Sophie and I went out for a walk on Friday. It was good training walk, we passed dogs and worked on LAT. Sophie did great. Lots of progress!
Then we round the corner to walk up our street when I hear a jingle. By the time I looked up to see what the jingle was there is a dog charging at us full speed from the house to our left. The dog is barking and flying at us. I pushed Sophie behind me, who immediately tensed. And I screamed NO (really I had no clue what to do and it was all happening fast). The dog swooped around me and went for Sophie's back legs.
I am screaming at the owners who are just exiting their house to get their dog. While trying to move Sophie out of the way and walk away which was impossible because this dog kept circling us and cars were going by. Prob about 30-45secs into this dog trying to nip at Sophie, she finally went into defend mode.
I was trying to avoid her reacting but the nipping set her off. She started growling, barking and lunging. At that point I am doing all I can to hold on to the leash and trying to keep the dog away. The owners are frantically running around trying to catch the dog who is evading them at every turn. At one point Sophie turns around to snap at the dog, who was behind her and I end up falling to my knees, hands out. In that moment I thought I was going to lose the leash and my heart skipped a beat. Thankfully I held on and when I hit the ground Sophie moved in front of me and just stood there barking.
The owners finally caught their dog, apologized and insisted their dog is friendly. I am sorry but running up full speed and going straight for my dog's legs with teeth, is not playing! Sophie had a few scratches but no puncture marks. They said they left the door open while unloading something from the car. They said the dog wasn't near the door.
Frustrating to say the least! Especially after all the work we have done with her leash reactivity, I am a little worried about the implications of this event on Sophie. We went for a long walk on Saturday and she was fine. We continued to work LAT like usually and I did my best to stay calm.
So, how do you handle a loose dog charging at you and your dog?
ugh I hate that "oh my dog isn't attacking, they are friendly" crap
ReplyDeleteKari
http://dogisgodinreverse.com/
This happens to me every now and then when I'm out walking other people's dogs. When I'm walking a dog that I know can be reactive, I make sure to keep myself between "my" dog and the approaching dog. Then I take an assertive step towards the approaching dog, make eye contact, point right at the dog and yell "No!" This usually stops the dog for at least a second, which is enough time to re-group and make sure my dog is under control. Then I do it again if needed. Usually it at least slows the dog down and gets rid of that initial tension. I also try to stay as relaxed as possible (hard to do) because if I tense up the leash, the dog I'm handling is more likely to react. If I stay loose and both dogs seem fairly relaxed, I just let them sniff until the owner comes out to get their dog. Or we do our best to just walk away.
ReplyDeleteWowserz... I'm 11 months old now, and it was just a few months ago when my mommy took me and my furry sister Nala (12 year old American Eskimo mix) out for a walk around the neighborhood. We were almost to our house when all of a sudden a big dog came charging right at us. He was on a leash, but he pulled the stake out of the ground and he ran right for us. Nala screamed and tried to get away, but she got nipped on the ear by the excited charging dog. I didn't know what to do. We were all tangled up in our leashes and mommy was yelling for someone to come get their dog. The dog's owner was outside but behind large bushes, and when he heard the commotion he came running. Thankfully, the big dog did not attack, except for Nala's little ear nip. Mommy doesn't take Nala out anymore (she's a scaredy cat), but she does take me. I'm a much bigger doggie now, so I'm prepared for almost anything.
ReplyDeleteBTW... we have a nice walk-through gate by our front door, so Nala and I don't get the chance to run out (heh, I ran out once when I was a little puppy but came right back... but mommy wasn't taking that chance again!).
Woofs & hugs,
~Bailey
If it is safe to do so (e.g., not next to a busy street), I just let go of my dog's leash. This prevents my dog from feeling any tension in the leash from me, lets her feel "off leash" to avoid leash reactivity from her, and lets her better defend herself if necessary than if I'm hauling on her leash or she/I are mutually tangled in the leash. It also frees my hands to circle behind the incoming dog, and, if it really is attacking, grab its back ankles, and lift and pull and keep on lifting and pulling in a circle (so he can't twist back towards me) until the owner shows up. Biggest dog I ever did this with was a Rottie. My heart was pounding, I'll tell you. This also only works if you're sure your dog won't take off running, if your dog is close enough in size to the other dog, if your dog will stop attacking the other dog once you've pulled it away, if there's only one dog attacking.
ReplyDeleteI just experienced something similar to this today. Thankfully Tibby is small enough I can scoop her up - otherwise I hate to think what might have happened! :(
ReplyDeleteThanks for following Tibby's blog :) Following you back! I love to read about other people's agility training adventures. And the flyball sounds SO FUN! Wish we had flyball around here....