My seven month Goldie was attacked today

[Stellarbella]

My boy is a really gentle, good natured soul - he loves other dogs but is incredibly submissive around them - he will stop when they approach him, wait for the other dog to come over and sit and wait whilst the other dog has a sniff or whatever. He has never so much as looked the wrong way at another dog, still less ever growled or barked.

On our walk today, we were walking the same way as a man walking his spaniel. Both dogs off the lead. My boy was sniffing around in some bushes and the spaniel just went for him, and even went back a second time once my boy had got away. No bark or growl or anything from my dog, but he was making an absolutely awful crying/whimpering sound when being attacked. The owner did absolutely nothing, just let me (at 22 weeks pg) run in to break it up and get my dog out of danger. Then, as I was checking my dog over / comforting him, the other owner just walked off without saying a word, no sorry or anything.

My dog doesn't have any obvious injuries, and we continued the walk without further incident, but I feel absolutely terrible that this has happened to him and really shaken up by the whole thing. I am worried that his previous good nature will be replaced with nerves and that he won't be the same around other dogs again. I also can't help thinking that I could have done more to stop it happening, and feel awful about that.

What can I do to try to make sure that this doesn't set him back and/or to prevent this ever happening again?

Do you know any dog owners you could walk with a bit to make sure he doesn't start to feel nervous of other dogs?

I have to say I find some dog owners just don't care and my dog is very submissive and wouldn't defend himself at all. At a group training one nasty dog had a go at several of our dogs and mine included about a year ago so I know he won't fight back. I therefore tend to stick with my dog when I see strange ones approach so I can monitor any interactions (my dog stays close to me so that's easy to do).

That's a good idea @bitey - we are going on holiday in a week to the Lakes with three other family dogs, so he will have some dog-time then.

That sounds like a good opportunity for him to have some nice 'dog time'.

Mine goes to daycare so he gets to play with his pals each week so I tend to turn and walk elsewhere if I see other dogs now or as mentioned above stick close by if we have to walk past.

It's horrible for you as well and if you feel nervous about other dogs attacking yours perhaps think of taking a walking pole/stick out with you that you could put between them if needed. Foolishly I tend to put myself between my dog and others who are causing any grief to mine.

So sorry you had this experience :( awful from the other owner just to walk away and do nothing!! Unfortunately this also happened to me with one of the dogs I was looking after, when an off lead dog went for my dog and would not leave us alone for ages, very scary experience.

I've started carrying a large umbrella, which I could put between the dogs in case this happens again, but now again becoming more relaxed as it's not happened since. So on balance I would say it's unlikely to happen often. Not that this helps you at the moment :(
Some dogs and some people are not nice.... unfortunately to put it mildly.

At that age and with a gentle nature the chances are very high that the crying/whimpering were much more about shock and fear than pain. If your dog isn't damaged then the other dog wasn't putting any real force behind the attack. I say that to try and reassure...

In terms of helping the dog, Bitey already has great suggestions about balancing this one bad experience with lots of good ones with other dogs. This increases the odds of your dog just chalking this up to a bad one-off.

It will also help your dog for you not to be nervous - I realise that is much easier said than done and I say this as someone whose JRT was skinned (literally, all skin gone from shoulders to hips) by another dog some years back. You need to be the same trusting, carefree, breezy owner he knows - even if you clip him back on a lead every time you see another dog, just to be safe. He is young enough to still be taking a big lead from you and how you behave so perhaps the family holiday will be good for you both in coming to relax and trust other dogs again?

I'll just finish up by saying I am sorry this happened to you both - it is an awful shock when a dog you love is attacked like this and the sense of injustice of it all can be immense. Here's hoping you both have many, many happier walks together xx

Thanks @miss, that's great advice. Yes, I definitely need to put it behind me. He seems happy enough now and was fine on the rest of the walk, if a little extra cautious with other dogs he met. I'm going to start taking him back to training classes as well, he's finished all his puppy training but the trainer holds a weekly class for older dogs where he will be able to spend time with other, more pleasant, dogs.

As others have said, definitely make some positive dog meetings happen. If you know someone with a nice spaniel, that would be excellent and ensure he doesn't start disliking just spaniels.

I also agree with this - At that age and with a gentle nature the chances are very high that the crying/whimpering were much more about shock and fear than pain. If your dog isn't damaged then the other dog wasn't putting any real force behind the attack. So as horrible as the experience was for you, your puppy hasn't had as bad an experience as you did.

Also walk down that same route again (at a different time) ASAP - as much for your association of that route as your pups.

Finally, a 7month Goldie who is naturally submissive stands a very good chance of moving on from this without issue.

Our dog cringes and makes high-pitched agonised yelping noises if certain other dogs so much as look at her in the wrong tone of voice. I've had owners apologise profusely while I stand there saying 'No, yours didn't touch her, truly, she's just a wimp!'

My fierce and fearless terrier pup was jumped on today by a not very friendly boxer, she cried like a baby . She wasn’t hurt it’s just that she was the younger dog so she went into her self protection wimp mode and cried and cried. The other owner was more taken aback by my pups over reaction than anything. 2 minuets later pup has forgotten all about it.

This happened to the golden I had growing up, just make sure you introduce him to lots of nice dogs in particular spaniels. Ours ended up detesting weimaraners, luckily they aren't as popular as spaniels!