Getting your vet to refer you to a pet behaviour councilor, would seem a sensible way to go to me!

Like I said, if you READ my first post, you will understand why and when she started to. I know that might be a bit much to ask from someone with such a small brain, but it will save me repeating myself.

She gets to run off the lead, in the field/park/beach, but I have to put her on the lead when other dogs are about.

Common sense really.

flow – Member
but I have to put her on the lead when other dogs are about.
Common sense really.

Yes, if you have a dog liable to bite other dogs. But why does it annoy you that other, better behaved dogs are off their leads? Jealous much?

That post wasn’t in reply to you.

I will give you three examples, all within a few month of each other.

My childrens grandmother witnessed the first. A young-ish lad who obviously thought he had a “better behaved dog” was walking his dog off the lead in town. They walked past a woman with a child in a pram, the dog saw a toy the child was holding and decided for whatever reason to attack it, whilst the child was holding it.

The bloke struggled for ages to get the dog off. Obviously leaving the mother and child extremely scared.

Second, some bell end decided to bring his “friendly” border collie on a timber frame site I was working on. I walked pasted the thing and it decided to attack me for no reason. Luckily it got my tool belt and not my arm, which is what it was aiming for. It let go pretty quickly, if it hadn’t I would have shot it with my first fix paslode (nail gun) and I think I would have had ever right to do so.

Thirdly, just last week in the same town as the first incident, a dog ran out in front of my car because the deluded owner thought it was ok off the lead. I hit it, but only with the front splitter. Apparently that was my fault, or so the prick of an owner though.

There you go, three valid reasons why dogs should be kept on leads in public, and I’m sure there are thousands more. In fact I think it should be law.

She gets to run off the lead, in the field/park/beach, but I have to put her on the lead when other dogs are about.

In the park!??! You let your horrible vicious beast off the lead in the park????!?! IT COULD BE A PUPPIES FACE NEXT TIME!!

She gets to run off the lead, in the field/park/beach, but I have to put her on the lead when other dogs are about.

Mate, you really need some basic reading lessons.

So by public you actually mean where? As you are clearly letting your dog off the lead in public. Even though your dog is a vicious badly trained KILLER!

What if another dog comes running high speed out the bushes as dogs do?

🙄

I’m going to start carrying a nail gun incase your dog attacks me or my dog, as it’s perfectly acceptable to use it in that situation.

I would concentrate on learning to read first, the instructions for nail guns dont come with pictures, I think you might struggle.

I’ll learn to read when you learn basic dog handling.

Your not from Arbroath are you?
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/News/Angus/article/15577/we-need-to-get-that-dog-off-the-streets-staffie-kills-pet-chihuahua-in-arbroath.html

What on earth was someone doing with 5 large dogs in a small terrace in the first place? Maybe we should all go round and break the original owner’s neck. Its very clear that someone’s neck has to be broken…

All dogs should be shot and put in a nice stir fry, hateful things

Have you ever thought about talking to someone about your feelings?

You offering? 😉

neck and was shaking it from side to side (as gun dogs do when they catch birds / prey etc)

Not all that relevant to the main problem but a gun dog definitely shouldn’t do this… large part of training is to stop it doing this! They should be able to retrieve eggs without breaking them – you wouldn’t really want to eat a pheasant after it’s been mauled by a dog!

Marin

First of all good luck to you and your parents in sorting Mack’s issues out and well done for rescuing him in the first place. Second, I hope that you can ignore a lot of the cr8p already posted.

You do need professional advice from a vet and dog trainer for your dog and for you as ultimately you are responsible for your dog’s behaviour. I own a golden and a flat coat retriever and they are both wonderful dogs. However, the flattie is without doubt a more complex dog and took much more training and discipline. But he is worth it.

I am surprised by the savaging of the terrier as given their soft mouths, this does seem unusual for a retriever. On the occasions that either of my dogs have caught rabbits or squirrels they have never damaged the skin or bitten them. The animals mostly survive although in some cases they have died from shock (one small rabbit).

A few months ago, my flattie was attacked by a large male german shepherd on a narrow trail. Unfortunately, this happened on three occassions in the same spot. Since then , I have had about four incidents when he has come across another male dog in a confined space and gone from an initial sniff, to growl, to quite a scrap. It is quite worrying to know how to deal with it. We now put him on a lead in any narrow areas, or when other dogs are on leads or if there are other large male dogs around. This has worked so far and in general he is very happy with other dogs in open spaces. We have had no incidents for a while, so hopefully this is working.

Anyway, good luck with Mack. They are beautiful dogs!!

Problem with dogs is they will fight on occasions even my stupid lurcher has got into the odd fight, whilst the incident here sounds like a serious scrap and certainly warrants muzzling the dog and trying to establish what happend you may never get to the bottom of it. It doesnt mean the dog will attack a person. Again if worried muzzle the dog (make sure is used to being muzzled before the baby arrives so it doesnt associate the two.

Dogs should be on a lead unless you are 100% sure that it will always obey without a blink

Whilst this sounds appropriate and does make sense anyone who thinks their dog will always obey commands everytime clearly doesnt understand dogs. My dogs allowed off lead in public because I’m as sure as I can be that she would never attack a person and she has never got into a fight with another dog unless that dog starts on her.

Some of this thread is comedy gold though…….

They should be able to retrieve eggs without breaking them – you wouldn’t really want to eat a pheasant after it’s been mauled by a dog!

If it saves me the problem of plucking and gutting, I can’t see it being that much of a problem. 😉

Well said ‘teamhurtmore’!

99% of dogs are completely stupid, as are humans. 😉

Marin

Just come back from walking the dogs in nearby woods. I was thinking about your issue all the way round and wondering if I was tempting fate by saying that we have had no incidents recently. I went for the old trick of being prepared – whistle, treats and leads. I always have dogs on the lead at the start mainly for discipline and after letting them off – I recall with the whistle within first 2-5 minutes and reward with small treats. Mix this up with occasional whistle with/without treats just to keep control but otherwise let them play as they want.

After about 45mins I was coming out of woods onto more open hillside and say guy coming down with big german shepherd!! Used whistle, treat, lead for flattie and left golden alone. All dogs happy and no issues (german shepherd was lovely!) and my flattie very happy on lead and not at all stressed.

I am not sure if any of this helps – but I hope that it gives you confidence to tackle Mack’s problems. Good luck again.

If the dog has poor eyesight, it will feel very vunerable, it will become nervous and afraid, this will make it act unpredictably, it may become scared to go out, or if its mobbed by other dogs it may lash out,the muzzle is a good idea, and plenty of reassurance from the owner, good luck with it..

Sweaman, Inbred & TeamHurtmore,

Thanks for the useful replies – Ive passed the comments on to my folks. Everybody else – thanks for the usual STW entertainment 🙄

I’ll update the thread in a few days once I know more about whats going to happen. In the meantime, heres a few more pics of Mack from when we last saw him back in August.

He definitely doesn’t look like the kind of dog to do anyone any harm.

Not that you can tell from looking at photos obviously.

shaking it from side to side (as gun dogs do when they catch birds

Sorry mate but that’s the very last thing they do. Gun dogs pick up shot birds whether they’re alive or dead and take them to their owner to dispatch.

I’d never trust the dog not to do the same with another small animal (including a baby) in the future.

I’d never trust a dog full stop – not in a paranoia way, in a “it’s a large meat eating animal and sometimes they do things you don’t expect” way.

Sometimes dog’s just go for other dog’s, it’s a dog thing “topdog” most day’s i walk 30 dog’s and every now and then the least likely dog will try and get to another dog to kill it, dog’s are pack animals and decide who is boss in different ways to us. Dog should be on leads in public.
We have a few of FCR’s that come to us and they are all MENTAL, they look all lovely but i have yet to meet one that’s not deranged, the eyesight may be from poor selective breeding.
Dog topics always make me chuckle, they bring out a strange side of people.

mmmmmm something wrong there
I have a Golden Retriever and for what your describing it is not normal behaviour
Yes they are a gun dog and have soft mouth but not known to shack something
to pieces.
Don’t know what it is or why Get it to a vet first to check it over
If nothing wrong then unfortunately have it put down.

maybe where it was before was tormented by a dog of similar smell/size
You just don’t know from a rescue dog what its gone through before
it came to you.

boiling piss could mean an std. I’d recommend you go and get checked out.

Every dog owner I’ve ever met has the best, most well behaved dog in the world. I remember climbing inside a cupboard with the boiler whilst the owner hid in the utility room as her dog went mental trying to bite her and me. Of course it had never happened before.

Then there’s the ones that jump up at you and slaver all over, he’s not being friendly you complete idiot. And then theres the dogs that one day snap and hurt someone, of course they’ve never done it before, that’s not to say it wasn’t going to happen. It’s not a human, even if it were, you couldn’t predict it’s moods.

Really, you have to be pretty arrogant to walk around with this best mutt in the world, which is capable of killing, but won’t because you’ve trained it so fabulously.

Try and break my neck if you like. It proves your just as unhinged as your dog!

Paulosoxo – well said

Then there’s the ones that jump up at you and slaver all over, he’s not being friendly you complete idiot

Well actually in 95% of cases they are just being friendly, its just you dont like it.
You have to be pretty unhinged yourself to rock up onto a thread like this where a person is aksing for advice about a dog and come out with your rubbish.

But like I said this thread is comedy gold because of people like you.

To be fair, it’s all the other lunatics that made this lunatic post. The OP at least knows his dog is dangerous now

Try this. http://www.google.co.uk/m/products/detail?client=safari&hl=en&source=univ&q=dog+collar+pet+safe&cid=6659827999732588990#prd:o

It warns and rewards with beeps and then it squirts water as a last resort.

Olive our French spaniel would disappear over the horizon chasing seaguls. I have spent hours searching for her. But this has changed her, it’s lovely… I have a dog I can trust off the lead now. And we saw results instantly. After three walks she was changed. Excellent product.

In your case you would give her a bad beep as soon as you saw anything suggesting the dog may attack, and it stops them dead in 95% of cases with the squirt dealing with the other 5%.

My findamental problem with all this is that the dog behaved ‘out of character’ with no warning and in a situation it’s been in, no doubt, before.

Anything that can be done to discourage the problem behaviour is therefore likely to be reactive – i.e. after it starts doing it again.

If it were to ever grab the OP’s baby and exhibit similar shaking behaviour the resutls could be catastrophic in terms of brain injury for the child.

How can the OP trust the dog not to just ‘flip’ at the wrong moment and do this to his child? Whatever reactive measures are taken will be too late.

Sorry to be a pessimist on this but my view is that once is too many times for this. Not that the dog shoudl be necessarily rehomed or put down but to trust it in a house with a baby, no.

Rather than the water spray ones try the electric shock collars – illegal in Wales but they’d get the message across far more quickly than a spray of water on the nose.

oh god, it’ll be weeing in a small childs shoes next.

This may be a stupid question, but the dog has been neutered hasn’t it?

A dog walking friend has a really nice flat coat; however it hasn’t been neutered and apparently some flat coats suffer with high testosterone which can make them a little random and *can* make other dogs hostile to them (his gets jumped/snapped at by every other dog until it either runs off or is cowering and whimpering on the floor).

Its worth getting your vet to check this, and if he is still intact or has only recently been done, then it could be testosterone issues; and they can give him an implant to reduce his testosterone levels.

And finally to answer the question; what would I do if you kicked my dog whilst its attacking your dog; well first I would call an ambulance to deal with the mauling you would have suffered; as if you attack a dog, that is currently fighting/defending itself you are going to get bitten and it will be completely your fault; and if you don’t know that then perhaps you shouldn’t have a dog; as you sure as hell don’t understand the basic rules of looking after one.

Every dog owner I’ve ever met has the best, most well behaved dog in the world. I remember climbing inside a cupboard with the boiler whilst the owner hid in the utility room as her dog went mental trying to bite her and me. Of course it had never happened before.

So on a sample of one, you condemn an entire species.

Then there’s the ones that jump up at you and slaver all over, he’s not being friendly you complete idiot.

Jumping up is a pain, and its demanding attention; however it is a friendly action, just because *you* don’t find it friendly (which is completely fair enough) doesn’t mean that that is isn’t.

As for slobbering, I’ve never really though of it as a friendly or non friendly action; I am however fairly certain no one in the world has been prosecuted for their dog slobbering in an aggressive manner.

And then theres the dogs that one day snap and hurt someone, of course they’ve never done it before, that’s not to say it wasn’t going to happen.

So on that note, are you going to kill every animal that may snap and hurt someone, horses, cows, deers, foxes, badger, cats …. actually pretty much everything, including people.

It’s not a human, even if it were, you couldn’t predict it’s moods.

We can’t predict human moods, so are you now saying if you can’t predict it we should put it down?

Your conclusion to the issue seems to be, we kill everything on the planet…… which seems a little harsh a sentence just because a single dog attacked a terrier.

Really, you have to be pretty arrogant to walk around with this best mutt in the world, which is capable of killing, but won’t because you’ve trained it so fabulously.

If he takes precautions I don’t see why its much more dangerous than people cycling through red lights

Try and break my neck if you like. It proves your just as unhinged as your dog!

This doesn’t even merit a response; as after your deranged comments

My work here is done. It’s probably worth mentioning that I’m terrified of dogs!