several hundred yards behind. DH grabbed our dog and picked her up but the deerhound was leaping up to get her, growling and very threatening. DH had to put our dog on top of a parked car as the deerhound was easily tall enough to grab our dog from his arms. The owner then arrived and was completely unintersted, she called her dog off but didn't put her on a lead, she just said "Oh they have played together before" and acted as though nothing had happened even though I was clear that her dog had suddenly gone for mine with no warning. Then a week or two later a friend who was with us that day and so saw the attack told us that a second friend of hers had been walking her soppy 12 month old spaniel bitch and that the same deerhound had suddenly gone for her too. So now I am worried about walking in one of our favourite places in case we meet this bloody owner and her dog. Jack Russels can be right little beasts but at least if one gets snarly or snappy it is easier to deal with than a huge dog, the deerhound is probably taller than me on its hind legs, which means its face is at adult face level-not funny.

Oh and to add insult to injury we had to pay the car owner twenty quid as he arrived mid fracas and there were small scratches on his roof.

@ Nipersvest
The dog would have been deemed dangerous if you were injured in protecting your pet or stopping a fight.
Also it doesn’t have to have attacked but the threat of it being dangerous and out of control in a public area.
What bugs me as well is that, OK, there are dogs with poor recall, there are boisterous dogs, reactive dogs and dogs that can become aggressive if others get too close. Most of these will only result barking and no fights.
But it’s the owners with dogs who have attacked other dogs on several unprovoked occasions and yet they think it’s perfectly OK to go through a doggy area with their dogs unleashed.

I don't understand why people let their dogs off the lead when they are likely to attack another dog, surely the owners know their dogs well enough to know if they are safe around other dogs?

I have a very hyper lab, most of the time his recall is spot on but very occasionally he gets far to excited and ignores me, this happened a couple of days ago and he ran off towards a collie, I was mortified, luckily after sniffing the dogs bum he suddenly remembered me and listened to me, he came straight back but I put him straight back on the lead. You never know if the other dog is safe to play with even if off the lead. Luckily my boy has never been attacked even though he's one of those dogs that will just run up to another, if he was attacked im not sure what I would do.

I keep my other dog on the lead at all times, she's a ball terrier and has a poor recall, she also likes to play rough by using her body weight to barge into other dogs, she wouldn't bite but would probably piss another dog off enough for them to bite her so I just don't risk it.

I was once out walking my staffy and bull terrier when an offlead black lab charged us; hackles up, slavering, growling - without a shadow of a doubt on the attack. With two dogs I couldn't pick them both up so picked up the smaller, and then shouted aggressively at the lab, whilst its owner (giving up on any recall - cos it had none) puffed and panted upto us, with the usual "He's only being friendly!" Yes. With his hackles up and snarling. Very friendly. Luckily I was wearing big walking boots and as it got nearer was prepared to kick it in the face if it had touched my dogs.

Being bull terriers, if it had started a fight they would have finished it. And as it was a remote field with no witnesses, probably got the blame if they'd killed it. I told the woman she had no business letting that thing offlead if it had no recall. She was very entitled, "who are you to tell me what to do?"

But I never saw that dog again. She had a fright and walked it elsewhere.

All the time it was happening, my two bull terriers looked - one of them scared, one of them totally non plussed. I had no doubt that even though they were on lead and under control and the 'loveable' labrador offlead, with no recall and a slavering, vicious mental wreck - my dogs would have got the blame had a fight ensued.

I found it very hard to believe that this woman (a) fantasised she had any recall and (b) genuinely believed that a dog charging two other dogs from a great distance, with hackles up and teeth bared was "only being friendly".

The neighbours I have now have the same sort of dog and that is also incredibly aggressive and reactive - to the point we can barely use the garden as if it sees us out there, it goes for us through the fence.

Ever since I always walked the dog(s) wearing bovver boots and with every intention of using them if I had to break up a fight and prevent injury to my own dogs.

That dog was probably aggressive but just a note, hackles up and dog barking doesn't always mean it's aggressive. Dogs do that when overly excited and barking for attention or to get others to play and some ppl confuse that for aggression. Not saying you were But she should have recalled and checked before knowing it's ok.

Thing is, it's not good etiquette among dogs, for one to approach another in such a way and it is likely to cause a fight. In fact, it's extremely provocative behaviour.

Running up with hackles up, teeth barred, growling and slavering is threatening or at least, worryingly unhinged behaviour, as far as the receiver is concerned.

That approach is enough to cause a fight and the approaching dog would be the instigator, even if the approached dog snapped first, because if it approached in a mannerly fashion, a fight wouldn't generally ensue.

I was walking a dog I was fostering once on a lead. She was only a little skinny thing really but she was scared of other dogs. Some woman came with her lab off lead and it came at my foster dog, I don't know what it's intentions were but it scared my dog and she barked then snapped, I shouted at her and she stopped but this dog kept coming at her, the woman said it was trying to play but it didn't look like it to me.

Anyway I ended up picking up foster dog and she was so scared she was shaking while telling the woman to put her dog on a lead.

Her answer? "But I'm scared of dogs!"

FFS, don't have one then.

I'll never foster a dog again. I can't be bothered with other owners who can't control their dogs.

I did used to have a problem with a big un neutered Tom cat who used to come in the garden and attack my little female cats. I fostered a giant ragdoll Tom who came in once with a scratched ear and I've never had that problem since funnily enough. Kept Mr ragdoll forever.

Marco, I used to work with dogs so know the difference between an excited bark and an aggressive one. ;o) I think this thing only hesitated at the last minute because I wasn't afraid to show it aggression .

Why is it these dogs are owned by people who can't read their own dog's body language and behaviour? And why walk a dog with no recall offlead, at all? And why get aggressive yourself when challenged as to what the hell you are doing, trying to walk a dog offlead with no recall?

It was so clearly aggressive, I can't believe she hadn't known it wasn't safe to walk it offlead.

Amantes, my thoughts too. It was unequivocal.

Also that labrador was extremely lucky that my two bull terriers were both steady, calm and not aggressive. Most dogs would be provoked into a bit of fear aggression, being approached like that.

I'd get in there and separate. I have before had to pick up my (LARGE) dog after she's been attacked by another. I couldn't just watch, just couldn't.

I have also been in a situation where I was walking with a friend and her dog and hers was getting attacked. I instinctively used a tennis racket that I had to whack the offending dog. The other guy threatened to beat me if I hit his dog. I whacked it anyway. I wasn't going to wait til he gets here to separate them.

Also that labrador was extremely lucky that my two bull terriers were both steady, calm and not aggressive. Most dogs would be provoked into a bit of fear aggression, being approached like that.

Absolutely agree! The other aspect of this is guarding/ guarding breeds - one of mine (rescue) wouldn't allow a strange dog to approach me like that. If a dog she didn't know and through their behaviour, had good reason not to trust, entered my space with intent...

Fortunately, I have a ROARR and I'm not afraid to use it

I would definitely get stuck in, booting agressive dog etc. I don't believe for one second I could pull a 90kg dog off another by its hind legs though. Pull legs and tails would probably be my best chance and if it grabbed hold of me I'd go for the eyes, nose or ears.

My only experience of a dog attack happened when I was on a horse. It was a racehorse on its first day back after 6weeks box rest due to an operation so was lovely and jumpy anyway. We were on private gallops owned by the trainer and I was only walking it up, strict instruction to not even do a step of trot.

Ugly great Weinmaraner came up and started hassling us, barking, jumping up and trying to nip ankles, obviously horse went nuts and dog went more nuts. Owner was about 300yards away on the phone. Dog grabbed hold of horses ankle properly so I jumped off and had at it with my crop. It was a crazy situation, trying to hold this leaping horse and aim at a dog.

I was hitting it really hard, a lot harder than I've ever hit a horse but it only let go when horse reared and landed on its leg with a satisfying crunch. Owner came over and went nuts, got very agressive, thank god my trainer appeared in the jeep!

It all went to court with the man wanting us to pay to fix his dog and trying to get me done for animal cruelty! He had a huge bill when he was told actually he'd be paying for the horses injures and possibly got a fine for trespassing too.

Horse was fine, though had a couple more week box rest. I think the dog now walks with a limp and the owner with a lighter wallet