The Anatomy of a Dog Attack
“Out of the blue, it attacked for no reason”
When a dog attack is reported we will often hear the same old phrases bandied about.
“It came out of the blue”
“It was totally unprovoked”
“We didn’t see it coming”
“It was totally out of character”
Ring any bells? Well let’s try and understand how and why a dog might attack someone.
Dogs rarely, if ever, attack for no reason. Us humans often misinterpret a dog attacking “out of the blue” and “without warning”‘ because we simply missed the signs.
Let’s be clear about one thing. A dog who is prepared to bite someone has his reasons. Can we, as humans, justify those reasons using the social values of people? Probably not. But of course, dogs do not live their lives according to human social values.
Here is the story of John, Henry and Max.
John has no wife or children. For the last five years he’s lived with his best friend in the world a playful Labrador called Max.
John is exited today. Henry, an old friend from school who he hasn’t seen for many years is visiting.
John decides today would be a good day to get his garden tidied, make a good impression on his old school chum.
As John gets busy in amongst the weeds in the front garden, he spies his old mate making his way up the street.
Henry’s been looking forward to catching up with John for weeks and, as he’s never been to his home before, finds himself feeling somewhat jubilant to realise he’s managed to find the street on which John lives without too much trouble and can now relish the prospect of seeing his friend again as well as finally getting to meet the only true love of John’s life, the much talked about Max.
It’s a hot and sunny day and Henry is wearing his sunglasses. Further up the street he spots John working in his front garden.
John’s already noticed Henry making his way towards him and yells out, “Hi Henry. Fancy a beer?”
Henry shouts back, “Sounds just the job. Can you believe this heat?”.
As per usual, Max has been ‘helping’ John with his gardening exploits by digging holes of his own all over the lawn. John doesn’t mind. He only wanted the garden so he could have somewhere safe to play fetch with Max on sunny days like today. He’s never been one for trying to keep it immaculate when Max’s favourite hobby is trying to tunnel his way to China.
Max has stopped his gardening though. He’s become preoccupied by the exchange between John and Henry and he’s taken a trip the front gate to see what’s going on.
“I wonder who this bloke is?” ponders Max.
“Why would he and John be shouting at other?” he thinks to himself.
“I’d better be on full alert.” he concludes. “John’s just shouted at this chap so he obviously wants me to keep an eye out.”
Max fixes himself in position at the front gate and hoists his tail high into the air, he’s keen to let the oncoming stranger know he’s about.
John doesn’t notice.
Henry’s still coming. So Max decides he needs to be more clear. He starts to emit a deep, low growl in Henry’s direction just to make certain the stranger who’s purposely striding towards him, his owner and HIS garden is left in no uncertain terms that he’s not moving
Henry’s still coming. And now he’s close enough for Max to notice his sunglasses. “This is getting more serious by the second”, thinks Max. “He’s not only not listening to me, he’s staring right at me. I know, I’ll stare right back at him. See if he’s as brave then.”
Problems. Henry is still as brave. To Max, Henry’s sunglasses look like wide, staring eyes, boring straight ahead and as he marches staunchly toward the increasingly anxious Labrador, Max wonders what his next move might be. As body language goes, Henry is showing all the signs of refusing to listen to Max’s advice.
Now tense and feeling genuinely threatened, Max is offered an escape. John jogs inside to fetch a couple of bottles of beer and Max is only too pleased to hurriedly follow his master. Max is somewhat relieved to suspect that John, his idol, is just as scared as he is about the relentless stranger pursuing them both from outside the garden gate.
“Shut the door John, shut the door” Max worries. “He’s still coming and you haven’t closed the door”.
Too late. Max’s heart leaps as he hears the gate swing open. Too late.
His worst fears are confirmed. The unrelenting Henry is now purposefully making his way up the garden path and toward the the house where Max and John are isolated, cornered and in Max’s case, petrified.
Gathering up every ounce of his canine courage and without a second’s thought for his own safety Max charges out of the house, tail hoisted aloft and barking his war cry as loud as his voice will muster. He heads straight for Henry wondering why this stalking maniac refused to listen to all of his earlier warnings.
“You might kill me but you’ll never take John”, Max decides.
Henry, his face very quickly drained of all its colour, is shocked and taken aback to be confronted by a clearly furious Max, the dog he’d heard so many nice stories about from doting John. This isn’t at all the dog he thought he’d be meeting.
Henry, alarmed and frightened makes his way toward Max, attempting to offer a hand of reassurance and friendship.
Max is having none of it.
“John warned you. Then I warned you. Why wouldn’t you just listen?”, reasoned Max.
Undeterred by Henry’s advance and determined not to let his owner come to any harm, Max lunges in Henry’s direction.
The realisation that Max is a long way past the stage of being able to be pacified dawns on Henry fast and he hastily tries to beat a retreat back out of the gate from which he entered.
John, hearing the commotion and now panic stricken by Max’s attack bellows “No! Max, no.”
Acutely tuned to his owner’s emotions and sensing the fear and alarm in John’s voice, Max forges ahead and launches into a full scale attack on Henry.
And then, as quick as it began, it was over.
An ambulance arrives to take Henry away and, hearing the commotion, John’s neighbours have summoned the Police.
John can be heard explaining, “He’s never done anything like this before“, the attack came “totally out of the blue“, Max was always “such a trustworthy dog“, he’s “never shown any signs of aggression in his life“, the attack was “totally unprovoked“.
But we know differently don’t we?
Let’s look again at how Max saw things unfold:
- Max spots a man walking toward his and his owner’s garden – ‘his territory’
- Not unduly worried, Max paid little attention to the stranger until John shouted in Henry’s direction. To Max, this was a clear signal to ‘watch for danger’
- Obediently, Max sat at the front gate and watched for that danger.
- He attempted to signal to Henry by putting his tail in the air and growling, that he was prepared to defend his owner and territory.
- As Henry gets closer, Max again postures but now spots Henry’s aggressive body language, his wide eyes refusing to overt their gaze a clear signal of intent. Henry’s point blank refusal to alter his path, a sure fire gesture of defiance.
- As John runs inside, Max’s thoughts turn to escape. He now believes John is as scared as he is and they should both seek shelter from the safety of the house.
- Too late. As Henry enters the garden (Max and John’s territory) Max does what he thinks his owner needs him to do. He defends against the threat.
- As Henry runs away and John panics, Max takes this as a sign that he should increase his attack, his canine instincts now in complete overdrive.
So let us again question whether John was correct when he explained to Police that Max’s attack was unprovoked.
Was it unprovoked? Not at all.
Was it unjustified in human, social terms? Absolutely.
Was it avoidable? Totally.
The Aftermath
Henry, his pain eased only slightly by drugs lies motionless in a hospital bed and starts to face the reality that a visit to see a dear, old friend has left him disfigured for the rest of his life. He ponders how best to explain to his young children that he’s still their Dad even though he knows his mutilated features will upset them deeply. He wonders how life will be from now on, how people will react to him.
Max, confused and still frightened by the terrifying ordeal earlier in the day is now wondering why he’s found himself confined to a small, secure cage at the vet surgery.
He stares through the bars and looks longingly towards the door, hoping against hope that he will soon be reunited with his trusted friend and master, John.
Unbeknown to Max, he’ll never see John again.
As the door swings open, Max’s tail momentarily begins to wag but he’s deflated. It’s not John. It’s a vet nurse.
He’s still pleased to see her. He’s lonely and upset and he just wants to go home and be with his friend.
He’s too pre-occupied to wonder why the vet nurse seems so wary of him. Wanting to put her at ease, he submissively offers up his paw. As the vet nurse holds it, she carefully shaves a small patch of fur away from his leg.
Max didn’t even notice the injection.
On this day it wasn’t only Max’s body that was destroyed as John’s memories of a kind, gentle, fun loving dog died too.
He asks himself once more, “Why did my dog attack someone for no reason?”
John may never know it, but Max had his reasons.
Dogs do not bite people without reason. They do not attack out of the blue. They do not launch into savage, frenzied assaults without provocation despite what you will undoubtedly read in news reports when the next dog attack hits the press.
There are NO devil dogs. There are NO unprovoked dog attacks. There IS a huge gap in understanding amongst some dog owners about why dogs attack and until we can bridge that gap in education people will continue to be attacked and more and more dogs will join Max, their memories destroyed along with their bodies.
Killing individual dog breeds is not the solution to a problem whicn runs throughs an entire species. Oh, and if you were left in any doubt, that species isn’t canine.
————
Originally published on Stop Dog Attacks | Copyright © Ryan O’Meara | Distributed Under Creative Commons Licence (Feel free to re-publish, anywhere, simply place a link back to this page. Thank you.)
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oh for gods sake…….i just put my mascara on. I hate stories like that yet it is so so important for people and ESPECIALLY dog owners to hear. Its a great misfortune that dog owners dont take the time to REALLY understand and communicate with their dog. how many helpless lives have been wasted due to a basic lack of communication. when the hell will people learn…like i’ve said before and i’ll say again and again…..dog owners should sit a theory exam before being allowed to own a dog. thanks for putting this up here though. Its shocking how many dog owners still dont understand their dogs, i see far too many in my work and its heartbreaking!
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What an excellent article – how can this get out into the non K9 Magazine reading public – it needs to. Keep up the good work Ryan!
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An excellent article Ryan !!
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[...] The Anatomy of a Dog Attack Original article published by K9 Magazine. [...]
A very good article and it definately needs to get out into the wider world so dog owners can learn more about their pets.
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This is an excellent article! Thank you, Ryan, for taking the time to draft such a well written and easily understood article. I have been fighting breed discriminatory laws and rescuing pit bulls for years and it seems people just don’t care about the truth! These days, dog owners expect too much from their dogs. We need to be realistic and protect our dogs and other people.
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The main problem with this fable is that a good and kind family pet might have bitten Henry to protect John, but he would never have disfigured him. Dogs who attack to defend generally will bite a leg or, depending on their size, the buttocks area. The bite will be a quick bite a fast release followed by a quick retreat. Henry’s rush for the gate along with Johns attention to the commotion would have been enough to let Max know he’d fulfilled his duty. There would NOT have been the mauling described here.
I can, however, make up various other scenarios where Henry might have suffered that kind of attack.
Suppose Max was not a Lab, suppose he was purchased by John because he desired a dog who would show the world that he and his (in most cases, un-neutered) companion were a macho pair not to be medaled with. Suppose Max was always tied in the garden when John wasn’t home so no one would dare enter his gate. Lets say Max came from a friend of John who’s un-spayed bitch chewed through her rope and came home from her escape torn and pregnant by any number of dogs who roam free. No telling who the sire or sires might have been, but her other six litters had produced some very successful fighting dogs. No reason to think this bunch should be any different.
Suppose Henry was a child walking to school and John wasn’t home. Max had barked, growled and strained constantly against his chain day after day. Every instinct inside of him told him this little creature should be taken down. He didn’t know why but the drive to eliminate this small, high pitched creature was just so strong that he needed to obey. He tried for weeks to free himself so he could do what he needed to do and then, one day it happened. The chain snapped…poor Henry never has a chance to get away. Max is finally free to do what generations of fighting dogs behind him mandated.
Max was taken to a holding facility where the chain was cut away from his neck. He was given water a bed and nice sized kennel to rest while awaiting his injection.
Since Max jumped the garden gate and he had no identifying tags on his chain, the police can’t prove that John was once Max’s partner in crime. Max thinks of how much more comfortable he is and wonders momentarily where John is. He is grateful to the kind people around him as the insert the needle and he drifts off to sleep.
John lays low for awhile. He knows of a bitch who is due to whelp any time now. She’s one of the best baiters in the business.
And no, she’s not a Labrador Retriever.
Sorry, I agree…the human race is at fault, but there are breeds of dogs bred to be quick to attack. As long as there are people who seek to breed for and promote that aggression in certain breeds there will be horrifying attacks. We, in this country still have the right to be idiots if we choose. As for the story of Max, the lab, protecting his master from a perceived threat, it would have never turned out the way it did in this little fairy tale.
I know many pit-bull type dogs that are absolutely wonderful, but they are exceptional. Of course the care and breeding of these dogs should be in the hands of conscientious breeders. Unfortunately because of the innate purpose of these breeds, that, hardly seems possible. So..should these dogs be outlawed. I just don’t know.
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Jdeck, you sound confident, but you don’t know what you are talking about. If you want to determine by breed which dog is most likely to bite, at least here in the US, it is currently the Lab. However, the fact is that breed does not determine propensity to bite. Bites by larger, stronger dogs are more likely to be reported because they are more likely to result in an injury, but small dogs often bite because people haven’t bothered to train them, or a dog has been poorly socialized. My sister’s Yorkie has bitten quite a few people, but never been reported.
You’ve jumped to some sort of conclusion about what the author meant by “disfigured.” You have also made the incorrect assumption that fear-induced aggression expresses itself identically in all dogs. Perhaps you need to read some authorities on the subject. Dogs are born with different levels of confidence or fear. Some are so fearful that they react with aggression with little or no provocation. There’s a whole spectrum in between. Max was not trained as a protection dog, at least not that we’ve been informed in this fable. In fact, the fable states that he’s been provoked to the point that his canine instincts “are in complete overdrive.” In other words, he’s not in control. There is no reason to expect that he will give a single bite in a “safe” body part — that’s just not programmed into a dog.
So I disagree to the extent you are trying to twist this into some argument for breed bans or restrictions. And I applaud the author for an attempt to educate the public in canine communication. There is a lot our dogs communicate through their expressions, postures, noises, and movements which would help us understand them and avoid tragedies and mishaps.
On the other hand, it IS a fable, and I doubt that an incident this serious would be the first indication that your dog was protective. If you had a dog reactive to people wearing sunglasses, you would probably have seen him react that way before. Or if your dog was wary of visitors, you would have noticed that before. Now, had the fable told the story of old friends who jumped on each other and started wrestling on the ground…
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jdeck55 Reply:
August 27th, 2009 at 10:19 pm
Hi Susan,
Thanks for your thoughts about what I wrote. I always appreciate the chance to learn more about canine behavoir. Would you be kind enough to let me know the names of the behavior experts who’ve authored books I need to read?
I’d also be very interested in reading the report that states Labrador Retrievers are the most dangerous dogs in the US.
I’m very much aware of how important temperament is in dogs. Fearful dogs are the MOST dangerous of all. According to this story however, Max was not biting because he was afraid.
If you read the story again, you’ll see that the author makes reference to Henry wondering if his children will recognize him. To me, that insinuates that the face was disfigured. You’re right, Max reacted to a situation that he perceived to be threatening. You’re right, his owner should have noticed the signs that there would be trouble. I agree, the story might serve to alert some dog owners to be more aware that their dogs might bite. (And by the way, small dogs probably bite even more frequently than large dogs) I disagree that in this scenario Max would have attacked to that degree. As long as a dog has teeth, he’s able to cause harm. The differences in the breeds bred to be able to mentally and physically cause the damage mentioned in this fable and the breeds bred to be mans best friend and protector are vast. My point is that yes, it’s our place to be sure to breed the very best temperaments we can. There are those who chose not to do that. There are breeds that attract the people in our society who chose to breed dogs for the wrong reason. And…those people do not breed Labradors.
I’m not a Lab breeder, but I understand and test and breed for dogs with great temperament.
There are breeds out there that are bred to bite and grip and tear, but most breeds are not. It would be a very unusual companion dog that would choose to bite the neck or the face if they have a choice.
But I’m willing to change my mind. Please inform me, I’d be happy to read information to the contrary.
Thanks
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Joy van Veen Reply:
August 28th, 2009 at 12:02 am
I agree with you that a dog that has shown no aggression previously would not attack to this level. Usually, when people say their dog has never shown any aggression;they are in denial or lying.
I disagree with your implication that pit bulls are more likely to attack humans without provocation. Pit bulls, whether APBTs (American Pit Bull Terriers) or other breeds of similar type; are often friendlier toward humans than many working or retriever breeds. But if they are encouraged to be aggressive, their physical ability and their eagerness to please; can lead to extreme damage being done. While small dogs, especially small terriers, are often the most aggressive dogs; their size prevents them from doing as much damage when they attack.
I have trained over two thousand dogs in my life. I started by apprenticing with a trainer of police and bomb detection dogs. I spent two years training at The Seeing Eye. I have studied animal behavior and worked with problem dog households. I have been a 4-H leader, obedience class trainer and competitor, and a guide dog and service dog trainer. I have worked with wolves and wolfdogs, and been consulted by a zoo as to wolf behavior problems they were having.
Again and again I have to point out to people the signs their dogs are giving of aggression. The warning signs are passed over multiple times before the stage is reached where the dog actually atacks.
As for bite reports being higher for labs in the USA today, there is more than one reason for this. One reason is breed bans on pit type dogs laeding macho types to other breeds. Recently there has been an upsurge of golden bites. Two, breed identification. When visiting animal shelters I repeatedly see that any medium size dog or larger that is short haired and solid black, is labeled as a lab. The same sort of mis-identification holds for GSDs (German Shepherd Dogs). Any medium size or larger that is saddle marked, is labelted as a GSD. I have seen pure bred black GSDs labeled as labs. I have seen Akitas labeled as shepherd husky crosses. I have seen tervs labeled as shepherd collie crosses, and Groenendaels as collie lab crosses.
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jdeck55 Reply:
August 28th, 2009 at 4:40 am
Joy,
Thanks for your comments. I agree with most of them. It sounds like we have a similar background in our perspective canine careers. I agree that many pet owners just don’t have the skill it takes to ‘read’ their dogs. Lucky for them they have knowledgeable trainers like yourself to help. I agree, the lack of knowledge on the part of the owner is quite often the reason for dogs biting humans. But in most of those cases, it’s one or two bites. Not disfigurement.
I’ve been lucky enough to know some wonderful ‘bull’ type dogs and their strong and ethical owners. I’ve also been privy to the dark side of those breeds. Bull baiting and cock fighting and other perverse blood sports are alive and well in our country and it would be an unfortunate mistake to deny their presence.
All purebred dogs started for a reason. Our herding dogs helped with the livestock, hunting dogs were refined to help the hunters, terriers kept feed sheds free of vermin. Even the many toy dogs were bred for, among other reasons, to keep fleas off their masters. ‘Pit’ breeds were and still are bred to fight. Don’t get me wrong, I admire the heart of these dogs very much. It’s not the dog I’d like to see banned, but the human who breeds them for the game. I live very near to where Michael Vics compound. To my knowledge ‘pit’ breeds haven’t been outlawed in his area or any others nearby. As long as this blood sport survives, it’s going to mean that dogs being bred for that purpose will get into the hands of people ill equipped to handle them and there will be instances of people getting mauled.
Ban those breeds? Maybe not, but lets do something about keeping them out of the hands of people who have no clue as to what’s on the end of their leash.
How? I don’t know.
Let’s stop pretending that these dogs, as all others, haven’t been developed for a purpose. They have inherent traits that are specific, in some cases, to their breed. Lets stop blaming the dogs and get serious about criminalization of the people who exploit them.
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Joy van Veen Reply:
August 28th, 2009 at 10:01 pm
I agree with you jdeck55 in almost all of what you say. I would like to add a clarification or two.
When the APBT was accepted in the UKC (United Kennel Club)registry, it was primarily being used as an all purpose farm dog; though it was descended from fighting breeds primarily. It was employed in cattle herding, pig herding, and hunting. It was looked on as a good childrens companion. The dog “Petey” in “Our Gang” was the first registered APBT and was typical of the breed at that time.
Since then, the breed has been co-opted by dog fighters due to its toughness and willingness to please. The ones bred for fighting have changed appearance to a smaller more compact type. In appearance they are partway between the early APBT and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier type.
Even those pit bulls bred and “trained” to fight other dogs, are often not human aggressive to adult humans. But they are a danger to other dogs and, depending on the method employed in their conditioning; to all young animals including human young. The reason so many of those used in fighting will eagerly attack children, is that they use young animals, such a kittens, in conditioning them to fight. ALL young mammals have a high percentage of potassium on their skin. The dogs smell this and perceive children as their legitimate target. Also, I believe the treatment of these dogs could very well cause them to become unbalanced or insane. My favorite breed, the GSD (German Shepherd Dog) would not behave as GSDs normally do if treated and conditioned as the dogs in dog fighting are.
Yes, there are temperament differences between different breeds of dog. If there weren’t, any dog of the right size could be employed interchangably for any job. But of the terriers, which as a group are known to be quick to aggression, the APBT is mild mannered by comparison. But they are also larger and more powerful than almost all other terriers. And since they are so eager to please their owners, and are intelligent enough to read their owners unvoiced intent; anyone who wants their APBT to be aggressive will often get their wish.
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What caught my eye about this article was the statement that there are no unprovoked dog attacks. I don’t know if I can agree. Our dogs have bitten two people without explanation. We have two male labradoodles that are two and a half years old.
A year ago, they bit our niece (a rather large woman) after they had been introduced to her and she petted them. She then walked past them and went to the bathroom. When she returned she walked past them to sit in a chair and both dogs lunged at her simultaneously. One grab her arm and puncture her skin. The other tried to bit her butt and ripped her pants. Luckily, my wife had them on leads and were able to drag them off of her. They were intent on doing more than just one bite and then retreating. We were in another person’s home where they had been a couple of times before, so they weren’t protecting they territory.
A couple of weeks ago, my wife took one of the dogs to visit some people who were congregating in a barns on our property. The dogs a very rarely in the barn so they shouldn’t be protective of that area. People were sitting around in a circle in lawn chairs. A fairly large man who they had met a couple of times before was there. The let the dog sniff him petted him while he was seated. After a while, he got up to walk over to someone else. The dog jumped at him and bit him in the butt.
With us, these dogs are the best dogs one could ask for. They are smart, obedient, and very affectionate.
They have also tried to bite other people but have not been successful. None of the situations have been threatening.
They are friendly with most people and seemed friendly with even the two people that they bit. (The last time only one of the dogs bit.)
Does anyone have any thoughts? We are considering putting the one dog down.
It seems the problem tends to occur after large people greet them and then walk away.
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Its funny yet sad that society will kill a dog when it attacks someone, when the dog is only defending its self or property, but yet when people kill people which is usually intentional and cruel we have empathy on them and let them live to do it again..and on the opposite side of the fence when a dog is sick we euthenize them to put them out of their misery but when people are sick we let them hang on in pain and misery until their body just gives out.. then we try to ressuccitate them and let them hang on more… where is the sense in that
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What determines which dogs bite? Not one thing. Genetics play a role, medical problems, (low thyroid), and the way the dog is brought up by owner. Dogs put through punishment induced training will bite at some point.
The lab’s attack WAS based on fear, fear that here comes someone he doesn’t know with weird things on his eyes, which does not allow the dog to see the person’s eyes, he attempted to retreat by going in the house with his owner, but this strange thing kept coming.
In 20 years of working with owners and their dogs, 99% of bites are do to FEAR AGGRESSION, not dominance.. Every dog is fearful of something and just as we lash out when someone scares us, so do our dogs. You can not verbally reassure a dog that everything is ok. They figure out people by the person’s body language. And most people present the worst possible body language when meeting a dog. the lab should not have been down and the labadooble should not be put down until a thyroid panel and complete CBC are done. If that is all clear then a behaviorist should be called in that only uses positive training methods, like people some dogs need medication to decrease their anxiety so they can relax enough to learn. And believe me both groups of these dogs gave their owners plenty of warnings this would happen, the owners were just to unaware to see the warning signs.
Why is it the first thing owners want to do is kill their dog rather than take some responsibility to learn about why this happened?? Again there are many options owners can take before euthanizing. If their are children in the home, that does complicate things, and the dog would have to be kept separate from the kids while working with the dog, or placed in rescue which won’t be easy, but the children have to be kept safe.
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My 12 1/2 pound rat terrier was attacked at a dog park yesterday by a black lab. We were at the park during on leash hours. I had my dog on a leash, the black lab was off leash. This dog ran about 100 yards at my dog and pinned it to the ground. The owner was sitting in a chair, not watching his dog – which was obviously not voice trained either. I grabbed the lab by the scruff of its neck (as it went to bite my dog) and kicked it as I grabbed it. The attack stopped for a brief moment and I grabbed my dog and picked it up – all the while yelling for the owner to get their dog. The dog started to come after both of us and I kicked the dog a second time at which point the dog backed off. The owner of the lab was the worst kind of owner. Refused to put the dog on a leash and leave the park and was mouthy to me. Had I not had my dog on a leash and had I not been able to intervene who knows what would have happened. Stupid dog owners are the problem – not breeds. You should not go to work and have your dog cooped up in a house all day and then drive to a dog park and allow the dog free reign of the place. That is pure stupidity. I walk a mile with my small dog to the dog park – all the while having my dog heel and practice sitting at all cross walks. My dog is voice trained to come when called. Don’t bring your untrained wild dog to a dog park and let it off leash and think everything will be hunky dory because your dog is a lab. No wonder there is a high incidence of lab bites – it is due to the stupidity of the owners!
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ive just been attacked by a staffi whilst trying to stop it attacking my pyranean.
I walked into my back field and was just in the gate when this staffi that was off its lead came hurtling towards myself and my dog.It immediately shot under her belly and started tearing chunks from her.
She was recently diagnosed with bone cancer so is hoping around on 3 legs, she fell to the floor and i with her.
It just kept on tearing at her, she was yelping and got on my lap into a ball totally terrified and i was trying to push the dog away (myself getting bitten plenty in the process) the owners finally managed to drag their mutt away and apologised saying it dosnt like dogs
never once did my little girl defend herself.
It was a horrific attack and we left for home with puncture wounds and plenty of blood.
So what signs did i miss? i had been in the field 2 seconds ????? i love dogs but my anger to this one is immense
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Jen Reply:
December 11th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Sounds like you did not miss any signs, but the staffi’s owner did! People should control their dogs and not let them off the leash unless they have good recall.
I have rehomed a dog that is nervous agressive – I think if he had gone to another owner he could quite easily have ended up biting and being put to sleep. I however, have worked hard on his training – he is now competing in obedience, we regularly go on group socialisation walks and he is fine when mixing with a large pack of dogs, he is calm and not nervous so is allowed off leash. If a couple of the dogs have a little spat (let’s face it dogs will be dogs) he tends to come straight back to my side for reassurance or as if to say nothing to do with me.
However, and despite training and advice, if he’s out and see just one dog in the distance, he wants to go for it – so I don’t let him off the leash where other dogs are around – I don’t want to be responsible for any accidents to other dogs or people that naturally want to protect their dog. I get some great owners who see that my dog is on a lead and call their dogs to them, and not so great who let their dogs come running up shouting ‘it’s ok he’s friendly’. But it’s not ok cause my dog isn’t ok!
I wish as an earlier poster said – there was compulsory training for dog owners – cause I don’t blame the dogs I blame the owners.
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