Close Encounters!

I was walking my dogs onleash a few days at a local park, when we were attacked by an off leash Chihuahua. Not surprisingly, my dogs were fine and the little dog was spared its life because, as I mentioned my dogs were leashed. Ironically, the lady bystander at the playground ran to see if the small dog was unscathed! Little did she know, I have spent countless hours training my dogs to not aggress and for the most part I can control them. However, I would never trust them off leash in a public place! Somehow, the owner of the aggressive small dog was not held accountable for not leashing his THREE small dogs in a public park. I on the other hand was feeling judged for my two dogs reacting badly to this holy terror.The bottom line is, if you have an aggressive dog, even if it is under your control and an off leash dog attacks you; you are still responsible for the damage your dog does! For this reason, I now carry pepper spray! Fortunately for the owner of the three off leash little dogs, who have repeatedly attacked my dogs (BTW: this is not our first encounter with him in out neighbourhood), I would never use it unless I absolutely had to. His dogs are very unruly, but not that big of a threat to me and my two 70lb Lab, Staffordshire Terrier mixes. I simply pulled my dogs into a sit and waited for the owner of the little dogs to come get his Chihuaha. A sitting dog can't fight!

Here's how I came to the decision to carry pepper spray. Not long ago, in a remote location, while my dogs were running off leash, we were surrounded by three Rottweillers. My female dog Holly, came running to me for assistance, or maybe protection. I grabbed her collar, turned my back to the dogs, as not to look them in the eye and held her fast to my crotch. At this point, I didn’t have a clue where my other dog, Miko was. He isn’t dog aggressive, so my main concern was to keep Holly calm and keep the dogs off her. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a man emerge from the bush. He was frantically calling his dogs, who were now circling me growling and sniffing, to no avail. Suddenly out of no-where Miko came running up. He circled the crew of dogs and lured them off into a playful chase. The three big dogs were no match for his speed, or his size, as he ducked and dove through the trees. I called to the owner of the the three dogs to continue walking and call his Rotties away from me, instead of back toward me. Thankfully, Miko was un-effected by the entire attack. The larger dogs followed him in a game of chase until I was safe to release Holly and heel her off in the opposite direction. Miko followed shortly thereafter, happily and quite proud of himself. I was so proud of both of them!

The Safest Way to Break Up a Dog Fight:

By Ed Frawley: http://leerburg.com

"To break up a dog fight requires 2 people. Each person grabs the back feet of one of the dogs. The dog back feet are then picked up like a wheelbarrow. With the legs up, both dogs are then pulled apart.

Once the dog fight is broken up and the dogs pulled apart it is critical that the people do not release the dogs or the dog fight will begin again. The two people need to start turning in a circle, or slowly swinging the dogs in a circle while they back away from the other dog. This stops the dog from curling and coming back and biting the person holding their legs.

By circling the dog has to sidestep with its front feet or it will fall on its chin. As long as you slowly continue to back and circle, the dog cannot do any damage to you. To insure that the fight will not begin all over again when you release the dogs, one of the dogs needs to be dragged into an enclosure (i.e. a kennel, the garage, another room) before the dog is released. If you do not do this, the dogs will often charge back and start fighting again or if you release the dog to quickly the dog will turn and attack the person who had his feet.

Dog fights are a very dangerous thing to try and break up alone. You should never rush in and try and grab the dogs to pull them apart. They are in high "fight drive" and are not thinking clearly when fighting. If someone grabs them they will bite without even thinking about who or what they are biting. This is how your loving pet can dog bite the living crap out of you in about a second and a half.

In reality it probably doesn't even know it's biting you. I compare it to a bar fight. If a person comes up behind 2 guys fighting and just reaches out and grabs the shoulder of one of the combatants most of the time the fighter is going to turn and throw a punch without even looking at who or what he is hitting. This is because his adrenaline in pumping and he is in "fight drive".

The worst case scenario is that you are alone when a serious fight breaks out. There are a couple things that you must keep in mind:

• Keep your cool you have a job to do.

• Do not waste time screaming at the dogs. It hardly ever works.

• Your goal is still the same; you must break up the fight without getting hurt.

• Go get a leash (allow the fight to continue while you do this).

• Dogs are almost always locked onto one another. Walk up and loop the leash around the back loin of the dog by either threading the leash through the handle or use the clip. I prefer the thread method.

• Now slowly back away and drag the dog to a fence or to an object that you can tie the leash to. By doing this, you effectively create an anchor for one of the dogs.

• Then walk around and grab the back legs of the second dog and drag it away from the dog that is tied up. Remember to turn and circle as they release.

• Drag the dog into a dog pen or another room before you release the back legs.

• Go back and take the dog off the fence and put him or her into a dog kennel.

• Sit down and have a stiff drink (or two).

People talk about using cattle prods or shock collars to break up 2 pets that fight. I can tell you that many times this is not going to work. The electric cattle prod or electric collar will only put the dogs into higher fight drive. When they are shocked they will turn and bite the prod, or when they are shocked they will think the other dog is causing the pain and they will fight harder. An electric collar is best used in conditioning training, but not during an actual dogfight.

A point I would like to make is that if you see two dogs out there squaring off through body posturing (i.e. one dog with stiff legs and tail straight up in the air putting his head over the shoulders of the other to show dominance) do not run out there screaming "NO NO NO!!!!" Most of the time this is going to trigger the fight. A lot of times dogs will posture and one will give in and back away. They settle their dominance issue without a battle. I NEVER, NEVER, NEVER recommend testing this situation. It's not worth the fight that erupts if you are wrong."

Dog Fights and Dog Bites:

Here are just a few of the facts that were explained by 20-20:

My source http://leerburg.com

• 90% of dog bites happen to people who know the dogs

• Most of the dogs that bite are the family pets

• 60% to 70% of dog bites are to children or the elderly

• 40% of the bites to children result in loss of facial tissue (lips, cheek etc.)

• 1/2 of the claims made on homeowners insurance are dog bites claims!

Ed Frawley wrote, "An interesting point that 20-20 made is that more dog bites come from small dogs than from big dogs. The University of California did a study and found that dogs under 16 pounds are more likely to snap at people. My personal feeling is that “SMALL DOG OWNERS” do not perceive their dogs as being very dangerous. The majority of large dog owners make some attempt at controlling aggression problems, (even if it’s just giving the dog away or having it put to sleep). While the small dog owners often tend to ignore the problem and feel that their little terrier is just being cute when it growls at kids or guests that try and sit on the couch next to it. The fact is small dogs can bite SMALL KIDS in the face."

On this note:

Aggressiveness in dogs has a number of different causes often due to poor breeding and / or poor socializing. Many pet owners don’t recognize the early signs of dominant aggression or fear aggression and over look it as either alpha behavior or shyness. For instance a cute puppy slowly developed into a fearful biter after not dealing with it growling at people who came to visit. The pet owner cannot deal with the, now adult, dog that becomes overly aggressive at friendly strangers. Understanding where aggression has its roots will help people understand the methods used in controlling the problem. Early detection of reactivity and early socialization is key in avoiding adult dog aggression.

Types of Aggression:

Dominant Aggression- when a dog is struggling for rank in the pack.

Territorial Aggression- when a dog is fearful of losing its resources

Fear Aggression- lack of socialization or weak nervous system

Prey or Predatory Aggression- instinctive prey drive and lack of socialization with other animals and sometimes small children.