What to do after dog attack?

[Toyandblanketbasket]

Our poor dog was attacked a couple of months ago. He was on lead being walked through our local park and an off lead dog cleared a good 25 metres or so and went for him. We had to body block to stop him from getting hurt and it was very aggressive - other dog just kept going. It was Doberman sized so not a small thing either. At the time I very clearly said to the owner that if I saw it off lead again I would report it. It was all apologies and shock saying no idea why it had done that which I said I was sceptical of as I’ve seen it being snarly on lead on another occasion. For context this dog is one of a number of local dogs who get thrown into the morning rumble in the park and have done since being puppies. We’ve never done that choosing to train our dog instead and as a result have a dog who doesn’t bother every other living thing and behaves.

Our dog isn’t reactive or aggressive but we took him to a behaviourist to ensure the next doggy greetings weren’t negative experiences. He was absolutely fine and his usual self, playful with dogs that wanted a play and ignoring the ones that didn’t.

Since then when we’ve seen the other dog he has barked and I can only describe the sound as him being scared. He’s never had a reaction to any dogs ever. The other owner continues to let the dog off lead in the park and makes no attempt to put it back on despite further words from us as it needs a run around apparently. We could avoid the park however due to where our house is it is our main walking route to pretty much anything nearby. Alternative routes mean a 15-20min round trip in the other direction. The owner clearly doesn’t give a shit and concerningly we’ve learned of one other occasion where the same thing happened.

I was in tears this morning having gone in and had to hide in the children’s play area which is fully enclosed with my dog until the coast was clear. Again they saw us and didn’t put the dog on lead. I wish I had reported it on the day it happened and although it might have just been a stern word I’d feel better knowing there was a complaint on record.

Other than move what would you do? I hate feeling physically sick walking around my local neighbourhood and cannot get my head around this guy continuing to take risks with such an unpredictable dog.

Please report it. I'm not living in the U.K. at the moment, so it's a little different for me, but my little Pomeranian has been attacked twice now at the dog park. Once by a Jack Russell off the lead and the second also by a Doberman type (which actually was on the lead but was strong enough to drag it's owner). My dog looks like a little fox so I guess that's why its happening.

I wish I had reported it but I didn't feel confident enough to go to the local police here. I really really wish I had.

When the second attack happened, a lovely dog owner came up to me and advised me to buy some pepper spray. I literally went on Amazon and bought it that day and I now carry it with me on every dog walk. Some dog owners are awful and don't have any consideration at all. I also take my little 2 year old daughter with me sometimes so I really need to feel safe. Even having the pepper spray with me makes me feel a little better and I absolutely will use it next time. It's legal, it's send a message to the dog's owner and I think it's a great way to deescalate an aggressive dog situation. And please go and report it. It might be someone else's dog next time or god forbid a small child.

Maybe a safe dog deterrent spray if pepper spray is illegal in the U.K.

I’m not so sure about a spray, I’d want to be 100% sure that something like that was legal and that it would actually work otherwise I’m putting my dog and myself in danger.

Could you change the time of your walk?

I would be carrying a stick with me and wouldn’t hesitate to use it if the dog came for us again.

Also definitely report it now, it’s not too late.

You have given the owner a fair chance to keep it on lead but they obviously don’t give a monkey’s and next time your dog or a child could be seriously hurt.

If there a number of owners allowing their dogs to run about together off lead together in the park it sounds like an accident waiting to happen: dogs/ adults / children potentially are in danger.

Is it worth approaching your local councillor to see if some byelaws could be introduced in the park. So that having dogs off the lead was not permitted. Or having an area enclosed so that those who wanted to let their dogs off lead could do so in the enclosed area and other responsible dog walkers and those without dogs could avoid it?

Reporting it won’t do anything unless it attacked you. It sounds like your dog was on the receiving end of a lot of barking but not actually bitten? Even a dog on dog bite isn’t enough to have the owner charged, and although the owner could receive a warning for charging at your dog there’s little the council can do longer term. Given your dog is now (understandably) scared it’s better to manage the situation positively - can you change your walk time? Drive to another location and walk there? Not ideal I know, but for your sake and that of your dog it’s better to take proactive and positive steps to make your walks enjoyable again.

The only reason he wasn’t bitten is there were two of us using our raised legs to block the dog who was baring teeth and snapping. It’s pure luck that we didn’t get bitten whilst having to protect him.

They don’t seem to walk at specific times and we need to get our big morning walk in before starting work. They seem to be there any time between 7am and 9am so it’s a total gamble as to whether they are there or not. We don’t spend all our time in the park on each walk but as I say it’s the main route through to the rest of our area.

Driving somewhere else would mean driving to another location 2/3 times a day for a walk which feels awful that we would have to do this when our dog isn’t the issue. We have a working breed and so one walk a day isn’t going to cut it.

That is not actually the case, although responses will vary depending on area.

You can report to the council who have neighbourhood wardens and in our area PCSOs would get involved to give the owner ‘advice’ and warnings if necessary.

Yes, warnings and advice will be given - but longer term there’s not much more they can do legally if the dog continues to be off lead (unless it escalates).

I fear that it will escalate and it’s awful that it may happen to someone else (at the moment I’m only aware of one other dog it happened to). I don’t care that this dog might be fine 99% of the time - it’s clearly shown it’s unpredictable and has no recall and to me it’s a ticking time bomb.

Unfortunately the only way to protect your dog is to do the obvious and make sure that they do not meet the other dog.

I would be walking in other locations even if it meant more effort on my behalf. Your dogs stress levels will become higher walking in the park anyway as your dog will start to check for the other dog.

Just to add we drive past several "popular" dog walking areas to ensure we can have a chilled relaxed walk without meeting the type of dog owners you describe.

I know it’s right that they don’t meet and we back out of the park if having had a look we can see that they are there. I suppose I just feel as though this bully of a man has won in some way and it angers me that he gets to go about his business as usual. I know deep down if he carries on something will happen and that’s wrong.

@Toyandblanketbasket unfortunately, there are arseholes everywhere, and you can't police them all.

You've probably left it too long to report the dog to the police or whoever enforces the park bye laws. But if you do see the dog misbehaving again, you can report it.

Here is an example of a park bye law - it's very typical.

Keep your dog under control. If your dog is causing a nuisance or a threat to other park users, including dogs or any wildlife on site, you will be asked to put your dog on a lead. Failure to comply with this request is an offence.

It's usually the council which enforces these, and if there are no rangers you can phone the council on a dedicated line.

next time report it, spread the word. The dog will almost certainly have done this before. The 'he hasn't done this before' is often said is the same breath as 'don't worry he's friendly'. He apologised to stop you reporting it - no intention of putting his dog on a lead.

Carry a spray with you. Video it, video the owner and have a zero tolerance to this. The I will report it next time just allows the incident to repeat itself.

I have a small poodle cross (tiny) I did everything right, socialised, training classes etc and she was a happy confident little dog. Unfortunately though I have discovered a lot of people don't do all the right things and couldn't give a toss of there dog is being a pain in the arse or aggressive to others. My dog is now terrified if other dogs after being chased, jumped on etc because of crap owners. I even had one labrador jumping up with it paws on my shoulders while I was trying to protect my dog and the owner actually said oh he always just does what he wants. I'm so sorry your going through this, I'd report them to the dog warden it can't hurt

I often walk my dogs on the local playing fields, where almost all the dogs are off-lead and issues are very, very rare.

But now and again a dog pops up who is just not safe with other dogs - I don't mean just running towards barking, but actually biting or trying to. The last one, after enough people complained to the owner, was eventually taken prolonged training which improved things hugely. Currently it's a little shit of a terrier, and I'm hoping the social pressure will get to her as it got to the poodle's owner. None of us wants a leads-only rule, as free running is so good for dogs' welfare - and on-lead interactions are much more likely to lead to a fracas than off-lead ones.

Do you know the other walkers? Can you see if any of them have had issues, and if they know the dog's owner well enough to suggest to him that an out of control dog could be a legal issue if it carries on and someone gets hurt?

I’m sorry that you and your dog were frightened.

If that dog was really vicious it would have gone through you to get to him. That’s not an attempt to minimise how you felt, it’s pointing out that you managed to physically kept the dog away from yours because although it’s dog aggressive it’s not people aggressive. That means that you can keep you and your dog safe. Get a walking pole or staff for dog walks. If it approaches your dog shout, loud and clear, no and go. You can use the stick to block the dog. In an emergency, if the dog actually puts its teeth into your dog, you can hit the dog with the stick to get it to back off.

Obviously you shouldn’t have to put up with this but there are bad owners are everywhere and you need a way to manage these situations and not let them ruin your walks.

It may well be, but at the moment you can’t do anything to control his behaviour - you can only change your reaction to the situation. I know what you mean about feeling he’s won, but perhaps think of it as doing what you have to in order to advocate for your dog by not exposing him to a situation he finds stressful? That might take the sting out of it a bit?

There were other people and their dogs there that day as they were all playing. Only one of those people approached us after and said how awful it was and asked if all ok. Despite this the others and more continue to interact with this guy and his dog. It’s like some weird gossip pack on the local park and we are somehow the pariahs! It makes no sense whatsoever. If it were me I’d keep me and my dog well clear of them to not be implicated in any future issue. Admittedly our dog doesn’t play with any of those dogs but they are so badly behaved! He has his group of vetted doggy pals who we know and that’s who he interacts with - all of good temperaments and well trained. The other dog that it happened to was with a local dog walker so not from the immediate area we don’t think. We know the dog walker but he doesn’t want any hassle.