Scary dog.

[Leanne]

Had a lovely walk today, my trainer does a social walk every other week where we all meet up and the dogs can run around like mad things. Mas adores it, he can’t quite keep up with the full sized Labs yet but he has a great go trying.

Today we had a lady with a staff... now this is no breed judgement as I’ve met some lovely staffs but as a rule I always have my concerns having met several with breed agggressive traits.

This dog was firstly on a lead... there were at least 15 dogs there today, all off lead. The dog was lunging and yapping at the other dogs as they ran past (and there was lots of running!) the owner repeatedly yanked it back.... I kept Mas away from him but several other dogs were close (none that made contact as far as is saw, the trainer is pretty strict about not approaching on lead dogs)

Anyway after about 45 minutes we arrive on a big field and all the dogs are having a whale of a time, by this point they have split into sections so that most of the labs are together (by choice) etc at this point the lady with the staff is in front of me and I can hear her friend saying ‘oh he just wants to play’ the dog is at this point no longer barking but looking very interested.

I comment to my friend (who is with me) about the dog and (very quietly) said about I wasn’t sure of the benefit of bringing a onlead dog to somewhere like this with so many dogs off lead...

At this point Mas is about 20 metres in front of me playing ‘tag’ with the trainers dog... I then see the woman let her Staff off lead... he literally bombs at Mas and knocks him flying (Mas had his back to him), Mas goes straight into a down... I leg it over to them... as I get there I see Mas roll onto his side and the Staff went straight at his throat. Someone shouted, I absolutely flipped and yanked him off. The owner is standing there looking gobsmacked.

Mas appeared fine, no contact marks, was up and tail wagging and back playing within seconds.

The trainer took the other woman off and she didn’t come back so not sure what happened there...

This is now the second time in 5 days that he’s been attacked by another dog with no warning and/or provocatation

I checked with the trainer and she confirmed that Mas did absolutely nothing wrong, I didn’t miss any behaviour from him. There were a good 10/15 dogs around - why attack Mas?

I don’t get it. Any help anyone?

 

[SwampDonkey]

There's some bad dogs with dicks for owners out there. it's happened to me and my dogs countless times over the last 25 years. You learn to look for the ones to avoid. That dog clearly had morons for owners. Unfortunately it's alway the innocent who get hurt.

 

[kateincornwall]

I do believe that some dogs are absolute bullies , in fact a close relative has a dog who is one , it tries to bully Nelly when they visit which is thankfully not often .
My theory is that just as human bullies , dog bullies will single out the easiest to have a go at , the young , vulnerable or ones who have a non confrontational demeanour . As poor Mas is only a baby , he is fair game and I`m very sorry he has had to endure what the owner could have prevented by sorting out her own dog , poor lamb xx

 

[Leanne]

It was just so awful. He really screamed. Which was more fear I think than pain, there isn’t a mark on him of which I am eternally grateful for.

 

[MellowYellow]

I’m really sorry, poor little Mas... Well done for pulling the Staffie off him before anything worse happened.

 

[Granca]

I hope Mas isn’t put off by such a horrible experience. How lucky that you managed to stop the staffie, not an easy task.

 

[Jacqui-S]

 

[Leanne]

As soon as he was pulled off he appeared calm and relaxed (the staffy) It was very odd.

I’m worried because almost the exact same thing happened on Tuesday. Dog charged up and just attacked him, no warning or growling etc.

Neither time has Mas shown any type of aggression or even interacted with them prior to the attack so I’m not sure what the bloody hell is going on

 

[Candy]

The same has happened to my little Joy, particularly when she was younger. Also to previous dogs, I have had, again particularly when young. I very much agree with Kate's bullying theory and yes, it also applies to humans. If I see a dog approaching who looks like it might be likely to bully Joy (of course you can't always be sure) I put her on lead and call to the other dog's owners "Would you mind putting your dog on lead, please. She's recovering from an injury and has to be kept quiet'. Of course this wouldn't really have worked in the situation with poor Mas, but it can be a useful little white lie that protects my gentle girl from bullies.

 

[Lab_adore]

Poor Mas and poor you. It's happened to us too so I do think these horrible dogs target the youngsters.

 

[Jen]

Poor little Mas Stanleys always the one the dogs pick on. I think it’s because he’s so passive and sweet he’s easy to pick on.

Luckily he’s never been outrighted attacked but I would absolutely lose my shit if he was.

Sounds like Mas will be fine and hopefully only have good experiences from now on x

 

[Stacia]

I think the trainer was mad having 15 dogs off lead playing! Playing can soon lead to fighting (nothing to do with the Stafie just a general remark. The trainer also was very unwise to have the Stafie in your group, it obviously needed a more considered socialisation. My lap top refuses to let me spell SAFFIE correctly unless I put it in capitals!

 

[Ashley]

It does seem that the bullies go for young dogs or the more timid types...Quinn used to be on the receiving end a lot, but only once has it escalated before I could leave with her. Someone told me as she gains confidence and gets older she won’t get picked on as much, which has been very true. She’s almost three and it’s rare that in a group she’s the target now (knock on wood). As long as you’re watching body language and leave if something feels off, Mas should be ok!

 

[snowbunny]

Ok, I’m going to say you need to start protecting him. Not that you haven’t been doing this up until now, but this is from my experience. I was so happy with my little boy who was divisible with everyone until he started getting picked on during adolescence. I didn’t understand what was happening until too late, and now I have a reactive dog that I spend a lot of time either trying to get out of situations or trying to fix. Not saying Mas will end up the same, but better safe thsn sorry. My advice to my former self would be, “get outta dodge!!”. Don’t let it escalate. Don’t let him get any negative associations. These are his formative years; make sure you make it all good. I’m not going to say that getting beat up on caused Shadow’s reactivity , but it certainly didn’t help. In hindsight, I’d do anything possible to keep my dog happy rather than going along with social norms because that’s what we do. But, then, I’m a hard-nosed monster now :

 

[SwampDonkey]

I don't think you are being hard nosed at all. I live in a dog dense environment and have learnt like you to keep away from dogs and situations I don't like.

 

[Leanne]

I don’t disagree at all... but that’s why I’m confused. I don’t let him approach dogs we don’t know, on both these occasions he was playing with a dog we did know and apther dog came charging at him with no warning (in the first example he was literally on the other side of a football field)

Is there anything I can do to lessen his scent or something to other dogs? In both cases the dog that has attacked him was a neutered male.

 

[FayRose]

I can understand your frustration Leanne. I don't think there is anything else you can do considering what you are already doing. You are looking out for him and trying to avoid potential trouble. Some things you just can't anticipate and as others have said here, perhaps it's just that he's a youngster, therefore vulnerable and less experienced than older dogs and 'bully' dogs, for want of a better description, will take advantage. Hopefully, as he grows, this will happen less and he will no longer appear an easy target. You're doing the right thing protecting him now, when he needs it. Good luck.

 

[Naya]

Unfortunately Harley was on the end of bullying / being attacked several times when she was younger. I soon learnt to pop her onlead if I was unsure about a dog who was nearby. Even now, I am constantly on the lookout for any dogs in the vicinity, even if they are a fair distance away I will pop her on lead. Harley can now be reactive to some dogs so I have learnt to read her body language very well and intervene before anything can happen. It wasn’t Mas’s fault by the sounds of it, but I would of popped him on lead if I was unsure of any of the other dogs as you can’t control them. Always better to be safe than sorry.

 

[Heidrun]

I would give those ‘social walks’ a miss for good. 15 or so dogs running free is a recipe for disaster on all sorts of levels.

 

[Jen]

The best thing you can probably do is make sure he stays relatively close to you even if he is playing or something so if another dog does come you can get to him either before the other dog or as soon as possible.

I always like Stanley to stay quite close to me and he now knows we have an area he shouldn’t really wander from. The only time this changes is if we are playing fetch or something but even then I wouldn’t play that if there were other dogs about.

I’m quite strict about playing with other dogs as well. He can generally say hello, play for a minute then we carry on. I don’t encourage long plays or anything unless it’s a dog we’re actually walking with. I like him to have a lot of focus on me and we have a lot of play.

But I would also give those social walks a miss, that sounds like too much madness for anyone to have any real control.

*this makes me sound like a really strict boring mam doesn’t it - I’m not, I promise!