- Location
- Cornwall , UK
On this glorious afternoon , I walked the dogs in a massive forest near home , ( the one Reubs disappeared in when he was a youngster ) its a Forestry England managed site with a car park , there were several cars there as I set off . We met a couple of dog walkers , dogs all meeting and greeting nicely , then after about two miles , we set off back to base . Coming downhill , a bend in front of me , when a French Bulldog appeared up ahead, no owner in sight , it stood watching us and then with no warning , it ran like the clappers towards us . At this point , the young couple owners appeared and began to shout the dog who took no notice , approaching our dog with hackles up , snarling before launching itself upon Reuben , snapping around his legs and underside in a right old frenzy . Now anyone who has met Reubs will agree that he is the softest non confrontational dog , unless another dog shows aggression when he will not submit to an attack, he has never bitten but will snarl back if he feels threatened . The frantic owner tried grabbing his dog by its harness to drag it away , whereupon the bloody thing bit him . I got a ball out of my bag , called Reuben who left the scene immediately and came to my side along with Nelly who was terrified . The damned dog was still at it , started to come towards our dogs yet again , and I`m ashamed to say that I told the owner that he must get the dog right away right now or else it would feel the end of my foot . Eventually , they dragged the dog off , the young mans hand was bleeding as he apologised , saying that he didnt think they would meet other people and dogs . ` So who did you think the cars in the car park belonged to then ? ` I screamed at him . I could see that both of them were upset , he said he was trying to train the dog but failing miserably as I told him that a popular dog walking trail was no place to put his training to the test .
Reuben showed no ill effects whatsoever as we carried on his tail wagging and his reward being several retrieves and a splash in the river , poor little Nelly was visibly upset so we sat for a while , and I cuddled her , little heart was going like a hammer .
All in all , a lovely walk turned into a horrible one , but they are both fine , Reuben was not impressed by the dog but soon got over it and Nelly is currently on her Dads knee fast asleep , makes me go cold to think that this bloody dog could have caused her some serious damage if it had chosen to attack her and not the big lad xxx
Reuben showed no ill effects whatsoever as we carried on his tail wagging and his reward being several retrieves and a splash in the river , poor little Nelly was visibly upset so we sat for a while , and I cuddled her , little heart was going like a hammer .
All in all , a lovely walk turned into a horrible one , but they are both fine , Reuben was not impressed by the dog but soon got over it and Nelly is currently on her Dads knee fast asleep , makes me go cold to think that this bloody dog could have caused her some serious damage if it had chosen to attack her and not the big lad xxx
what a horrible experience. I hope it doesnt leave any lasting anxieties for Nellie. It sounds like Reuben was a real star though, a lot of dogs would have reacted very differently. I hope the bulldog's owners learn from it.
. Reuben could have retaliated and it could have been so much worse. 
