What to do if a dog attacks your dog?

[Diane Margetts]

Several of us walk our dogs to a neighborhood school in the evening to romp together and do some ball chasing (that's mostly Dakota!). One of the ladies was walking her dog in the vicinity of the school when three Pitbulls came at them and one attacked her Boxer. He had the Boxer in a head/neck grip. She started screaming for help and several neighbors ran out. One man started kicking the Pitbull that had the grip on the Boxer. I guess the Pitbull let go and my friend ran to safely with her Boxer.

All wound up ok. Somehow, the neighbors managed to "corral" the Pitbulls in a side yard and call animal control. None of the dogs had collars and at least one was a male and he was intact.

We don't live in a neighborhood that has a lot of Pitbulls or stray dogs running around but this incident sure made me think. I often walk Dakota to the school and down to the neighboring creek area when nobody is around. What would you do in a situation like this if you and your dog were confronted with an agressive dog or pack of dogs?

 

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Diane, I know they sell a product called Dog Halt that my husband carries with him when he rides his bike. My trainer also recommended an Air Horn, but I don't know if it would have worked in this case. This would be frightening and I am glad your friend's Boxer is ok.

[AndySharon BoomerShaynaMariner]

From the web about Halt:

" Halt! Products use Capsaicin, a naturally occurring extract of peppers, which,
when sprayed in a dog's face, causes only temporary, but extreme discomfort for
the dog.Think of it as attitude re-adjustment. Halt! Stops him in his tracks,
giving you time to move out of danger. Halt!'s pressurized spray is accurate up
to 10 feet."

 

It would appear to me that the Halt is for personal protection, not protection of your pet.

I would not want to chance hitting my dogs with it.  I would rather use an air horn.  I guess you could carry both -  using the air horn first and then the "Halt".

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I'd be afraid of getting in JD's eyes, too. When two dogs are going at it, there's no way you could spray one's dog's face without getting the other one, too, if you could even get your hand in there without getting bitten.

I doubt an airhorn would stop a pitbull or similar dog when they are in "attack mode".

Maybe a miniature baseball bat, lol. Or an aluminum cane.

[AndySharon BoomerShaynaMariner]

How about high pressure water - I was thinking about the old seltzer bottles...

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

This is one of my greatest fears. I walk JD twice a day, and there are a lot of dogs in my neighborhood. Most are friendly, but there are some that are not. Somebody's dog seems to get loose on a daily basis, and we have had several incidents of a dog being walked on leash who was attacked by another dog. In most of those cases, the attacking dog jumped his fence, got out of the gate, or ran out the front door as the leashed dog walked past. JD and I have had this happen a couple of times, but fortunately, the dogs have not been the most aggressive ones, and Jack can put up a pretty good defense when he has to. Still, the incidents have frightened me. Several dogs, including my neighbor's 10 year old standard poodle, have been badly bitten.

Recently, a young couple adopted two dogs from a rescue, a 90 lb American Bulldog and a 60 lb pitbull who is masquerading as an American Bulldog. (Same difference anyway.) They are out in their yard constantly, behind a 4 foot chainlink fence with no shrubs or other barriers, on a corner lot. We happened to walk down that street for the first time a few weeks ago, and I didn't know they lived there. Both dogs started barking ferociously, and the pitbull started jumping up and down at the fence, trying to get over it. His head and shoulders were clearing the fence.

I was terrified but had to stay calm to keep JD calm. The street was a cul de sac with no fast or direct way out. We continued walking and the whole way I was just praying, "Please, God, let us get off this street before that dog clears that fence."

I won't go down that street again, but it's made me start thinking about what I could do to defend Jack in an attack. My first thought was a baseball bat, but that would probably be difficult to manage along with the 85 lb doodle and the poop bags, lol. So I will be watching this discussion with great interest.

[J and Riley (and Luna)]

Last week Luna and I were walking with her friend Holly (a maltese/shih tzu mix) and a medium-sized dog ran straight for us and attacked Holly.  Holly's mum scooped her up into her arms out of harm's way, but then the dog turned her attention to Luna.  It lunged and started growling/biting at Luna. 

Luna is extremely submissive, but she will defend herself if she needs to and I didn't want it to escalate... so I put my body between the dog and Luna and yelled "NO, OFF!" to the dog in my best "angry mommy" voice.  It immediately stopped what it was doing and looked at me like "ok, sorry!"

I try to always remember that even if a dog is being aggressive it IS someone's pet, so I try a few commands while I'm physically trying to separate my dog and the other dog.   If it's a bigger dog and Luna is off-leash  I use the leash to pull the dog off of Luna without risking being bitten on the arms/face myself.  *Usually* though just shouting a few commands and standing your ground seems to work.

I'm a small person, so I don't think I could physically pull a pitbull off of Luna... but I can certainly SOUND intimidating and do my best to make the dog back off.  I'm a soccer player, if I have to I can kick really hard!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I think about kicking them, too, and every time I think about it, I realize I'm wearing backless shoes, lol. :)

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I think this was a perfect response.  I would try to summon every ounce of calm strength and stand my ground.  I also think it's really important to keep moving (not running, but calmly moving forward).  I've thought of carrying the airhorn or pepper spray, but in the intensity of that moment I'm not sure I could effectively pull that off.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Whenever I see this topic I think I should make a plan but I haven't as yet. We've had this discussion before with some good suggestions, here are a couple of links:

http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/how-to-handle-a-dog-attack...

http://www.doodlekisses.com/forum/topics/dog-attacks-and-halt-or-pe...

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Before I look, is one of these that discussion where someone who is no longer with us said you should grab the dog's legs from behind and pull? ROFL

[F, Calla & Luca]

No clue : ) Mind you I said some good suggestions.

[Diane Margetts]

I also heard that if you lift a dog by the tail it disorients them and they will release their bite . . . I'm trying to visualize myself having the composure to lift a Pitbull off the ground by his tail while his jaws are locked on Dakota’s neck . . . Don't think so . . .