My dog had an altercation with an overweight staffie this morning , both off lead ,the other dog came up to mine and then it just kicked off . After separating them we amicably agreed to call it 'six of one and half a dozen of the other ' , my dog has been to the vet with ear damage ,both internal and external which thankfully is not too serious ,her dog looked fine . The point of this post is to say if there is any possibility that your dog could instigate a fight I think you should be equipped to deal with it , as it was this owner was battering her dog with her ball thrower with little effect and I think my dog only got off so lightly because I basically grabbed him by the harness and picked him up , the staffie was then trying to jump up me to get at him and when the owner tried to grab him his harness came off ! It also answers the question of what I would do in the midst of a fight - my natural reaction was to dive straight in to save my dog , if I hadn't I doubt I would be sitting here with him now .