our 16 week old puppy was picked up by a bulldog mix and shaken like a rag doll for about 15 LONG seconds outside our yard. he was tethered to a stake in the grass and the dog ran up on our yard and went right at him. he was cut from the dogs teeth but did not need any stitches. i tried beating the dog to get him to let go but he wouldn't. i finally kicked him in the stomach so hard that i lifted him off the ground after which the owner came running. (he threatened to sue me, real nice guy).

our puppy now rolls on his back whenever he even SEES another dog. yesterday, we were walking and another dog approached him, he rolled up on his back and the dog started to pee on him. i cried and cried. can i do anything about this? i fear that he has been scarred for life. any help would be appreciated.

Hi Jerry

Sorry to hear about your pups awful experience.

All I can suggest is if you know someone who has a very placid dog, who you could introduce your pup to very gradualy. This may help build your pups confidence with other dogs.

I'm sure someone with more experience will be along later.

Good Luck :)

liberty

are you in the uk, ???? if so you could take action against the owner of the dog that attacked yours, -which i think you should consider, as it might try it again,
as for your puppy either the suggestion you already have re a kind dog to introduce it to, or start up puppy training classes, but pop there by yourself first to make sure theres nothing with attitude problems there either, hopefully yours will come around in time, but what an awful start, i think youd be best keeping it in eye sight, as tethering isnt such a good idea,

That's awful and so upsetting. I hope your puppy is OK and gets over the attack.

I know it's hard to do but you MUST treat it as if nothing much has happened. The way you react to things affects the way your dog views it. If you make a big thing out of it then your dog will assume something terrible has happened and react accordingly. If you treat it as nothing to get excited about so will he. I found it so hard, telling one of my Labradors off for putting it's ear in another dog's mouth but the result of that was that she never developed a fear even though you could have put an ear ring in the hole.

This puts me in mind of my first dog, A cross breed. He was about the age of your puppy when he decided to rush barking up to a big male Dalmatian. The Dalmatian picked him up by the scruff of the neck and dropped him into a puddle! What a wonderful put down for an "Uppy" puppy!

Regards, John

Big male dalmatian - not the best breed to choose to run up to! :) Poor uppy-puppy :D :D

He never did it again!!!

When you take him for a walk take some treats with you, when another dog approaches take the emphasis off the other dog by giving your dog a treat and praising him. As said in the previous message if you get stressed out or make a fuss the dog will pick up on it. It is also an excellent suggestion to try socialising him with a dog who is familiar to you. I think a puppy class would be too much for him at the moment, too many dogs in the one place would stress him out even more. Hope this helps :)

oh my gosh, thats sad :..(

oh i'm so sorry to hear that, hope things improve for your puppy soon,
i agree a gentle introduction to another dog may help,
good luck xx

oh poor pup! i really really hope your pup's ok and you too. it must be so so so upsetting.

i've a 14 wk old pup who's a bit wary of other dogs - think partly cos she's so wee (cavalier KCS) and she's not met v many since we had her - i find it the hardest thing to do, to carry on acting 'normal' when we walk on past a great enormous teeth snarling monster (can you tell i was scared by a big dog as a kid??) as if its nothing to bother about but i reckon its the only way forward. otherwise i can see that she'll just learn to fear it and look to me for protection even more.

i've thought about trying to introduce our pup to an acquaintance's older, quite sedate and also small well trained dog before we start pup classes in a couple of weeks - advice being introduce on neutral territory, maybe by going on a walk together on lead so they get used to sight/smell from a little distance and then take it from there gradually depending on how it goes. maybe you know - or could approach, i'm sure any doglover would be really happy to help you - someone with a suitable dog?

best of luck, can't tell you how sad your post made me - but at least she's young enough to hopefully get over it :)