Hi, a few months ago my dog ( half collie half staffy) daft as a brush and totally harmless was attacked while on his lead when a English bull terrier ran about 100 yards to wards him. Didn't have time to react as such, the terrier was biting and holding on to his side and wouldn't let go. After what seemed like a age some fat Herbert finally turned up and after much pulling managed to eventually get it off my dog. Best not go into detail about what I called the owners. Upshot was my dog wasn't too badly hurt, some puncture wounds and bruising but he was more pissdd off that I took him straight home rather than continue his walk. I was shaking.

So what's the best thing to do if this happens again??? I'm beginning to be dead wary especially around bigger dogs. Which in most cases is unfair. How can you tell if a dog is friendly or not and are there any obvious do's and don't 's if it kicks off??? Is me panicking gonna make things words ???? Any help or advice would be great as we have lovely woods and stream near us and I don't want to spoil our mutts fun!!

Cheers

I assume you deliberately missed out the part of the story where you reported the owner and his out of control and dangerous dog to the police?

Erm nope. Im new to dog ownership hence why am here asking for advice. I wasnt sure on the law regarding this. My dog wasnt badly hurt, maybe it looked worse than it was. Plus without been unkind or generalising too much the owners werent the sort of people i was gonna press into given me their address and contact details. We were in the middle of the woods with no one else around, guess i presummed they'd just tell me to F off or words to that effect.

Phone the non emergency police number 101 and discuss your options with them. That's what I'd do - on DS you'll probably just get told to kick the dog / take a stick with you / you shouldn't be in the woods anyway / it was your dog's fault for being there, etc. So if you want to talk rights and what you should do, as a start call 101.

Anyone that has tried reporting dog on dog attacks to the police knows it's a complete waste of time.
Defending your dog with a kick is sometimes the best and only option.

You can usually tell when a dog is aggressive; as it will keep it's tail up, show its teeth, bark, charge, growl and generally behave in a dominating or threatening manner.

One of your best bets is to carry a torch or stick with you when you walk - you can get a dog to release your dog by jamming this into their mouth. You should of course report an aggressive dog in your neighbourhood to the nom-emergency police line; as it could have been a lot worse and that dog should have been on a lead.

Best way to stop the attack is to shove a stick or something round up the offending dogs backside , it always works with immediate effect

Sometimes it is difficult to tell if a dog is friendly or not. My JRT is a bitch, she stays away from other dogs, she isn't interested, and I keep her away from other dogs.

But if another dog comes over, she will act like she is interested, wagging her tail sniffing each others arses, then she will suddenly stiffen and turn on the other dog!

Like i said, I keep her away from other dogs but some people are d*ckheads and they let their big softie run over to mine "oh he wouldn't harm a fly". Im sure he wouldnt but my dog doesnt like other dogs now take yours away.

My yorkie on the other hand is that softie and given the chance will try and be friends with another dog. Knowing what my JRT is like, I keep her away from other dogs too because what I am trying to say is, its not always immediately obvious to tell which dogs are going to be friendly and which are going to be trolling tw ats

Having had one of mine nearly killed by a bigger nastier dog I can say the police do not want to know at all, council too are not interested. Dog warden has no power but did come round and speak to them about keeping the dog under control. I now avoid it but advice to carry a stick is best I can suggest, just raising it above head and shouting will stop most attacks I find.

A glass of water chucked over the offending animal works a treat if you happen to have one at hand!

Sometimes grabbing the attacking dog's hind legs and lifting them off the ground is effective, but you really have to be careful when you interfere with a dog fight of any kind.

If that had been my dog I would have taken him straight round the vets to be checked out whether I thought he wasn't badly hurt or not. Puncture wounds can be deeper than they look and can get infected. Better safe than sorry.

Have to agree there was little blood when old molliepops was attacked it was all internal bruising and bleeding.

My dog was attacked by a staffie, he's a greyhound so managed to run away once the eejit that owned it pulled it off. He too had puncture wounds and was badly shaken, as was I. I went to the local police station and told them there would be CCTV footage as it happened outside a supermarket ATM. The police weren't remotely interested and I got the old "nothing we can do" crap.

I was really angry because it cost me nearly £100 at the vet to see to his injuries and get antibiotics for them and the eejit and his extremely aggressive dog got off scot free.

I feel for you OP, it's crap when this happens but you develop a kind of sixth sense for it eventually.

^^^ THIS ^^^

I'm 51 now, and all bar a 4 yr period, have walked at least one dog, nearly every day of the last 40+ years.
Waving a stick, shouting, and generally acting aggressively will ward off 99% of other dogs for long enough to get your dog out of the way.
Dogs read A LOT into body language. Adult humans are bigger than just about any dog, so if you also appear much stronger and more dangerous, they'll nearly always back off.

In those 40 yrs. I've only had one dog actually bite my dog - and that was a time I didn't have a deterrent on me. Luckily a couple of punches and a kick got the other dog to release and back off. After that, I always carry something for defence.

Yes I can attest to that.
Whenever I see a loose dog (mine is always on a lead in populated places) I'm on alert - and you do learn to read a dog's body language, so you can usually tell an aggressor from a friendly one.

If you want the police to take any dog on dog incident seriously, you need to say that you got bitten and that your dog was on lead under close control..... two dogs having a scrap is not an offence.

Carry a break stick, a legal one, that can be used to pry open the jaws of bull breeds if you meet OoC ones regularly.

My older dog, a staffy (any other breed would have been killed), was attacked by another staff, it clamped on right over her face, nearly suffocating her.... luckily it was fat and unfi and couldn't sustain the attack for long.... I'd found a brick and was well prepared to kill it if need be as my dog was on lead, it was off, not even a collar!

Can of deodorant in the coat pocket, to spray in the attacking dog's eyes.

I used to work at a boarding kennels which also has a section for strays etc and that happened a couple of times when a stray (funnily enough both times they were bull terrier types) got out while I was walking another dog around the pound.

If a dog locks on to another with its teeth you can beat it all you want but it won't let go, all you have to do it stamp on one of its feet, they yelp and let go so pull your dog away as quick as you can.. it always works..