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Ramble
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13-01-2009, 02:02 PM

Aggressive dog?

We went on our ususal amble with Cosmo this morning and a small cross breed (who looked remarkably like Biff did in his youth) came up and stood over his ball (squeaky santa actually but it's easier to say ball!)
The dog's owner was screaming 'leave it' and shouting it's name and it just stood there. I approached and said 'hi' and it growled!!!
Any how, the lady came and shouted the dog who ran off with the santa/ball. He started squeaking it and growling at it. Lady shouted...dog ran off.
In the end my OH took some of Cosmo's hotdog and the lady got the dog to approach and sniff it...then she dropped it on the floor, the dog dropped santa, she grabbed it's collar, it snarled (very nastily) and bit her!

We checked she was okay (no puncture wounds) and took santa and started heading off and the dog had a snarly go (no bite) at Cosmo because he expressed interest in the santa, which was in OH's hand. We just walked away. Cosmo barely noticed as he is a muppet. Thankfully.

Made me wonder as the dog had obviously done this sort of thing before,should it have a ball of it's own/should it be onlead/should it be muzzled...or is it okay and just one of those things????
What do you all think?

ETA I don't really know what I think on this one. The lady is older and the dog is probably about 7. WE have met her before and the dog has done something similar, but it didn't bite her.
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Moobli
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13-01-2009, 02:11 PM
Difficult one really I probably wouldn't worry too much about an incident like that - unless it happened more than once or twice.

If I were the owner of the dog I would probably have a toy of its own to keep it focused on (or else keep it on a lead).
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Ramble
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13-01-2009, 02:13 PM
Originally Posted by Moobli View Post
Difficult one really I probably wouldn't worry too much about an incident like that - unless it happened more than once or twice.

If I were the owner of the dog I would probably have a toy of its own to keep it focused on (or else keep it on a lead).
We weren't too worried about us or Cosmo really as the woman tried her best, I just wondered if other people would be the same and if one day she could encounter a real problem if the owner of the other dog wasn't at all happy...or the dog wasn't a Cosmo like muppet who just runs off. It had the potential to be more serious I think....
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Hali
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13-01-2009, 02:15 PM
I feel sad reading this really, there is evidently a problem between woman and dog and she sounds like she definitely needs help understanding him.

As for whether he should have his own ball, it's difficult to say - it may be that the dog will not let her near him when he has any toy and so taking a ball with her on a walk would not be practical.

Of course it may have been a one off (where was the food - is it possible that the dog was protecting the treat rather than the ball?), but if not, she should definitely either muzzle or keep on lead until they have managed to sort out the issues.

Mind you, some dogs can just get completely obsessed. Someone I know has a rescue dog that is kennelled (with working dogs) because he can't be rehomed in a house - he goes bonkers over anything ball shaped at all and in his previous home had ripped apart numerous pieces of furniture because his ball had gone under/behind it.

The last straw was when the previous owner came home to find the dog had ripped the door off the washing machine - he was after the washing powder dispensing ball-thingy!

Having said that, i don't think that dog was ever aggressive to people over it.
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Ramble
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13-01-2009, 02:21 PM
Originally Posted by Hali View Post
I feel sad reading this really, there is evidently a problem between woman and dog and she sounds like she definitely needs help understanding him.

As for whether he should have his own ball, it's difficult to say - it may be that the dog will not let her near him when he has any toy and so taking a ball with her on a walk would not be practical.

Of course it may have been a one off (where was the food - is it possible that the dog was protecting the treat rather than the ball?), but if not, she should definitely either muzzle or keep on lead until they have managed to sort out the issues.

Mind you, some dogs can just get completely obsessed. Someone I know has a rescue dog that is kennelled (with working dogs) because he can't be rehomed in a house - he goes bonkers over anything ball shaped at all and in his previous home had ripped apart numerous pieces of furniture because his ball had gone under/behind it.

The last straw was when the previous owner came home to find the dog had ripped the door off the washing machine - he was after the washing powder dispensing ball-thingy!

Having said that, i don't think that dog was ever aggressive to people over it.
I did wonder if he'd head to the hills if he had his own ball and if maybe they'd had incidents in the house. He definitely snarled at Cosmo over the ball as he was unaware OH had the hotdog, he thought his owner had it. OH had the santa thing though.

It looked like he was a lovely dog apart form that. I did feel very sorry for the lady as she was embarrassed and upset. The dog has done similar in the past with Cosmo, but not to the extent of biting his owner.

Other dogs nick the bal all the time and the owners can't get them back for ages, but that's life really, this was one of the three times dogs nabbed the santa today. The other two just wanted to be chased!!! Preferably by Cosmo but he adopts a 'he's got my ball' tactic with me and leaps up and down trying to nose butt me. Brilliant when he's been scuba diving in mud.
What a story Hali....imagine them being that obsessed....Biff has always been a bit that way, but is mild compared to that!
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Hali
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13-01-2009, 02:25 PM
Aww, bless Cosmo.

Hoki is exactly the same, all the dogs run off with her ball and Hoki just comes running to me to complain (but at least doesn't try to nose but me with a muddy face )
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MissE
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13-01-2009, 03:08 PM
Sounds a bit like Missy when we first got her.
She wasn't keen on anyone touching her collar as it usually meant restraint, and that she didn't like when balls - or food - were concerned. She'd growl and show her teeth too - and have an attempt at biting if you were weak.

We initially worked round it by having two toys and some food and offering alternatives. Later on when she realised we meant no harm we started practising handling the collar. never all three together at the beginning.

Sounds like this dog might need a bit of training to learn manners. It may not necessarily be aggressive.
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CheekyChihuahua
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13-01-2009, 03:23 PM
Sounds to me like the owner wasn't really in control of the dog, so why let it go off lead. Okay, no damage done but the dog doesn't sound entirely predictable. Definitely should be kept on a lead until some training carried out, in my opinion! What if your dog had been aggressive back (unlikely I know ) but who knows what could have happened. Having small dogs myself, it is a big worry to me when people let badly behaved/aggressive dogs off their leads. It's a bit irresponsible really
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