We took our 2 dogs for a walk yesterday, I had Perry and oh had Hugo and they were both on leads when a couple that live on the next road to us who we see quite often on walks came towards us with their dog off lead and it attacked Perry my 2 year old golden retriever, I couldn't believe what was happening, the dog that attacked him is a very small black lab, it looks like a cross and I wasn't expecting it and it lunged at Perry and swung on his ear and neck with his teeth and we couldn't get him off, Hugo was crying and barking then the dog went to attack Hugo, I have a can of compressed air in my pocket and sprayed it and it stopped the dog and the owners caught it, Perry at this stage was pouring with blood,  the couple were so very sorry and said that he is like that with other male dogs but as he had always been ok with Perry before they never thought to put him on lead - I could have strangled the horrible thing.  I bathed Perry's ear with colloidal silver and it seems fine now but I'll keep my eye on him.   Perry was also attacked but not quite so seriously a few weeks ago by an older female on the beach and I am wondering why they seem to pick on him?

I have the same thing with my male dog. He loves other dogs & plays with so many in the local fields by our house. But there are 2 labs that do not like him & have had a go at him. The owners cant really be bothered to control their dogs whereas now we put ours on lead when passing their house. However they have gone for him before whilst he was on a lead & their owners blamed us! Our dog is not nasty but has now began to stand up for himself (which i dont like) if these two dogs approach him. We have to pass down a small lane & if these owners dont spot us then we have a problem. I dont know why these labs go for our dog when he happily plays with other labs. I hope Perry gets better.

Im so sorry to hear your poor boy has been hurt like that. A golden i bred seems to have the same problem. he has been attacked by a jack ussell as a pup and within the last year a staffie, a rottie and a yellow lab. The  lab and staffie he knew and has played with on several occasions. Id be interested to hear anyones replies on this subject as it does seem to be certain dogs that it happens to.
mel.

I am so sorry to hear you boy got hurt, My girl has Been Attack three times twice on the lead, it's such a horrible thing to witness especially to your own dogs.

Can anyone tell me what breed of dog attacked me and my Spaniel?  It looked like a large Staffy. My friend has a Staffy and it has a lovely nature, this dog was probably twice the size, perhaps boxer size, white with a black marking on the head. It went straight for her throat and took five adults to get it off her. We both needed hospital treatment (hers was more expensive than mine!)  Apparently it's not dangerous as the dog bit me as I was trying to protect my dog 

That's awful Debbieb, Hope your ok now? perhaps it was a staffy cross of some sort?

hope that your all ok

I hope Parry is ok.  I was walking my 5mth old pup Tank the other week.  Tank is a mastiff x akita and a very big pup.  A lady had two collie mixes off the lead and I presumed they were ok to be off the lead untill completely unprovoced one of them attacked Tank! My reaction was to punch the dog and it backed right off!  Although I regreted punching the dog it did get off Tank straight away.  Tank was on a lead during this and I have no idea why the dog attacked him?  The lady apologised and said 'Oh he's never usually like that'! I'm thinking maybe because Tank is such a big pup the dog misread his body language?  A week after I was very close to a Pit Bull attacking him also but I was lucky enough to escape in a nearby garden and yet again only the other day another dog on a lead was very aggressive towards him!!!  I'm starting to worry about this, as with all this negative behaviour towards him could have an impact on Tank's behaviour.  I'm thinking of carrying round some type of pepper spray when I walk him just incase I do find myself in a similar situation, especially as Tank is going to be such a big dog.  Is this a bit extreme?

By the way I did report to the Police about a dangerous ILLEGAL American Pit Bull out of control on a park but they said they had more important things to do!

Really sorry to hear this. Loislane xx

I have seen boxerXlab crosses that look like giant staffies - but all the ones I have met have been very friendly and not at all scary

> My reaction was to punch the dog and it backed right off!

I don't normally agree with hitting animals but I have done the same thing. About 8 years ago a 'pit type' cross breed jumped the fence into my garden & went for my dog, the dog bit onto my dogs throat & wouldn't let go, I repeatedly punched it on the head & after a few blows it released at which point the owner jumped in, grabbed it & ran off!!! I didn't know what else to do, I had been shouting at it & trying to grab hold of it, by the time I punched it there was guite a gathering of people out to see what all the fuss was about. Thankfully my dog only had 4 clean puncture wounds that didn't do any damage other than leaving scars.

My Mastiff pup is always being growled & snapped at, he is very calm with other dogs and never does anything to warrent the abuse he gets, the owners always are very shocked at thier dogs behaviour & say they are normally very friendly. It does appear that some dogs get intimidated by a huge puppy, maybe it's fear that leads to their aggressive outbursts??

Do you think it is the presence (sp) of a dog that gives off a "come and get me " attack . cos i have been in this situation a few times . Even at a dog training class the trainer thought my dog was going to be dominant because of how it walked on lead ... but off lead my dog played the best and most curtious (especially for a husky , no throat scruffs or dragging the other dog around)and the trainer was really surprised that my dog actually played ... i wasn't .( an adult too not a pup)

I'm not sure what vibes Perry was giving off, but he is quite a playful 2 year old and still behaves like a puppy, we were walking towards the couple and their dog came bounding forward and lunged at Perry, it all happened so quickly but from what I remember nothing changed with how Perry was walking on the lead and my oh was next to me with Hugo and the dog made for Perry???  The time on the beach Perry was off lead and doing lots of play bows and generally being very playful with Hugo, then the older bitch came at him, that was awful but there was no biting only growls and snarls as fortunately she couldn't catch him.

Howarth, I don't think you can carry pepper spray around it is illegal I'm sure in this country, I carry a pet corrector which you can get from PAH which is a can of compressed air and makes a hissing noise which startles the dogs and stops them doing whatever they are doing at the time.  I have used it before on a dog that is quite nasty and is let off lead, he always tried to get to Perry and Hugo but since I sprayed that he doesn't come near now.

I'm wondering if they pick on P because he is entire?
  

> Do you think it is the presence (sp) of a dog that gives off a "come and get me "

I have thought the same, my pup is very self-confidant so maybe that confidence is taken as a threat to other dogs, so they get in first with an attack?? (my pup hasn't been attacked, just been snapped & growled at by adult dogs on-lead)

The last puppy-party (gathering at the vets for same-age pups) we went to, I was convinced my pup would be rough with the others (who were all tiny compared to him, even the Rotweiller), but when I let him off lead he was very repsectful & well behaved :) (he's not like that with my old dog at home though, he likes to play rough :( )

Thats so true mastifflover. mine play like mad and if you haven't seen a husky play you can be worried .. my neighbours (when i first moved in ) used to knock and tell me they were fighting ,lol...but they are now used to the dogs and don't even bother when one is dragging the other up the garden by its throat (the one being dragged is on its back most of the time )....but do you think that a dog that walks proud (thats the only way i can describe how my dog walks on lead ... me too i must admit,, am proud that i have my dog on lead walking so nicely )tend to get attacked by others ?Do other dogs see this as cockyness , i wonder.

When reading this, it sounds like the exact same situation I had back in October with my two min pins.  My calm one got attacked, not the one that was paying attention to things around her.

Dogs that seem to be under control, and calm, seem to get attacked more often than those who are a little out there.  The followers of the dog world are considered weakest, so another dog, if wanting to make an attack, will go for them.

Even when my other min pin (who wasnt attacked) was growling, barking, hackles up everything, the dog didnt pay attention to her at all.  Casie, who was the one that was attacked, was total show mode on the walk.  Looking straight ahead, not paying attention to anything but where the collar was on her neck.  Cher, was willing to rip the dog apart, yet the dog didnt go after her.  Cher started being aggressive after the dog already was on Casie.

Casie turned out ok, with lots of Ice on her swelling, and cleaning of her wounds. 

So sorry to hear about your Perry.  Hope he is ok.  And hope you are ok as well.  An attack seems to go on forever.  It is one of the most scariest things that can happen. 

Hi, I'm thinking of a situation where Diesel was attacked by a staffie that
was unfortunately off lead. Diesel was on a lead and haltie, as it was
winter time and we had snow on the ground ... This dog walked past with
it's owner, didn't even seem to notice him .. I was keeping a close eye on it as it
wasn't on a lead. Well it went about 200 yards and I turned just to check it was
still walking the opposite way, and it was launched itself at Diesel, who didn't have
a chance to react at all. The owner then proceeded to lay into it with a heavy chain
lead, I was shocked.
I find Diesel being a Dane, most people are reluctant to stop and let their dogs meet
him far less play with him. Even small dogs are picked up :-D .He has been extremely
well socialised and attended puppy classes and graduated with a distinction :)
Yet his mannerisms and playfulness are always misread. This is ultimately as a result
of his sheer size. Other dogs very definately react to him differently, often straight
off aggresively :(

My Rottie XGSD seems to have victim written on her head as dogs that have never attacked before have run over and attacked her resulting in her now being fear aggresive.  She was always so calm and friendly as a youngster and loved all dogs.  I can only assume dogs could not read her as she has no tail to show how she is feeling and she is jet black with very dark eyes so they cannot see her eyes to read them either.
My JRT never has any problems with other dogs and other dogs that will attack my big girl will happily play with him.
One thing that has intrigued me though is my JRT has never shown any aggression toward any dog, person or animal until a couple of weeks ago we met a young husky pup and for the first time in his life he growled and snapped at it.  Was fine with every other dog after that until we met the pup again a week later and he reacted in the same way.    Then yesterday we met a lovely adult husky and again he got aggresive.  After leaving it he become his soft old self again with every other dog.  So for some reason it seems that this breeds appearence  brings out a side of him I have never seen before in his life.
I am glad Perry seems ok poor lad I hope it hasn't affected him psycologically (sp)

Thanks for all the replies, Perry is OK now, there are no puncture marks that we can see and his ear doesn't look as though it has been torn, cut or damaged in any way thank goodness!

I'm going to have to keep a closer eye on him when other dogs approach as we were discussing this the other day and can recall 5 occasions in all that he has been attacked, none as bad as this last one, but only once was he off lead and managed to get away from the dog.

By the way without sounding a complete moron, what is sp?

people put (sp) to acknowledge they may have spelt something wrong. Glad your dogs ok now.just hope it doesnt affect him too much emotionally

That's good that there is no physical damage, glad he is ok, it's hard because you can't control other peoples dogs!!