Incident at the beach yesterday!!

Karen91

Hello!

I am fuming over this and I need to rant.

I took my Pomeranian to the beach yesterday, so there we were walking along for awhile when I saw a westhighland terrier running towards us off lead and no owner in sight. The dog proceeded to jump all over my dog who is rather tiny he kept snapping at her and she was getting stressed the more stressed she got the worse this dog got. At this stage my fiance was trying to frighten the dog away but with no satisfaction, the owner just stood there and watched once they came into view!! Our small one starting crying in pain and had been holding her leg up for the whole evening.

Had to take her to the vet for xrays this morning and it turned out her knee cap popped out and now theres inflamation and she has be crated for a few days to rest it.

I am so angry and the owner started shouting at my fiance for his reaction to her dog, her dog had no recall!! She had no control over him at all, he kept running way from her when she tried to catch him afterwards. I don't mind dogs being off lead if the owner has control over them but this was a joke.

Apologies for my rant but I am fuming over it.

jopax

I dont blame u, I would be fuming too. The nerve of the owner, she should have been full of apologies never mind having an attitude.
I would assume that it is not the first time the dog has behaved like this, so the dog should be kept on a lead.
I would advise bringing a walking stick with u in future.
I have a German Shepherd and I always keep her on the lead, I would not go out without a stick.
The amount of times small yappy dogs come up growling and snapping, I just hunt them away with the stick, I have never had to use it though its a deterrent enough.
U poor little dog, I hope it doesn't make her nervous of getting attacked again.

doubter

Yeah agree, the small yappies can be really nasty.And if ya have a big dog, it's always your fault. never the less, thats beside the point. OP, what happened to you is not on. May i suggest you try the beach again around the same time (without dog) and see if you can find said owners to get the vet bill paid?
Also,
maybe have a word with him/her?
I'm not going to advise to call the dog warden (yet) as all they will do is probably impound the dog and that would be the end of another creature who's done nothing wrong except not being trained by his/her owner..:mad:

Knine

Small 'yappy' types of dogs are not the problem. In fact the OP would have a small yappy breed.

Why did yourself or your OH not pick up the Pom to take him out of the situation? Certainly everyone shouting/panicking would not have helped at all.

The injury your dog has is a very common genetic problem in Pomeranians. The knee cap can be too shallow and result in a Luxating Patella. If this is the issue your dog has, it would have happened at some point regardless of the incident at the beach.

I have incidents all the time walking mine both large and small. The main thing is to keep calm and take your dogs/dog out of the situation as unfortunately there will always be people who don't keep control of their dogs.

I hope he gets better soon without surgery.

cerastes

Ive had a similar problem when walking my own dog, she can be excitable when meeting new people or dogs and as I dont know how they will react (more so the dogs)so I keep her on a leash when necessary.

She will come back to me, unless she's excited, hence the leash in advance when the need is determined. While theres a lot of room for improvement with us, at least Im aware of the potential problems.

On a few occasions Ive come across dog owners with larger breeds where they were not on the leash and definitely not under control, After the guy made no effort I told him I wasnt happy or words to that effect as his two alsations not on the leash and he blamed me for making a situation worse where I had to try keep his two dogs away from my dog, they were going for her and barking, initially he wasnt even near by and at no point did he make any attempt to control them, but as far as Im concerned he was allowing his dogs off the leash uncontrolled and be damned with everyone else, Ive seen this a few times with other owners and their dogs in the particular park in clondalkin so the end result is dont go there anymore.
What can you do?

to add, Id love to have an alsation but I dont have the time to devote to it so it wouldnt work.

Karen91

Knine wrote: »

Small 'yappy' types of dogs are not the problem. In fact the OP would have a small yappy breed.

Why did yourself or your OH not pick up the Pom to take him out of the situation? Certainly everyone shouting/panicking would not have helped at all.

The injury your dog has is a very common genetic problem in Pomeranians. The knee cap can be too shallow and result in a Luxating Patella. If this is the issue your dog has, it would have happened at some point regardless of the incident at the beach.

I have incidents all the time walking mine both large and small. The main thing is to keep calm and take your dogs/dog out of the situation as unfortunately there will always be people who don't keep control of their dogs.

I hope he gets better soon without surgery.

We tried to pick her up but the dog was so out of control he was snapping at our hands, if I had known in advance he was so out of control I would have picked her up when I saw him coming but usually when we meet dogs all they do is sniff her.

She was terrified, west highlands would be considered small by most but compared to a dog the size of mine he looked huge and of course much stronger than she is. He jumped down on her back and everything.

Yes its luxating patella but the vet said while she probably would have developed it anyway it was brought on prematurely by this and it will continue to happen now.

She wont need surgery the injury was not very severe thank god but now shes miserable in a crate because she has to let the inflammation go down.

Knine

Although Luxating Patella can be traumatic. It generally only happens when the knee cap is too shallow. It was only a matter of time before your dog showed symptoms. It is usually graded according to severity. Was your dog on its lead?

peasant

Knine wrote: »

Why did yourself or your OH not pick up the Pom to take him out of the situation?

Waahh ...I hate when people do that...

Why? Because our dogs are always under control. When walking 3 (now 4) at once they just have to be on the lead, not a hope of controlling (all of) them otherwise once other dogs show up.

We have the whole meeting of other dogs situation under very good control now. Ours sit (or at least stand calmly) and let the other dog(s) go by without comment or barking.

But pick them up and everything changes ...the whole gang starts barking and pulling like crazy and jumps about trying to get up to that "secret" dog that people are trying to hide from them. Total mayhem ensues which usually ends in us getting told off for having too many /too noisy /too unruly dogs.

By all means, pick your smally up when it is in actual danger ...but not just because you happen to meet one or more larger dogs on a lead. Because that way all you're doing is creating a self-fulfilling prophecy while frightening your dog in the process.

Knine

peasant wrote: »

Waahh ...I hate when people do that...

.

We are not talking about under control dogs though. If her dog was being harassed as described above and is a tiny dog, then getting him out of the situation is the best way forward as from the OP's description the other owner was certainly not going to help.

doubter

peasant wrote: »

Waahh ...I hate when people do that...

Why? Because our dogs are always under control. When walking 3 (now 4) at once they just have to be on the lead, not a hope of controlling (all of) them otherwise once other dogs show up.

We have the whole meeting of other dogs situation under very good control now. Ours sit (or at least stand calmly) and let the other dog(s) go by without comment or barking.

But pick them up and everything changes ...the whole gang starts barking and pulling like crazy and jumps about trying to get up to that "secret" dog that people are trying to hide from them. Total mayhem ensues which usually ends in us getting told off for having too many /too noisy /too unruly dogs.

By all means, pick your smally up when it is in actual danger ...but not just because you happen to meet one or more larger dogs on a lead. Because that way all you're doing is creating a self-fulfilling prophecy while frightening your dog in the process.

+1

Karen91

Knine wrote: »

Although Luxating Patella can be traumatic. It generally only happens when the knee cap is too shallow. It was only a matter of time before your dog showed symptoms. It is usually graded according to severity. Was your dog on its lead?

Yes she was on a lead, I am afraid she will now fear other dogs because of this

DBB

Knine wrote: »

We are not talking about under control dogs though. If her dog was being harassed as described above and is a tiny dog, then getting him out of the situation is the best way forward as from the OP's description the other owner was certainly not going to help.

Yes, I think it's important to note that knine was specifically talking about picking your small dog up if it's in danger.
People who do it routinely are making such a problem for themselves, it drives me mad too! But if I see a dog making a beeline for my smaller dog, I'll pick her up. I've said it here before, and I'll probably be labelled as mad, but I'd honestly rather get a bite or two myself than have a severely injured or dead dog. Bites to humans are taken a lot more seriously than bites to other dogs!
To illustrate, some years ago I was confronted by a very similar situation to the OP with my young Westie... a Boxer and a Bulldog tearing at full speed towards us with their slack-jawed owner watching them. I have no doubt they'd have made ribbons of my dog had I not picked him up. I got some minor injuries out of it, which the dog warden took into consideration when issuing a fine to the owner the following day.
And on that note, it is seriously unlikely that a dog warden will seize a dog that has attacked another dog. They have the powers to seize a dog whose owners have allegedly breached a dog control law, but that's very rarely brought to bear unless the owner has been seriously disruptive. It's much more likely that in the case of a dog having a go at another, that they'll give them a fine for not having their dog under effectual control.

SingItOut

Knine wrote: »

Why did yourself or your OH not pick up the Pom to take him out of the situation? Certainly everyone shouting/panicking would not have helped at all.

One of the worst and most dangerous things you can do is pick your dog up. I say this from personal experience, I used to take my terrier to work with me. A customer came in with her off lead cairn terrier (something which was not allowed as stated on the shop door, on lead was fine) who tore into Moones neck (drew blood) my first reaction was to pull moone up into my arms. The customers dog latched onto my arm, then my thigh when it couldn't get to moone. I didn't need stitches but did need a tetanus and still have scars on my arms two years later. I didn't shout or scream but this made no difference in this situation. Moone used to have no problem with other dogs but now growls at any who approach her or me, we're working on this and she is getting better again.

OP what a horrible thing to happen to you and your dog, I hope he/she recovers quickly. It's very easy to say keep calm but when you're in the situation it's a very different ball game. That other owner was completely in the wrong, no dog should be allowed off lead in public if they don't have 100% recall. She had to have known that, she must have no regard for her dogs welfare if she allowed him off lead knowing what he was like. Not to bash westies but my Labrador was attacked by two of them and needed stitches to his face so for a small dog they can do a lot of damage.

Knine

I already explained the context I meant!

Karen91

OP what a horrible thing to happen to you and your dog, I hope he/she recovers quickly. It's very easy to say keep calm but when you're in the situation it's a very different ball game. That other owner was completely in the wrong, no dog should be allowed off lead in public if they don't have 100% recall. She had to have known that, she must have no regard for her dogs welfare if she allowed him off lead knowing what he was like. Not to bash westies but my Labrador was attacked by two of them and needed stitches to his face so for a small dog they can do a lot of damage.

She has no respect for her dog to leave him off, one day he will run up and attack a dog who will retaliate and he could get seriously injured. My one is afarid of dogs bigger than her she is fine with other toy breeds so I am taking her to classes to try and get her to overcome her fear and now this happened, I hope she recovers from it.

DBB

Karen91 wrote: »

I am taking her to classes to try and get her to overcome her fear and now this happened, I hope she recovers from it.

The (hopefully) good news is that dogs are more likely to recover quickly enough from one traumatic incident with another dog than, say, a dog who has had multiple bad experiences.
If you're still going to classes, it would be no harm to tell the instructor what happened, and for you to keep your distance from the class whilst you shovel lovely food into your little lady, gradually moving her back into the class if she's okay
If you're not still going to classes, then head to an open park or beach where the two of you can sit off to one side and watch other dogs pass by at a distance, and shovel nice food into her as they pass!

SingItOut

Knine wrote: »

I already explained the context I meant!

I know which context you meant, I think you miss understood my post.

SingItOut

Karen91 wrote: »

She has no respect for her dog to leave him off, one day he will run up and attack a dog who will retaliate and he could get seriously injured. My one is afarid of dogs bigger than her she is fine with other toy breeds so I am taking her to classes to try and get her to overcome her fear and now this happened, I hope she recovers from it.

That's exactly what is going to happen, it's always the dog who suffers because of owners like that. The classes will do her the world of good and will build her confidence around larger dogs too, as DBB said bring lots of yummy treats for her. My two will do anything for some roast chicken pieces