I'm sick of other peoples nasty dogs. Again this morning we encountered a snarling, hankles up, aggresive dog who wants to rough up my older dog. This year he has been turned over 4 times, once so badly a rip in the groin resulted in vets attention. I now allways carry a stick and would not think twice. He is 7, the most placid, soft dog you could meet. Never shows any interest in approaching another dog, goes about his business but he must give off some signal to be attacked.

He's never toughed up and this may be the cause. These owners must know their dogs are aggresive surely but dont give a hoot. Today was a cocker, we have met many times before and he is very nasty, owner seems to think its all a game, takes pride in his bully dog. My dogs are well socialized, never have I been to a shoot and amongst all the dogs, mostly strangers, seen a fight break out.They all squash in the wagon together, never any problems. Rant over !

Same here!  Finn had just turned one and l was walking to school to collect my son. What l now know was a cross rotty, without lead and collar but with a 13 yr old supposedly in charge, was 20 yards in front of me on the main road.  I find out later that they had got it 5 days earlier from a rescue centre.(in other words, they hadnt a clue about its temperament).  It took one look at Finn and, before l knew it, was biting his back over and over.  I felt absolutely useless. The only way l could get it off was to grab it by the scruff and lifted it as high as l could. What upset me was that Finn was still attached and it wouldnt let go instantly. Finn remains a lovely tempered dog. He does get nervous when he meets dogs he doesnt know and l have tried the DAP collars. He does bark at them first sometimes and it makes him and me, as his owner, look bad. Hows it left me?.....petrified! One year on, and l am just as wary.  I walk with the same group of people most days but can be seen heading off on a tangent if l see certain breeds coming towards me. Ive waited a long time for this dog and its saddened me that l have let the situation get to me like it has. What annoys me more, is that the other dog doesnt wear a muzzle and neither the police or dog warden are remotely interested that its nasty. We werent the last altercation it has had. I am now a woman with a stick,  a very sharp stick, and lm not afraid to use it!

Ollie was badly bitten last year by a dog being walked by a dog walker in a group.  She'd taken it's muzzle off because she thought it was cruel!  We got the vets fees out of her eventually and she had the cheek to offer to walk Ollie if we needed her services!!

Ollie now tends to avoid larger dogs if at all possible, and is clearly uncomfortable sometimes.  He's not so bad with smaller ones, generally a quick bum sniff then he's back to his own world.  The thing is he does not have an agressive bone in his body.  Fortunately it's not a great problem where we walk him, but if it was I too would take a stick.

Hi there are several nasty staffy type dogs in the village where we live and have several encounters. My friends retreiver was attacked by one of them, we also know he has savaged several other dogs in the village and yet it seems the police cant do a thing?

Thats true.  It has to be classed as a 'dangerous' dog before they get involved.  From what l gather, thats only pit bulls isnt it?  Whether they are dangerous in the true sense of the word apparently isnt the issue. They wait intil the horse has bolted and the dog has moved onto a bit of human flesh....

A couple of weeks ago our dog was attacked by two staffies.  One grabbed one ear and the other the other ear and they started to shake and pull.  My husband and I sat on the staffies with our backs facing their heads.  That stopped them pulling and shaking but they stayed grasped on for what felt a long time after.  The staffies owner looked on helpless....

I did some reading on the internet to find out what we should do if that situation occurs again and apparently you should grasp the attacking dog by it's back legs and pull them up like a wheelbarrow.  Have never tried this so don't know whether it works but it makes some sort of sense when you read it.

Barbara

That's not strictly true.  It is an offence to have a dog that is out of control in a public place, breed is irrelevant.  Now the definition of out of control is where it gets hazy, but a dog that is off lead, attacks others and does not respond to recall is out of control, no argument!  Indeed, if a dog is off lead and does not return when called it's out of control, regardless of how it behaves.

We need to remember that dogs will be dogs and sometimes have a mino falling out, even when socialised.  But regular attacks are something completely different and should be reported.  The Police can act in these circumstances.

There's an article in Dogs Today about how to stop a dog fight and it's what Ladee has said more or less. You need to get the dog thats doing the attacking by the tail if it's not to big or lift it of the floor by it's back legs it then looses any leverage it had.

Hi, not posted in a while but this topic gets my blood boiling. I have encountered several nasty dogs whilst walking my boys jack and woody thankfully with no serious injury though. we used to meet the same two aggressive dogs on our walk down the river, I'd spot them and put my boys on the lead, they would never bother there dogs would see us, pause before charging at us barking then stand growling and snapping at my boys. These were two alsations, not small! There owners would eventully catch up and either laugh or say there harmless, my boys were puppies at the time and thankfully those bad apples have had no ill effect on there behaviour with other dogs. I've been bitten three times by different dogs as i'm a postie and whilst one was hanging off my coat after biting my leg the owner stood protesting what a softie his lab was! (this was in the street). It would be nice if people could keep there dogs under control and we could all walk through life alittle happier!

camcam

We were on holiday in the Lake District about a month ago and a dog came up to our Ollie and started having ago.  Ollie was on a lead and couldn't really defend himself or run away - hate doing it but I'm afraid it was a very firm foot into the throat of the attacking dog.  Everybody who was watching were shouting at the agressive dog and said our Ollie was bing attcked.  The dog then approached a couple sitting a bench and the woman belted it with her handbag - the owners of the dog were about 100m away.  I will always defend my dogs by what ever means, even if it means inflicting pain on the agressor.   Similar situation with a springer I had a few years ago.  A terrier type dre blood from his neck.  The owner was fishing and his kids were trying to catch the dog - again a sharp kick to its ribs brought the situation under control.  Th eowne accused me of kicking his dog - told him he wasn't doing anything and my dog had been biten.  Said we would take his dog to the vets and get it checked out and I would pay the bill and then we would go to the police station and report his dog as a dangerous dog and we would go from there.  We didn't go the vets or the police staion and his dog wasn't hurt.  If my dog is under control and is being attacked I'm afraid I will defend him as he is as soft as soap.  Marc 

I have an ongoing problem with a doberman at a neighbour's farm, the footpath runs straight through their yard and she refuses to muzzle the dog or keep it under control.  I have 5 dogs and so far it has bitten 3 of them ... thankfully not drawing blood, but hard enough to make the dogs yelp.  However, I would like to comment on this subject from a different angle ... one of my dogs, a collie lab cross, is a rescue from Ireland and about a year ago began displaying strange aggressive behaviour.  From day 1 she has been wary of men - I suspect she was abused by a man before she came to us - and she is very territorial & noisy when anyone approaches our gate or comes into the garden.  We had a delivery man bringing a computer for my son, he managed to ignore the notice "Beware of Dogs, enter at your own risk" on the gate even tho it was a hot summer's day & dogs were in the garden, he managed to open the gate without the bell ringing (an old fashioned shop bell which alerts me to anyone coming in so I can get the dogs in - it's a long way to the gate!) and got half way up the path to the front door before the collie noticed him.  She flew at him, barking and aiming her muzzle at his legs.  He screamed like a banshee which brought me running, dropped the parcel and ran for his life to the gate.  I grabbed the dog, shoved her inside & closed the door & went after the poor man.  I apologised profusely & asked if he had been harmed, he hadn't but understandably was badly shaken and very rude to me.  He had been shocked, but I did draw his attention to the notice and the bell.  He did not intimate that he would complain but I consulted a firm of solicitors who specialise in dog law and was surprised to learn that he could make a complaint, even though he was in a private garden, because these days a dog can be classed as "dangerously out of control" even in a private house or garden.  You might be interested in the following extract from the Doglaw.co.uk site, provided by solicitors Cooper & Co:

Section 3(1) Dangerous Dogs Act 1991

This part of the Dangerous Dogs Act applies to every single dog in England & Wales, no matter whether it is a pure bred dog, cross or a mongrel and regardless of its size.

This is a criminal offence which can be brought against the owner of a dog (and if different the person in charge of a dog) if a dog is:

dangerously out of control

in a public place

'Dangerously out of control' is defined as being 'on any occasion on which there are grounds for reasonable apprehension that it will injure any person'. Generally, if a dog bites someone then it will be presumed to have been dangerously out of control.

'Public place' is defined as including any place 'to which the public have or are permitted to have access'.

I now arm myself with a handful of gravel from the driveway on my way out.  If I go through the farm and the doberman's aggressive toward me or my dogs, it gets it in the face!  Not pleasant, but it does the trick.

Hi

I've had exactly the same problem but only with my springer who is 5 and very quiet and friendly.  My cocker who is obviously smaller and who says hello to all and sundry never get's growled or picked on.  I too have had vet bills and I thought it was because my springer was very ill after a reaction to kennel cough which damaged his lungs despite treatment within hours of his first signs of a problem.  This led to nearly 3 years of ill health so I put it down to the other dogs sensing his illness or inferiority or perhaps it's just him - both of mine are `intact' as such and the cocker is in charge at playtime but my springer is in charge at meal time but overall the cocker is the leader in dog terms but I am overall pack leader !!! including the humans !!!!

I carry a bottle of water which sends them packing but I have been bitten myself on the inner thigh pretty badly requiring treatment when I stood between mine and a lab cross believe it or not - mind you it was the size of a pitbull and wonder if it had rotty in it. 

I truly hate poor dog owners and there's always loads of them that just think it's okay or it's hard - good idea to contact your council dog warden who sends out warning letters as they tend to be regular offenders.