Please help reassure me feel terrible

[windydoggy]

Our dog is now 6 and had issues with other dogs since he was about a year after being attacked by another dog .
We are always careful with him around other dogs but tonight I took him out with his ball into a field , was almost round field when a woman with two dogs entered , I put him on lead and put ball away but then noticed they were staying well away so left his lead on but carried on throwing ball leaving lead trailing behind him .
Next thing I know one of her dogs comes running over and mine turns and bites hers and I manage to grab mine and pull him away .
Woman was very upset and to be honest I was upset but cross with her for allowing hers to come running over like it did .
To be honest my mental health is not great at the moment and just feel so sad and upset as our darling dog had been coming on leaps and bounds with accepting other dogs and this has put us backwards .

Take no notice of jaffacakebeast. She's a fool. Stick to the jaffa cakes, jaffacake, and stay out of things you know nothing about.

@Stripyhoglets yes we do put him on lead when other dogs around but as dog was going in opposite direction I thought it was safe to let mine free run after they had passed on other side of the field as knew mine would stay close , didn't expect her to allow her dog to run over the minute I let go off my boys lead . We weren't even near each other 😟

@Singlenotsingle Thank you for support, would like Jaffa to explain herself , I imagine she has no experience of dogs and just randomly posts shit !

If I see a dog on a lead, mine goes on a lead straight away. If a dog is running free then I assume it’s ok with other dogs and let mine off. I thought that was the general rule.

I would be very upset if an off-lead dog bit mine.

@SilviaSalmon I repeat again I saw other dog going in opposite direction when we passed dog I put dog on lead but let go off his lead after we had passed them on opposite sides of the field , so he could chase his ball a few metres in front of me . It was then they allowed their dog to come running over .

I’ve got a German shepherd actually, who’s never bit anything! I’ve had a vicious dog before, who was walked very early and late, and always on the lead. Because I’m not thick, I’m a responsible dog owner who doesn’t let my dog run around biting things. Not hard is it? You have no common sense and obviously very little understanding of your own dog. I hope the other dog owner sues you!

And apart from all of the above, all dogs are legally required to be on a lead in public place.

@Jaffacakebeast Do fuck off ! I explained the situation and how bad I feel and you can't help but try and make me feel worse .
Now your back please do and explain why I am thick and a cf ?

Tbh OP if it were mine he bit and I found out you knew he was dog aggressive I'd be reporting you and asking for him put down. You clearly can't be trusted to control your aggressive dog and letting him loose when other dogs were around, knowing he isn't friendly was... well, I don't even know what you were thinking. One of mine is the same so I have sympathy for you there to a certain degree but he is never ever off lead if there are other dogs in sight. He won't approach them but even so, it's not worth the risk. Legally, it is your fault as he was the aggressor and was out of your control so I would try and de-escalate the situation with the other owner as much as possible and you will likely be liable for all vets bills but that can't be helped. I would expect any dog loose to be friendly so you can't really complain that hers came over. Yours is the one who has the issue so it is your responsibility to make him safe in public.

Sorry OP. An unfortunate error of judgement on your part, I think you'll just have to own it.

Have explained multiple times already.

All dogs should be under control when in a public place...that does not mean they must be on a lead.

If I see another dog on a lead I call mine back and put on lead. As others have commented...if your dog isn't friendly/safe with other then please keep on lead...or at least use a muzzle.

If mine happens to be on lead and another dog is approaching off lead...I will generally let mine off...she can run faster than me if attacked. My previous old girl (mini poodle) was on lead in park and got attacked by an off lead shepherd...neither she nor I could get away...lead ended up wrapped round me...I ended up on the ground. Bloody scary. Luckily shepherds owner managed to pull it off.

@thesnapandfartisinfallible I do think that's harsh that you would want him put to sleep .
He was attacked by an Alsatian as a pup so he's usually fine with anything small it's just the large dogs he has fear aggression off .
Like I keep saying I did put him on the lead as we passed and waited for a bit of space between us before letting go of his lead again .
Error of judgement maybe but other owner saw me put him on his lead until we were well passed so would have been nice if she had kept her dog away .

And if it were the other way around? If it were my dog loose and bit yours who was friendly and I knew he had form for aggression with other dogs? It doesn't matter why he is aggressive, the fact is that he is. Would you trust that he wouldn't be loose again, based on the fact that I let him go out of reach this time, already knowing that he was a risk or would you want him off the streets?

YOU are the one with the dangerous dog. SHE doesn't have to do shit, her dog isn't a danger to others, yours is. YOUR dog is the one who needs to be kept close and away from others.

As I said, one of mine is the same, I have one who can be trusted and one who can't and the one who can't is always muzzled. Other dogs do approach us as one of mine is always off lead so the aggressive one has to have precautions in place. He is a wonderful, loving dog at home, it's all fear based. So far it has always been dog aggression, never towards people so I manage him and make sure that the other dog is trained well enough that I will never have to worry about her while trying to deal with him as I know I couldn't physically overpower both of them. But the day he seriously hurts another dog or a person is the day I will say goodbye because if I can't handle him, he's a liability and a danger. Like it or not, he has behaviour problems and he is your problem to handle not other owners.

👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻

The fact that you kept throwing the ball is most likely why their dog ran over.

On a practical note I have a dog who has been attacked several times and now prefers to avoid other dogs and is very wary of unknown dogs. I saw a behaviourist who helped hugely by introducing him to stooge dogs and improved his confidence around other dogs. He is never going to be the life and soul of the dog park ( hate those places) but he can generally cope much better now - so it's something I would highly recommend and insurance covered all the costs.

Secondly something she taught me was to leave the ball at home. Chasing a ball increases a dogs adrenaline and will make them much more likely to react if they are nervous / that way inclined in a negative way to other dogs because they are so pumped and will more quickly escalate in stressful situations. I was quite sad about leaving the ball behind because he absolutely loves chasing his ball but I have to concede that he is a much calmer dog in every way on walks as a result.

Seriously, Your dogs vicious, it should be on a lead at all times, so should hers tbf, legally. But you’re a CF

Don't worry Op, not a single part of this sentence is true

And apart from all of the above, all dogs are legally required to be on a lead in public place. This is BS, just like the rest of her post.

Tbh OP if it were mine he bit and I found out you knew he was dog aggressive I'd be reporting you and asking for him put down. - You can ask but it won't happen.

I would expect any dog loose to be friendly so you can't really complain that hers came over. Then that is your mistake. No dog should be allowed to run up to another dog. If the Ops dog was just happily playing close to her, and the other dog can running up from the other side of the field, then that is the other dog owners fault. End of.

wow so much crap on this page

Most of the posts on this page are yours...

At least my posts aren't just making up laws and crap

tbh, I think the detail of whether or not you were holding the lead is a misnomer. If the other dog is allowed to run up to you and yours then even if you had hold of the lead, you still are unlikely to be able to respond quicker than a dog.

To allow your dog to approach anyone without checking it is ok first is naive. Mistakes happen and most of us have had or seen a recall fail so I tend to be understanding etc when it happens with other dogs and is clearly an error, but I also don't think it's on to just assume an off lead/under control dog must be friendly and fair game to be approached.

There are plenty of reasons why a dog might be off lead but not want to be approached. Training and recovery from surgery for two. A friendly out of control dog could be a considerable threat to a dog recovering from surgery so the idea that only aggressive dog owners must take precautions is daft. A few months ago a rescue king charles in my village, who was well on her way to recovering from hip surgery, was bounced on by a failed-recall labradoodle. It cracked her hips back open and set her recovery back 12 weeks. She is also now very reactive to similar dogs because she associates them with the pain of the injury. Her owner is not to blame. The dick wad owner is, for letting their 'friendly' dog approach her because she was off lead (walking to heel) so assumed she was fair game.

Just plain old not wanting to be bothered by someone else's dog is also a reasonable reason, imo.

Dogs are living creatures with minds of their own. Yes, training and good observation means you will be better at predicting how your own dog and the other dog will behave but this is not foolproof and a simple search of google images of dogs and children will reveal how useless most people are at reading dog body language.

If you let yours interact (either deliberately or through failed recall) with an unknown dog without checking first then you are deciding to take a risk. No point complaining when the risk doesn't pay off. You are also forcing the other owner to take the risk as well, whether they want to or not.

Oh, and fwiw, our JRT has been on the receiving end of a vicious attack (in the street, her on lead, the other dog off lead, 50% of her body skinned, £2000+ bills and a 50/50 chance of survival, police involved, other owner severally injured trying to get his dog off her). The other dog was not put down, the other owner was not charged with anything and not liable for vets bills, despite deliberately leaving his dog off lead. The law on dog/dog attacks (service dogs excepted) is not as quoted by pp.