Dog fight - what do I do?

[MrsBeaumaris]

My two year old German pointer has just been attacked by a Labrador whose owner claims is a lovely dog and never aggressive.

We were on a field near home and our dogs ignored each other for about 45 minutes until the Labrador came over to us. I put mine on the lead to take him away, as the Labrador has form for humping him, but the Labrador started snarling and then went for my dog, who tried to fight back, but was hampered by being on the lead, and much smaller. Thankfully DH scared the Labrador off so it only lasted for about 30 seconds but it was pretty terrifying.

My dog is unharmed, much to my relief and surprise, but does anyone have any advice on how to deal with this situation? It has happened a few times previously with other dogs, whose owners also swear are lovely and gentle and have never attacked another dog before. Assuming the owners are not lying, what would trigger that reaction in their dogs?

He’s neutered, friendly, not aggressive, pretty laid back and gets on well with most dogs, especially at doggy daycare, but there are a very small minority that want to hump him or go for him for reasons that I just can’t work out.

The Labrador’s owner suggested that we try to get the two of them used to each other by walking them together, which sounds sensible in principle, but I’m not sure how we would safely do it.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Firstly, I'm not surprised your dog is uninjured. Almost all dog scraps are handbags at dawn - all noise and no blood - but unpleasant nonetheless.

Dogs are more likely to get into a scrap if they're on lead. There are lots of reasons for this. One is fight Vs flight. Another is that you're restricting their ability to give out natural calming signals (I recommend Turid Rugaas' book on calming signals by the way). For this reason I don't let my dog say hello to other dogs when he's on lead.

I've always broken up dog scraps by simply hauling one off the other using their lead or harness. Often it doesn't matter which one you pull as it's enough to interrupt the scrap anyway.

Parallel walking is a good suggestion though - both on lead, walking near enough to see each other but not have physical contact.

Is the Labrador neutered or entire?

I had a dog who was everyone's best friend off lead but massively defensive and barky when on it. A behaviourist explained that my dog's demeanour changed when put on the lead because she didn't have total control of her own actions and was therefore less confident. Maybe that's what changed the dynamic here? Dogs pick up on subtleties in body language that we don't even notice.

I don’t know

Mine has been attacked previously by another dog when both were off lead - in that case mine went over, they were sniffing each other and then the other dog suddenly turned on him. On that occasion mine was cut above his eye, so I’ve been really wary ever since.

But I take your point about being on lead affecting his ability to give off the right signals. I just don’t know how to handle a situation like this when I know - as in this case - that the Labrador would have humped him and wanted to get my dog away from him.

1 You should not have put your dog on a lead (but I think you know that now).

2 You need to nip these situations in the bud. If you don't have a deep authoritative voice, confidence and a sense of timing, start practising.

I have often said I could do a great deal of good by teaching women to shout effectively, in the. right situation, (singer here), but that's for a different thread.

“It has happened a few times previously with other dogs, whose owners also swear are lovely and gentle and have never attacked another dog before. Assuming the owners are not lying”

Honestly... I think most people who say that are lying.

I’ve twice been on the other end of that, where a dog with no previous issues suddenly went for a dog (the first was a dog that it turned out was friendly with every dog in the universe except German shepherds, the second was the start of a major dog reactivity issue that came on very suddenly due to a health issue).

Both times I wasn’t in a fit state to hang about chatting about how it was the first time or suggesting walks, I was going, wtf just happened? And getting my dog home to check him out.

Will your dog heel away from another dog off-lead? Because that is a better option than putting him on-lead in future situations like this.

It might help to let them get to know each other. Our old dog didn't much like dogs he didn't know, but once he knew them, he ignored them.

People aren't lying , they are stupid that's what

They have no idea about dog body language .

That's why people always say "oh he just snapped out of nowhere" - never usually the case