Took charlie on a good long walk tonight and towards the end of our walk we came across a girl in her 20s walking her small little dog don't remember what it was on a leash....but her very large, 80-90 pound lab (head came up to my hip, and I'm 6 foot) not on a leash, despite the leash law here in Tifton.
Something told me the minute I notice he was not on a leash a bad feeling came into the pit of my stomach.
Charlie loves people and dogs so he was trying his best to get to the lab as quickly as possible. The lab ran up to charlie and they started sniffing each other, for a moment things seemed OK, I was going to let them sniff each other but I continued to walk. As soon as I walked past them and my back turned, the lab decided he didn't like charlie and jumped on him. I heard the growling, and guttural sounds and turned to see the lab on top of charlie trying to pin him down. I was able to pull charlie away but his collar slipped off his head but luckily we were able to shield him from the other dog and get his collar/leash back on.
Happened so quickly I didn't even have time to say anything to the owner. I was more worried about removing Charlie away from the dog.
All we received was a nonchalant "I'm so sorry, he never does that" and heard her talking to her dog "What has gotten into you?" as we walked away.
It was very eye opening experience. I've read about everybody's encounters and I'm cautious, but rarely have I ever felt insecure about a lab (being a lab owner) approaching me, or my dogs. Also it's one of those things you just don't understand how quickly things can escalate with dogs until you've experienced it.
Something told me the minute I notice he was not on a leash a bad feeling came into the pit of my stomach.
Charlie loves people and dogs so he was trying his best to get to the lab as quickly as possible. The lab ran up to charlie and they started sniffing each other, for a moment things seemed OK, I was going to let them sniff each other but I continued to walk. As soon as I walked past them and my back turned, the lab decided he didn't like charlie and jumped on him. I heard the growling, and guttural sounds and turned to see the lab on top of charlie trying to pin him down. I was able to pull charlie away but his collar slipped off his head but luckily we were able to shield him from the other dog and get his collar/leash back on.
Happened so quickly I didn't even have time to say anything to the owner. I was more worried about removing Charlie away from the dog.
All we received was a nonchalant "I'm so sorry, he never does that" and heard her talking to her dog "What has gotten into you?" as we walked away.
It was very eye opening experience. I've read about everybody's encounters and I'm cautious, but rarely have I ever felt insecure about a lab (being a lab owner) approaching me, or my dogs. Also it's one of those things you just don't understand how quickly things can escalate with dogs until you've experienced it.
