My Dog Was Attacked

My clients have countless stories about off leash dogs coming after themselves or their pets. I’ve heard them and I’ve experienced it a few times myself. This past Monday I had a situation that I was completely unprepared to deal with and to be honest should never have happened.

I had been out of town for the long weekend and had some lovely family friends taking care of young Pointer. It was his first weekend as a solo dog and I was anxious to pick him up and see how he did. My friends don’t currently have a dog and did a great job of taking care him even though he had been slightly anxious without his pack around. When I pulled up into their driveway to pick him up I noticed a man with a large Rottweiler playing in the nearby children’s park. This violates bylaw in Calgary in that dogs are not permitted on or off leash in these areas. It is however a common occurrence so other than noting that they were there and seemed to be minding their own business I didn’t really think of it.

I loaded up my dog’s crate and belongings before returning to the house to get him. He wears a collar, gentle leader and leash. I made sure to put on his leash, as I didn’t want him getting overly excited and attempting to go visit the dog in the park. He’s usually pretty good about staying with me but why take an unnecessary risk.

I said goodbye to my friend and walked my dog the entire 12 feet from their front door to my Jeep parked right in their driveway. My dog was happy to go to the jeep and didn’t even notice the dog and man in the park. I had my back hatch open and he was ready to jump in when I saw the other dog running towards us across the street. The owner didn’t even attempt to call his dog. I could tell the approaching Rottweiler was coming in too fast to be friendly. I yelled him to attempt to deter him but he jumped on top of my top biting his head, neck, ear and even leg. My dog was secured by his leash and gentle leader and was unable to defend himself. I yelled and kicked at the other dog in an attempt to get him to back off. My friend came running from her home to assist but let’s face there’s not much too unarmed women can do against a dog this size and she was also pregnant. The man eventually made his way over and removed his dog. He never said a word to either of us. I checked over my dog. He was scared, bleeding from his ear and had puncture wounds and scratches along his head, neck and upper back. He also had a injury to his left front leg that I discovered the next day. I loaded my dog into my jeep and tracked down the man’s address once I saw which house he went into.

My dog is an intact male and other dogs before have attacked him. This generally happens in an off leash park setting and he’s showing discomfort before anything happens. He never instigates these events and continually the target of neutered males. This is however the first time my dog has been a significant distance away and not even looking at the other dog. This particular dog has very real dog aggression and his owner choose to run him off leash in a residential area where there are many neighbourhood dogs.

Now that some time has passed (a few days) and I’ve been thinking about this a lot. I’ve come to realize that I need to be prepared for an incident at all times. I do carry an air horn with me when I go for walks to help break up dogfights. When you work with aggressive dogs for a living you understand that sometimes accidents happen. We can’t always predict the behaviour of our own animals and definitely not someone else’s. In this situation it was not an accident and the other owner was fully in the wrong. He failed to have control of his animal and he placed his dog in a situation where everything could go wrong. My dog and I are going to suffer the consequences of this, as I’m fairly certain this has damaged my dog’s ability to trust and meet new dogs of this type. He took a full 24 hours to begin acting like himself again.

So why the blog post? For two reasons I want to educate the public on why we need to follow animal bylaws and also what to do when/if this happens to you or your dog.

We need to follow bylaws not because we’re at risk of being fined. It’s because the bylaws are designed to prevent aggression and allow dogs to live in a community in peace with each other and humans. Every single dog owner should be familiar with the bylaws in their area, which include leash laws, noise compliance and tethering. In Calgary, the leash laws are very specific and they are designed to keep everyone safe. Just because you feel your dog has strong obedience or is friendly doesn’t mean everyone else using the public spaces will feel safe around your dog. If I am walking my dog on leash it might be because he’s sick, not friendly or because I believe in following bylaws and my dog and I most likely don’t want to meet your dog while he’s off leash.

If your dog isn’t friendly with other dogs there are options for exercising, which include leash walking, hiking in remote areas on a long line and visiting a fenced area where you can safely run your dog and keep him/her away from others. Using a basket muzzle as a back up for safety would also make sense. It is your job to not put your dog in a situation where he/she feels they need to act aggressively towards other animals or people. If you can’t do this then you aren’t responsible enough to have a dog period.

If you have questions about responsible dog management and need help with behaviour modification for aggression please contact an appropriate dog trainer or behaviourist to help. Look for trainers who have their CPDT-KA, CBCC-KA or KPA certifications.

So what do you do when this happens? I can tell you from experience that these situations can occur quickly and you won’t always respond as well as you could. I definitely could have done a few things different when this dog came after mine. The first would be having my air horn on hand. I definitely did not think I needed it for 12 feet of walking but I did know the other dog was outdoors off leash and I could have had it just in case. I was only thinking about managing my dog and not that the other owner was not despite being shown evidence that he wasn’t following bylaw and therefore most likely wasn’t very responsible.  

I did a great job of not putting my hands in between two fighting dogs, which is crucial to human safety. I could have attempted to grab the other dog’s hind end. At the time this seemed far too dangerous but in hindsight may have been more effective than kicking. I could always have directed the other owner on what to do however I am not completely convinced that would have jolted him into action. But it wouldn’t have hurt to try.

And finally I need to ensure that I am taking my dog out for walks and reinforcing him heavily when we see another dog that is similar. He needs to know I will protect him and that he is fine so that my own dog does not develop reactivity or dog aggression. 

Leash Aggression? But he’s fine off leash!

I’ve had a fair share of owners who are confused by their dogs on leash behavior. They often begin by telling me how much their dog likes other dogs and does great at the park playing with many strange dogs of all breeds, ages and personalities. Then they mention that their perfect pup turns into a murderous demon when the leash is on.

Alright so what’s actually going on here?

Let’s start off with what leashes do. They restrict our dogs from normal, social body language and put up a barrier to interaction. This is often for their own safety and compliance with leash laws but there are side effects. Just adding a barrier for some dogs creates a frustration response (barking, lunging, lying down) which can escalate into aggression over time.

For some dogs they are fine on leash with other dogs until their owner tries to pull them away. The feeling of their collar tightening is enough to trigger an “attack”. A dog’s response to this can be anywhere from barking, growling, stiffening to an actual bite with injury.

So now what? While this problem can be prevented through focus, heeling and a good leave it cue you’re probably not reading this because you have the perfect puppy.

1.   A good rule for most dogs is to restrict dog greetings to off leash only where your dog can have freedom of communication and movement. I expect my dogs to be working for me when they are on leash and when they are off leash I’ll tell them “Go Play” which signals they can do as they wish. This also makes handling them at busy dog shows and expos easier as they don’t think it’s play time whenever they see a dog.

2.   Walk on your dog on a harness like the Easywalk harness by Premier or Sensation harness. Even a good step in harness will improve things from a collar.

 

3.   Keep on leash greetings to less than 5 seconds and teach your dog to keep walking when you call his/her name which will allow you to get your dog to come when called without a tight leash.

4.   Keep your leash loose during any and all dog interactions. Tightness in the leash will increase the chances of a problem.

5.   Participate in a group dog training class where dog social skills are worked on or an activity like rally obedience where your dog will learn to focus on you and not pull on leash around other dogs.

Why is my dog snarling in the window?: A Breakdown of Barrier Reactivity

My Aussie Marco is a really friendly and well adjusted dog. He came to me with a great temperament at 8 weeks old and through mountains of socialization he has continued to be my most trustworthy dog around other dogs, small animals, babies and of course new people. Marco however has a secret... he use to be extremely barrier reactive. What does this mean? 


Barrier reactivity is when you put a dog behind a fence, kennel door, window, leash, etc. and they see a person or another dog or small animal. An over reaction follows that might include lunging, growling, showing of teeth, barking, snarling, etc. Marco literally went from wiggling, happy puppy to full on vampire face. Even my trainer friends thought he was aggressive until of course I opened the kennel door and poof it vanished and my happy boy was back. 


Marco had a very specific form of barrier reactivity that occurred only when he was in his kennel and saw another dog. It also had to be a dog he didn't know well (the other dogs in my house didn't elicit any sort of reaction from him). I deduced that for Marco it occurred because he was extremely frustrated that he couldn't go meet the other dogs and he would blow up like a toddler having a temper tantrum until he got his way and was allowed to play. This behaviour first appeared at 6 months (right around when adolescence kicks in) and I had solved the problem before he reached 8 months. It did take some work though. 


So now that you have a good idea of what barrier reactivity is you're probably wondering how you can solve it? Well it depends on WHY your dog is reacting. A good trainer can help you figure this one out. A dog that is overly excited is different than a dog that is fearful. Both dogs can demonstrate barrier reactivity. I would address the issues quite differently though. An over excited dog needs to learn impulse control (Marco had to wait to be quiet before I would let him out of the kennel to play so he learned quiet, calm behaviour got him what he wanted instead of growling). A scared dog (like Heidi) needed a confidence boosting program to help her learn to trust not only me but understand that people passing by aren't going to hurt her. 


The good news is that barrier reactivity is one of those issues that can be resolved within a fairly reasonable amount of time and improve the dog's (and owner's) quality of life fairly significantly. 


Where's Your Sit? offers 2 fun group classes that can help both hyper, excited dogs as well as fearful dogs. Check out our Hyper Dog Program or our Confidence Booster Program to help your pup today. We also offer private, in home training that can address this issue. 

How To Use Your "Leave It" Cue

So many dog owners are now choosing to attend a basic dog training class. They learn skills like sit, down, stay, heel, leave it and recall. Or at least they sort of learn these skills depending on how much they practice. What I have noticed is that even though dogs and their families are learning these cues they aren't sure how or when to use them. 

Let's discuss the important Leave It or Mine cue. This means that you've asked your dog to not touch and back off an object such as a treat, toy or person. Many dogs get really good at this as a party trick. I can easily line up treats on my dogs' legs as they look away waiting for a chance to earn one. However Leave It as many real world applications that could help you out. 

Here's some examples:

Situation #1
I'm walking my dog down the street and we have to pass another owner and dog. My dog starts to get excited, pull and even bark! I can ask my dog to leave it, focus on me and then heel on or leave it, focus on me and do a sit stay as they pass. So much better than yelling at my dog, yanking on the leash or allowing him to pull me over. 

Situation #2
I'm cooking some hamburgers for dinner and one falls off the plate! All four of my dogs do a mad scramble to grab these delectable entry. A good leave it means they all back off and I get my burger back.

Situation #3
My young puppy has grabbed a boot and is playing keep away. He thinks he's being so cute with it. I know that if I chase him he'll never give it up. So instead I ask him to leave it and then call him to me. The boot is left behind, forgotten until I put it away where he can't get it. 

Situation #4
I'm at the dog park and of course one of my dogs finds a dead duck sitting near the river. Well I definitely don't want to grab that out of his mouth nor do I want one of my other dogs to dart in and start a tug of war. I ask them to leave it and the finder dog promptly drops the duck and all dogs follow me away from it. I didn't even get my hands dirty and no one ate it. 

Situation #5
It's winter and one of the dogs is in the yard eating poop... yes it happens and the jury is still out why they do it. I don't care why right now; I want him to stop it. So I open the door yell out leave it and he drops the yucky stuff. 

And there's more you can do with leave it! It's one handy cue word. Leave it can be applied to anything you don't want your dogs to have (objects, people, dogs, garbage, rocks, etc). It can also stop dog fights in the home... for example if one of your dogs is guarding a toy or bone and it is about to trigger a battle. I can easily claim the object by saying leave it and removing it. It saves a lot of trouble! 

Remember that if you have a dog that guards things like bones, food or toys you will need to contact a professional trainer or behaviourist to help you. It's very important to understand dog body language when dealing a potentially threatened pet. We don't want to push our dogs to guard or bite us. There's many ways to use desensitization to change that situation around over time. 

Contact Where's Your Sit if you want more information on leave it or resource guarding issues. We would be more than happy to help!