PMSL at some of the replies on here!!!

So sorry to hear about your encounter and hope your lip is getting better!

You cannot beleive some peoples mentality sometimes can you!!! What a TIT!!! I don't think you did the wrong thing by standing up to him, I wholeheartedly would have done the same and maybe more These people need to be told!

I certaintly agree with the pepper Spray - illegal or not i would certaintly feel safer!!! And especially the Red one - that's just FAB!!!

I encountered another one of these types of people last night! I have mentioned him on another thread before as his dog lunged at me before (both mine and his dogs were on their leads and his dog as we were walking past lunged at us snarling and barking with full intent if managed to make contact would have gone full throttle!)
All my dogs were off lead as were his (he has two) and I called mine back to put them on their leads knowing what his are like and he carried on walking towards us and didn't call his back or put them on a lead and all of a sudden his Dalmation (the same dog that lunged last time) went for and bit Missy just missing me!!! She yelped so Narla shot over and it went for her and she ran off screaming!!! He tried grabbing his dog only after all that happened and it ran off!!!

He did apologise after tking his earphone's out but he also said that the dog was scared of people that's why he does it!!!!

But he didn't go for me or my o/h he went for my DOGS!!!!

I was absoluetly gobsmacked as to reply but he made quite a sharpish exit aswell!!!!

Sorry to rant on your thread but some people are unbelievable!!!

Anyhow hope you and the doggies are ok and hope you don't bum into him again for his sake!

They're everywhere then by the sounds of it! At least your bloke was apologetic and made a quick exit, unlike the moron I dealt with, but glad you and your dogs escaped unscathed. What he h*ll is your bloke doing walking dogs like that offlead then in the first place knowing he's going to bump into somebody somewhere along the line with a dog hey! It beggers belief doesn't it what we have to put up with on a pleasurable daily walk! I've already ordered the spray from Loki's Mum and the red one is the one I had before, but, I just knew, with that pin thing in it, I would be all fingers and thumbs and probably end up just throwing the can at any potential attacker and legging it!!!!

just been reading your posts and could nt help notice that you come from s east well i posted about 2 weeks ago when 2 staffie attacked our very timed and toothless greyhound the couple who owen the dogs were not really fussed over it and even told me off for kicking out at the staffie to try and get them of my dog dispite one of them bitting my wifes hand,they have been reported to the local ranger and it appears this is nt the first time its happened,but talking to the ranger this morning they seem to have stopped taking them for walks over the country park . i just wonder how long it will be before they attacked a child .
any how the country park i m talking about is called one tree hill which is in between grays and basildon in essex, which takes me back to my thoughts about the s essex and are this attacks related

But a bark isn't necessarily the same as aggression, it could just be a warning to the pack leader (you) that there is a stranger about.

Rianna barks at every stranger who aproaches our house or who we might meet on walks. Just yesterday she barked at someone comming down the path in the forrest, when she ran up to him she then recognised it was someone she knew (Although had not seen for six months) and stopped and started liking him. Had it been a real stranger she would keep her distance but bark for 20 seconds or so until I calm her down.

I assume that Zena is not also 'snarling' i.e. lips curled up and growling with hair on the back up. These are the real aggression signals.

Who said a dog bark is the sign of aggression? If the gums are on show then yes, but otherwise it is purely communication, be it ''I'm scared'', ''watch out I'm here'', or simply ''let me in it's cold''.

Hi H, No way does she show teeth or snarl, it's just her normal bark, but it is rather loud even for a gsd, and I can't remember where I put that quote in this whole thread now, but I'm assuming I said it happened when he came over to US with that staffie onlead? She didn't bark for long either, because of course, I had moved the pair of them away by then when I saw the reaction from the staffie, I wanted to get well away from it, but that didn't stop me continuing with my big gob!!!

Zena does like the sound of her own voice though, and at the moment, she is actually going through a barking phase, anybody walking past our big gates out on the drive (quite understandable, and doesn't take me long to shut her up), anybody coming to the house, again quite understandable and she stops when I let them in, UNLESS it's a workman, she doesn't like men being here home alone with me (and nor does Dave!!!) and in HER mind I suppose that's quite understandable too! Yesterday we had so many people coming and going with this, that and the other, which she was fine with, because I shut them away, BUT, when she could see 2 men mowing the lawn, off she goes again bark, bark, bark watching them, I tried everything and eventually stopped her and we both watched them together Half an hour later, another two men came to cut the hedge, so again off she went on one, bark, bark, bark watching with her paws on the windowsill, but this time I totally ignored her after telling her I knew they were there, and it seemed to work a bit better. This is my current mission, I have to have people coming to the house for different things and one or two barks to let me know is fine, but to go on and on like she does with SOME men here is driving me nuts! She would NEVER bark at a human being when we're out though, so that's a positive, and have to say, this staffie was the first time she'd barked at another dog tbh!

Sorry to hear about what happened with your poor little doglet, and it's just not right is it, that we have to put up with this! I currently know about a black gsd being walked who does the same as those two staffies, attacks everything in sight and the owner just totally ignores it and walks on, some poor dogs have had to be taken to the vet, but thankfully, I'm yet to meet up with him/her who walks that gsd, but I'm certainly on the lookout for it!

I'm in West Sussex so a long way from yourself, but it seems this lack of dogwalking etiquette stretches far afield doesn't it I hope you can enjoy your future walks with your girl and never bump into any more irresponsible owners!

Poor Georgie got a mouthful this morning from a collie cross that Zena had said hello to. He decided to go and say hello too, but it didn't like him much so it growled and snarled at him, so I just called him away (which he ignored at first, but then that's old Georgie for ya!)He took more abuse from it as the owner was calling it to him, and then he decided he'd had enough and decided to join us! I take no responsibility for Georgie, coz he's old, he's half deaf, he's a rescue who was never taught recall and I'm past caring with him having spent the past 5 years trying to teach him, and it's about 90% which is good enough for me coz he would never harm a fly! Zena, however, came the instant I called her away when I saw it going for Georgie, but he can take it, he doesn't know what aggression is, he probably thinks it liked him! There is no hope for Georgie!

So it's definately a 'territorial' thing then, as you say a couple of barks to alert you to approaching strangers is what you do want, but then as you say it's better if she stops, but I'm sure you'll be able to train her, she's followed all the other trainning OK hasn't she

On the personal safety thing, dogs do have a sixth sense about people so those who she goes on and on at should alert you to be watchful too. I'm sure you feel totaly secure in your home but you just never know the background of tradesmen that come to do work do you.

Yes thanks H, couldn't wish for a better behaved dog quite honestly, BUT, I think dear old mum has hit it on the head, when she said she is becoming too possessive of ME, and this is her reason for barking at some men. She obviously thinks women are ok, they are no threat to me, although of course she barks when they first appear, they tell her to be quiet and she is, but the men, not being "friends" as such, do cause me a problem. She managed to open the lounge door the other day when I had shut them in the kitchen/hall, as I stood there by the french doors with a door fitter who was adjusting them and she FLEW for him big time with her barking, no contact I might add, but she must have frightened the life out of him, BUT, give her her due, it was a strange man in OUR house with her mum, was he a threat (she didn't know he was fixing my french doors! Lol!) It was only a matter of seconds (seemed like a lifetime) before she actually listened to me and I got them both out into the garden away from him, but I really would have liked her to obey me instantly, when I told her (I probably used far too many words in the process, i.e. quiet, no, stop-it, friend, etc. etc. etc) See what I mean H? I HAVE to stop this and now, because being the breed she is, anything could happen in the future, she must learn that when I say it's ok, it really is ok, until it's not of course, then she can let all h*ll loose!!!!

Ohh, I hope you didn't misunderstand me & think I thought she was bless her! I know Zena isn't aggressive bless her furry-heart. As for Georgie not reacting, maybe he knows he is older & perhaps more vunerable than he used to be? He might have been scared too I guess in a way it's good he didn't, a fight between three of them would have been an even bigger nightmare

What an ordeal for you to have gone through - I love the red paint idea lol! He defo needs reported behaving that way, ******

Hope you never come across him again.