Not All Dogs Go To Heaven

[flashback]

It scares me to think what would happen if my dog met a vicious dog. She's 80lbs of gentle, I can only hope that, should the situation arise she'd make a decent showing.

[rpcrowe]

I learned one trick during a "Therapy Dog Boot Camp" that I attended with my goldendoodle...

Don't let two dogs stare at each other. Break the eye contact by directing your dogs eyes away from the other dog, by turning its head or getting in the way of its line of sight...

I will usually place my dog on a sit facing away from a strange dog. Like your dog, mine is extremely gentle so I am not worried about her being aggressive. However, breaking eye contact will often diffuse the aggressive dog.

Another thing I will do, which sometimes works, is to point my finger at the aggressive dog and say "NO!" in my most commanding voice...

[flashback]

Thanks Richard. I pretty much do the things you mention, but occasionally there will a dog who, for whatever reason simply goes ballistic. This was a dog that started with the evil eye and refused to break eye contact. You can see the owner is reigning him in.
I'm pretty good with both owners and dogs but I've discovered that dog behavior *appears* to coincide with the attitude of the owner. I've seen big dogs and small dogs bark, growl, snarl and snap and I have to believe it's the owners fault, either intentionally because they want an aggressive dog (in the city, on sidewalks, really?) or unintentionally, because the owner is timid and their dog picks up on that and becomes defensive.
This particular dog was very scary because he didn't make a sound, just starred and tried very, very hard to confront my dog. The entire time this dog was contemplating (and apparently putting a lot of effort into) assaulting my dog, she was wagging her tail and looking to play with the other doggie.
In some places pointing a finger and saying "NO" to a dog *might* work, but I would be leery of trying that in NYC as oftentimes the owners are as, if not more dangerous than their dog.

[rpcrowe]

My dog of many years ago, a gentle Springer Spaniel and I were attacked by a pitbull as soon as we got out of my car - no warning at all. The pitbull had my dog by her rear leg and would not let go. I was wearing a pair of military boots and kicked the attacking dog so hard that the next day my foot and shin were bruised. That didn't phase the pitbull. I have never seen such singularity of purpose.

The only thing that saved my dog was that the pitbull began to attack me and my dog ran back into the car - the car door was still open. I was finally able to grab it by the collar and sling it into my car's fender/ It was dazed and I got into the car but the pitbull kept attacking the car.

That is something I will never want to repeat. In fact, for a while after, I carried a baseball bat while walking my dog. The next dog I got was a Golden Retriever - German Shepherd - Wolf mix. She was 85 pounds with long wolf legs. We never got attacked...

[IzzieK]

Jack..this image breaks my heart...you know why.

[flashback]

Sorry Izzie, you know I was only referring to this particular dog who appeared to be rather aggressive towards mine.

[IzzieK]

Sorry Izzie, you know I was only referring to this particular dog who appeared to be rather aggressive towards mine.

I know Jack...but it still breaks my heart because you were trying your best to avoid a confrontation with the other dog and goodness knows how many times I had done that in the past. My feelings is for your dog not to get hurt if the other person cannot control his...what will happen if he was not able to control his. A hurt dog for me, especially a beloved one, is beyond imagination. I told you what I said to mine before he went, no more needles, no more blood, no more ouch, no more doctors and I will be here when you come back. You know the rest. It still hurt. I am still grieving and putting my all into photography sometimes in a daze at what I lost.