Dog attack

[RiverCityFan]

My adult DC got a puppy a few months ago, the pup was 5 months old when they got it. Its previous owner decided a puppy was too much work!
My DC has put a lot of work into training the dog and it really is a sweet little thing; but every time it meets another dog, it barks. It's not an aggressive bark, just an excited bark but DC is struggling to stop this behaviour. In normal times, they would have gone to puppy training classes.
Onto today. We were out for a walk; our dog on a lead. Three dogs were coming towards us off lead. Our dog started barking. As they got level with us, it all kicked off and our pup was attacked by the other dogs.
Owners were very apologetic once they caught up with their dogs and ours wasnt badly hurt (although does have a bite mark on her back) so we carried on home.
My DC is upset but recognises that the barking probably set things off.
So, how do we socialise our pup to stop the barking and hopefully make walking less stressful!??

You and your puppy did nothing wrong at all. The fault lies entirely with the people who didn't have control of their dogs. Please don't beat yourself up about this!

Try to find a friend who has a well-socialised friendly dog and go for short meet ups. Contact a local puppy socialisation class and ask for advice and sign up for when things are up and running again. Classes are often very oversubscribed so get on the waiting list asap.

People who behave like those you encountered drive me nuts and spoil dog walking for everyone else.

It is absolutely NOT the puppy's fault. The other dogs should have been recalled and placed on leads as soon as the owner saw your dog was on a lead.

The barking is leash reactivity. Relatively common, but annoying and potentially embarrassing too. You need to desensitise the puppy to the sight/presence of other dogs - unfortunately, you've missed the key socialisation window (which ends at 16 weeks) so this may take a long time (as in months, maybe years).

Find the distance where the puppy is comfortable with other dogs (this could be upto 20-30 metres) and doesn't react. Every time you see another dog, treat. Eventually, you can move closer and closer without a reaction.

But it takes a LONG time and lots of persistence and it's very easy to get wrong. I would advise getting in touch with a trainer (they can work over zoom) and get some professional help. Good luck!

Have you had the bite mark seen to? Dog bites can easily get infected.

You may find that the puppy's behaviour changes now that it has been attacked. It may become fear aggressive towards dogs, especially whilst it's on it's lead. To help prevent that happening, I would avoid walking it for a few days so that it has time to decompress. After that I would only walk the puppy in places where you are unlikely to see other dogs until it has physically healed from the attack.

Poor pup.
Agree that you will probably now have to do a lot of work on building up confidence on lead again. Quiet walks, keep well away from other dogs, distract pup's attention (sit, stand between pup & sight of other dogs, treat, etc) and very gradually build up confidence so pup can see and walk past other dogs without reacting. You have to hope that you don't meet more out of control dogs.
Keep pups stress levels low, focused on you for positive reward for calm & quiet behaviour.

Thanks everyone for your replies. I have passed on your advice to my DC.