My dog just attacked by Rottweiler....

[Artemis6]

Was out with our 2yo Lab in a popular area for walking dogs off-lead.
Our Lab approached the Rottweiler as he would any other dog, sort of asking to play and the other dog just went for him.
My dog ran into the bushes with the other dog in pursuit, still growling and going for his neck.
The owner shouted at her dog to stop, which he did.
I said, Can you put him on the lead? She didn’t answer me and didn’t put him on the lead.
After a short while, my dog came out of the bushes. He seems fine, think I was more shook up!

No apology from the owner.

Did I do anything wrong? This has never happened before and my dog has often plays with another Rottweiler who is lovely.
Both dogs were off the lead.
I feel a bit worried about visiting this area again.

By the sounds of it, the Rottweiler didn’t attack your dog. It warned him off. An attack is quite different.

I agree with this. I dog walk and I would not be letting a dog that wasn't dog and human friendly off the lead. I'm amazed people are saying it's just fine for a unfriendly dog to be off lead, you never know who or what is going to come up to your dog. If this dog had growled at and chased a child would everyone be saying that was fine too?

Dog on dog aggression is very different to a dog being person aggressive. It's a daft comparison.

My dog is not remotely aggressive, but he is allowed to tell other dogs he is not ok with a situation, when young or over boisterous dogs approach and paw at him when he tries to move himself away. He's only ever reacted a handful of times and it's always due to an uncontrolled 'friendly' dog trying to jump on his back

This was your fault. Never let your dog approach other dogs without checking with the owner first.

Dog aggression is not the same as human aggression.

Why is it always bloody lab owners that let their dog bound up to you like an uncoordinated hippo while they shout "don't worry he's friendly!"? My dog was repeatedly pounced on by a lab in puppy classes and now is reactive. I keep him on a lead but you surely can't be surprised if your lab is bitten due fright or from thinking he's protecting me. My dog has good recall and is hyper focused on his ball but if we are at the beach, miles from anyone, I can guarantee a bloody lab will charge out of nowhere and steal his ball while the gormless owner shouts "he's friendly". I don't care, if you can't control your dog or recall him, keep him on a lead. Its not funny or cute if your dopey stupid dog is hassling mine. If I started jumping around in your face, you would push me away or shout at me. Now if I spot a lab I put my dog on the lead immediately as everytime it's the same. I've now started responding to the "don't worry, he's friendly" with "mine is scared and will defend himself. I've warned you, so if your dog is hurt it's your fault". I dread seeing labradors.

Just a heads up as well, OP, young teenage dogs between 18 months and two years (give or take) are likely to get more aggro from older dogs. If the Rottie was older, this may explain its behaviour. My own lab vizsla cross is soft as melted butter but he will get tetchy when a 'teen' dog insists on playing. It's all innocent. The young dog is only socialising and wanting some fun.

But if the Rottie is an older dog, he may have had all of his 'grump' buttons pushed by your young, playful, high energy lab.

The moment I sense my dog getting tetchy, I put him on his lead and go in another direction just to avoid anything difficult. I think most decent dog owners can sense when one single hair on the back rises, it's time to go. Even with the softest of dogs, you have to be aware of all engagement and never assume it's all nice and sweet. Dogs can turn.

100% correct. Dogs learn by being 'told' by other dogs. But you shouldn't put your Lab in this position ie, practice his recall over and over again, every day of his life. My giant breed dog is 4 and I do this every day, on every single walk unless I know the dogs we see. And learn to understand canine body language. It's vital for your own dogs safety.
Good luck.

Imo if a dog is off lead in public it’s not ok if the dog is a biter… but Rotties are vocal, they play rough and they’re a bit mouthy in play.
I have a lab and rotties weren’t his favourite friends. Sounds like your dog got told off, nothing more. Glad you are both ok.

You've said "attack" but as you've said your dog is fine then he wasn't actually attacked. Often what looks like fighting is just very close quarters warnings with no actual contact. Your dog was just on the receiving end of, for whatever reason, another dog telling him to get out of his face and go away. I suspect the Rottie gave numerous warnings (in dog language - subtle to us but not for dogs) and your lab took no notice, as so many young enthusiastic dogs do before they learn to rein themselves in and be more respectful. The Rottie sounds well trained and IMHO didn't need to be put on the lead after that. All he did was shout "fuck off" in your dog's face. Lesson learned and all part of life.

The ops dog was uninjured. If a rottie bit another dog there would be an injury. The rottie was just letting the ops dog know he was not happy with him.

You need to not let your dog get all up in another dogs business

This is totally on you

Never allow your dog to approach any other dog without asking first.

I agree that labs can have incredibly bad dog etiquette. I used to walk one for a friend and while he thought he was being friendly in bounding right up to other dogs, most of them didn’t appreciate it and growled, barked or snapped to make him back off. Since then I’ve educated myself about dog body language and learned that the lovely lab’s too-full-on behaviour would have been seen by other dogs as disrespectful and threatening. He also used to jump up at people, which many did not like.

Seems to me like the Rottie has given you the opportunity to become a better dog owner.
It's a hard lesson to learn, had to do it myself, but I really hope you learn from this for both you and your Lab.