Attacked!

Hello all!!

My pup is getting on for 8 months and off lead recall training goes so,so. I always walk her on a local park, as it has a fenced off area that I practice recall training on. As she has been getting better at recall recently I let her off lead on the way to the fenced off area. Being the over-excitable pooch that she is, she ran straight over the the fenced off area, there was another Staff there, on the other side of the fence. Nightmare happened, it put it's snout through the fence, bit her nose and didn't let go.

She has a nasty gash right on the nose, very deep and some flesh wounds all over the nose. I can't explain how bad I feel. I know she shouldn't have trotted over, but I can't believe that if you're dog is aggressive that you would let it off lead in a public area?!

Worst part is, the dog was another Staff. I had a go at the owner (Mrs Dan was decidedly more upset), his response was "your dog shouldn't have come over". To an extent I appreciate his argument, but if Pen was aggressive I wouldn't let another dog owner be in this position. Idiots like that give our beautiful breed a bad name.

Rant over, hope everyone has had a great xmas and new year!!

totaly agree. and never apologise for having a friendly sociable dog. maybe he let his dog in the fenced off area because of how it is and it still gets the exercise in which case he should have shouted over and let you know.

Agree, the dog should have been on lead, I do feel that if a dog is offlead it should be approachable and friendly.

It could have been a first, not that thats any sort of excuse. Hope she is ok, keep practising recall though, I have 100% control with Moo and if I want her to stop in her tracks she will Xx

Hope she is okay and makes a speedy recovery

superdaaan wrote:Hello all!!

My pup is getting on for 8 months and off lead recall training goes so,so. I always walk her on a local park, as it has a fenced off area that I practice recall training on. As she has been getting better at recall recently I let her off lead on the way to the fenced off area. Being the over-excitable pooch that she is, she ran straight over the the fenced off area, there was another Staff there, on the other side of the fence. Nightmare happened, it put it's snout through the fence, bit her nose and didn't let go.

She has a nasty gash right on the nose, very deep and some flesh wounds all over the nose. I can't explain how bad I feel. I know she shouldn't have trotted over, but I can't believe that if you're dog is aggressive that you would let it off lead in a public area?!

Worst part is, the dog was another Staff. I had a go at the owner (Mrs Dan was decidedly more upset), his response was "your dog shouldn't have come over". To an extent I appreciate his argument, but if Pen was aggressive I wouldn't let another dog owner be in this position. Idiots like that give our beautiful breed a bad name.

Rant over, hope everyone has had a great xmas and new year!!

My boy is not good with other dogs so I never let him off lead were I have no control, but in my local park there are fully fenced tennis courts if I go in there then he comes off lead but if anyone were to come in then hes straight back on lead.
I understand your upset and the other owner should be more vigilant but he does have the right to take his dog for a walk on lead or were he has full control its suprising the amount of owners who let their dogs come over to mine and the recall is non existant but they usually get the message very quickly.
I hope she makes a speedy recovery and this has not effected her for the future ><

I used to have this issue before Charlie's recall was perfected. He is incredibly friendly and wants to say hi to every dog and person he met. I used to let him off lead to practice recall and if he saw another dog before I did, he was over there straight away. He did go up to a couple of DA dogs and I got a mouthful for having him off lead, they in turn got a mouthful for having a DA dog off lead in an area where there are so many dogs walked off lead. We all see it from out own point of view. I believe that DA dogs should be kept on the lead if they're in an area that is used frequently by other dogs, but DA dog owners feel that I'm in the wrong for having a dog off lead that wants to say hi to anyone and any dog he sees.

shontelle wrote:I used to have this issue before Charlie's recall was perfected. He is incredibly friendly and wants to say hi to every dog and person he met. I used to let him off lead to practice recall and if he saw another dog before I did, he was over there straight away. He did go up to a couple of DA dogs and I got a mouthful for having him off lead, they in turn got a mouthful for having a DA dog off lead in an area where there are so many dogs walked off lead. We all see it from out own point of view. I believe that DA dogs should be kept on the lead if they're in an area that is used frequently by other dogs, but DA dog owners feel that I'm in the wrong for having a dog off lead that wants to say hi to anyone and any dog he sees.

Yes I see both sides I have one that loves to meet and greet others im equaly on edge with her as in the past she has been attacked but now as she is 12 she likes to stay closebye thats great.
I beleive that if you have no control over your dog either freindly or aggresive then you should keep it on a lead its the most responsible thing to do Ive seen a dog get attacked and killed by a horse when it chose to ignore its owner and I saw one get run over when it decided to run after a dog straight into traffic so each behaviour has its risks and both are equally irrisponsible

Poor girl, hope she's ok again very soon.

gem wrote:I beleive that if you have no control over your dog either freindly or aggresive then you should keep it on a lead

I totally agree. Dempsey is not particularly DA but isn't very friendly, either. I let him off lead because I know he isn't going to chase off after other dogs - I can either call him back to me or tell him "stay" and I gain control. However, I do get very annoyed when people assume that I want him to play just cause he's off lead. That in itself is irresponsible. He will pin another dog down if it comes too close.

I agree that the guy should have shouted a warning, though. Hope she's not been put off other dogs because of this incident.

I too have been on both sides of this argument having had a very DA Staffy in the past .. tho I am proud to say, any scuffles we had with him over the years were deffo not down to me being complacent in any way (every one of the few incidents we had were due to dogs rushing Zac while he was on a lead!! and he didnt mess about beleive me )

Hope she is ok and dosent mentally scare to easily

I am still working very hard on Tyson's recall. Fortunately, all the dogs at the park know each other. Ty is very friendly to all people and dogs. He will run all around greeting everyone first. I always enter the park with him on the lead and only let him loose when I am sure there are no unknown dogs.

When we do have a new dog I always ask the owner if the dog is ok with other dogs before hand.

That's what I do, if I see a dog on a lead or a dog I don't know, I call Charlie back to me and ask the owner if their dog is happy to be greeted by mine.