What would you have done?

[storm_marsden]

[h=5]Hey folks, advice please or what would you have done.?

Took storm (our 16 week husky) and our 2 jacks out walking in the woods with my 6 month old daughter on my back(ruck sacked) and 11 year old with our smallest jack and the wife with the eldest jack. A family approached with a very large weimaraner off lead who went straight for my husky (all my dogs always on leads). I automatically defended her, with child on back and picked her up by her harness.

To be fair storm looked like she wanted to take a piece of it but as we were out with the kids etc I did not want the commotion. The weimaraner then set about trying to attack my smallest dog Ruby . The owner had no control at all and could not control his dog even after shouting at it several times to come here. It was a very unpleasant experience and the guy walked off laughing. Apart from giving him a piece of my mind what would you have done under the circumstances. We are talking about a fully grown overweight weimaraner as well.

The guy said our husky was a pack dog and vicious lol when we bumped into him again 30 mins later, however this time his dog was on lead with muzzle so obviously had experiences before with its behavior.. Is he for real? Talk about bad owners!!! I have to say if it wasnt for my kids been there especially the 6 month old on my back I would have had a piece of him. The interesting thing was the 2nd time of meeting him he approached me with his foul mouth, bad breath with his dog on its back legs and Storm our husky sat on my foot waiting as if I just needed to give the nod.

I have no doubt if I had of let Storm at the dog it would have had it, regardless how big it was. The funny thing is we also have a friend that breeds weimaraners and to be honest although they are boundy they are very loving playful creatures so I was certainly surprised by this dogs behavior.

What would you have done? How would you handle the situation if it happened again? taking into account I would have wiped the floor with him if the kids were not present..[/h]

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

If it happened again I'd report him to the dog warden specially if he's a local other people might have done the same glad no1 got hurt

Sent from my ST18i using Forum Runner

[Stranger]

its one of those things where unless your in the situation you wouldnt really know how you'd react.

Personally you reacted very well, i always say if anything got anywhere near my dogs id boot it, as much as i love animals, i love my animals more than other peoples.

considering your 6month was on your back there wasnt much you could of done which wouldnt of put her in danger, if you had stumbled etc and fallen she would of been in direct line, either from you falling on her, or you falling on your hands exposing her.

Verbal abuse was probably the only course of action...and hell i would of defo given it some.

[Stranger]

If it happened again I'd report him to the dog warden specially if he's a local other people might have done the same glad no1 got hurt

Sent from my ST18i using Forum Runner

ehhem yes i'd do that too...lol...

you know im too hot headed that i forget about these types of things.... nix

[storm_marsden]

Yes to be honest I have a very well protected Ruck Sack and if I had of fallen she would have been protected, or at least I would have hoped so costing £180. Not that I would ever jeopardise my children or dogs. Funny thing was the pack all came together, even my jacks went mental which is not like them. If I had of let them all of lead all hell would have broke loose and as big as that dog was I really do feel my pack would have had it. Some people really should not be allowed a dog and it makes me sick to the stomach when I think about what happened. Hopefully I will come across him again when the kids are at home and its just me and storm. Things would certainly be different lol.

[storm_marsden]

ehhem yes i'd do that too...lol...

you know im too hot headed that i forget about these types of things.... nix

Lol same here, especially when my kids are involved

[Stranger]

Yes to be honest I have a very well protected Ruck Sack and if I had of fallen she would have been protected, or at least I would have hoped so costing £180. Not that I would ever jeopardise my children or dogs. Funny thing was the pack all came together, even my jacks went mental which is not like them. If I had of let them all of lead all hell would have broke loose and as big as that dog was I really do feel my pack would have had it. Some people really should not be allowed a dog and it makes me sick to the stomach when I think about what happened. Hopefully I will come across him again when the kids are at home and its just me and storm. Things would certainly be different lol.

agreed, if i had powers id most defo use them to change the laws regarding pet ownership!!!

[Leyka&Diva]

report it ive had a few dogs try and go for diva but shes too submissive to even try and do anything back most of the time

really dont get why people who clearly cant control their dogs let them offlead

[Andy]

The other owner was completely out of order and should have had better control of his dog.

Weimaraners are usually as you said a friendly bounding playful dog. However there are exceptions.

Just like occasionally there are Huskies that don't like all humans.

Two things I would say, neither are criticisms just observations from my own experience.

First, when a dog is on lead they may attack other dogs even if normally they are friendly.

It's the fight or flight reflex.

If they are off lead they can have a sniff and if they don't like the other dog they can simply run away.

However on lead they cannot run away and so some dogs will may snap at other dogs to say "I don't know you so stay away because I can't run off"

Unfortunately for us Husky owners they MUST be kept on lead

Unfortunately the other dog then tends to respond in kind and it can kick off.

My girly Echo (she's a white German Shepherd) is exactly like this off lead she is happy to run around with other dogs and mingle, on lead she acts as if she wants to rip their throats out and the owners too.

secondly lifting your dog up 'out of the way' does three things.

One, it stops your dog from defending itself.

Two, it raises them above the other dog which puts it in a position of dominance and so the other dog may attack even more to try to reassert its own dominance.

Three, If the other dog does try to attack the you are likely to get injured as your arms and hands are in the way.

When another dog attacks yours there is no wrong or right way to deal with it because it depends on the dogs and the owners.

You try to make it out of the situation with as little damage as possible.

[storm_marsden]

The other owner was completely out of order and should have had better control of his dog.

Weimaraners are usually as you said a friendly bounding playful dog. However there are exceptions.

Just like occasionally there are Huskies that don't like all humans.

Two things I would say, neither are criticisms just observations from my own experience.

First, when a dog is on lead they may attack other dogs even if normally they are friendly.

It's the fight or flight reflex.

If they are off lead they can have a sniff and if they don't like the other dog they can simply run away.

However on lead they cannot run away and so some dogs will may snap at other dogs to say "I don't know you so stay away because I can't run off"

Unfortunately for us Husky owners they MUST be kept on lead

Unfortunately the other dog then tends to respond in kind and it can kick off.

My girly Echo (she's a white German Shepherd) is exactly like this off lead she is happy to run around with other dogs and mingle, on lead she acts as if she wants to rip their throats out and the owners too.

secondly lifting your dog up 'out of the way' does three things.

One, it stops your dog from defending itself.

Two, it raises them above the other dog which puts it in a position of dominance and so the other dog may attack even more to try to reassert its own dominance.

Three, If the other dog does try to attack the you are likely to get injured as your arms and hands are in the way.

When another dog attacks yours there is no wrong or right way to deal with it because it depends on the dogs and the owners.

You try to make it out of the situation with as little damage as possible.

Hi Andy

Great response and yes totally agree with what you are saying. I think when it happens so fast you kind of panic (especially as the kids where with us) and I have never experienced it before which is why I picked her up.

I did not want her fighting because she is already quiet nervous around other dogs and males for some reason. She is settling in nicely now and we have managed to socialise her with another pack of Huskies that I met whilst walking recently. Its done her the world of good and she is so loving and playful with them. This wienerama was out for some action, no doubt about that. My wife has had dogs all of her life and knows a fair bit about behaviours and the dog was showing all the signs of aggression. Thank fully nobody was injured and I have just reported it to the local council because I would not want anyone to have to experience what happened. Thanks for the advice, appreciate it.

[Osinn11]

We had a very similar experience yesterday evening while out on walk with Cj. We were walking through the park when we saw 3 dogs running towards us. 2 full grown English Bulldogs and I believe a young Black Lab. My wife and noticed them right off and before we knew it they were heading straight for us. It got ugly fast with all three ganging up on Cj. Of course I did my best to hold her back and keep a full on dog fight from happening but she immediately went into submissive mode. I don't think she understood why these dogs were coming at her in an aggessive way. I snapped. My wife and I immediately went into defense mode protecting our girl from these other dogs. (I was not nice about this either) While this is going on the group of people who owned the dogs had run up to where we were and of course strong words were exchanged. As I was cussing these A**holes out and telling them that they need to have thier dogs on lead. (Leash laws in the park) One of the ladies had the nerve to say they are on leash. This infuriated me! Letting your aggressive dogs run as a pack through a public park dragging leashes behind them DOES NOT COUNT AS ON LEASH!!!!! The thing that gets me the most is they acted like this was our fault. I'm still pissed off about this!

[Osinn11]

[Elyse]

Ugh....wow. I don't know what I would have done in that situation. But you seemed to handle it well.

Like Andy's dog, Suka is 'leash aggressive' with the fight or flight reflex. He looks like he wants to rip other dogs apart when he's on leash, but at the dog park he just avoids and goes on his own way to pee on everything.