What is the best way to deal with this sort of dog attack? I drive my horses mostly, so that takes it to a whole different place. But, riding even. In this instance (urban park) trying to outrun the dog isn’t possible. Also in this instance: unarmed police officer! no way to deal with the dog. So…what does one do? Thoughts?
Here is the video, or a news article which still has most of the video up. It is disturbing. It is also scary to see a 16 plus hand horse brought to its knees by a dog… https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/21811914/dog-owner-blame-police-horse-attack/
My personal thought is that every d— person in that video is lacking a spine. The dog owner, by the way, is the guy in camo.
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The title under the video is disturbing, that the dog owner is blaming it on the horse. What the freak did the horse do.
The dog needs to be euthanized and the owner needs to get in lots of trouble. Everyone else was doing far more than the owner trying to end that fight.
Do the police not even carry batons or pepper spray there?
That horse, I would guess, needed lots and lots and lots of stitches. I hope it is OK.
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Lots and lots of stitches apparently. It did latch on to a lower leg/tendon at one point, but thankfully didn’t get a tendon. The only thing I can think that might be effective would a bull whip? Or try to run away? I don’t see how pepper spray or a gun would be useful…that dog stayed right under the chest of the horse all the time.
I’m just pondering this issue, because if it can happen in downtown London, to two police horses, in a crowded park!!
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This a whole lot of dumb on behalf of the dog owner - before, during, and after. Dog should never have had the opportunity to go after the horse, owner should have taken more decisive action, and owner shows no sign of remorse or common sense afterwards. Poor horse, poor dog. Horse was incredibly kind to the dog, who is lucky it wasn’t killed by a hoof to the head and was remarkably calm given the circumstances.
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Oh, what an awful video. I feel so sorry for the horse, who was so kind and tolerant despite being pulled at by multiple ends and being attacked by a dog. There isn’t much you can do without risking your own limb or life.
I don’t get the feeling either rider was experienced with horses in the ‘horseman’ sense. I have some opinions on mounted forces being regular people versus experienced horsemen, and this is why. They don’t know what to do when things get really bad horse-wise, and they aren’t trained to handle the horse-specific crisis that can occur.
What you can do short of beating the dog until it gets off, is you can take a thick heavy jacket and put it over the dog and wrap it until it’s forced to release. If you are strong enough you can try and flip the dog over/twist the dog forcing him to let go, provided he isn’t clamped on a limb that can break. You can put a large stick up/in their mouth. You can, at great personal cost, try to pry the dog off with your hands or choke him. It’s all risky. Pepper spray isn’t good for these situations because it will also hurt you, the horse, and bystanders. Hosing down the dog is somewhat of a myth IMO, and they don’t tend to stop because they’re being hit by a whip or stick or baton.
Dogs are built to bring down large prey. It is not a bully-specific characteristic to bite lower limbs repeatedly and even hold on - this is how their ancestors brought down prey three times their size. I’ve seen GSDs do it, I’ve seen JRTs do it. When they bite down there is not much you can do besides pull, which can make wounds worse and also open you up to attack.
It’s not easy getting between a dog and a horse either. I’ve been attacked by a hound dog on horseback, and I’ve had a GSD maul my own dog on foot. It’s terrifying. I commend the character of this horse for not immediately bolting. I don’t know which situation is worse - staying and getting mauled, or panicking and possibly losing the rider and becoming a public hazard vis a vis loose horse. Both are terrifying.
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They should have met the mustang I had. She hated dogs. And after being attacked by a pack of them I did not blame her. She went toe to toe with a friend’s nasty Rottweiler til we managed to drag them apart and tried to kick any dog that came around her to Mars. The dog in this video - and incidentally, his lovely owner - need to meet her.
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Not possible when riding, but when driving, have a heavy tire iron or pry bar aboard. It’s no guarantee, but it’s a chance to do damage to the dog’s spine or skull.
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Couldn’t agree more - what a total see you next Tuesday.
The wheelbarrow method would likely have worked - grab the dog by the hind legs and pull it away. No small risk to the human, for sure. But my blood would have been boiling so I’d have probably gone in right away.
I’ve also used a chair to get between two large dogs going at it before, successfully. Anything large and sturdy you can shove between them basically.
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I find it interesting that there is empathy for the horse but no empathy for the dog who has so clearly been done a disservice. We humans have an obligation to look after he animals under our care, and when we fail them, we fail then epically.
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Yes. I feel sorry for the dogs in these situations too, doing what they were bred to do and then being vilified for it. The people are at fault here and both dog and horse were failed horribly in this video.
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In the last thread where a horse was attacked by a dog there were videos if what can be done if you are strong enough and know how. They grab the dog in a choke hold and hold on until the dog passes out.
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Yep… choking the dog out works. It would be hard to have grabbed it in this situation.
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I am going to assume this rider knows the horse reasonably well. That horse is a SAINT to take that much pain and not absolutely blow his lid.
The people around were being of absolutely no help, and were clearly more scared of the horse than the dog who was biting the horse, which for someone inexperienced, I guess I understand.
So, as the rider, knowing my horse is a frikking saint of an animal that is not going to explode, I’d have swung off, kept the reins, and started kicking/beating that dog as hard as I possibly could to get some space between him and the horse, and hope that that space inspired confidence in the surrounding people to get ahold of the dog.
What a mess. My heart sinks for that horse, and I’ll take 20 more of him if they are available. WOW.
Edit: I’m guessing those patrol officers have some directive like “under no circumstances should you get off your horse until you’re back at the stable/trailer.” His compadre just stood there too, which is the least-bad of the choices. If he walked away to prevent the dog from directing at him, that would have panicked the horse being attacked more. But staying was risky too. What a junk situation. Dog owners suck.
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Yes, my dog was mauled twice in her lifetime (needing thousands of dollars in surgery both times) because of off-leash dogs, while she was on-leash.
It boils my blood that people who defend violent dogs call themselves animal lovers. As seen in this video, animals as well as humans suffer when dogs and dog owners like this are allowed to do as they please.
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I am literally shaking so hard I can barely type after watching this.
This is my worst fear, for both my own dogs and any horse I might be riding. I agree with @endlessclimb who said the police officers must be under some kind of directive that they cannot dismount. (otherwise how could they both just sit there and do nothing???). It was awful to watch everyone (riders, dog owner) do nothing while the horse tried to save itself. Kudos to the bystanders, who, at great personal risk, stepped in and tried to help.
I do believe dog owners such as this one should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Dogs that act like this, even in a one time situation, should be considered deadly weapons, and their owners charged as such. 
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My heart goes out to you. This is one of my greatest fears.
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Thank you. She survived, but it was a long struggle to get her healthy again. The second time, I was haunted with guilt I couldn’t protect her. And that’s not even counting the many times we were chased by unleashed dogs and managed to get away.
I wonder if the mounted officer simply froze–I was curious if they can dismount, and apparently they can, to arrest people (based on my Googling). Or maybe on regular patrols, the mounted officers don’t have bully sticks.
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That is truly terrifying. Is your dog a small dog? I feel like the situation is so much harder with small dogs, they move so quickly and have such a low center of gravity, it makes it much harder to protect them. Don’t beat yourself up. My medium to large size dog was attacked by a small Shiba Inu and I Could. Not. Get. Hands. On. That. Dog. It was too small, too quick and too agile. Luckily it was not that committed to attacking my dog and he was protected by two layers of coats, so he got away with a small scrape.
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What got me was, this horse appeared to be trying to just tell the darn dog to go away. It was not trying to stomp it to death or kick it or anything. That horse is one of those horses that works very hard to not injure something that happens to end up under it.
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