What to do when you encounter an aggressive dog?

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

We live in a condo community with many dogs. There are two very aggressive dogs in the neighborhood...one german shepherd and a bull mastiff. I'm wondering how to best react when I'm with my Doodle puppy (only 10 pounds) when we run across these dogs. Each of them has already attacked two other dogs at the "pen" where we bring our dogs to do their business. Am I better to just pick up my puppy or does that make matters worse? Even though the dogs are leashed, in these two instances they were able to break away from their owners to go after the other dogs.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

This has happened to me quite a few times with Taquito (6.5 pound chihuahua). I usually just scoop him up if they start coming close. I haven't had to deal with this with Taquito or our doodle puppy Peri recently, because we walk in a different area until she is fully vaccinated. I would try to do the same - find an area where less dogs walk. We are in a condo community too.

[Lorraine Bromley]

Neely was bitten by a doberman at the dog park this week. No worries he just got a bit of cotten mouth! The owner had a dob and a rottie. The rottie wasn't bad. The dob also went and got into a growling teeth baring fight with another dog and then a golden ran up and started barking madly and trying to make them stop. What I couldn't understand is that the dog park started clearing out and here was the guy with the dob and rottie still in there! He should have been the one to leave the park immediately.
I was told by my trainer that if you ever had to break up a dog fight never try to get in there and seperate them at the snapping end. This usually ends up iin you getting biten. She said if it is getting out of hand and you can't get out of the situation any other way theway to do it is to go at the tail end and grab the dog around the waist just ahead of the legs and grab and throw as hard as you can. It usually can stun the dog long enough that you can scoop your dog up and run to somewhere safe or allow the other owner to get control.

[Adina P]

I've read a lot about what to do, but in the moment I'm not sure I'd do more than freeze and scream.

I do think that ANY dog that actually breaks free to attack another dog needs to be reported to your local animal control and/or police. It's not okay and the owners need to take whatever measures they need to ensure other dogs and people can NOT be hurt by their dog given its history of breaking free to attack. Were the attacks ones that left blood or injury?

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

One of the attacks was reported to the police and there was blood drawn so the dog had to be taken to the vet. The police did nothing more than talk to the owner of the vicious dog and tell him he must ensure the dog remains on the leash and under control going forward. The owner is an old man who really is not capable of controlling this huge dog. The condo association has given written warnings, but I don't think that's much of a deterrent. These owners seem blind to the dangers their dogs pose.

[Adina P]

Hmmmm...I wonder if there are simply no laws in place for this type of thing where you live or if the police are being 'nice'. Home owners insurance is sometimes at risk for those who own dogs with bite histories.

[Nancy Sunderland]

I live in a rural/farm community and believe it or not have had to deal with aggressive dogs here as well. The scenario is a bit different though... Let me explain; I go for a walk down a dirt road where there is only one other inhabited house other than mine. Both sides of the road are my family's farm land; either pasture or hay/alfalfa/barley fields. I have my two labs with me, unleashed. (our doodle pup arrives in 7 weeks) They are well trained, and are free to roam the fields, creeks, whatever. They each have ZERO aggression. A neighbor who is "not from around here, (i.e., rich folk from out of state who want the pristine Vermont lifestyle), also takes her dog for a walk, leashed, (not sure the breed, looks like a skinny light brown lab with short hair), gets very aggressive and mean to my dogs who are just happy-go-lucky and want to play. She is unable to restrain her OWN dog and all of a sudden we have a situation. She starts yelling..... The solution for us was that she no longer walks down "my road", LOL. (I know it's not my road, but the land on both sides is) I'm not sure what I would've done had she not elected to steer clear of us though, it was definitely VERY awkward. I personally think that the owner of a dog should be able to fully restrain said dog. If a person does not have the strength to restrain their own dog, maybe they have the wrong breed of dog. As such, I think taking your own build/strength into consideration when you choose a breed of dog is a responsible consideration that should be considered more after all these stories I've read....

[Adina P]

Sometimes a leashed dog will display 'aggression' toward off leash dogs because they ARE constrained and feel threatened since they can't run or escape (stuck on a leash) thus they 'show off' with aggression. That said, a well trained dog would NOT do that. But that same dog may or may not act that way OFF leash.

[Sharon, Boo & Cricket]

I would definitely try to avoid the aggressive dogs, and not go into the "pen" if either of those dogs are there already. (I assume the pen is the condo's fenced-in potty area?) And if you accidentally run into them, I would pick up your puppy and walk away. Better safe than sorry. You don't want your puppy to have a traumatic experience with other dogs at such an early age.

[HANNAH 8/2/07 & HONEY 7/2/08]

Most City's...Town's...whatever have their own dog laws....most dog laws clearly state you must have your dog under control at all times...even if your dog is off leash. You are responsible for your dogs at all times. Just seen a court case where a woman went to walk someones dog, the dog attacked the person when they entered the home for the first time. The owner had a sign on the door, Beware Of Dog! The owner was also in her home at the time of the attack. The owner was found guilty for not controling her dog, and had to pay Medical bills, lost wages, court cost. The owner even argued the fact had that been an intruder and her dog attacked would it have been looked at the same way...that was her home, and it still came down to you have to have your dog under control at all times, since she was not threatened or attacked..it didn't matter. Guess it all depends on how much the law wants to get involved, one way or the other.

[Karen & Lucy]

How scary, I would be afraid too if I were you. I think I would be making complaints to whom ever is in charge of the community, daily if I had to. That is a very dangerous situation.

[Joy Originator of GiantSchnoodles]

I would not take my dog into the pen. I would certainly avoid those agressive dogs. I carry pepper spray at all times just in case. Here's a story from my journal.

I was walk & rolling wi Zorro. Zorro walks, I roll in my electric scooter. Suddenly a loose intact pit bull ran up to Zorro.
Someone growled. I don’t know if it was the pit or Zorro but I wasn’t waiting to find out. I grabbed my pepper spray & hobbled into a standing position, got between them & started yelling “go home” at the top of my lungs, pointing my pepper spray at the pit. He backed away from me but wasn’t leaving. I kept yelling. I grabbed my cell & called 911. I told the cops I was standing between my dog & an intact pit with mace pointed at the pit. I was yelling at the pit between words to 911. “We’re on go home street” etc. I take the same route every day but I didn’t know what the cross street was. I had to try & move around & stay between the dogs to see the street sign. I finally gave them the the streets & hung up. Then a car drove up & my neighbor, Trudy, got out of the car with a leash. She leashed the pit & asked me if I was all right. The pit was submissive, wagging and a nice dog. (notice I’m not using the word sweet. Have you ever noticed when a pit lover mentions pit, they always put the word sweet in the same sentence? 100% of the time) I said, Gee you got here fast Trudy. Did you come from my 911 call? That was a stupid question. Trudy volunteers at the humane society but wouldn’t have come out on a 911 call. Then Belle came over & Suzanne. They were all saying “Joy are you all right?” I felt so cared about. Its so nice to have neighbors who care about me & know my name. Then the cops showed up. Belle said that the pit belonged to people up the street who lost their house. They gave the pit to Patty (their mom) who lives on that corner. Patty has no experience with dogs. Ordinarily I would just put the dog back in the yard like the golden, the boxer, a couple of bassets that always get loose. But not the pit. I don’t want an intact pit being cared for by inexperienced people in my neighborhood. Even a nice one. I told the cops I wanted the pit put in the shelter & neutered. The woman cop just about died laughing. She said “she wants his balls cut off!” I said “Yup! That’s exactly what I want”. She just howled. She thought it was so funny. I think she actually wanted to cut off a few balls and I don’t think she was thinking about dogs. Finally animal control came along & put him in the truck. I told her he was a nice dog. I didn’t want him put down, just neutered. The cop laughed again & drove off howling. Everybody left and my neighbors hugged me and said they were glad I was okay. That was so nice. On my way home, a couple of blocks away, animal control stopped me to get some more info. A neighbor I hadn’t met before was working in his garden. He came over & told us that the pit had been in his garden. He had spent some time with a raised axe aimed at the pit. That would have been horrible for everybody! He couldn’t help it that he was born a pit. I’m torn between sympathy & self preservation.
Later I called Cassy, the new shelter director & told her he was a nice dog. Not aggressive. He probably just wanted to play with Zorro but Zorro may have been protecting me. I’ll be checking when the hold date ends. If the owners haven’t picked him up I’ll call my friends at pit rescue & tell them what I nice dog he is & hopefully they’ll rescue him. (All the rescues attend meetings together at the shelter from time to time so all 40 breed rescues know each other.) A nice relaxing morning walk & roll in my quiet neighborhood.
Puppy love from Joy & furry folk

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Thanks everyone for your input. I'm being much more careful now with where I walk Guinness. I'm thinking it also might not be a bad idea to have the pepper spray in the event of an emergency. Hopefully I'll never have to use it, but at least I'll feel safer.