Dealing with an aggressive dog attack, best way?

[sophie]

@NC001

I had my dogs attacked so many times by off leash dogs- I loved to hike with them and almost every time an off leash dog would attack them. And the owner would say they dont usually do that. the owners never have control over the dog.

This is what happened to my dog (Std poodle, truly harmless and I say this as an experienced dog owner). I take her to walk to a park where dogs can be off-leash certain times of day. That day, we met another off-leash dog who seemed friendly too. They sniffed amicably, until the other dog attacked mine, and viciously. And yes, it was a pit-bull or pit mix. I looked at the owner - the guy was dumbstruck, literally, so I jumped in the fray, literally rolling on the ground trying to pry that dog from my dog’s front leg. And I won’t lie - right then, I was going to HURT that dog. I hit and kicked and she finally let go. And the owner says “She’s never done that before!” My dog limped for a couple days but was fine, fortunately.
She was also attacked by a huge dog who was on the leash! and whose owner let him go too close to mine, until he jumped on her. Some owners have NO CLUE of their dog’s warning signs.

As for the horse being attacked video - not watching that. But as a rider, in this situation, you bet I would have been on the ground kicking and yelling at that dog, in a heartbeat.

[2DogsFarm]

Same for me re: obliterating the dog (as best an OldLady can )
But rider was Mounted Police, so I’m thinking her training prevented that option, something like:
“Officer is never to dismount unless a superior office commands”

Video was hard to watch & bless that lovely horse for not battering the out of that dog.

ETA:
@Willesdon Good for the UK! We need that Dangerous law here.
BTW: where I live landowners are legally able to shoot a dog harassing livestock.
If you don’t know who the dogowner is, it’s referred to as SSS = Shoot, Shovel & Shut Up

[colorfan]

I have noticed the same thing around here. The leashed dogs are the shepherds/collies, the unleashed are the bully type.

[B_and_B]

And our social media is forever full of ‘whose dog is this in my yard’ posts. They are split between repeat offenders: a well known local beagle, golden retriever, and a husky usually take the top awards; and then a steady stream of wandering bull types, which never seem to have ownership openly claimed.

[Gardenhorse]

For bicyclists, who are often chased by dogs, they suggest an air horn (although you would have to get the horse used to that!) and citronella spray (not as dangerous as pepper spray, if the wind blows it back on you, but very strong smelling). But I don’t know if either of those would be useful once a dog actually started attacking.

[George_T_Mule]

Why is it that every time this sort of topic comes up, and not just on this forum, but fairly universally, it’s the PitBull types that are the ones causing problems? And why is there always somebody eager to come to their defense with an “Oh but my Fluffy, and her brother Piddles, and the young one Precious, and . . . are the sweetest dogs ever . . .”?
Bullshit. We need to initiate some sort of planned K9 genocide to get the PitBull genetics (and maybe a few other known dangerous breeds too) out of the Pet breeds. Sorry if this pisses you off. Not.
Then if you want to keep/breed the things, you will need a permit, and will need to legally accept full responsibility for their behavior, “forever and ever, amen”. Your dog causes harm, you go to jail for the crime, to include homicide if the situation warrants it.
I’ll bet that would go a long way toward leashing the irresponsible Pitty owners; what d’ya think?

[2DogsFarm]

Not even a dogowner, but I agree with your premise.
Perhaps at one time, and even now with knowledgeable breeders, the pitbull could be a non-dangerous, even useful breed.
I understand any breed, even the toy sized, can inflict considerable damage.
But the preponderance of pitbull crosses is disturbing.
Every ad for shelters is guaranteed to feature obvious pitbulls & pitbull crosses.
And any screening process for potential owners ignores the breed propensity for harming an untrained adopter. I get the shelters are overly crowded, but maybe euth is a better option than Wait & See.
If a dog comes back, even once, better one less potential tragedy.
Like the majority here preach for horses:
Animals don’t know Tomorrow, just Today
&
Better a minute too soon

[Willesdon]

The initial UK Dangerous Dog Act specifically banned American Pitbull Terriers (and two other breeds that were not present in the UK). The Police wanted a ban because drug dealers were using aggressive dogs as weapons against them. The RSPCA wanted a ban to stop illegal dog fighting. Pitbulls had to be neutered, muzzled, tattooed and always be under the control of someone over the age of sixteen. That lead to legal farce as it isn’t a recognised breed in the UK and so ‘experts’ stood up in Court saying “Yes, it is” or “No, it isn’t”. These days it is mainly Staffordshire Bull Terriers that are deemed to be ‘the hard dog’ and owned by camo-wearing wannabe hard men - which is silly as most of that breed are really not aggressive unless trained to be so by their foul humans.

[fivestrideline]

@2DogsFarm

Every ad for shelters is guaranteed to feature obvious pitbulls & pitbull crosses.

This is usually because it’s required by local law for the shelter to list “pit bull” as a part of the cross if there is any potential that it has pit in it. And that the pit physicality shows up in labs and many other breeds, plus the prevalence of pit types in rural areas.

I won’t jump into the disturbing assertions here about pitbulls, but just say this - the most aggressive breed is the poorly trained one, owned by someone who didn’t do their research to pick a breed that fits their skills and lifestyle. If we are talking just aggression and bites of humans, chihuahuas and small toy breeds are the worst offenders. People just tend to think it’s funny, rather than demanding the extermination of a whole type.

[2DogsFarm]

@fivestrideline

the most aggressive breed is the poorly trained one, owned by someone who didn’t do their research to pick a breed that fits their skills and lifestyle

Agree 1000%
Any representative of any breed that bites (as I stated) is questionable for adoption by the general public.
I don’t find toy dog bites amusing. Less likely to kill or maim certainly, but teeth on human is
Worst shelter “rescue” I’ve seen was a foodguarding German Shorthair.
This dog meant business & owner thought it could be fixed… After more than a year

[4horses]

Leash laws are great things. My friend was attacked on her horse. Her horse bucked her off and the horse ran down the street and fell on the pavement. Fortunately no major injuries to either of them. The police and animal control wouldn’t do anything without video evidence… No leash law. The dogs owner was irate with her for riding down that street.

One day a truck went down the street and hit the dog and killed it. The driver never stopped even though the dog was about the size of a deer. My friend thought they deliberately hit that dog because it harassed everyone trying to go down the street.

I have decided dogs are as dangerous as horses, if not more so. An old friend of mine was fostering a rescue and had very serious injuries when the dog randomly snapped and attacked her. She required multiple surgeries and has permanent damage to her hand and arm. They had the dog euthanized.

We had a small dog with aggression issues… I don’t want to deal with that ever again.

Not all pitt mix dogs are aggressive though. My lab mix had pitt bull markings and was the sweetest thing to every living creature. He loved people, little dogs, horses etc. Just a wonderful dog.

[Jenerationx]

@Impractical_Horsewoman

What completely floored me was that the owners of the attacking dogs–especially one guy–was a complete and total shit to me, saying it was my fault for not picking the dog up, and he couldn’t help that his dogs didn’t understand she wasn’t a rabbit.

It was like, because my dog was small and not a big-ass scary looking dog, she was “less of a dog” and didn’t count.

That’s crappy to blame you! I do get the “my dog sees anything that size as prey” thing. That’s how some dogs are. My cousin had a retired racing greyhound. It could not be trusted anywhere near a cat or other small animal. That’s the dog owner’s responsibility though, not yours.

@trubandloki

I get so tired of people who let their dogs crowd other dogs while proclaiming that it is ok because their dog is friendly. Um. It is not OK, you are stressing that other dog. Get control of your dog.

When someone’s off leash dog would come running towards mine and they yelled “It’s OK, he/she is friendly” I’d always yell back “Mine’s NOT!” That wasn’t true, but it sure made some people think twice about letting their dogs run up again.

[Bogie]

The dogs that attacked me while I was riding were true mutts. Did not look at all like Pitties. The owner was useless. As the two dogs were jumping on my horse, she was running circles behind us. I thought that someone was going to get kicked and hoped it wouldn’t be the woman as I’d likely get sued. When she finally got the dogs away from us, she stomped off without a word of apology. I was really worried that if I fell off, the dogs would chase my horse onto the street, which was a distinct possibility as we were near the trailhead.

I reported her to the police, who basically were patronizing and unhelpful until the owner of the property where I boarded called the chief of police. After that they tried to track her down (a neighbor with a video camera had the license plate) but they claimed it was a rental car and gave up.

Later, at a town meeting where we were arguing for stronger leash laws, someone stood up and told me it wasn’t the dog owner’s fault that I wasn’t a better rider!

[sunkistbey]

I’d like to see some stats about how many people have been killed by chihuahuas vs pit crosses.
I don’t think aggressive small breeds are funny, but I do think there are a lot of pit cross defenders who need to do their homework.

[JanM]

A lot of what are called Pit Bulls in the U.S. are cross bred with Mastiffs, Cane Corsos, and Presa Canarios (spelling?), and other huge breeds. They can be human aggressive now too, as well as dog aggressive. A lot of these cross breds are massive too.

When the Animal Cops-Detroit show started years ago, they estimated that there were 500,000 pits in the city and area, and they were from fighting stock. They only adopted out strays with proof the person who claimed them was the real owner, and didn’t have a criminal record, the other dogs were put down.

[fivestrideline]

@sunkistbey

I do think there are a lot of pit cross defenders who need to do their homework.

There’s a lot of dog owners that need to do their homework. This anti-pitbull sentiment is relatively new. It used to be Rottweilers that everyone lauded as vicious murdering beasts no one should own. Then it was GSDs. I won’t be surprised when it becomes Malinois and other similar shepherd types again next (based on the popularity of the breed and the type of person who thinks they NEED one). It’s NOT a breed issue, it’s an idiot owner issue.

Small dogs are wildly more likely to be reactive and aggressive, but they’re small. They AREN’T as deadly, generally, and yeah you can just pick them up (or kick them like a football and do some serious damage). Therefore, people don’t train them, push the dogs over threshold constantly and laugh when the dog reacts, and manhandle the animals in ways that create defensive, reactive dogs.

ETA my ineloquent post here is just trying to say that it’s not a breed issue here. It’s owners, and the lack of enforceable laws to prevent/punish the tragedies and seriously terrifying events like the one in the video. FWIW, I do not own a bully breed.

[B_and_B]

I sort of thought this thread would end up here…so wading in with a flame suit on. There are always going to be the exceptions.
That being said. Irrespective of size and with Hugely offensive generalizations.
The shepherd/herding group likes to see things move. If it is not moving they want to make it move. They don’t want to stop it, they really don’t know how to stop it. It needs to move. This really, really sucks for an animal being harassed by an untrained, unleashed BC.
The retriever/gun dog group likes to collect things, pick things up, put things down, and otherwise fiddle with them. They have no idea how to stop things. But once stopped, they want it.
The guard group has identified what it has and wants no one else to touch it. Extreme prejudice will be applied.
The sight hound group pays zero attention until it moves, then they want to catch it and stop it with enthusiasm. But, they have no muscle. So, as long as you aren’t a cat, rabbit, or small prey you are okay, sort of.
And finally. The terrier/Bull group. Which includes the pit bulls, the bull mastiffs, the Staffies, and (but they are small) terriers like the JRT. They are bred, for centuries, to see anything that is moving as something to stop (unless correctly trained and socialized obviously!!). And to keep attacking until it stops. They are the only group that has been bred to keep at their prey in close quarter combat until it is Stopped and dead. And they will do so. Every watched terriers doing their original job of rat catching? Nothing, nothing will stop those dogs. A pit bull has the same mindset.

[fivestrideline]

@B_and_B

(unless correctly trained and socialized obviously!!)

And there is the key - how many people do you (g) know that have any training knowledge or desire to learn? How many people research the type of dog they think they want to see if they can handle it? How many people think ‘socialization’ is letting the dog run up and greet everyone and everything?

[B_and_B]

Not nearly enough. Which is a problem with all dogs. The probability of it as a serious, life threatening danger is far, far higher with certain types of dogs.
Since I don’t believe in banning breeds, or in banning ownership (much as I might think certain people shouldn’t own an earthworm, let alone a dog); I am philosophically stuck. I know I have an increasing number of dogs of the type in the video in my neighborhood. And I know that they aren’t socialized. So, I am back to considering how do I protect myself and mine. I am a ‘if this happens, what do I do?’ mentality. Hence the title question! And the following discussion has raised some good points.

[Jenerationx]

Yep. This is pretty spot on, although yes, generalized and there are exceptions within every breed.

As for what to do if a dog attacks, stun guns work.