Dog Aggressive Dog Owners

What do you do when an off lead dog charges up to your DA dog (on lead) and won't go away and there's no owner in sight??

When you say charges up it depends if it is on the way to you or is it actually with you.

For me a lot depends on the other dog's body langauge. Max is not good with most dogs but there have been a very small number of dogs that he has not been too bad with....

If a dog approaches and its body language suggests it is going to be aggressive then I know Max would not tolerate it and I will face it, make myself appear bigger and shout 'back' really loudly and step towards it. Probably a lot of dogs won't know what 'back' means so you could shout anything. I think it is your body language and a raised voice that helps to see them off.

If the dog is already there, I sometimes carry a pet corrector spray that will drive some dogs back. Ultimatley Max sees them off in the end as even the really aggressive ones will back down to him so I have never been in a physical fight situation with Max... yet!

It is frustrating though and I really do sympathise with you.

My OH was out today with all 3 and my foster kid and a dog ran up, OH didn't see it coming he was keeping an eye on the kid until it was practically there, straight towards Bailey and kept sniffing and bothering him, not sure about any signals the other dog gave off but it doesn't really matter as Bailey can't see em anyway.

My OH had Bailey on his lead and was trying to pull him away but the other dog just followed and he couldn't get it to go away and in the end Bailey managed to get it by the shoulders and pin it!! OH managed to get Bailey off and the dog ran off, the owner eventually appeared afterwards none the wiser he was too busy jogging!!!

It's happened to me a couple of times and I've managed to body block and shout, stamp my feet etc at the other dog and avoided an altracation but as his behaviour is a realtivley new (coupla months) my OH has never seen it before.

It's really shaken my OH up and he's lost confidence with taking him out now. He's only just managed to get them to listen to him so he can safely walk them too

If a dog is insistent on approaching it is unavoidable - I do nothing except keep a loose lead.

My way of looking at it is if I start faffing about getting stressed and yelling at the approaching dog my dog will bite the other dog. If I just keep the lead loose there is a chance he won't bite it (slim admittedly!)

I usually clear off before any dog has a chance to approach but on the odd occasions they have, Polo usually shouts at them and scares them off anyway.

That's such a shame that your OH has lost confidence, maybe he will feel differently once the adrenaline has slowed down a bit.

I do agree with you Maisiesmum in that I will see off and aggressive dog if at all possible but a calm dog I won't for the reasons you state. I do sometimes feel a bit guilty that it is almost like using the other dog as a guinea pig but if there is no owner to stop them it is a tricky one to deal with...

Did something happen to trigger this change, if not it might be worth a visit to the vet to see if there is any physical reason for the change in behaviour?

Thankfully I haven't had a dog insist on approaching that I have felt is likely to be spoiling for a fight. If that happened I think I would let Polo off-lead but I know that if a dog was really aggressive Polo would try to flee as his aggression is fear-based and he really doesn't want to get into a fight.

It does shake you up when these things happen and I try to take avoidance action sooner rather than later but unfortunately some owners let their dogs stray too far and do not have an effective recall and its too late to do anything about it.

If Kismet is muzzled (she usually is) and the dog seems friendly, just a little pushy, or rude, then I just allow a loose lead and let Kismet handle it. She's getting much better at saying no and pushing a dog away without going crazy, so I like to give her as many opportunities to practice her doggy etiquette as possible.

But if the approaching dog seems aggressive, or is acting stiff and threatening, then I put myself between them, put Kismet in a sit or down and firmly tell the other dog, to "Go Away!"...

However as has happened more than once, if the aggressive dog, goes straight for her, or there are more than one, then I let Kismet loose lead, but try to call her away. I have found tightening her lead, or trying to pull her away usually makes things worse, so there is little you can do once it's started, other than back off and hope she wins.

Bailey's so unpredicatable tho, he definatley doesn't like lively bouncy dogs, labs & staffies seem to be the main ones but thats because it's in their nature to be lively, even if the dog doesn't show any aggressive tendancies some dogs he'll tolerate, others he wants to play with then some he just 'scruffs' (pins them down by their shoulders) I never know which way he'll go so I try and keep him away and definatley on lead - we did meet a lovely staffy the other day who was really calm and Bailey was quite taken with her

I think it seems worse now as we've moved house and are walking in a different area where there are more dogs.
He was at the vets on Tues and all ok.

From the sounds of it this dog was a Spitz and I've seen one wandering around alone a few times.

I'm much more used to dealing with Bailey and normally manage to stop any other dogs coming up but my OH is not so doggy knowledgeable yet

Hopefully the Spitz will have learned it's lesson and will stop randomly going up to other dogs and bothering them.

Thankfully there was no other damage done except a bit of a scare.

Might invest in a muzzle for him though. He's always delivered an inhibited bite or grab and has never brought blood but I think the sight of a muzzled dog especially one the size of Bailey might make other people think twice before allowing their dog to approach.

I will get between Rupert and the approaching dog and tell it to sit. I don't care whether it's friendly or not to be honest. If it is friendly I don't want it reaching Rupert and getting hurt, if it's not friendly I don't want it getting to Rupert and attacking him and causing us even more problems.

If the sit (using the voice of doom) doesn't work with a friendly dog I will body block and call for the owner to get their dog as mine bites. I will do my very best to keep it from being attacked, it's not the dogs fault its owner has no control. If it doesn't work with an aggressive dog then I'm afraid I'll do whatever it takes to protect my dog. I've kicked dogs, hit them with the bag I'm carrying and choked one until it passed out to make it let go of Ruperts chest/throat area.

If there are 2 of us one handles Rupert and the other intercepts the approaching dog. This works best but sometimes it's not possible for us both to walk him.

It hasn't helped here. The owners are either nowhere to be seen so don't even see that their dog is approaching a muzzled dog or they don't have the control to stop it running up to us. Ruperts not huge but he's 80lbs so not exactly small either.

Now that Kismet has her rather fetching bright red muzzle from the greyhound trust (had to adapt it slightly but if fits beautifully), we tend to find it works as a good idiot deterrent ... Sensible dog owners allow their sensible dogs to pass on leash sensibly, while idiot dog owners, usually give a wide berth to the 'dangerous wolf dog'!

The greyhound muzzle allows her to open her mouth to pant, push her nose right down for sniffing and has wide parts at the side just right for passing treats through.. She has developed a very effective scoop puddle and drink on the run with it as wellk