what would you have done?

scarepanda

Hi all, would love some advice and opinions on a situation my partner and myself found ourselves in over the weekend.

Basically we live in a rural area and as you can imagine there are lots of dogs not under control. There are two houses in particular across the road from each other (house A and house that have two dogs each. In house A the dogs are always out and when you pass come racing out on the road barking and follow us up the road a bit. One of them is OK as it tends to keep it's distance. The other is more aggressive and is getting a little bit to brave recently, but I can manage them as they will lose interest after a few minutes once I keep my dog moving. House B also have two dogs, one of which only tends to bark and generally stays within the garden. The other dog however is aggressive, at least dog aggressive. It hasn't been out in a while, but the incident over the weekend is not the first time something similar has happened.

Basically we were out for a walk and passed these houses. Dogs in house A acted as normal initially. However the dogs in house B were out. When the aggressive dog saw us, it tore across the garden, jumped the wall and made lunges at our dog. Thankfully she was on the lead so we were able to keep her close and pull her out. Thankfully my partner was with me and between us we managed to get it our dog away safely while keeping the other dogs away from her. The other three dogs surrounded us barking like mad. Our dog tried to defend herself, but being on the lead and being surrounded she only managed to go around in circles.

Once our dog was safe I went back into the house of the main offending dog to speak to the owner. They were of course praising the dog, saying it was lovely and quite, although it did bark at people walking by and at first didn't want to believe that the dog would lunge (it did have pretty relaxed body language towards me while I was waiting for the owner) . When she realised that it was a lot more serious than just barking she apologised etc etc. I was calm but made sure to get the point across that the behaviour was unacceptable and that the dog should be under better control. If I'd been on my own both myself and my dog would have been goosed because I wouldn't have been able to get my dog away safely while also keeping the 4 dogs at bay.

So, I'd love to know what you would have done in the same situation? What would you so if a similar situation arose in the future?

Scarepanda

sillysmiles

I live in a rural area and walk my dog on the lead all the time. I have once had to talk to a neighbour about their dog and she was lovely about it - sincerely apologetic. But I am reluctant to walk that way just in case.

I'm not sure what to do though so following to see what is recommended.

Satori Rae

I have been in similar situations , my advice is try get somewhere new to walk if you have a car go to your nearest woods.

Even your best behaved dog can pick up fearful aggression easy from one of these dogs from simply having to walk by these everyday unfortunately. And it sounds like a bad accident waiting to happen.

Matteroffact

I feel you were right to go to the owner of the dogs, but really it is not enough to just tell them what happened. Did these owners say they would keep their dogs in in future? If not then this could happen again. It is just not good enough that you cannot go for a walk outside your own house with your dog. If their dogs cannot behave themselves then they should be tied to a gate or something similar when they are out and should not be able to get out onto the road. I would go back to the owners and say that you cannot wait for something like this to happen again and if their dogs as much as barks at you again you will be reporting this and that you expect them to do something about it. Really, it is just not good enough.

Tranceypoo

I would have done exactly what you did (although perhaps not as calmly as it sounds like you did!) I live in a rural area too and my 2nd rescue became dog aggressive due to being rushed at and attacked by one particular small dog in a similar situation to yours, owner was an old lady, pointless talking to her, it was so bad that even though the dog is now deceased (run over, quelle surprise), if we ever meet the lady walking on her own my dog still barks at her!!

If it's possible for you to take another walk I would do so, because you could be setting up your own dog for future issues, I bloody hate dog owners like this 'oh sure he's only being friendly', 'dogs should be let out wandering it's in their nature' type idiots :mad:

Think you handled the situation very well OP