Ddog and I go out for 4 or 5 short walks a day – he's getting on a bit and there's some lovely spaces for a little run around very close to my house, so it helps me clear my head from work and keeps him active.
Between my house and the little field at which our normal routes all start there's a big house where a German Shepherd sits on the balcony all day and all night. He's fairly young, I think, and seems to be kept as a guard dog. He can get down from the balcony into their small garden, but since there's a high fence all around, he spends all day on the balcony, barking constantly at every person with a dog who passes. I hear him all the time, from 7am until late at night, and I've never seen him out for a walk with his owners (all the dog walkers around here know one another, since we tend to come out at the same times of day – it's a hot country here).
Today Ddog and I had just reached the little field and he was having a sniff around, on leash –I never let him off until we get to a semi-enclosed area and I can see there's no risk of cars or unknown dogs around.
Suddenly I see something out of the corner of my eye and the dog from the balcony was charging towards us with his hackles up – before I knew it he was on top of my dog, snarling and going for his neck.
All the logic left my head (Ddog's had a hell of a year and I'm very protective of him) and I literally roared, grabbed the dog by the scruff of his neck with both my hands and threw him off (he had no collar on). He yelped and went pelting back away toward his house. The owner appeared on the street outside his house and yelled across to ask if everything was OK, but unfortunately I was still in panic mode and couldn't get my words together to give him a piece of my mind (I speak the language here fairly well but when I'm angry it's really hard work to get my words out properly). So I just stared at him in disbelief and said "What do you mean is everything OK? Your dog just attacked my dog!" He said he was sorry and I couldn't engage any further – I just turned and walked off.
DDog's OK, luckily –I carried on slowly with our walk to let us both let off some steam and he was a bit wobbly, but no physical damage.
I'm just so cross, disappointed with myself for not taking it up properly with the owner, conscious that it wasn't smart to jump in to protect DDog when I could have been bitten myself (although frankly, I'd take a bite if it kept him safe)... and pissed off with this idiot owner who clearly only keeps this poor dog as a four-legged security system.
And now I'm going to be on alert every time I pass that house, just in case the owner leaves the gate open again.
I don't even fully know what I'm posting for, to be honest –I'm just really upset and cross.