This happened several hours ago but I’m still trying to calm down some.
I was out for a walk with my brother and my mom and we took our two dogs to the island at our apartment complex. It was empty. I am careful because I do have a dog reactive dog so I take every precaution (I also use a gentle leader for more control) he is okay if he sees dogs as long as they don’t approach him closely.
about 5 minutes after we are there a little girl comes running up to us with no control over her dog who is snarling and growling at ours. I was able to move Panda (my dog) away before she got to close and there was no issue yet. But he almost bit my brothers dog, would have of my mom didn’t grab him.
then the girl takes the dog back and drops the leash so he comes running up to me and I have to use all my strength to hold Panda while this dog is biting at his legs and Panda is growling.
eventually we got everything under control but our dogs almost got bit as well as me. I don’t understand these people. It’s NOT the little girls fault either. Who let’s there small kid walk a dog unsupervised (no parents anywhere) and almost get our dogs attacked or worry my dog will attack by being provoked. It makes me mad.
thankfully the worst that happened was a small cut on my hand.
also the girl was following us as we made our way back to the apartment.
I guess I’m just still full of anxiety. Control. Your. Dog.
Wow, That really stinks. I hope you can talk to the mom and work it out.
[B]Call apartment office before someone or some dog gets really hurt.
*** If it’s not documented it never happened = follow up with letter to the office after the call… please.
Good Luck … stay safe ![/B]
I agree with ZuZu - make a police report.
If the child had, God forbid, been bitten or injured in a dog fight, you know the parents would be the first to sue you and your family.
Do you know the family and could tell the police where they live or their names?
OTOH, if you do, the family might retaliate - it’s a bit of a Catch-22, but I’d rather have it documented than not. That way, if they let her walk the dog alone again and the dog attacks someone else, the track record is there.
I don’t know who they are at all. That was the first time I’ve ever seen them. I really have no way to report it. I don’t understand the parents though, I really don’t. I’m just glad everyone is fine.
Report the incident to apartment office and police Ӣ
Describe the dog and little girl … time & location.
You need to know if their dog has had his vaccinations !
- :eek: This can happen again !
Needs to documented for the safety of ALL involved Ӣ IMHO
Sure you do, like Zu Zu said. The apartment complex and/or police. Its for everyone’s safety, no reason for people to get upset about you reporting it. Perhaps the parents don’t know what the dog does when the girl walks it, plenty of dogs behave with one handler and run amok with another. Perhaps the girl was being watched by grandma and grandma didn’t know any better. It may happen again, so definitely report it. I’ve reported offenders in the park for off leash dogs, no recall, mine reactive and in a prong collar. Once she was attacked. It was all nice and polite, and these are adults. With a kid, you don’t know what the parents know.
Agree, write a letter to the apartment complex at least. Descriptions, times, dates. If this happens again there will be a record of it.
I also encourage you to contact police. Several years ago, my parents’ neighbor had a huge GSD that would drag her on walks and lunge at joggers, bikers, etc. She never sought help and people would avoid them. It was a small neighborhood of 15 homes, so no one wanted to file reports since nothing serious happened. One evening my dad walked his 2 year old LhasaX, and 50’ from the front door the GSD attacked from behind. His little dog was savaged and my dad sustained bites from intervening. His dog died hours later at the vet’s. My dad got stitches and a tetanus shot at the ER. The GSD owner was visited by the police and she put her dog down a few days later. She never spoke or apologized to my parents. Too bad it took this extreme situation to garner action. Maybe if people had filed official complaints, she would have:
- Hired a professional trainer
- Learned how to handle the dog and develop a good citizen
- Learned he was not a match for her and rehome him
- Learned he was too aggressive and had him PTS before he hurt or killed another dog/person
Pretty much this. Put the office on notice, date time and the best description of the dog and child you can give. How far did they follow you and do you think they were heading home? The apartment complex doesn’t want to get involved in litigation as the site of an attack, believe me. It’s a pity as this is why there are so many rules surrounding pets.
You say you got a small cut, rabies is fatal, who bit you and did you see any confirmation of vaccination on the other dog, any tags?
The cut was definitely from the leash I was holding. The other dog was never close to my hand. I didn’t see any tags but I do know I didn’t get injured from that dog.
this kind of thing drives me bonkers but at least the dog was on a leash. I live in an area where some people, mostly boys/men, think it’s macho or something to let their “well behaved” dogs run free. Most often these are pit bulls. A friend of mine nearly hit one the other day. She was a wreck over it and the owner looked at her like she was nuts when she yelled at him to leash the dog, she almost hit it.
I agree with ZuZU - call or write to your apartment management office - if nothing else they can send reminders to tenants to make sure dogs are kept secure on a leash and always in the owner’s control. Giving it to a young kid is not maintaining control of the dog.
Where I live I have several neighbors who let their dogs run free. It’s irritating to be on your way to work, one of them jumps up muddying your clothes or running up to your leashed dog. You have no idea if they’e vaccinated etc.
Glad no one was seriously hurt.
