When Another Dog Attacks Your Dog

There’s nothing pleasant about another dog suddenly attacking your dog, let alone a person or any other animal. Aside from being incredibly violent, it can be terrifying and traumatising. As we know, sometimes dog attacks can leave serious injury or end up being fatal.

Although I’ve always been fortunate to have some friendly, well-behaved animals throughout my life, in the last 12 months my medium-sized dog, Ella, has been attacked by five different dogs on five separate occasions. More recently, she was rushed at by a large dog.

What’s more, all of these dog attacks occurred within about a two-kilometre radius of where we live.

On each occasion, Ella was on a lead and happily doing her own thing. And while each dog that attacked her drew blood due to puncture wounds, thankfully she didn’t require veterinary attention.

Using a more organic approach, I bathed the puncture wounds as soon as we got home and continued to keep them clean, ensuring they healed and didn’t become infected. I also laid down next to her and listened to sound meditation CDs. We were shaken.

The other thing is, most of these dog attacks occurred during the winter months, when Ella was wearing her all weather coat. If she hadn’t had it on, it could have been a different story.

Regardless, they were all distressing situations. The first and last dog attack lasted close to 10 minutes!

In four out of five of these attacks, each owner, as mortifying as it was for them, took responsibility for their dog. Not only did they eventually pry their dogs off, they were incredibly apologetic and checked to see if we were okay. In addition, they upped the training of their dogs, ensured they were not roaming off-leash on unfenced sections of their property or in public places, and now a couple of them put muzzles on their dogs whenever they are out walking.

It won’t change the fact that these dogs are aggressive, extremely territorial or have anxiety, but their owners have taken steps to minimise the risk of it happening again.

However, the last dog attack didn’t have the same outcome.

While sitting in a public reserve, Ella was still on a lead. As I stood up to walk with her again, a large dog appeared out of nowhere. Growling, baring its teeth and with strings of saliva hanging from its mouth (reminiscent of a wolf in the wild), it attacked Ella from behind and attempted to herd us.

With everything happening so fast and violently, I wondered where this dog had come from and who it belonged to. Nobody seemed to be around. Meanwhile, my attempts to remain firm, calm and alert with the attacking dog, while standing between it and Ella, were becoming increasingly challenged.

After several minutes had passed, a man emerged from the back of the reserve, where there is a stand of trees. Without saying a word, he pulled his dog off.

While I was attending to a trembling and bleeding Ella, all the owner of the other dog could say (without being able to look me in the eye) was that his dog had never done anything like this.

As I found out a little later, this dog is a serial offender. However, nobody had done anything about it.

When I realised where this large dog lived, it’s usually in an enclosed area. But when I was walking Ella past their property a couple of months ago, the dog was lying in their driveway, where the property is unfenced. Although some cars were parked there, again, nobody appeared to be there.

As soon as the dog saw us, it flew down from the property, snarling and preparing to attack. Ella kept moving forward as I turned to towards the other dog and remained between the two of them. I was in a pretty vulnerable position, but kept my vocal tones short, firm and clear towards the other dog, as well as standing as tall and imposing as I could.

Now, some of you might think, why would you continue to walk past its house? Why not avoid it altogether and walk elsewhere?

Because I’m not going to live in fear.

I’m aware of how aggressive this dog is, but I’m not going to succumb to it. And neither should anyone else. No person or animal should be at risk.

Frankly, enough is enough.

If anybody owns a dog that is aggressive towards others, it’s important to be aware of how this can impact another, and that it comes with added responsibility. It’s not the kind of thing you can leave to chance, or think that it will never happen again.

In fact, owning any dog comes with a lot of responsibility, and that includes respect towards other people and animals.

I also realised that I should have reported the first attack that occurred with this dog, particularly since it happened in a public place. Mind you, small children and their parents were standing a little further down the road at the time. They were horrified by what they saw and heard.

The thing is, any dog that attacks, chases, harasses or rushes at you or an animal, whether or not physical injury is caused, is an offence.

So I contacted my local council and reported the second incident. From there, I had two choices.

One: take legal action, which is time consuming and costly. (In this case, that wasn’t my interest. I wanted to make sure this dog was always in an enclosed area when on its property and kept on a lead in public spaces.)

Or two: the ranger visits the owner and gives them a stern warning. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. But if it happens again, with this or any other aggressive dog, they will be reported.

What I got from all of these unnerving events is that so many dog attacks are under-reported.

Sadly, we mostly hear about how babies and young children are savaged by some dogs, and often through no intentional provocation. We also hear how other dogs are being mauled to death.

At the same time, there seems to have been a spike in the number of dog attacks, whether it is in inner Melbourne or across the country. Add to that how there are many instances of “bite and run”, where the owner and its attacking dog flee the scene, unlikely to be heard of or seen again.

So why is it happening? And what more can we do to prevent it?

I’m aware that dogs attack for any number of reasons, be it out of fear, feeling threatened (especially those that have been mistreated) or being territorial. But having a mistreated dog doesn’t excuse it. And as much as their current owners love them, they can be incredibly challenging dogs to have, particularly when it comes to dealing with the outside world.

Overall, having a dog is meant to be healthy, enjoyable and social.

As obvious as it sounds, a dog needs to be kept in a fenced and secure yard while on your property. This is a requirement of all dog owners.

And when dogs are being walked or are in any public area, including off-leash areas, they need to be on a strong leash, but not too long like a lunge rein or a retractable one that’s been let out too far. (In one of the dog attacks we experienced, the dog broke its lead and chased us). While they may not like it, aggressive dogs need to be muzzled.

When it comes to off-leash areas, rather than just letting your dog off to cavort around, it’s always better to scan the area and gradually introduce dogs to get to know each other on a lead and at a respectful distance. Better still, simply ask the owner what their dog is like around others and let them know how your dog behaves. It’s basic courtesy.

All dogs love having a sense of fun and freedom, but too often it now seems that another random dog is going to upset that.

Tips for when your dog is attacked by another dog

I’m certainly no dog whisperer, nor am I a dog training specialist, but because a dog attack happens so fast and unexpectedly, staying calm and aware, which is easier said than done, is the first step. In addition to using my intuition, the following are what helped me and Ella remain physically unscathed.

1. I avoid yelling at, making direct eye contact with, running away from or kicking or waving my arms at the attacking dog. These actions only aggravate them even more.

2. I use short, firm, clear commands, like:

“Go.”

“Home, now.”

“Get out.”

3. Internally, I also set an intention, like:

“We are safe.”

“This stops now.”

4. While we’re effectively at risk, I’ve found it’s best to stand between my dog and the attacking dog, so that I’m at least side on, not facing the attacking dog directly, nor turned away from it.

5. When going past a property where I know there is an aggressive dog, I now carry a large stick or a golf umbrella. If needed, I can point it out in front of me to help define and assert my space (not wave it around in a threatening way). At the very least, it may distract the dog; however, it’s not a fool-proof deterrent.

6. While most feel the urge to run away from the fight, I find it better to retreat or withdraw in teeny-tiny baby steps. It barely feels like moving a couple of millimetres at a time, especially while the attacking dog is circling around your dog and rushing at and biting them. Obviously, if the dog has latched on to your dog, moving away isn’t something you can do.

7. Call out for help (ideally in an alert but not a scared tone) to other people around, whether the dog’s owner is nearby or not. With the last dog attack, I did this, but nobody responded or helped.

8. Where possible, get the name and contact details of the owner of the attacking dog (even a photo on your smartphone). While your priority is to attend to your own dog, getting these details is something that is rarely done, usually due to being in shock and/or wanting to remove yourself from the situation. In my case, I knew where the majority of these owners and dogs lived, but we still exchanged names and confirmed details.

Short of carrying pepper spray, here’s to having some friendly interactions and positive experiences when walking our dogs. Because every time your dog is attacked by another dog, it marks them. And it can leave its mark on you.