About a year and a half ago, we were attacked while walking our then three dogs down our road. We are the only people on our little road who fence their dogs.
Buster, a large Cane Corso type, came roaring out from behind his house, leaped into the street, and went for us. We were not on his property or even in motion. I had the three dogs and was waiting for my husband to catch up. He had to run into the middle of the mess swinging to get Buster to back off. I was trying to keep all three dogs behind me to be a buffer.
The commotion carried, and the people sent a child to come retrieve him. Of course he did not bother listening her any better than to the adults there.
We first met Buster as an untrained puppy -- who ran out into the street to meet us that time. But he is owned by people who do not know how to have dogs, and he grew into an untrained adult dog. The second run into the street was not the same as the puppy one. Sadly, his going after us was solely the fault of his humans letting him down as owners.
Thankfully, my Anatolian Shepherd took my NO! as meaning him and did not engage, or the situation could have ended very badly. As it was, it was terrifying but no blood was shed.
We reported the situation to the authorities and sent a letter letting his owners know what had happened, but it was returned. Now we walk on our own land and not on our road.
I don't know what else we could have done, but I like the bear spray idea. My husband was all for carrying a cattle prod, but that appears to be illegal. Walking elsewhere is just more peaceful, especially as we now have two Hound mix pups who I don't think would back down readily.
This is great! I need to read this few more times to process it. But I know I need to be better prepared with tools like pepper spray to protect my dogs when walking them. I'm pretty observant about what is going on around me, and what my dogs body language is tell me, but watching the other dog is very important too.
I think it's important to remain calm. Layla and Max feed off my emotions, so if I can remain calm it will help them remain calm. And part of me remaining calm is to assess potential problems in advance, so I feel prepared.
The other thing I was thinking about is the advice I've heard about throwing the advancing dog treats. This makes me laugh, because usually the advancing dog does not care about your low value treats, it just cares about your dogs. Unless it's some goofy friendly dog that you don't really want to interact with, then it has worked for me.
About a year and a half ago, we were attacked while walking our then three dogs down our road. We are the only people on our little road who fence their dogs.
Buster, a large Cane Corso type, came roaring out from behind his house, leaped into the street, and went for us. We were not on his property or even in motion. I had the three dogs and was waiting for my husband to catch up. He had to run into the middle of the mess swinging to get Buster to back off. I was trying to keep all three dogs behind me to be a buffer.
The commotion carried, and the people sent a child to come retrieve him. Of course he did not bother listening her any better than to the adults there.
We first met Buster as an untrained puppy -- who ran out into the street to meet us that time. But he is owned by people who do not know how to have dogs, and he grew into an untrained adult dog. The second run into the street was not the same as the puppy one. Sadly, his going after us was solely the fault of his humans letting him down as owners.
Thankfully, my Anatolian Shepherd took my NO! as meaning him and did not engage, or the situation could have ended very badly. As it was, it was terrifying but no blood was shed.
We reported the situation to the authorities and sent a letter letting his owners know what had happened, but it was returned. Now we walk on our own land and not on our road.
I don't know what else we could have done, but I like the bear spray idea. My husband was all for carrying a cattle prod, but that appears to be illegal. Walking elsewhere is just more peaceful, especially as we now have two Hound mix pups who I don't think would back down readily.
This is great! I need to read this few more times to process it. But I know I need to be better prepared with tools like pepper spray to protect my dogs when walking them. I'm pretty observant about what is going on around me, and what my dogs body language is tell me, but watching the other dog is very important too.
I think it's important to remain calm. Layla and Max feed off my emotions, so if I can remain calm it will help them remain calm. And part of me remaining calm is to assess potential problems in advance, so I feel prepared.
The other thing I was thinking about is the advice I've heard about throwing the advancing dog treats. This makes me laugh, because usually the advancing dog does not care about your low value treats, it just cares about your dogs. Unless it's some goofy friendly dog that you don't really want to interact with, then it has worked for me.