We have been warned that an aggressive Airedale is coming to our fave walk place and it has attacked one of Morse's pals a little whippet. What do I do if it goes for Morse? He won't come past my friend's confident dog to me so I'm worried - canI scoosh theattacking dog with water or chuck a can of stones into the melee? we had problems with MOrse before after anothe dog rushed barking at him -m he started chasing and barking at other dogs for a while and I don't want to go there again. Avoiding the area seems a bit wimpy.

not an expert but have suffered a prob like this since my dog was attacked at 10 months old. All I can say is avoid the Airedale at all costs, don't even let them engage/sniff if possible. Walk away from the dog if you see it and if he approaches break the eye contact with your dog by turning your dog's head away, distracting him and otherwise moving off.

My prob involved an entire male Dalmation going several times for my entire [now] 14 month corgi. He used to love all dogs and used to be friends with the Dal and it has taken me MONTHS of exhaustion to sort out the subsequent fear aggression that he started to show to males. Try and keep your dog socialised with positive dogs.
Don't use the cans or water pistols - your dog will think you are joining in. If he doubts your leadership in anyway he might think you won't be able to help him get out of a fight - this might escalate the fight.

EDIT - If you find the Airedale always happens to be on that walk it isn't wimpy to avoid the area if you have other options for walks. You have managed to break a pattern of Morse's barking so far and that is a great achievement - if you had not done this it may have worsened.

I have been lucky in that the Dalmation owner acknowledges that her dog is unpopular [he attacks everyone] so she tries to keep him away and doesn't mind if I hide if I see them coming.

cissy

hi lorilei.........................over here the meter readers carry small umbrella's if the dog charges throw the umbrella open .it startles most dogs..use corresponding commmands like ''get your @##!!^^ing#%#!**..the$#!@@away from me!!!!!!...worst case scenario you can keep it off you as oppsed to water which is not a good thing to hide behind...and smack it over the head if it tries to hurt your little dog

Can I just ask 'where are the dogs owners when these attacks are going on'. I always thought owners should be responsible for their dogs.

Sandie - In my case I was on the other end of the lead and the attacking dog was on his, they said hello and then "whomph!" he was onto my dog with no warning. Subsequent attacks by this dog occurred on a narrow path, I couldn't get away and the Dal was too strong for the owner to hold it. That is why I avoid walking mine at those times now in the hope that little Lascaux will forget about it. Not irresponsible - but a bit more in tune now with the psyche of the entire male. :)

HI Sandy the Airedale has already had a go at Morse - my teenage daughter and chums took my pal's female Boxer and MOrse down to the estate, and the Airedale was off lead at some distance from his owner. The Boxer rushed between Morse and the attacker and growled until he backed off. The girls were shocked when the iredale owner shouted at his dog and hit it when he recalled. No more walks there without adult back up - this could've been nasty. Girls comment " You need help tae train that, pal!"

Charlie gets walked in our local woods everyday, and we used to take him to the park at the weekend for a bit of a change in scenery. I had a *very* rare half day off on Wednesday, and decided to take him to the park as it wasn't a bad afternoon.

We'd been there about 10 mins or so, and Charlie was off the lead. Saw a girl with a lab coming the other way, adn as Charlie has a habit of rushing up to other dogs when he's off the lead, i called him back and made him sit. The girl and i exchanged a few pleasantries (as us nice doggy types do :)), and she happened to mention that there were two labs running loose further into the park. She had tried to approach them, but everytime she got close they ran off, so she gave up. Thinking nothing of it, we went off on our merry way. As we got deeper into the park, could hear a lot of barking an commotion - turned a corner to be met with the site of about 8 (possibly nine, hard to tell) different breeds of dogs all involved in a nasty snarly brawl :(

Was no way i was getting Charlie and myself involved in that, so we went back the way we came, warned a few other people we made, and went to the parkies office to report it - where we were told 'oh yeah, its been going on for weeks, but theres nothig we can do - some of them are nasty buggers!!'

Needless to say, we'll be avoiding the park for the near future! One good thing that I at least managed to get the parkies to do was to put up signs at the entrances warning poeple, and got him to phone the dog warden while i was there.

Bloody irresponsible owners! They give us all a bad name!

Majix

Kelly you are my evil twin!(smiley face) as this is what I'd do without socialisation to responsible dog ownership! The umbrella sounds a good idea and it did give me such a good laugh imagining the scene. Thanks for the tip - after reading it husband now feels bound to do the long walks in that neck of the woods - " Cos I ken what YOURE like ...." he muttered. Glad someone else realises pointers are soft wee dogs - Morse is 59 cms high at the shoulder but he'll always be my little dog to me.

hi
my dobe was attacked by a bull terrier a few months ago, mine was on lead and this guy had two terriers of lead(training them) :( , this dog just ran and jumped my dog, the owner got the dog off but he still didnt put his back on a lead and the dog went round him and tried to have mine again, i dont think not going to this park is wimpy, i now take mine to another field, do hope your dog is ok and you are too :)

Sorry to hear about your bad experience Sammy. We are all fine - thanks to my pal's protective boxer. We have been back to the place a few times since without ill effects and think collective disapproval has seen it off. Morse is no angel himself and I feel for people with a dog having this aggression problem, as long as apologies are made and they deal with it. The BTS owner could've done that for you.