Finn got attacked

[Charlie]

I realised that what I was doing was making it far worse. If he has already "engaged" with the dog (that is, they are sniffing each other) then me trying to call him just creates conflict in him, and makes him more stressed.

Exactly this but it's tough, very tough. We had two King Charles Spaniels appear from nowhere on the beach in Scotland, right infront of Charlie, now ordinarily we pop him back on lead if we see oncoming dogs but it was too late. I stayed relaxed, not like me at all, Charlie was as good as gold and just looked had a little sniff and paw batted which I'm not sure is a good thing and followed them to their owner. I recalled him back - brilliant. We walked on and saw a lady with a Rough Coated Collie that even Hattie was giving a wide berth to so we put Charlie on lead, so did the owner but Charlie barked and lunged at it. It's really such a difficult call sometimes. We can't get it right 100% of the time. xx

 

[Lab_adore]

Poor Finn and poor you and your OH for the total upset of it all. I hope you are all ok and bounce back quickly

 

[Anne123]

Thank you!!

Yes, Finn is ok. He was alone tonight as we went to a concert. When we came back he was his own self again!

My OH isn’t bothered by all this and we will act normal, as nothing has happened. After the first attack two years ago I was the one who was frightened and brought this also on on Finn. I am sure he picked my anxiety up and reacted the way was expected. I didn’t hear him scream and he was not hurt like the first time. That for me makes the difference. Normally he is the one who runs to other dogs barking! Not the way around....Now he was taken by surprise! He doesn’t like gsd’s. Yesterday I saw 2 gsd’s in the distance. Finn was on leash luckily. I spotted them first so I know what I could expect. He lunged at his leash and jumped up with all four paws, just that he wanted to run to them, loud barking. I could hold him and distract him by scattering which always works with him. Tomorrow we will walk him as usual and he has some scentwork to do. Man tracking at 11 am!

 

[Jacqui-S]

Oh poor Finn.
I hope he is his normal self when out tomorrow.
I think I would be fuming at the owner....sounds like your OH was very restrained!

 

[Anne123]

Oh poor Finn.
I hope he is his normal self when out tomorrow.
I think I would be fuming at the owner....sounds like your OH was very restrained!

Yes he was, and always is!

 

[VanillaBean]

Glad Finn is OK. Never nice and a difficult situation all round.
I would have at least expected an apology, but then again they never seem to be forth coming. It is normally just a 'they are friendly and it is their way of playing'

 

[Selina27]

Onwards and upwards Finn, Happy Man Tracking!

 

[Jen]

Poor baby

Glad you’re all ok - hope you & your boy have a lovely day today x

 

[Stacia]

Dogs often accept this as a dog's life and unless they have been really bitten, often are not too worried. If the human goes into sympathy etc then the dog thinks it was something to worry about.

 

[FayRose]

I'm glad to hear he's back to his normal self. Still a shock and worrying. As everyone has said, it's easy to know the best way to respond in this situation but much harder to actually do it

 

[Shaz82]

Don't they always say that it's never happened before? How many times have they said that I wonder.

However, it is a sad fact that not all dogs get on for reasons we can't understand or interpret and if the GSD was serious then his bite would have been much harder and it is awful to think about the outcome of that.
I am sure Finn will be fine, it is much harder on us owners and when Maisy has been attacked it has really knocked my confidence, but you just have to carry on as normal and try and relax on your walks again. Easier said than done I know.

 

[edzbird]

It would have been nice for the other owner to apologise & check Finn was OK, rude not to really. Glad Finn wasn't injured, now to move on xx

 

[MellowYellow]

I’m glad he is ok, it’s horrible and frightening when this happens but usually it doesn’t mean anything and clearly the GSD did not mean to seriously hurt Finn, or he would have done so. I’m not condoning what happened, but I’ve had dogs on the receiving end of serious attacks three times in my life and I can assure you that if it had been a true attack, poor Finn would be in a bad state now. As the others have said, try to stay calm and not be scared next time you see a big dog come up to him - easier said than done, I know!!!

 

[Anne123]

I’m glad he is ok, it’s horrible and frightening when this happens but usually it doesn’t mean anything and clearly the GSD did not mean to seriously hurt Finn, or he would have done so. I’m not condoning what happened, but I’ve had dogs on the receiving end of serious attacks three times in my life and I can assure you that if it had been a true attack, poor Finn would be in a bad state now. As the others have said, try to stay calm and not be scared next time you see a big dog come up to him - easier said than done, I know!!!

I know that the GSD did him no harm, but at that very moment you can’t overview this!
Finn was once attacked by a Great Dane, he was hurt and I had to go to the vet. He was wounded in his neck. Got antibiotics and painkillers. It wasn’t this time, luckily! The GSD was more then 100 meters away, had to cross a trafficking street and was in our backyard. That makes this behavior awkward...

 

[Anne123]

Finn was his old self again today. Went with OH man tracking. He did very well even if it was very windy. Not frightened or whatsoever!
Thank you all for your comments! I guess we all have been there, some more then once!

 

[HAH]

Oh hooray, glad to hear Finn’s back to normal and man tracking was fun. Strong winds must really add to the challenge (although I guess encourages ground scenting?). Great news!