Oscar attacked

[redalert]

Hi Mike, I'm sorry but I must of missed your original post about poor Oscar, but I'm pleased to hear he doesn't seem any worse for wear from this incident. Very scary for all concerned and you are being responsible for reporting this incident to the police, hopefully it will stop this happening again

[zeta1454]

So happy to hear that Oscar is doing well

Sadly too many bad owners of dogs refuse to recognise they have a problem with a pet which has aggression issues. Some actively encourage aggression or contribute to it by ill treatment or lack of understanding of the needs of their dog for mental stimulation and exercise. Although the owner may claim to be working with a trainer, this is clearly not a reputable or professional trainer as they would be advising on safety issues such as a muzzle in public which is clearly an absolute need given that her dog could cause serious injury or death to other dogs, children or adults and is at high risk of being seized and euthanised. You are certainly right to report the incident to police and dog warden.

The Swiss Mountain Dog is a large dog but is not by nature aggressive or dangerous. The UK breed club describe them as:

"Temperament: Great Swiss Mountain Dogs are active, calm and friendly. They are protective of their family and territorial but never aggressive unless their human family is threatened, in which case they are willing to fight to the death. They are gentle, faithful and loyal. They like to be near the home and do not roam, and hate being chained up. They are happiest when with the family, and love to be a part of it. Great Swiss Mountain Dogs are alert, highly intelligent and essentially a country dog that enjoys doing a job. They are stable, confident, and devoted.

Good with Children: Yes, devoted to children.

Good with Pets: Yes, they are not normally dog aggressive but they do like to chase small animals."

Unfortunately, it is the owner not the dog that is at fault with aggression of this kind and trying to identify "dangerous breeds" is not always helpful as any dog with a mental disorder, or through fear or pain, can become aggressive towards another creature. It is the owner's responsibility to ensure that their dog presents no threat to the public (including in that not only human but canine / feline / sheep etc.) and it seems that this woman has no sense of responsibility in this situation, as she knows there is a problem but is shutting her mind to even as simple a precaution as a muzzle for her dog in public

[mikegoodson1]

Thanks for this Leigh. I just want to re-iterate that I wish this dog no harm, that isn't my intention. I just want the owner to be more responsible and muzzle their dog when out walking it in public, that's all.

It seems inevitable to me that because of the owners behaviour, this dog will attack another dog again and next time, it may not be so lucky to get away without there being some recourse

[schnauzer]

Glad Oscar is making progress.

[Oscar 12345]

Otto was attacked a few of days ago. Whilst he seems to have got over it, no puncture wounds fortunately, I am still reliving every moment. We were on our drive just starting out on our walk when woman with 2 dogs was passing the drive several metres away. I waited and noticed that 1 dog was not leashed and it rushed at Otto. I scrambled tp pick him up and the dog bit Otto on the bum and continued to jump up at me to get at him. No apology from owner and complete denial that their dog bit Otto. Woman's husband came round later saying how upset she had been about me having a go at her about her dog biting my dog on my drive and that the dog does not bite and he wanted to take a look at Otto. I asked why the dog wasn't on a leash and he said because he is trained to walk at heel but then he was a little lost for words when I asked why then was the dog in my front garden and not at heel. These things happen but what I cannot get over is no apology, no acknowledgement about what the dog did. I would be absolutely mortified if my dog did that to any other dog. I have been working so hard at managing Otto's fear of other dogs and really tried to explain this to the owners who were clueless about it. I have threatened them with the dog warden and he seemed anxious about that makes me think this might not be the first instance of this. An apology and some understanding was all I was looking for. Our last words were me asking hom to keep his dog away from mine and him saying I will walk my dogs where I want.... sigh!

[schnauzer]

Otto was attacked a few of days ago. Whilst he seems to have got over it, no puncture wounds fortunately, I am still reliving every moment. We were on our drive just starting out on our walk when woman with 2 dogs was passing the drive several metres away. I waited and noticed that 1 dog was not leashed and it rushed at Otto. I scrambled tp pick him up and the dog bit Otto on the bum and continued to jump up at me to get at him. No apology from owner and complete denial that their dog bit Otto. Woman's husband came round later saying how upset she had been about me having a go at her about her dog biting my dog on my drive and that the dog does not bite and he wanted to take a look at Otto. I asked why the dog wasn't on a leash and he said because he is trained to walk at heel but then he was a little lost for words when I asked why then was the dog in my front garden and not at heel. These things happen but what I cannot get over is no apology, no acknowledgement about what the dog did. I would be absolutely mortified if my dog did that to any other dog. I have been working so hard at managing Otto's fear of other dogs and really tried to explain this to the owners who were clueless about it. I have threatened them with the dog warden and he seemed anxious about that makes me think this might not be the first instance of this. An apology and some understanding was all I was looking for. Our last words were me asking hom to keep his dog away from mine and him saying I will walk my dogs where I want.... sigh!

Julie

So sorry to hear to read that Otto has been attacked, do hope he gets over the ordeal, it’s scary when it happens. A horrible experience for you both, been there with my Suzi & it was horrendous,

Hope you are both okay. Xx

[mikegoodson1]

I'm so sorry to hear that Otto was attacked too Julie - it's a truly horrendous experience, I wasn't there when Oscar was attacked but it really shook my wife up, so it cannot have been nice for you at all. Hopefully Otto is doing okay?

Like you, I just cannot get over some owners and how rude/stupid/inconsiderate they are - it's like they are in complete denial of any facts.

For my part, when I decided to report the incident, I had trouble doing so. Apparently our council (unlike a nearby council) only have a dog warden to report lost dogs to, our council advised me to call the Police - I have not done so. Just today, when my wife took Oscar to the vet for his final check, she bumped into someone that also walks the same countryside walk and she told us of other dog attacks by the same dog - it's crazy!

Some dog owners really should not have a dog

[zeta1454]

So sorry to hear about Otto being attacked, Julie, and the hostile response from the owners of the dog that attacked him.

Sad too, Mike, to hear that the response from the local council was so poor. I think it is really difficult to get dog attacks taken seriously especially when it is affecting another dog or cat rather than a person. When our dogs were attacked (although not badly hurt thank goodness) by a neighbour's dog, several other local people also reported similar incidents and one case was actually a delivery person delivering a parcel at another house who had her leg badly bitten but, even then, the police only called round and asked the owner to keep the dog under control and nothing has changed. Even though no-one wants a dog to be PTS because of an irresponsible owner, I wish there were sanctions of some kind available against the owners when there are repeated attacks like this.

I do hope that Oscar and Otto do manage to get over their trauma.

[Oscar 12345]

Thanks guys. It was really scary and I felt physically sick afterwards. No real harm done though. Need to practice my hauling the dog up by the lead skills using a 8.5kg dummy of course.

[BentonJon]

That sounds so terrifying. I always worry something like that will happen to us. Glad everything was fine in the end!