Did I do the right thing?

This morning on our 6 am walk Holly and I came across a very unsociable male Staffy.
Holly saw him before I did and she retreated immediatly.
The male was stiff and his tail was too... I knew from the stance that he was ready for a fight.. His owner ( lets just say he was prob waiting for a drug delivery) was on the ground holding him tightly with the help of a check chain. Holly was not liking this at all.
she walked very timidly until we were within about 10 meters and then just refused to go any further.
I knew the man was having quiet a battle holding him so i just picked her up and carried her past the dog to ensure her saftey ( who cares about losing a leg) and once we were well past she was happy to walk again.

I have been thinnking about it all day and wondering if i did the right thing.... she really does have to learn to pass other dogs.. usually she is fantastic... then again this is the first one we have passed that wanted a piece of her too... all the others have been friendly and tails wagging

what do you guys think?
x Mel

I'm not sure on the rules about that, I usually never try to pick up a dog if it is scared or angry or what ever - just because it may encourage that behaviour, that would usually be if your dog was being unsociable as well though, then picking it up makes it feel more powerful (common in owners with small yappy snarly dogs)
but then again, if its a choice of pick up your dog or let your dog be eaten - I'd opt for picking it up!

some others may have a better idea of whether it was good or not.

yes well that is what i thought after i had done it... maybe i started something that i shouldnt have

But yeah on the other hand if there was a dog going for her i would def pick her up lol

thaks

nah you haven't started something, if it turns out (after other's advice) that this is something you shouldn't do, doing it once or a couple of times isn't going to hurt!

I don't believe you did anything wrong. Better safe than sorry.

ummm..in that situation i would probably want to do the same..and in being a protective owner who loves her dog you did nothing wrong. and as a once off i cant see any harm. however, if its done loads it will lead the dog into thinking you cant protect her and then starts the old funny business lol....which is why you end up with human aggressive and DA dogs, cos they feel thats there job to protect you, ie walking out in front etc.. however as it was just the once i cant see any harm and it doesnt sound like the owner would of been able to do much.. pointing tail like that mean dominance and aggression as you noticed god knows what he was doing with the dog before cos they have to get really excited before they go into aggression mode. Tis like a circle.. so all said and done, i think (lol finally) this one time yes you did the right thing

Nowt wrong with wanting to protect your dog ... and most dogs will meet an agressive one at some point in there life, but you want that experience ot pass by as quickly, and trouble free as poss and move on, if it happens again, and there is no risk of your dog getting hurt, if your dog refuse's to move, then just stay there until the agressive dog has passed (but dont scoop your dog up) make a small fuss after its over, and carry on

If you thought Holly was in real danger, then you did the right thing IMO. Hats off to you Mel, Charlie and Holly are the same age give or take a few weeks and there's absolutely NO WAY I'd be able to pick him up!

I think you did the right thing and I would have done the same if able. Better to try to avoid a nasty situation happening.

Well, as a rule I'd say no, don't pick her up, just turn around & go the other way! But if you had no choice & had to walk past then I can't see any problem with what you did. Mind you, what the hell was the guy doing with a da dog off lead in the first place?

flame wrote: pointing tail like that mean dominance and aggression as you noticed god knows what he was doing with the dog before cos they have to get really excited before they go into aggression mode. Tis like a circle.. so all said and done, i think (lol finally) this one time yes you did the right thing

A da dog will go into that mode immediately, no warning etc. Bandit was like that, he didn't go through all the silly posturing & growls etc, he went for the jugular (not literally!) as soon as he saw a dog he didn't like (which was most of them).

yes your right a DA dog would go straight into protection mode...i was assuming thou that he wasnt DA just excitable..i should of thought of that and not assumed..still a scary situation to be in thou..

I would of picked any of mine up (obviously not all 3) if I felt that we were going to be lunged at.

normally I would walk straight past but if faced with your situation I would of done exactly same. I dont make a habit of it only if there is a risk of attack

flame wrote:yes your right a DA dog would go straight into protection mode...i was assuming thou that he wasnt DA just excitable..i should of thought of that and not assumed..still a scary situation to be in thou..

Yes, it is scary. When you've owned a staff you get to know how powerful they are & it makes you far more wary of bad situations!

I agree that you shouldn't normally pick your dog up in that sort of situation but then again I understand why you did at that moment.
I would of had to of turned around and gone the other way as there is no way I could pick Roxy up and walk with her without breaking my back

IMO you did the right thing in that situation. saddly, i did not do that when perhaps i should have. Herman was lunged at more than once, on at least one occasion took a nip to one of his legs. Herman is now DA and there's not much can be done about it. i'm not trying to scare you, just being honest

Caryll wrote:

flame wrote:yes your right a DA dog would go straight into protection mode...i was assuming thou that he wasnt DA just excitable..i should of thought of that and not assumed..still a scary situation to be in thou..

Yes, it is scary. When you've owned a staff you get to know how powerful they are & it makes you far more wary of bad situations!

Oh pants!! dont tell me i have all this to come...i know how powerful river is.. she could really hurt if she wanted to thankfully so far i have only had a JRT come pounding towards river which i whacked myself in front of river thinking, it can bite me but it aint biting river.. dont think it would be the same if it was a great big hairy let me at him now type dog... however if i think a dogs gonna be aggressive i do cross over or walk the other way...don t know what i would do if those options where not available thou.

.

I think you did exactly the right thing, you followed your gut instinct. your dog needs to know it can trust you.
Not saying baby them at all though as I never pull marley away from another barking dog or help him when he's being a wimp aroound bigger dogs as its a very important dog socialising thing for them. he needs to know he aint king of the hill and to respect other dogs.
What I do draw the line at though is dogs that havent been brought up with the doggy code of conduct and are ready to bypass rules 1,2,3 and 4 and jump right in. marley would learn nothing from this but bad manners. thankfully ive only picked him up once and that was an off lead jrt sinking his teath into his back leg. really wanted to flick the damn thing over the hedge with my foot but its owner and daughter were watching doing nothing luckilly 10 mins later he was bounding around with a yorkie lol so he dont have a small dog phobia