Have you ever been attacked by a large dog while walking your own?

I have, some of your may remember. It was a GSD, which eventually backed off after I picked Troy up. Not sure what behavior it was exhibiting, it was not overly aggressive, but they were scrapping.

Anyway, I was walking Troy yesterday and we came across a very large dog. The size of a Mastiff..it may of even been a Mastiff, as it definitely has some sort of bully breed in it.

Some 'chav' was walking it off the lead in a public area..local footpaths etc. It stared at me and Troy and was starting to approach us. Very brazenly the owner didn't seem to care. He just called it a few times while he was still walking away and luckily on the second call it went to him.

Now I have nothing against any breed of dog, regardless of size as long as it is owned by a responsible owner. I'm sorry to judge but this guy had the appearance of a chav and obviously does not seem to respect or care about other people use public pathways with such a large dog. Maybe it isn't aggressive but it isn't the point. I always give way to other people and especially ones I can tell are scared of dogs by their body language. I understand not everyone likes or understands dogs.

It reasons like this why I get worried when my GF walks Troy by herself. Maybe I'm too over protective or paranoid but the my question is:

What do you do in a situation when a very large and powerful dog is attacking your own?

Ps. Sorry for the little rant. Just sick of all the irresponsible dog owners around where I live that use them as status dogs.

Yes, very often. I too agree no breed should be judged but I have awful bother with GSD owners where I live, I've nothing against the breed, my Dad had 4 of them. But it just seems that these days owners don't seem to know how to handle them where I live.

Logan was attacked badly as a pup (maybe 12-13 weeks) by one which left him petrified of them or any dog that resembles them. I also had one run the length of a football field to get at me, again Logan was very much a baby. I had no choice but to lift him up, the dog then lunged at my face and turned on me. The owner eventually thought it may be time to deal with it and assured me, her dog "doesn't bite".

I personally feel that a lot of these bigger breeds are owned by people that aren't able to give them adequate exercise and they become unfilled and totally bonkers as a result.

The problem here is the bigger and meaner the dog the better. They just like to walk around looking tough with their massive choke chains and chain leads being pulled down the street.

The amount of people I bump into with 'red nose pits' and Pit mix etc (so they believe) is unbelievable. The rubbish that comes out of their mouths gives me no reassurance that they are responsible owners.

They just talk about dogs fights, who's dog is tougher etc etc and one lad even told me if he gave a live chicken to his dog so that it would be tough :\

I have had a similar experience involving a mastiff, staffy, JR, off lead walked by a so called professional dog walker/sitter. She had 5 dogs with her the 3 mentioned were off lead, the staffy came up and tried to have a sniff but knowing Molly as I do I thought she may react badly as there were 3 off lead. I waved my walking stick and told the staffy to back off and he did, he carried on out of sight of the walker, in the meantime the mastiff is bounding toward me came right up and stood barking I had picked Molly up at this stage as the JR was now on the scene too. I was yelling at the women to get the dogs under control, her comment to me was the dogs were fine just having a sniff.. .. So there I stood disabled lady with 2 walking sticks and a dog in my arms standing up against a fence dealing with 2 barking mad dogs and she is on the phone not taking any responsibility for the dogs in her care at all.. I was left shaking and breathless and on the point of an asthma attack.. My hubby encountered her a couple of days later and since he had a similar do with her we have now reported her to the authorities. We are still waiting to find out what the outcome is.. It has left me feeling that there are no responsible owners out there and now leaves me afraid to take Molly out for fear of the same thing happening again..

Interesting, no it's always spaniels jrts bichon frise, and other staffies that are the worst here, Labradors are the only large breed that are most popular here, and no trouble with those.

pag wrote:I have had a similar experience involving a mastiff, staffy, JR, off lead walked by a so called professional dog walker/sitter. She had 5 dogs with her the 3 mentioned were off lead, the staffy came up and tried to have a sniff but knowing Molly as I do I thought she may react badly as there were 3 off lead. I waved my walking stick and told the staffy to back off and he did, he carried on out of sight of the walker, in the meantime the mastiff is bounding toward me came right up and stood barking I had picked Molly up at this stage as the JR was now on the scene too. I was yelling at the women to get the dogs under control, her comment to me was the dogs were fine just having a sniff.. .. So there I stood disabled lady with 2 walking sticks and a dog in my arms standing up against a fence dealing with 2 barking mad dogs and she is on the phone not taking any responsibility for the dogs in her care at all.. I was left shaking and breathless and on the point of an asthma attack.. My hubby encountered her a couple of days later and since he had a similar do with her we have now reported her to the authorities. We are still waiting to find out what the outcome is.. It has left me feeling that there are no responsible owners out there and now leaves me afraid to take Molly out for fear of the same thing happening again..

That's horrible. Sorry you had to go through that!

bullsmommy1 wrote:Interesting, no it's always spaniels jrts bichon frise, and other staffies that are the worst here, Labradors are the only large breed that are most popular here, and no trouble with those.

Well, it may sound bad but smaller breeds I am not as much concerned about. I can easily pick Troy up or some how remove the other dog from the situation, unless it is of course another small powerful breed..like another Staffy and I am sure Troy is more than capable of defending himself if he needed to towards such dogs.

But if a massive dog like a Rottweiler starts chewing at your dog, what can you do?

Thats awful having to go through this. I have come across a old man walking a GSD off lead, I was already walking under a railway bridge footpath when he came from other end, when I saw his dog was off lead, I got worried, but I could see how well behaved the dog was, and saw the bloke say something to which the dog moved ever closer to the blokes leg, and we walked pass without any problems, phew I have to say. Not something I want to happen again though, but respect to the bloke and the well behaved dog.

Edited to say, what would I do, if it had turned on Pixee, who knows, the size of it against Pixee, I suppose if I saw that the dog wasnt well behaved, I would have turned back round, or maybe picked up Pixee?? Who knows till the situation happens.

in all honesty if any dog was seriousely attacking my dog (especially a bigger dog) and mine was on the lead, iI would let him off, not to let it fight but just so he can defend himself or at least get away

when we ware walking round our local open air market a rotti jumped across our puchchair just missing my sons legs and grab our miniture dax missy. I have never been so scared she looked like a soft toy in his mouth, i grabed the back of the rotti's neck to get it to release as his owner had no clue and just let go of the lead.The most annoying thing was instead of saying sorry is your dog ok he ran off through a croud of people with the dog. luckly we had left coco at home as she gets nervous in large crowds and wont walk. Missy ended up with what seemed an endless amount of stitches as well as being nervous of larger dogs and us a huge vet bill.
I wish people would think about what dog they have if any at all that are correct for them, I dont blame the rotti, i have owned a rotti myself and know how soft and gentle they are when treated/trained correctly in our case the owner had no control or understanding this was just a status dog. These are the people who give breads a bad name....

MatLogan wrote:Yes, very often. I too agree no breed should be judged but I have awful bother with GSD owners where I live, I've nothing against the breed, my Dad had 4 of them. But it just seems that these days owners don't seem to know how to handle them where I live.

Logan was attacked badly as a pup (maybe 12-13 weeks) by one which left him petrified of them or any dog that resembles them. I also had one run the length of a football field to get at me, again Logan was very much a baby. I had no choice but to lift him up, the dog then lunged at my face and turned on me. The owner eventually thought it may be time to deal with it and assured me, her dog "doesn't bite".

I personally feel that a lot of these bigger breeds are owned by people that aren't able to give them adequate exercise and they become unfilled and totally bonkers as a result.

snap memphis was attacked by a GSD at around the same age so now he dislikes them with a pashion but now also like said he now only gets attacked by snappy rats jrt yorkies chiwowwows etc lol

Staffy lover wrote:Thats awful having to go through this. I have come across a old man walking a GSD off lead, I was already walking under a railway bridge footpath when he came from other end, when I saw his dog was off lead, I got worried, but I could see how well behaved the dog was, and saw the bloke say something to which the dog moved ever closer to the blokes leg, and we walked pass without any problems, phew I have to say. Not something I want to happen again though, but respect to the bloke and the well behaved dog.

Edited to say, what would I do, if it had turned on Pixee, who knows, the size of it against Pixee, I suppose if I saw that the dog wasnt well behaved, I would have turned back round, or maybe picked up Pixee?? Who knows till the situation happens.

Well there is a guy around my ends that has two Rottweilers but they are very well trained and walk by his side off lead and straight past me and Troy. I know how well behaved they are so don't worry

BoroGTI wrote:in all honesty if any dog was seriousely attacking my dog (especially a bigger dog) and mine was on the lead, iI would let him off, not to let it fight but just so he can defend himself or at least get away

Yeah, might be the best idea and I have said the same to my GF before. If you seriously come across a situation like that, let Troy off to defend himself and seek help.

kris82 wrote:when we ware walking round our local open air market a rotti jumped across our puchchair just missing my sons legs and grab our miniture dax missy. I have never been so scared she looked like a soft toy in his mouth, i grabed the back of the rotti's neck to get it to release as his owner had no clue and just let go of the lead.The most annoying thing was instead of saying sorry is your dog ok he ran off through a croud of people with the dog. luckly we had left coco at home as she gets nervous in large crowds and wont walk. Missy ended up with what seemed an endless amount of stitches as well as being nervous of larger dogs and us a huge vet bill.
I wish people would think about what dog they have if any at all that are correct for them, I dont blame the rotti, i have owned a rotti myself and know how soft and gentle they are when treated/trained correctly in our case the owner had no control or understanding this was just a status dog. These are the people who give breads a bad name....

Bloody hell, that couldn't of been nice. Lucky the dog let go! It's just that with Bully breeds they bite and don't let go! People trying beating the dog to let go but it just intensifies them further! I don't fancy carrying a break stick around though LOL.

Basically, there is nothing we can do but control our own dogs and hope we never have to deal with these situations I guess. But I'll try to remain calm if it ever happens again and remember the back leg maneuver and hope the dog doesn't turn on me lol

Warren wrote:snap memphis was attacked by a GSD at around the same age so now he dislikes them with a pashion but now also like said he now only gets attacked by snappy rats jrt yorkies chiwowwows etc lol

Didn't know that fella

I am so bitter about it tbh and it annoys me every day. Logan is totaly bomb proof with people and other dogs but he hates dogs like that now, and because of other dog owners he has to suffer.

MatLogan wrote:

Warren wrote:snap memphis was attacked by a GSD at around the same age so now he dislikes them with a pashion but now also like said he now only gets attacked by snappy rats jrt yorkies chiwowwows etc lol

Didn't know that fella

I am so bitter about it tbh and it annoys me every day. Logan is totally bomb proof with people and other dogs but he hates dogs like that now, and because of other dog owners he has to suffer.

Troy is a bit iffy with larger breed dogs now since my mothers next door neighbours GSD jumped the fence and started a fight :\

And he is not a responsible owner either. He had two GSD's and a mixed dog, medium sized which are all cooped up inside and don't get walked. He just lets them out in the garden twice a day to do their business. You should see the back garden, full of filth from 3 dogs doing their business there every day and he doesn't even clean it up, it is a disgrace. Feel sorry for the dogs, never get to go out and he even takes one into the back garden on a lead as it jumps the fences!

MatLogan wrote:

Warren wrote:snap memphis was attacked by a GSD at around the same age so now he dislikes them with a pashion but now also like said he now only gets attacked by snappy rats jrt yorkies chiwowwows etc lol

Didn't know that fella

I am so bitter about it tbh and it annoys me every day. Logan is totaly bomb proof with people and other dogs but he hates dogs like that now, and because of other dog owners he has to suffer.

if i remember correct i think it was one of my first posts on the forum asking advice how to settle him around bigger dogs after it happend lol and never been off since

Gee wrote: Feel sorry for the dogs, never get to go out and he even takes one into the back garden on a lead as it jumps the fences!

I totally feel sorry for the dogs also, certain breeds aren't suitable for most people.

On the old field I used to walk ebony on a man with a large lab cross mastiff thing came on the field so I put ebony back on lead and the man put his dog on a lead too; I carried on walking around away from the man and ebony was having a sniff down the side of the bank, the man walked up to me and was questioning what breed of dog I had ect and he was like yeah yeah my dogs fine with most dogs so I called ebony up and she sat down next to me (they were quite a distance away as he said his dog is fine wth SOME so I did take a few steps away and she was on short lead), next thing I know this massive dog is lunging at her face, barking and growling madly, it's hackles were up and everything and ebony went behind me to cower and the man shouts at me "you wanna keep your dog under control" and walks off! Another man walked onto the field and let his big German pointers off I think, and they were running riot - very overly friendly and the man was so stressed about it (obviously thought ebony was a bit nasty and his dogs wouldn't come back to him) I shouted that she's fine, she's just leaded because she's in training to ignore other dogs and ebony was rolling on the floor pawing them ect, next thing I know the mastiff guy is telling the pointers owners to becareful of ebony because she tried to bite his dog!!! I was so mad I actually called him out on it and we ended up having a massive argument in the middle of the field! ANOTHER man with German pointers came onto the field as he obviously heard the shouting and stuck up for me as his dogs and ebony were regular playmates and was saying how ebony isn't aggressive ect and he doesn't have the right to be telling people that, at that point I just walked off. I saw the mastiff man again later that day and he was like "sorry babe just a misunderstanding, my dog is friendly though so I'd appreciate if you kept it quiet and didn report it" ugh really makes my blood boil! Out of it all though, the German pointers dog man did find me after and we were talking for ages and ebony had a great run with her friends I haven't been up there since!

CodlingKid wrote:On the old field I used to walk ebony on a man with a large lab cross mastiff thing came on the field so I put ebony back on lead and the man put his dog on a lead too; I carried on walking around away from the man and ebony was having a sniff down the side of the bank, the man walked up to me and was questioning what breed of dog I had ect and he was like yeah yeah my dogs fine with most dogs so I called ebony up and she sat down next to me (they were quite a distance away as he said his dog is fine wth SOME so I did take a few steps away and she was on short lead), next thing I know this massive dog is lunging at her face, barking and growling madly, it's hackles were up and everything and ebony went behind me to cower and the man shouts at me "you wanna keep your dog under control" and walks off! Another man walked onto the field and let his big German pointers off I think, and they were running riot - very overly friendly and the man was so stressed about it (obviously thought ebony was a bit nasty and his dogs wouldn't come back to him) I shouted that she's fine, she's just leaded because she's in training to ignore other dogs and ebony was rolling on the floor pawing them ect, next thing I know the mastiff guy is telling the pointers owners to becareful of ebony because she tried to bite his dog!!! I was so mad I actually called him out on it and we ended up having a massive argument in the middle of the field! ANOTHER man with German pointers came onto the field as he obviously heard the shouting and stuck up for me as his dogs and ebony were regular playmates and was saying how ebony isn't aggressive ect and he doesn't have the right to be telling people that, at that point I just walked off. I saw the mastiff man again later that day and he was like "sorry babe just a misunderstanding, my dog is friendly though so I'd appreciate if you kept it quiet and didn report it" ugh really makes my blood boil! Out of it all though, the German pointers dog man did find me after and we were talking for ages and ebony had a great run with her friends I haven't been up there since!

Sounds like he doesn't understand dog behaviour and believes if his dog acts aggressive to another a dog, it must be the other dogs fault.

Not sure what I'd do if a big dog started attacking Tank or Diesel.
Altho I'm pretty sure Diesel would make sure the dog came off worse, she is very protective of all the family. When a dog approaches she will either be happy or have her super alert stance going on.

Knowing your dog and knowing the basics of dog body language helps a great deal.

I hope I'm never in an attack situation. I'm lucky to live in such a tiny villiage - where it's surrounded by fields, everyone knows everyone etc.

MatLogan wrote:Yes, very often. I too agree no breed should be judged but I have awful bother with GSD owners where I live, I've nothing against the breed, my Dad had 4 of them. But it just seems that these days owners don't seem to know how to handle them where I live.

Logan was attacked badly as a pup (maybe 12-13 weeks) by one which left him petrified of them or any dog that resembles them. I also had one run the length of a football field to get at me, again Logan was very much a baby. I had no choice but to lift him up, the dog then lunged at my face and turned on me. The owner eventually thought it may be time to deal with it and assured me, her dog "doesn't bite".

I personally feel that a lot of these bigger breeds are owned by people that aren't able to give them adequate exercise and they become unfilled and totally bonkers as a result.

That might be how it is for most of you, based on everyone's experiences, but I'm happy to say where I live a good 90% of all dog owners are responsible, and the large breeds in particular, it seems that they're good enough people to have only gotten a large breed dog if they've got the knowledge on how to deal with it. So thankfully I've never had any dog, let alone a large one, attack us. A few dogs that have tried to bite Loki, but none that have succeeded, so no actual fights or attacks.

I'm not sure what to do, to be honest, I read about lifting the back legs up of both dogs so they get confused and let go, but you'd need two people for that.

Marley got attacked by a gsd as a pup...and now because of me and owner of the gsd they walk side by side on a walk each night with no problems at all in fact paddy the gsd is only dog that marley lets correct laska without barking at it. Riley is a mastiff cross staff and a big boy and is marleys best friend and play mate and is such a sweetheart. The only prob ive ever had is with small dogs nipping away and now marley and laska ignore them totaly unless they want to play. If its riley laska bites his neck and legs while if its timmy the small dog (excuse my ignorance) she rubs her neck on it

this happened to me, i was out walking cass who was on a lead i might add. he was only about 8 months old.

i walked on a disused golf course, saw this women on the other side of the tree line jogging, next minute what can only be described as a small horse came around the corner (it was a mastiff or something similar). it saw cass, i looked at it and thought "here we go", its owner shouted her dog, it ignored her, it came slowly but almost predator like over to us....she again shouted it, it ignored her. i thought if this starts in any way it was going to get my boot straight in its face. it got close, had a sniff of cass so i grabbed its collar one handed, the boy was strong! along came the women running after it, stupid cow, (sorry ladies but even now im angry typing this!). straight away i'll admit i snapped with "what the hell are you playing at, get your dog on a lead!" she said "hes a friendly dog" i was like, "well how would i know that and he ignored you?" i was fuming. (.....still am when i think of it).
no matter what i always anticipate a dog being around the corner so unless i can see a long way in front cass goes on his lead, i only wish everyone else had the same train of thought.

and if a dog attacks cass i can promise i wouldn't think twice about sticking a boot in as much of a dog lover i am. cass is my dog and if someone or something hurts him im not going to stand by and watch.

people with big dogs gsd etc are proud people they think:my dog is the boss and no dog can hurt my king dog and they let they dogs off lead,,if something bad happend they say his dog is friendly and the foult is ours with the dog on the lead our dog is bad not his dog

When I lived in London I was traveling home on the tube one afternoon when a guy got on with a huge dog on a metal chain that had been cut with bolt cutters in his back pocket. The dog was anxious and snarled at most of the passengers. Most commuters moved further down the carriage but I was stuck unable to go past the guy with the dog. He saw me looking at the dog and said he had won it at the pub. He was not sure of the breed, name or if having a dog in a flat was a good idea but figured he would give it a go. My station was coming up so I asked the guy if he would mind if he held the dog a little closer to him so I could get around as I needed to get of shortly. His reply was ok, as he did the dog jumped up towards him snarling, barking and biting the air. He quickly replied no sorry. He got off at the next station but being a rather busy station the dog began going nuts so he chained it up and left.

It broke my heart to see an animal that had obviously been treated so poorly put in a situation were it was scared and aggressive. I think there should be a license or dog ownership.