Dog got attacked – what would you do?

Out walking the dog last night and whilst I was busy bending down picking up his mess we were suddenly joined by two little terriers in full on aggressive attack mode snarling and nipping at him. They were at the end of their extendable leads with their owner, a young girl unable to reel them back in. Now it was all ok until one of the little terriers jumped up at me and took a nice big scratch out of my hand causing me to drop the lead. At that point my dog had pretty much had enough and pinned one of the terriers to the floor and drew blood in the process.

Now have been thinking about it all night as i feel guilty because he bit the other dog (he's never bitten anything before) but i feel it was in self defence more than anything else.

The dog looked fine apart from a couple of pin prick bite marks but i apologised to the owner and offered to pay for any vet charge if necessary.

I fear any repercussions today, even though she was totally out of control of her dogs and they started attacking first, my lab is a lot bigger and the other dog came off worse, and i dropped his lead so didn't have him under control for a few seconds.

Anyway, enough of the ramble really, i was just really shocked by it all as i have never been in that situation and don't want him getting a bad reputation.

Sorry, wrong forum. 🙁

I doubt you'd have much problem – the crucial bit is where you dropped your dog's lead while trying to fend off the other dogs which were out of control and acting aggressively.

Why should you pay for any VET fees? Her dogs weren't in control. No. Totally disagree, your dog was defending you.

Glad you and your dog are well though 😀

I have a nice deep scratch in my hand but that's it – was considering asking if they had been rabies vaccinated but i am pretty sure rabies is none existant in the UK now.

By offering to cover the vets bills, you've already gone one step further than I would have. I'm amazed that someone can have two terriers on extendable leads and not be able to reel them in. I was under the impression that having a dog under control didn't mean having it on a lead or not. Therefore, her dogs were not under control when they initiated the attack. The fact that her dogs attacked you means I would expect her to leave matters well alone now. She should be more frightened of her dog being destroyed as a result of the incident. I don't know if dogs can use the self defence thing as a defence but they should be allowed.

You were attacked FIRST. Your dog retaliated.

On an extendable lead means nothing. You could hold a dog fight with them. i'm sure they are fine. Bingo had two gashes from another terrier, cleaned and some antiseptic and overnight they had almost healed over.

I think its just shaken me a bit as i have never seen my lad act like that. I agree on the extendable leads thing, but also I dropped the lead during which time he bit another dog. 🙁

Not your problem IMHO

Did you trade contact details?

It also depends a lot on how people see their dogs. I love my dog to bits, but I never forget that he's a dog. Two dogs he regularly bumps into over the fields and runs with turned on him one day. One of the bites punctured through his ear. My god do ears bleed! As above, clean and patched up he was fine. It's not a baby or a child, it's a dog! If the other owner feels like that you'll be fine. By young woman, do you think they were her dogs or do you now have to wonder if she'll tell a different version of events and "big dad" will think his little princess has been wronged?

Don't fret about it. Sounds like you & your dog were more than patient.

Not sure I'd have apologise or offered to pay any vet bills – your dog was provoked & eventually reacted.

not your fault IMPO

They live just around the corner from us (Small village). I have met the mother before. The mother turned up to help out and said they weren't their dogs, they were looking after them for the wknd for friends which probably explains the girls lack of experience.

She wasn't the most pleasant of girls, kept shouting at me, "i'm going to **** your dog up and get him put down" 🙁

She wasn't the most pleasant of girls, kept shouting at me, "i'm going to **** your dog"

there you go – you can have her done for bestiality as well now!

Seriously though, the fact her dogs attacked you first pretty much makes whatever happened next between the dogs irrelevant. If you imagine it in human terms, it's like walking home from the pub with your mate who's a 2nd row forwrd for the local rugby team, and you get jumped by two of the local scallies who punch you first. The law's not going to prosecute your mate for stepping in to protect you unless his use of force is completely disproportionate to the level of threat. In the case of your dog, it pretty much fended the others off – consider how much damge a lab could do to a terrier if it really got stuck into it.

Their dog bit you, game over and if you get any cr*p report the incident to the Police.

dont stress about it dogs do scrap occasionally, they very rarely do any major damage to each other. personally i wouldnt pay any vets fees,and you dont have to have your dog on a lead for it to be under control so dont worry about dropping the lead. im not even sure i own a lead for my lab and she goes everywhere with me. including my local. as a side note, never stick your hands into a dog fight i learnt this the hard way as a kid

She wasn't the most pleasant of girls, kept shouting at me, "i'm going to **** your dog"

Right, I'm not having this. Wheres ton?

Dont stress, you and your dog did nothing wrong, your dog was protecting his master, they approach to you and attacked first and your dog put a stop to it, end of story.

Dont even think of paying the vet's bill, move on.

Teenagers are very good at trying to cover their own mistakes by making you feel guilty.

I don't think you did anything wrong (nor did your dog). Don't go feel guilty. Maybe talk things through with the family, gently pionting out that daughter could have reacted better

You have my sympathy

I've had to step in when other dog owners have failed to control their animals.

Some owners are out of their depth and I think you have the moral high ground here so don't fret so.
My last run in with one owner resulted in a small claims court action (against him) with them not contesting the judge's decion.
If in doubt, grip the owner not the dogs.

Well £95 apparently for the vet call out fee and check over. No real damage to the dog apparently apart from having been taught a bit of a lesson! Loathed to pay it because I actually don't feel it was my fault but to keep the peace i am thinking of just sucking it up. 😐

uner the dangerous dogs act, the girls dogs were out of control in a public place, this was aggravated by the fact that you were injured by these dogs
the penalty for that offence is mandatory destruction of the dogs
i would not pay te vets fees, and politely tell her that if you did choose to prosecute, the dogs would have to be destroyed
there is no legislation that covers dogs fighting between themselves, unless someone else is put in fear.
your dog has not comitted any offences, you hacve not comitted any offences
the youung girl has comitted an offence of having a dog dangerously out of control in a public place(aggravated)
and possibly the owner of the dog has comitted an offence of allowing her to have control, depending on her age

just to clarify the last.
A dog cannot comitt any offences!
Its the owners that are liable/responsible for the dogs actions

Your dog was on a lead under your control till their dog bit your hand.I wouldn't pay them a penny,infact I'd tell them to go whistle for it…..

Well £95 apparently for the vet call out fee and check over. No real damage to the dog apparently apart from having been taught a bit of a lesson! Loathed to pay it because I actually don't feel it was my fault but to keep the peace i am thinking of just sucking it up.

Call-out fee??? Was it incapable of being *taken* to the vets? FFS!!! Which part of it wasn't your fault are you struggling with? MTFU and grow a set. You are in no way responsible. She took out two dogs that she couldn't control. The blame is entirely with her. Don't be such a f***ing door mat.

BTW, have you been for a tetanus recently? You might want to think about it.

LHS, I don't mean ill by this in any way and don't take this the wrong way incase you are genuine, but are you trolling?

Genuinely Not trolling at all no. This has totally freaked me out. If you knew my dog you would understand why. I fear that if i hadn't got control of my dog like i did it would have been a lot worse and i never want anythng to happen to him because of a situation that wasn't his fault. He was just doing what comes naturally to him, defence.

The call out fee was because it was out of hours last night.

edit: I also live in a very small community where everyone knows who everyone is and i don't want to me talked about in the local as the guy who's dog bites other dogs.

hora – Member
Why should you pay for any VET fees? Her dogs weren't in control. No. Totally disagree, your dog was defending you.

Glad you and your dog are well though

Have to agree.

I'd report it to cops-cover yousel in case these people lie.

Pay the bill??? no way LHS.

Buy your dog s treat.

+1 MTFU

You really need to grow a set on this one mate – some wee lassie with a pair of terriers is putting the fear of god into a man and his labrador. Never mind being known down the local as the man who'se dog bites other dogs, they'll be queueing up to lighten your wallet at every opportunity if you get known as a soft touch.

You want to be a little more

and a little less Walter the Softie – you're dog's not named Foo Foo by any chance is it?

LHS, dont be a mug and a wimp! I hope you will see sense and dont pay for the bill, the fault is the other girl and her dogs.

You havent done anything wrong, if you pay, take your dog to the vet to be checked over and then give them the bill too, then you are both equal, they will back off if you tell them that.

+2 for the MTFU the others from my dog!

As others have said, **** paying that bill when you/your dog weren't in the wrong at all!

i had the same happen to me a few weeks ago ! it was Terrier dog that jumped my dog he came from under a bush ,(off the lead and ripped a huge hole in my whippets back… i was lucky that the owner coughed up and paid the few hundred quid vet bill (his dog was off lead so he was in the wrong. i think humans dont fully understand dogs even if they are a gentle breed (all dogs can suddenly strike at a split second you have to be so carefull ….
my dog is petrified of any dog now, he screams when he sees other dogs nearby….. its going to be months i guess before he becomes tolerent of any dog (tho i dont think he will trust any dog ever agin……

I had a similiar experience whilst walking my chocky lab. This wee lad was walking a staff on an extendable lead which he let out full length.His dog went for my dog and bit him in the face. The lad probably around 10 starting smiling the staff kept going for my dog so I promptly booted it right in the ribs. It let out a yelp and wandered off . I felt no remorse. 😉

Don't feed your dog.
Go round her house with machete.

Feed your Dog -terrier and owner meat for a month.

Have a barbercue invite friends.

Sorted.

And stop being a cat.

And stop being a cat

Like a cat would give a f***.

P***y cat?

I guess some cats would have raised their tails and showed their a….

But the Terrier girl would have said I'll f your cat too…

😈

Ketchup with Barbercue too.

If someones dog attacked mine and mine retaliated after I was scratched or bitten I'd give the owner some stern advice.

If they then told me they'd called a Vet to come to their house. Does this service REALLY exist? I'd say some even stronger words.

When our Bingo had cartilage removed from his ear by a Staff WE took him to a emergency Vet at circa 10pm in the evening. TOOK HIM.

I'm not going to say anything else. I honestly think your trolling. Either that or your a soft touch.

If you pay that £95 you're barking yourself.

Ps. I don't mean any offence on the above BTW- it can be very stressful with dogs fighting etc.

our pup got attacked by another dog today. Our pup was on a lead and on a public footpath walking through a farm yard. One of the farmers dogs attacked her. I rang the police and they said that as it was dog on dog and not dog on human there was nothing they could do.