Another crappy day

Went to take Nita for a walk to the park this afternoon and met up with two lasses, one with a little pup and the other with two Yorkies. All of lead, Nita running after her ball and bringing it back. Unfortunately one of the Yorkies kept snapping at her when she ran passed. Each and everytime she ignored it, until we were about to go home.

It snapped at her and she went for it. I managed to get her off within a few seconds (felt like a lifetime) and checked the Yorkie out, blood on her neck. Took her (the Yorkie) and her owner to the vets and the Yorkie has two puncture wounds in her neck, thankfully missing any arteries. Also thankfully the Yorkies owner did not blame Nita for what happened which is rare considering she is a Staffy (Nita, not the owner). Vet bill paid £58.

This is my nightmare.

Scoob is the most tolerant dog I have ever known and it's all of the so called "safe" dogs that always yap, snap etc.

So far, Scoob has just ignored it mostly but on occasion has given a verbal warning.

Yorkies are the worst culprits for this too.

You're very lucky the owner was so understanding.

Well u certainly werent to blame if the owner of the yorkie knows their intolerance to bigger or indeed any dog it should be on the lead

I'm just glad she was so understanding about it all. The Yorkie was pretty shaken too but hopefully all is now OK.

Oh no... Nita

If your ever unsure call Nita away at the first opportunity if this happens again. Although you nor she was entirely to blame the next owner might not be so understanding.

I also agree with others that it's often the little happy ones that cause most trouble. I was walking Flo over a park with my brother on Sunday (not Flo's usual parks) & she got surrounded by five flippin fluffy things all yapping at her, one even had a nibble. Flo stopped and looked at all of them but couldn't decide which one to tell off first so I just lifted her away.the owners of the yappy things was very apologetic

The thing was, Nita initially ignored her for a good half hour or so and was happy with me throwing her ball. I will say I am always on guard due to her being a staffy and the issues they face and this came out of the blue. As sometimes happens, its the other dogs that cause it but the staffywjo gets it in the neck.

Yeah you can't avoid it every time all you can do is keep an eye out. Sounds like Nita has really fallen on all 4 paws with you though & settled in great

Small dogs are an absolute nightmare. Statistics don't accurate reflect dog bite incidents, I'm certain of it..These yappy balls of fluff don't do much real damage. I live next door to a woman who has two fashion dogs..I can always tell when she's out because i get to enjoy the yap yap..yap...yap yap yap.....yap....
Respect to the Yorkie owner for not busting a blood vessel at your dog finally getting sick of her animals poor, uncorrected behaviour..

They are like that because they are allowed to be by their owners and they only react when something like this happens. Your dog finally did what she should have done In  the first place and put it in its place. She couldn't blame you for her own slackness.

She did say she expected it and actually hoped that it was a lesson for the Yorkie. I still felt blooming bad for the poor thing. I guess it wouldn't have been as bad had it been a dog her size that had had a go. Funnily enough, yesterday, Nita had an incident with another dog she plays with. She ran into her when chasing a ball and the other dog had a go which resulted in the other dogs this one also lives with, joining in. So 4 or 5 of them having a squabble with Nita. Nita came running towards me afterwards and hid behind me and wouldn't leave my side. Thankfully she didn't have a scratch on her bless her.

The joys of owning a dog and disputes when out with other pooches

Sorry to hear about this and definately not your fault

That owner sounds like a complete numpty. To say she expected it and hope it was a lesson... Really? How irresponsible of her. She should have put it on a lead and corrected it every time.

I would say to you don't expose Nita to this. If I was you I would have taken her away. Don't expect Nita to ignore a dog snapping at her all day long. They only put up with so much and if you don't deal with it she will. Like she did. Can't blame her really.

Hope she's okay

Well today it all kicked off, thankfully Nita was the peacekeeper and stopped a new pooch from getting bullied by a collie and terrier. Then other dogs started to get excited and snarl at each other and again, Nita went over and stopped them. I was so pleased with her, even the owner of the collie was impressed at the way she handled his dog.

Bless her

What a nightmare, glad it wasn't worse and the owner was understanding! I will say though, her reaction definitely wasn't out of the blue - imagine playing a computer game or watching a football match (whichever floats your boat!) and being poked constantly, you might let it go the first few times but eventually you're going to either verbally or physically remove that person from your space. Both dogs were off their "baseline" and really should have been separated before Nita lost her patience - they're generally tolerant dogs but she's not a robot. Whilst the other dog initiated it, humans should have acted before Nita felt that she had to.

Generally, I don't allow any resources during play with dogs that don't spend a large amount of time together. Even if your dog doesn't tend to be possessive, another might and when behaviours are excitable and heightened during play reactions can become more intense and they are more likely to act on impulse. Personally, I don't socialise Bug with dogs that I don't know as other owner aren't always so honest/responsible about their own dog's behaviour.

I wouldnt have paid the vet bill, after what that woman said, she excepted it, means she knows full well what her dogs are like. Was not your fault at all. But I agree with the advice, best to keep Nita away from small dogs in future, however you know your dog well. Pixee hates those small dogs, I tend to always have her on lead when they are about. Only yesterday we went walking along the canal for a change and into a field for some stick playing, a small fur ball came running up from the other side of the fields at Pixee, I had time to get her back on lead, the fur ball went for the stick, and well Pixee went for her as it was her stick, lucky I had her on lead, dread to think what would have happened otherwise. And the owner, well took his ...... time to get his dog under control as it started to snap at Pixee by then. Like Rachel I dont socialise Pixee with other dogs that I dont know for the very reasons she has stated.

Well I paid, not out of guilt but out of me just wanting to do the right thing and show that despite it not being Nita's fault, as a staffy owner, I wanted to show that we aren't the knuckle dragging people that we can be portrayed as being. Not only that but I felt sorry for the Yorkie too. Had it been a bigger dog then the likely hood would be that it wouldn't have got injured.

However thanks for all the advice, little dogs will be kept away from. Funnily enough, the little chihuahua that Nita is friends with, runs alongside her barking and she doesn't bat an eyelid. She has been like that from day one with her. I guess its a differing 'lets play bark' rather than a 'I don't like you' bark.


On another note, the chap with the two collies came today with a huge GSD that hasn't been socialised by the chaps family (I think). He had it on lead all the time and was muzzled. He kept barking at Nita, and she would come up to it and bark back, it would stop and then she would leave it be. Love to understand dog language and barks.

Haizum74 wrote:Well I paid, not out of guilt but out of me just wanting to do the right thing and show that despite it not being Nita's fault, as a staffy owner, I wanted to show that we aren't the knuckle dragging people that we can be portrayed as being. Not only that but I felt sorry for the Yorkie too. Had it been a bigger dog then the likely hood would be that it wouldn't have got injured.

Hands up to you , I never looked at it this way.