owners who allow their dogs to attack other dogs

aspen

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#1
hi, this is my first post and i'd like to ask the forum for some help and advice. however, for those a bit squeamish, please do not read this.

i was in the park today and two massive german shepherd mixes, off-leash, came towards my dog and i. i asked the owner if they were friendly. he and his son said yes. i held my hand out, as they passed me by, to say hi. but their attention turned towards my dog and started to attack him in unison . i immediately chased them off.

my dog didn't seem to be bitten, only slightly grazed, but i asked the owner if i could get his name and phone # if i were to find a wound later. he was very quickly moving away with his dogs and said there was no need for this.

i asked a couple nearby if they had a cellphone i could use and i told the man that if he didn't provide his name, i would immediately called the police.

as it turned out, the couple said their dog had been attacked by the same man's dogs 1 1/2 years ago and needed stitches. so. i followed the man to the parking lot and got his license #. i didn't call the police.

the reason i am being such a pain is that my dog, when he was only 5 months old, was bitten at another park and needed 5 stiches. at the time, the owners were also refusing to take responsibility and i had to rush my dog to the hospital. i couldn't do anything then, but i want to do something this time.

the people at the park who saw all this didn't really want to act as witnesses because they think neither the police nor the humane society will anything.

i am wondering what i can do to make sure this man is not going to be a nuisance to other dogs, or even children, in the future? how can one assure he either leashes them or muzzle them? he has a very bad attitude for he was calling me crazy and to beat it.

it's getting kind of scary to go out for a walk these days! and this is the suburbs...
:mad:
 
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#2
Hi Aspen,

Nothing gets fixed if you don't do something about it. You've got the license #. At the very least, approach the Humane Society and give them your account and ask them what the best course of action is. They should be able to give you guidance specific to your area.
 
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#3
Going to the cops or the Humane Society would be the adult way to do things, Ild be hard pressed not to attack the owners if they let their dog/s attack mine.
 

BigDog2191

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#4
That person is very stupid. If they know their dog is aggressive in anyway-- then why not keep it in the distance? Or at least away from people in some way.

I know Rocky fear barks at people and dogs-- so I do as much as I can not to put him in situations where he WILL do that.

You've got his license #... so I guess you could call the police to find the man's name and then call animal control and tell them what happened.
 

aspen

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#5
thanks all for your replies... :)

it was pretty scary when the two dogs started to hunt down my dog like a rabbit and my dog is 60 lbs.

although i love dogs, there is this killer instinct in all of them, and sometimes it's reflected in the way they are brought up. i get upset if my dog as much as growl at another dog, much less attack them.

but in terms of how it happened, when the two dogs came toward my dog, sparky greeted them but cowered back just a bit because they were much bigger. that's when the two dogs attacked. is this a natural response in most dogs, or only the ones who are really aggressive and may ultimately create real harm?

is there a way i can train my dog to stand his ground more? my dog is normally quite friendly and will run to greet any dog of any size, but is hesitant of obviously aggressive dogs.
 

Vega

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#6
Get a bigger dog. Then you'll have double the powah! :p

I hate it when dogs get aggressive and team up against one dog. Oh well, that's the way nature is. From what I've observe, attitude is everything when it comes with standing your ground. There is this female shepherd at my local dog park who is very dominant and always bossing/chasing/ other dogs. She scares the crap out of Cordelia, even thou she is bigger. Large male dogs like +100 lbs don't mess with her and she is like a 60 lb female shepherd.
 

AnimalsAreforMe

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#8
That is crazy if you know your dogs could possibly bite and someone asks you if they are friendly you don't say yes you say NO!!!!! I mean come on its called being responsible.
 

Gempress

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#9
aspen said:
thanks all for your replies... :)
is there a way i can train my dog to stand his ground more? my dog is normally quite friendly and will run to greet any dog of any size, but is hesitant of obviously aggressive dogs.
Avoiding aggressive dogs isn't being cowardly, it's self-preservation. Why would you want your dog to stand his ground? All that will lead to is fights. And if the other other dog is the loser and gets hurt, YOUR dog will be labeled as dangerous, and you will be liable for damages.

You said he's friendly and outgoing to other dogs who aren't aggressive, and that's great. That's the only thing that matters.

As for what to do about that idiot you met, I suggest calling the police. I was once in a similar situation with a rottweiler who lives down the street, and I called the police. My dog wasn't hurt, and the attacking rottweiler had been taken back inside, so I asked the cops if they really could do anything.

I loved their reply: "Nope. But we can sure put the fear of God in 'em."

Within the hour, two cop cars were parked in front of my neighbor's house, with the cops giving him a lecture that scared the bejeezus out of him. And yes, it was satisfying to watch. :D
 
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#10
I lived near a goofball that had two Samoyeds that attacked my old (he was 10, nearly 11) Beagle. He could have handled one of them, but two were too much. They ran loose, and the cops didn't want to deal with a guy who barely spoke any english, like the idiot owner did. The apartment manager wouldn't do anything either, since she was getting ready to toss anyone with a dog out as soon as their lease was up anyway.

One time I grabbed one of them by the collar and got him pinned down while his buddy and my dog went at it. Finally, my dog did enough damage, so he ran back up the steps to his apartment (The door was always open all day, they just ran loose) to get his "daddy". He comes down the stairs and jumps on me, and so I let his dog go, and he says, laughing (With a Korean Accent) "Ha ha, You're doggy too old to fight!", and takes his dog up the stairs. My dog wasn't hurt badly, just chewed on a little. To be honest, he liked to fight, and wasn't wanting to stop.

The next day, his dogs chased a cat and the smaller of the two got hit and killed out on the really busy street alongside the complex. About a week later, I'm out walking (well, getting dragged along is a better term for it) my dog, and all of a sudden, here comes the surviving Samoyed, and they really get going. My dog tears him up pretty badly, and I got bit trying to break it up by both dogs. All of a sudden, his dog screams, and a whole lot of blood starts coming from a neck bite.

Here comes the owner, screaming, "Your dog killing my dog!" over and over, crying and jumping up and down. Finally my dog lets him go, and it's obvious, he's gonna die if he doesn't go to the vet. My roomate comes out, and I give him my dog, and I end up driving the guy and his dog to my vet (right down the street) and his dog had to have a whole bunch of stitches on his neck after surgery to repair an artery.

I had a feeling he was going to want me to pay for it. NO WAY!! He calls the cops, who were the same ones that come out for everything most of the time, and he tells them, in suddenly not that bad English, "His dog hurt my dog, I want you to make him pay!" The cops know me, they see me all the time walking my dog and one of them says to me, "Is it the old (He got very white after 8) Beagle you walk all the time that did this?" I said yeah. He asks me, "How bad is he hurt?" "Not much, a few bites on his ears". The cop tells the guy that he has to pay now, and he can take me to small claims court if he wants to later, but they will testify his dogs ran loose, mine didn't (Well, most of the time, he was an escape artist), and he would lose anyway. I never heard from him again until 6 years later, there he is, walking a Yellow Lab pup down my street. I had my yellow Lab out, I had just brought him home from the vet (shots). His pup and my dog hit it off, and they saw each other quite a few times over the next year, until I moved back to Ohio. He said he was sorry about his dogs fighting with my dog, and he didn't let the Lab run loose. It turned out he bought a house one street over from me and we started getting each other's mail.

My Pit Mix was attacked a few times while out for walks over his 14 years, and he always took a lot of damage before fighting back. A couple of times, there were large vet bills involved after he did finally go off the deep end. The cops got called to a few of those. In a small town, the cops see you walking the dog, and they see that he never bothers anyone, and my dog, with one huge exception (Logan, a huge yellow Lab), loved everyone and every dog, and the cops told the attacking dog's owners, that wanted me to pay for sewing their dog up, to basically, dream on. The huge GSD that attacked twice, and had gotten away with only minor damage the first round, had a vet bill of about $400 to put his face back together. It wasn't until that fight that I really knew how tough my dog really was. The sight of a 75 pound dog swinging a 125 pound Shepherd around, and slamming him up against a truck, is something you don't forget. 20 years later, I can still replay the whole thing perfectly in my head.

I didn't try to break that one up, or the one he had with the neighbor's huge Rott/?? mix. Both these dogs and my dog had molars the size of my thumbs, and I really didn't want my fingers crushed/amputated, so I let them go at it until we got a couple of people to grab the other dog, then drag them apart. At least the neighbor's dog had the sense to bail out when he realized it wasn't going as well as he thought it would, and ran home. The Shepherd saw his owners come out, and started it up again, and paid the price. Gus had so much fur on him, that he was barely hurt in any of these fights, except his ears got torn up pretty badly.
 

Athe

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#11
There are many dog aggressive dogs, and also dogs have different ways of expressing themselves with new dogs that we as dog owners don't often recognize. Some dogs are just bullies. A dog displaying predatory drift towards another dog will show signs of lowering of the head and almost a little stalking...most times submissive dogs and small dogs are the prey object. These dogs sound like bullies, and this man needs to keep them on a leash.
If there are leash laws in your area and in particular in this part they should be enforced...if not by authorities then by the people enjoying park.
First off, you have all the information to report this person...start with the local humane society, if they will not help you then let them know that you are going to speak with their superiors. Next put a letter to the editor in your newspaper. Talk to your city counseller's etc. Always make sure that you state that the dogs approached your dog in a threatening manner...and then state, what if this had been a child...a fearful child, maybe the dogs would have gone into predatory drift (the number 1 reason why children and fearful adults are mauled to death by dogs.). One other thing you will hear after a person has been mauled to death are all kinds of people stepping forward and saying they were frightened of these dogs...after the fact, when it's too late. :(
 
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yuckaduck

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#12
If you contact your local humane society they can investigate and at the very least force him to muzzle his dogs. If those dogs have attacked before then he may even lose his dogs.
 

avenlee

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#13
I think you should report him. They may have had other complaints about his dog and just one more complaint may make them do something about it. I hope this guy doesn't have children!
 

aspen

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#14
Gempress said:
Avoiding aggressive dogs isn't being cowardly, it's self-preservation. Why would you want your dog to stand his ground? All that will lead to is fights. And if the other other dog is the loser and gets hurt, YOUR dog will be labeled as dangerous, and you will be liable for damages.
:D
gempress,

i didn't mean for my dog to stand his ground and fight, but to give the kind of confident air that doesn't incite other dogs to pick on him. i just wondered if this is a behavioral trait one can instill.

i have noticed that on a few occasions, my dog's friendly greetings with other dogs turn into the others snapping at him. is it because they sense he's too gentle a soul? or are just some dogs like that? also, if he runs away from the other dogs, they will just chase him, as in this case.
 
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