My Dog Was Attacked Tonight

[yasimum]

We were walking the dogs and they were off leash in the off leash area. Had a lovely swim and play and then just as we were getting back to where the car was parked, our six month old Cattle/Mastiff cross started playing with a new dog who then turned nasty.

She had him pinned to the ground and made his leg and ear bleed. I was so scared and he is just miserable. Our other pup is scared too. I was always afraid that he would be a target for other dogs as he is such a big fellow but had let my guard down over the last couple of weeks.

This is the dog I wrote about a while back who kept laying down. Well he adores his walks now and is getting very fit and never lays down now. I feel guilty for having him off the leash and then him getting hurt.

[Jaanka]

Oh My.

Was the attacker dogs owner there? what did they say?

Did your beloved pooch require a vet visit.

I hope that he doesn't get too much of a fright form this nasty incident

[yasimum]

Hi Jaanka

No vet visit needed. We have bathed his leg and ear and put some antispetic powder on the abrasions.

The owners were there, but it just happened so quickly. They did ask if he was alright but quite frankly I just wanted to get the dogs in the car and get out of there.

What I am worried about is what you mention, the fear factor. Will watch him tomorrow when we go to obedience class to see if he behaves differently. Maybe we should give it a miss tomorrow and let him get over the shock of it.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

Try and get him together with some very gentle dogs, he needs to gain confidence again and soon.

[Tilly]

I would take him to obedience as normal and keep things normal. If you start become afraid around other dogs he will also pick this up.

Just act as though nothing happened but at the same time exercise the same caution you would in introducing him to an unknown dog. If he has some good gentle doggy friends then get them together and go from there.

[benny123]

A similar thing happened to us. We took ours out for their daily walk and had just gone out of our front gate when the female kelpie x over the road jumped the fence and attacked our girl. Pinned her down and had her by the throat, shaking her (no blood, thankfully). Our little girl was very shaken and didn't want to go out of the gate after that (can't say I blame her, she was only 4 and half months old at the time), but we persisted and used treats to get her out again. She's nearly 6 months now, very confident and way bigger than that nasty kelpie.

We still do the daily walks but I now growl at the kelpie if she so much looks at Beanie. We've also come across the kelpie several times when ours have been on lead in the street but the kelpie is just roaming. Dear Beanie seems to have forgotten the incident and tries to go up and say hello to the kelpie (like she does with most dogs), but I think the kelpie remembers me and gives us a wide berth.

The thing is, I think you've got to be normal and just do everything you would normally do, don't make any changes or concessions, dogs thrive on consistency. Just be a little way/mindfull of that particular dog and perhaps the owner will also. Carter & Rori will get over it if it's situation normal and I'm sure their are nice friendly dogs at obedience class. Which one do you go to?

PS. I've known the kelpie since she was 8 weeks old and she had no problem with our last dog (RIP my darling).

Here's a picture of the bitch from hell kelpie x and my last dog. Needless to say, she's no longer invited over for play dates.

[yasimum]

Hi Benny

We go to the Leichhardt Dog Training Club which is held near Cafe Bones in Haberfield. It is just wall to wall dogs down there on a Sunday morning and I must admit I am now feeling nervous. Carter only started going last week as he had to still have his final vaccinations.

Rori has been going for four weeks now and they are both doing really well. Rori is a clever girl and has learned lots of tricks and Carter is a fantastic walker. He also likes hunting for cockroaches when we take him out to do a wee last thing at night! He really is hilarious, sweet and such a gentle boy.

Your dogs look lovely. It is hard when you lose a dog who has been part of your life for such a long time. We lost our cross cattle/collie last September. I can't work out how to post a picture or I would post one of her.

Thanks for your replies everyone. Just gave me a bit of a shock that's all. Sure we'll all be fine after a good night's sleep.

[benny123]

We lost beautiful Benny (big boy in the pic and in my avatar) in September also at age 11. It's very hard, I still cry over him - poor baby had cancer which is why he looks so big (fat) in that pic - it was swelling and fluid retention (there's a medical name for it but I can't remember what it is). I'll love him till the day I die, beautiful gentle giant.

He was 4 when we got him through a friend of ours who is a vet. His previous owner decided that Ben no longer suited his lifestyle ambitions!! So we had him in our life for only 7 years - nowhere near long enough.

This time we decided to get two pups so they wouldn't be lonely when we went out as we always worried about Ben and took him everywhere possible so he wasn't home alone.

These are our two through SAR:

[sas]

Hi Benny

We go to the Leichhardt Dog Training Club which is held near Cafe Bones in Haberfield. It is just wall to wall dogs down there on a Sunday morning and I must admit I am now feeling nervous. Carter only started going last week as he had to still have his final vaccinations.

Rori has been going for four weeks now and they are both doing really well. Rori is a clever girl and has learned lots of tricks and Carter is a fantastic walker. He also likes hunting for cockroaches when we take him out to do a wee last thing at night! He really is hilarious, sweet and such a gentle boy.

Your dogs look lovely. It is hard when you lose a dog who has been part of your life for such a long time. We lost our cross cattle/collie last September. I can't work out how to post a picture or I would post one of her.

Thanks for your replies everyone. Just gave me a bit of a shock that's all. Sure we'll all be fine after a good night's sleep.

Whatever you do, you need to confident holding that leash. As soon as you feel nervious the dog is goin to pick up on it.

[yasimum]

I know that I need to just forget about it Sas and I will. I don't know what it is but I was hesitant to get Carter even though he was such a big sooky boy as I felt that he might be attacked. I think I just need to chill out and stop worrying.

Benny

My dog Jenna was an RSPCA dog. Cross cattle/B.C. We got her when she was twelve weeks old and she died at 16. She was a friend when I felt like I had none and always there for me so i really understand how you are feeling.

Funny thing is that when my niece and nephew said they were going to get the dogs (we live together), I was really excited as I felt it might help me to get over Jenna. The first couple of weeks we had them, I had never cried as much as I did then. It was the realisation that they were beautiful dogs but they weren't MY dog.

Things are better now and they really feel like they belong to us and not just some dogs we are minding if you know what I mean.

[yasimum]

Your two new babies are lovely! What sort of dog is the brown dog?

[benny123]

Your two new babies are lovely! What sort of dog is the brown dog?

They're actually brother & sister. Mother was a golden retriever x German shepherd and dad was a black labrador. If you look at the SAR website under Sophie and her bubs, it's two of those babies. However, I've a feeling that mum (Sophie) may have also had a one night stand with a ridgeback or mastiff. They're 6 months old next week and Spud (brown dog) is already 34 kgs.

[seapig]

hi there, i am going to suggest that you be very careful in that dog park. there are way too many dogs in haberfield. i've only ever been there once with my pup. although we were there for only 1hr, the number of yelping, barking and therefore fighting dogs was amazing! i would feel very paranoid to let mine go off the leash for fear of getting bitten. my staffy was bitten in the ear by some dog in our local dog park. the dog was not local but was being looked after by a local. it happens, even in low-traffic parks. vigilance.

Edited March 5, 2007 by seapig

[StaffLab]

I started taking my pup for walks down in Williamstown (vic) along near the beach. Its an off leash park but i still dont trust having her off.

In the 2 months that i was walking her there she was bitten by 2 staffies and one lab. All the owners said the same thing "oh he/she has never done that b4" but 2 minutes later their dog is off the leash again and running towards me Grrr

Another reason why i keep her on the leash is that u can never tell when a dog will suddenly snap and decide to run across the road. A couple of weeks ago we saw this happen to a poor man who was walking his 2 small dogs. Sudenly one just decided to run across the road and say hello. Luckily it was not run over.

If i want my dog to run (which obviously i do) i run with her, or i take her out to a paddock that is near by where she can run as much as she wants without the chance of being bitten or run over.