Police called about my dog

[Shebaisabonerocker]

NC as my normal username could be identifying.

Back story is about 10 days ago I was walking my small/ medium sized elderly dog on a lead. A huge young dog came almost out of nowhere and run up and jumped on him. My dog’s eyesight is ok but not great, and I think he was surprised. He growled and snapped at the dog, and my son managed to chase it away. It then came back several more times, by this time the owner had arrived and was shouting that the dog was friendly.
The dog wasn’t friendly. It was growling and its hackles were up ( I know that can also mean fear, but the other dog could have easily run away if frightened). The owner eventually grabbed his dog, and again told me his dog was friendly!
Whilst there had been lots of growling and snarling neither of the dogs yelped and I didn’t think any damage had been done.
I later noticed a spot of blood on my trouser leg. I went over my dog and he was uninjured, so I can only assume it was from the other dog.
I was out yesterday and the police called to speak to me about my dog. My daughter was the only one home and although she is an adult she looks quite young, and she is not the dogs owner.
They said they would be back on Monday.
I am so worried about what might happen. We’ve never had any issues with my dog before, and he couldn’t get away from this dog. He was shaking after the incident.
Will it just be up to the police to decide if any action will be taken?

Under the Dangerous Dogs Act, it's an offence to have a dog "dangerously out of control" in a public place. Your dog was on a lead and therefore not in a position to approach the other dog. Whether the other dog is "friendly" or not is a mute point as it wasn't on a lead and appears to have been running free long enough to approach your dog several times before the owner finally turned up. You have nothing to worry about, the other owner is at fault here. Be sure to stress to the police the other dog startled your elderly dog - with limited vision - by jumping on him and despite it being chased away, repeatedly returned to do the same thing again.

I’d have assumed that someone else reported it and the police are checking both sides of the story.

I highly doubt someone would ring the police because their dog ran over to another dog on the lead and got attacked.

Honestly I wouldn’t worry about it because they don’t have a leg to stand on.

It seems that one poster was correct. We do indeed have a fairly bored community/ local police officer here.
He called in on the off chance this evening as he was nearby.
He wanted to speak to me about the other dog. There has been another incident and someone locally mentioned what happened with my dog.
He wouldn’t give me many details, but the local grapevine is saying a person was injured as the dog knocked her over when ‘ trying to play’ with her dog.
I’m so relieved that it wasn’t an interview about my dog - and pleased that I didn’t have to worry about it until Monday.

Ah that must be a relief. Glad it has been clarified for you and hope your dog is OK.

Even if a dog is usually friendly, if it has poor recall it should be leashed. I wouldn't worry a bit. As soon as you explain this should the police return, they'll no doubt apologise and be on their way!

Oh I hate those kind of dog owners! I have a very old and small anxious breed of a dog and we have given up taking him for walks in parks or places where he could meet other dogs, which would actually make him less anxious!!

But there are so many feckless dog owners, oh my dog is friendly it is fine if he approaches your cute little dog, no my dog will likely nip or bite, and break yours skin, if your darling 4x the size dog gets into his personal space and jumps on him!

My dog gets on so well with other dogs we have carefully socialised him with, he is a toy breed and has a very loving relationship with a giant bitch English bulldog - but randoms he will not tolerate.

Try not to worry OP, the other owner sounds like they are in the feckless category

Oh that is good news @Shebaisabonerocker - I'm glad everything is okay.

I really wouldn’t worry. My friend lived next door to a dog that seriously injured multiple other dogs and nothing ever happened to him. He was a pitball and never muzzled. The owner used to walk him on a long lead in flip-flops. He might as well have been off the lead. I was terrified visiting my friends house and I’m not scared of dogs.

This is not true. I had same, my well trained family pet Labrador dog on a lead swarmed by a group of 8 “working” cockers off lead on a country lane. Similar situation. Same, an injury noticed later by owner and police called and threats of “vets bills” (which never materialized. )

It was explained that my dog bit so was “not under my control”. A bit of fucked up countryside rules imo. How could I control my dog swarmed by 8 off lead???

I never saw the injury so I think it’s possible on of her 8 bit the other. There was no further police action, but still ..
She a bitch imo.

if I had a do-over, I would tell the police her dogs bit each other. Because no one saw anything at the time.

Several years ago, a woman claimed our dog had bitten her and pulled down her jeans in full view of everyone in the park to point out the injury, which was days oĺd yellowing bruises that could not possibly have come from a dog and certainly not the few minutes before she was claiming. She called the police and a very friendly policeman visited us. I asked if he would like to meet our so-called aggressive dog. The dog ran in, tail wagging like a windmill and within seconds was on his back with the policeman rubbing his chest. Our dog has always considered humans to be his friends and thinks that any visitors to our house have come to visit him. It turned out that the woman had form for unnecessary police call-outs. I suspect mental health problems. Try not to worry. Once the police have seen you and your dog and heard the full story, that will probably be the end of the matter.

Nothing worse than dog owners who let dogs go up to dogs on lead. Big no no. You did nothing wrong.

Just seen your update. I'm glad it has worked out well for you.

If you are walking your dog on the lead, and another dog comes over and is aggressive/attacks it, please, if at all possible, drop the lead. Your dog is so much more vulnerable while restrained while the other dog isn't. It's the cause of so many issues.

I do realise that this isn't possible, or indeed legal, at all times for all dogs and people. But I have seen so many issues created because people just don't think to do this and keep hold of the lead when they don't need to (out of normal protective instincts, no doubt).

Drop the lead and your dog knows it can get away. Keep hold of it and it is stuck and has to stand up for itself/you. And all your (perfectly normal, in the circumstances) anxiety is transmitted from you to your dog.

Plus you are likely to get knocked over or hurt, even bitten, worst case scenario.

Your best bet is to train your dog to have decent recall (come back when you call it) so that, in a stressful scenario with another dog bothering them, you can let them go with confidence. The vast majority of dogs will just fuck off for a bit if they don't like the look of their potential opponent, then come back when the other dog is out of the way.

OP,, glad you and your dog are ok. X

The police don't normally investigate dog on dog attacks.

Strange.

The person whose dog was off the lead in the street is 100% culpable . Make sure you tell the police their dog was off the lead and out of control. Absolute scumbags.

Nothing will happen if you tell him what happened. Dogs bite if put in a stressful situation and feel attacked, the man was wrong! I’m sick of owners saying their dogs are friendly when mine isn’t! My dog nipped a teenager who came into my garden and was tormenting it. The mum phoned the police and they did nothing, the vet said they would never put a dog down for that reason, the teenager was at fault and it’s actually quite hard to get a dog put to sleep

Just politely inform the police what actually happened. Your dog was on a lead and under control. The other dog was not on a lead and was not under control. Unless you own a banned breed, that should be the end of it unless they have evidence to the contrary. Unfortunately there are a lot of dog owners who don't know how to use a short lead or walk their dog correctly with or without a lead.

I am surprised the police even came to see you.
Two years ago a dog off lead with owners no where in sight, attacked my Shih Tzu. I managed to get my dog underneath me to protect him and then the dog bite right through my hand and held me pinned to the ground for a few minutes until the owners turned up and had to sit on the dog and beat it to make it let go.
Ambulance was called and they treated me in there and then so I could then rush dog to the vet where he had to have over 15 staples. It took the police 6 weeks to even get back to me after it was reported and 3 months later called me to say case was closed as they could not find the dog when they visited the owners address. I am still shocked by the lack of response and action by the police towards the owners.

Something similar happened to me a few years back. I will spare you the full story but it involved my ancient Staffie and a bouncy young Springer Spaniel. The dog warden arrived at my house the next day, to be greeted with a Staffie kiss and Skye rolling on her back with her legs in the air, no further action and a comment from dog warden about how lovely she was. We were really upset by this though.
I’m sure you will be fine. Hopefully your DD will lay on the charm too.

Glad to read your update. Hope you get some sleep now you aren’t worrying. Sending love to you mr ddog who must have been dressed when it all happened

Thank you for this. Your advice about dropping the lead is sound.
My dog unfortunately has very poor recall and apart from when I take him to an enclosed dog walking field, I have to keep him on a lead.
I have had several dogs over the years and trained them all to come back. This dog had 100% recall until he was about 18 months old, and then he started to run off. He would come back eventually but possibly hours later. Even with the help of a professional trainer we have not been able to improve this.
He would also take any opportunity to escape from the garden although this has lessened as he’s got older.
We all love him dearly and when he’s home sprawled across our laps he’s an absolute sweetie, but he’s not been any easy dog.

In short they shouldn’t have taken it this far… dog on dog interaction are generally considered normal behaviour and permitted under the animal welfare act as mad as that sounds it only becomes a police issue if an owner is injured a dog dies or the dog involved is a banned breed ….
your dog was on a lead minding its own business confronted by an off lead dog that put your dog on the defensive as it was leashed therefore vulnerable doing what it is allowed under the animal welfare act it exhibited natural behaviour had the other dog been under control it would by this point been recalled it wasn’t so everything legally from this point is the fault of unleashed dog do not sign anything surrender your dog only if they have a warrant say ONLY that you contest the seizure (if it goes that far) go straight to the police station and inform the duty sergeant you are not surrendering your dog then find an animal law solicitor to aid you there’s several groups on Facebook for this …. The police are wasting resources here

This is good news he’s investigating the other dog hopefully that owner will be educated before his dog really does damage …. No dog is friendly the same as people we all have the ability to regret our actions on a bad day some go out of the way to deliberately hurt someone they merely dislike for fun ….

I'm glad your pooch despite his quirks is off the hook