On Thursday evening my 17 month old entire male GSP was attacked by an adult entire male Weimeraner whilst at gundog training.  All the dogs were on a lead in a line; we were taking it in turns to do a retrieve.   The Weim had joined our class a couple of weeks ago and whilst on the leash had shown aggressive tendencies to other dogs passing in close proximity.  However, whilst off leash and working he had appeared fine.  The normal trainer was off on hols and we had a stand-in.  All the dogs were in a line on leash and one by one we did a retrieve.  This particular dog went out, picked up the dummy but then did a circuit of the field and paraded up and down the line of dogs, not returning to his handler.  He dropped the dummy in front of my dog who remained sitting, but pricked his ears forwards and lowered his head and the Weim went for it. 

My dog sustained a few puncture wounds, bruising and some muscle damage to one forelimb; emergency trip to vet resulted in antibiotics and painkillers plus bill for over £100. He slept all of Friday and then got more lively over the weekend, mooching around the garden and then venturing out on leash.  Today he has met two dogs he has met before;  one an entire male rhodesian ridgeback, he dived between the legs for protection;  the other a small Jack russell bitch who is very in your face, he dived between my legs and then as he was against a wall and had nowhere to go he came out fighting.  This is SO unlike my dog.  He is a softy through and through and has never had a fight before in his life. 

Where do I go from here?  What do I do?

Unfortunately, this sort of thing happens in Real Life.

You take several steps back and start rehabilitating your dog.

Errr, yes...no disputing that..... but some advice as to how best to help my dog would now be appreciated.

I'm not an expert on this but all i can say is the dogs you know are friendly with him let him approach them slowly or the other way around if he's aggressive say no and tell the person to move their dog out of harms way and if he reacts in a good way reward.  Also when he's acting timid running in between your legs dont praise him ignore that until he behaves like he used to then praise.  If that happened to my dog i would certainly make the other person pay for the vets bills if the dog had already showed aggressive tendencies.  I hope this helps you abit, it's not from experience but commence sense.  Go back to basics.  Good luck.

Warm regards Susan

Hi Gunner, I would give the dog a few quiet days to get over the shock first.  Then I would arrange or manage a situation where he sees another dog but from a distance where he doesn't feel he has to go between your legs and hide and reward him for calm behaviour, then take him away.

Repeat lots of times.  Gradually you will be able to get closer but if he reacts, you have gone too far, too fast.  You need to make sure that 'in your face' type dogs don't get near him until you have restored his confidence - avoid them, turn and walk away, give your dog space.  The aim is that he doesn't get to practise his fearful hiding and fighting behaviour - otherwise it will become a habit.  You want to replace this with calm behaviour.

For the moment, the gundog training may have to take second place - the class will be the biggest challenge for him because all the ingredients of his frightening experience will be there: same place, same activities, some of the same dogs.  Deal with his fear first - he will not be able to concentrate on the training if he is worrying about a possible attack from another dog anyway.

Personally, I wouldn't go down the blame or compensation route, it'll just be unpleasant and I'd rather move on.

Best wishes.

I'd agree, take it calm and slow and consider carefully whether to continue with the gundog class. What did the instructor say and is the Weim being allowed back in the class? I would be extremely wary if he was allowed off lead again to do retrieves as he could easily repeat what happened. What a shame this has occurred :(

Take it slow and sure and remember that much of the time your GSP will take his cue from you and your confidence. Be fairly upbeat and gradually introduce him to other dogs, ones he knows and gets on with. Give him a loose lead and room to move/back off if needs be. Be as  normal as you can...you may find after the shock has worn off he is oK again, but may bear a grude against Weims...if you know anyone with a gentle Weim bitch that may be a good start towards his confidence coming back.

Watch his body language and don't force him...let him make up his mind...set him up for success with good tempered dogs...lots of praise and in this instance I would be following the "open the bar" routine where he gets huge fun and tasty food treats in the presence of other dogs (if he is into food!)

If he's really reacting after a few days, try getting some help and have them with their safe dog on a lead nearby while you stand chatting...at a comfortable distance for your GSP. After a while, you may find he starts to get more confident/curious and investigates to say Hallo to the other dog... but don't force this if he is desperate to get away.

Let us know how it goes, i really feel for you! Could be any one of us.

Lindsay
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Just a thought...

Assuming the Weimeraner isnt going to be at the gundog classes (which he certainly wouldn't if it were my class), I'd be inclined to try him again, bearing the following in mind:

As gundog classes take place outside, you can sit and watch from a 'safe distance', gradually building up your dogs confidence and guaging his reaction. I wouldnt really try and actually take part until he appears relaxed. This could take a few sessions, hopefully he'll get his confidence back - try and be relaxed and confident yourself, without pushing him too hard.

Despite these events, I can think of no better place to take a dog to meet large, good natured dogs than a gundog class. They should be far less 'hyped-up' than an obedience class. There is no forced interaction with the other dogs, there is much less 'invasion of space' by other dogs and most of the canine trainees will be far more interested in where the next retrieve is coming from.

It may be better to go and watch a more advanced class. It is quite common for young gundogs (with inexperienced owners) to do a 'lap of honour' with the retrieve around the other dogs, during their first few classes. This is almost invariably (unfortunately not in the Weim's case) just playfulness, but it could now trigger a reaction from your dog.

A lot will depend on how prepared the instructor is to help you out. If they are, then I'm fairly confident that they'll be able to help you sort this problem out.

Dogs that come racing up to yours whilst you are out for a walk (whether friendly or not) are a complete pain in the arse. Avoid them for as long as you can.

Best of luck!

Hi
It would appear that the Weim hasn't been banned.  The set up is that the training takes place in a large field which has woods on one side and a small lake in the middle.  There are normally three classes running at the same time, with one class doing hunting in the woods, one in the field and the other working in or around the lake.  The proposal from the stand-in instructor is that I attend my normal class with my normal instructor who is back from his hols next week.  The stand-in instructor will be taking another class in the absence of that instructor and that the Weim should join her class, so that they can be kept apart.

I'm not too happy about this suggestion as I don't think this is enough.  The areas are not fenced off;  dogs do from time to time go walkabout and I think the risk of another altercation is too high.  What do you reckon? 

Did the Weim actually intend to damage the forelimb? The worst parts for dogs to attack are the belly and the legs - in the wild, a dog with a broken leg is defenceless and most dogs would use this form of attack as a ruthless form intending to do severe damage. I'm not saying this is the case here, but i would be wary of a dog who went for legs rather than the neck/head/back.

If the owner is very sensible and you trust the trainers it might be OK...the owner needs to get good recall on their dog. Has this dog done this before at all? It was probably just protecting the dummy and may not even do this in a different circumstance, but the trouble is you can never be sure unless you can totally trust the owner and are willing to take a risk, albeit a small one.

Lindsay
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I agree with Lindsays thoughts. It will really come down to how much you trust the instructors and the Weimeraner's owner.

A dog that can get that aggressive with other dogs will be of questionable use on most shoot days, and is likely to make its owner very unpopular. The proposed 'solution' may be enough to prevent him attacking your dog, but does nothing to protect the dogs in the other class. By its nature, gundog training mostly involves being off lead, often at considerable distances from the owner, and its difficult to see how other dogs can be safeguarded against a future incident.

Is this a HPR specific class, if so I doubt that you would have many other options locally with that level of experience? Us retriever and spaniel trainers can often find HPR training a bit.... foreign! ;-)

Possibly the stand-in instructor doesnt feel that they have sufficient authority to exclude the dog? Or, possibly they viewed the situation differently - perhaps they interpreted it as 'six of one, half a dozen the other'?