Dog attacked last night. What should I do?

Hi all, I've been a long time lurker on this forum and have gained some valuable advice from here regarding all sorts of topics so a belated thank you for that!

Unfortunately I've been prompted to make my first post after a pretty traumatic incident that occurred last night where my beautiful 20 month old boy was attacked by 2 off-lead chow chows and ended up at the vet with some pretty bad lacerations to his abdomen and back legs and had to be stitched up.

He was understandably pretty shaken up after the incident and unfortunately he's not allowed any strenuous activity for at least a week while his stitches heal.

He's a very well socialised dog, playing every day with other pups big and small and goes to doggy day care twice a week with all different breeds and I'm really worried that waiting a whole week may lead to dog aggression if he doesn't have a positive interaction soon.

Further, given that he was on-lead at the time, I'm worried that even a calm on-lead walk with another dog might trigger a response.

Does anyone have any advice with what we should do? Should we wait as he might still have elevated cortisol levels or are we better off trying a walk asap??

We're just beside ourselves because his favourite thing to do in the whole world is running around off-lead playing with his friends and I'm terrified that this might be taken away from him forever.

I'm so sorry to hear what happened, you poor boy! And poor you. I hope the physical damage is superficial.

Is there another quiet dog you know who could walk with you while you're waiting for the wounds to heal? That might help both of you settle. You might also be able to find places where you can go for a quiet potter where you can see other dogs but not get too close. If you do either of these, keep relaxed yourself as if nothing had happened and encourage your boy to relax too. Snuffling for treats on the ground is a good trick, as it gets the head down (relaxed and not alert), takes focus away from other things and builds positive associations.

With respect to the lead, get yourself a longer training line (not extendable!), maybe 5m or so. You can pick them up cheaply on ebay. I use the thinner ones of these: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/K9-CUSHION-WEBBING-TRAINING-TRACKING-LUNGE-LONG-LINE-13-COLOURS-2-WIDTHS-/262225706542?var=&hash=item3d0ddebe2emyc1Dk8CfL-2ebW_RhjVbng

What causes problems on leads is typically the tension, so when you get nervous and hold tight or when the dog pulls and can't get any further. Using a long line, coiling it up and letting it out as necessary so it's always just soft, can help eliminate that. It's also good for giving the dog a bit of space to move if he is on lead for any reason.

The main thing, though, is to be aware of your own responses, if you feel your tensing then breath in deeply and breath out deeply too, and believe it will be fine. If either of you tenses, then just move away from the other dog a little, calling not pulling, in a happy fun way, then stand and relax before getting closer again. You're not running away, you're just relieving the pressure to a point you can cope with it.

It's all about 'I can', rather than 'what if I can't'.

Thanks so much for your response Liz. He's been pretty quiet and sorry for himself today but not 10 minutes ago, he got that big staffy smile on his face and started playing with his toys on the couch so I'm already feeling a thousand times better!

His best friend is on holidays this week which makes things a little bit difficult, but I think we might pop past his daycare and see if we can go on a walk with another dog he's familiar with. He loves the employees there and will get plenty of treats and love, so I'm hoping that will help too.

In your opinion, do you think it's too soon or the earlier the better??

I'm so sorry to hear your boy was attacked. He's absolutely gorgeous! I do hope the other owners offered to pay the vets bills at the very least.

If he's not feeling too sore, then popping over to doggy day care sounds a great idea. Even if you don't walk with another at least he'll be in a familiar doggy environment. And a bit of a fuss from the staff wouldn't go astray, I'm sure!

Hi all, thank you so much for your advice a couple of weeks back. I thought I'd check in for an update and I'm pleased to report that Nacho is healing up beautifully, although a little bit miffed that he's not getting steak and cheese (with antibiotics hidden inside) for dinner anymore.
In even better news, it looks like he's taken it all in his stride and is back to his old self and has been playing with his friends for the last week with no ill-affects. Couldn't be more relieved!
Photos of the happy boy incoming:

Fantastic news, nice to see him looking happy. Thanks for keeping us updated.

Ah great news, they really are resilient little pups. Great pics of Nacho (great name by the way) looking happy and healthy

Good to hear the happy ending.
Lovely pics and in the last photo, what a warm look in his eye

So glad to hear he is back to himself! What a little stunner and isn't he gorgeous!

Brilliant.

By the way, I love the look on that lurcher's face

What a lovely boy! Glad he's got over his attack.

Great news! He is stunning!!