# Attacked by a stray dog



## Zeusthegsd143 (Nov 24, 2014)

So tonight my boy and I were attacked my a stray dog. He wasn't too big but he was big enough to cause harm if he really tried. Zeus stepped up and chased him away. He came back with his floppy tongue hanging out and wagging his tail. You can tell he was satisfied. The other dog had tried to attack me before. I don't understand why the animal control never picks him up when I call. But I sure am proud of my boy.


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## Chip18 (Jan 11, 2014)

We are glad it worked out in your favor and you should be proud of your boy! But...if your dog goes chasing after a stray he could have easily been hit by a car. Not a chance most of us are willing to take. (not saying that was your choice)

Lots of us have dealt with this and here are some of the things we do :

http://www.germanshepherds.com/foru...-if-another-dog-attacks-your-while-leash.html


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## llombardo (Dec 11, 2011)

I agree with Chip. It's your job to protect your dog and not the other way around. It could have ended very tragically.


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## Msmaria (Mar 2, 2013)

Why was your dog allowed to chase this other dog off leash? Weren't you afraid your dog could be hit by a car? Or hurt by someone else if he chased this other dog onto someone's personal property? 

If your worried a stray dog may attack carry a cane or a good size stick to protect t yourself and your dog. Keep your dog on leash close to you. I'm glad your dog came back unhurt. Hes a beautiful boy.


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## Zeusthegsd143 (Nov 24, 2014)

Well I'll be leaving this forum. While I do understand your point. This was not in a public area. It was very secluded. So no streets or cars around. My dog pulled away from me. It's not like I didn't try to hold him back. He is very strong and his leash slipped out of my hands. Okay.. Well nothing happened to me or my dog.


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## Bella67 (Jun 22, 2014)

you're leaving the forum because people are trying to give you advice?


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## Moriah (May 20, 2014)

Zeusthegsd143 said:


> Well I'll be leaving this forum. While I do understand your point. This was not in a public area. It was very secluded. So no streets or cars around. My dog pulled away from me. It's not like I didn't try to hold him back. He is very strong and his leash slipped out of my hands. Okay.. Well nothing happened to me or my dog.


There is so much good information on this forum. I have become a much better GSD owner. Take what you want and leave the rest when reading people's posts. I have found more often than not that people are generally correct--it's just takes me time to see that.


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## Lykoz (Dec 6, 2014)

Zeusthegsd143 said:


> Well I'll be leaving this forum. While I do understand your point. This was not in a public area. It was very secluded. So no streets or cars around. My dog pulled away from me. It's not like I didn't try to hold him back. He is very strong and his leash slipped out of my hands. Okay.. Well nothing happened to me or my dog.


The advice given to you was good. And probably the textbook way of approaching such a situation.
Obviously people can not assume to know the exact situation.
There are no set rules to deal with every situation.
The advice is the general trend.. i.e. as pack leader its your job to defend your pack. Not the other way round, especially with regard to other dogs.

That said however there are situations when releasing the leash is for the best bet. Letting the dog defend itself intelligently while you aid your dog...

If your dog gets attacked by the right type of aggressive dog... Maybe an aggressive AM pit-bull for example... and it manages to sink in its teeth... Well you are going to struggle to separate... they wont let go with anything..

GSD's bite and move... Now you have a leashed dog that is at a disadvantage trying to compete with another ferocious dog.

My former GSD a while ago was rushed by two loose Staffordshire Terriers (I think). When I say rushed... I dont mean look stare and see if I am going to back down... I mean no thought, just sheer intensity and charging to attack..

I certainly could not defend against two dogs of that power, and hold the leash... One was a bit more barking and not sure... The other went straight for my dog, and would have got him if I held the leash.

As I let go my dog moved to the side.. The other dog overshot and I kicked the dog hard in the ribs... The dog I kicked cried, and seemed to be the 'alpha', if I can term it that way... Both of them ran back inside to their property.. I called my dog and picked up the leash immediately.. And we were on our way...

In that case I had the advantage by releasing my dog... 
Also the other dogs were focused on my dog. Not on me. So it was easier to handle them. Especially when I had space and they were not tangled on my dog.. the lease and everything else.. Without me or my dog being able to move at all.


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## misslesleedavis1 (Dec 5, 2013)

Zeusthegsd143 said:


> Well I'll be leaving this forum. While I do understand your point. This was not in a public area. It was very secluded. So no streets or cars around. My dog pulled away from me. It's not like I didn't try to hold him back. He is very strong and his leash slipped out of my hands. Okay.. Well nothing happened to me or my dog.


I wouldn't leave the forum based on a bunch of opinions about how you handled the situation.


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Zeusthegsd143 said:


> This was not in a public area. It was very secluded. So no streets or cars around. My dog pulled away from me. It's not like I didn't try to hold him back. He is very strong and his leash slipped out of my hands. Okay.. Well nothing happened to me or my dog.


That's great! Perhaps if you had included this information in your original post people would have responded differently. They're only making assumptions because there weren't many details to go on so they filled in the blanks. If you want to get upset about that and leave the forum, that's up to you, but the points are valid, even if they don't fully apply to your situation. Why take it personally?


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## Persinette (Jan 31, 2015)

Zeusthegsd143 said:


> Well I'll be leaving this forum. While I do understand your point. This was not in a public area. It was very secluded. So no streets or cars around. My dog pulled away from me. It's not like I didn't try to hold him back. He is very strong and his leash slipped out of my hands. Okay.. Well nothing happened to me or my dog.


Please don't leave. There is such a wealth of valuable information here and members can be incredibly supportive.

I completely understand where you are coming from feeling attacked. Sometimes member responses can seem rather abrasive or harsh in their opinions and criticisms of your actions, but it comes from a good place though I promise you. The most passionate, vocal members here really love their dogs and care about the welfare of all dogs, but sometimes that passion comes off as harsh critisism if they feel an owner, through ignornace, put the dog in danger. I think many members here have had very negative experiences themselves with unleashes dogs, poorly trained dogs, ignorant owners, plain stupid owners, etc. so their first response is to correct people and assume, if not the worst, at least owner fault.

I think it's wonderful your dog protected you. It's easy to judge the situation for 'correctness' when we are sitting at home on a computer analyzing the actions of others. Ultimately though, if you are rushed by a dog and scared and everything happens so fast, sometimes you just react. And all the talk about pack leader, protection your dog, etc.... Yes. We all have an obligation to be the clam, confident leader and protect our dogs. I would throw myself in front of my future dog if I judge the situation and think I can be a deterrent (ie overly 'friendly' dogs and thier owners, etc.). HOWEVER, most of us got GSDs because we were attracted to THEIR protective instincts. It's a two way street. Sometimes as a human you are limited in what you can do to protect yourself and your pet, be it from a dog, human, animal, etc. and your dog steps up and protects you. I find nothing wrong with that. A GSD would give their life for their owner. Yes, you can should carry a cane/spray/etc. especially if you know there is a problem with strays. Yes doing so can prevent some problems like these. But sometimes things just happen.

Ultimately though, this is a new member who is proud of their dog for protecting them when they otherwise didn't have the means or knowledge of how to do so. Not all of us are powerful enough or coordinated enough to land a good kick or pry away an angry dog with our body alone.

Also, while it certainly would have been helpful to get more information initially to prevent confusion, members here could be a tad less quick to jumpt to conclusions and assume the worst.


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## Stonevintage (Aug 26, 2014)

Zeusthegsd143 said:


> Well I'll be leaving this forum. While I do understand your point. This was not in a public area. It was very secluded. So no streets or cars around. My dog pulled away from me. It's not like I didn't try to hold him back. He is very strong and his leash slipped out of my hands. Okay.. Well nothing happened to me or my dog.


Sometimes people "read" into posts things that just aren't there in content. Assumptions are made - instead of questions asked. 

No one thought to ask you if your dog was leashed at the time of the attack before dispensing opinions of your actions. Here, at times, it seems that a few posters do not know the difference between advise versus criticism, condemnation and ridicule. I can understand things getting out of hand sometimes when a poster really has a passion about a certain topic, but that is a different situation and the mods take good care to shut down the cat fights.

There are posters here who offer good advise and practice the golden rule while doing that, but there also those that feel free to do otherwise. If you do object when that line has been crossed, some will post that you have yet another flaw - you are becoming defensive (how dare you!:laugh

I try to be very thorough now when posting any content here. It's not pleasant when you come here innocently to share an experience or a thought about a topic or situation and are chastised instead. Hope you don't leave. This site has way more good people and content than bad.


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## Chip18 (Jan 11, 2014)

Zeusthegsd143 said:


> The other dog had tried to attack me before. I don't understand why the animal control never picks him up when I call. But I sure am proud of my boy.


You need a plan of action... (carry a big stick) have a well trained dog and constantly scan for "threats."
(others have said you don't hit the dog with the stick , you jam it down in front of the dog to block it's progress!)

Scan forward, scan behind you look for open garage doors, people in their front yards and around parked cars. Your dogs first line of defense is "you!"

If you're not engaged in criminal activity...your chances of being "attacked" by a "man stopper" are pretty remote! 

By and large what you will encounter are just "dogs." Some more dangerous and aggressive than others but still just dogs. These dogs don't don't give a crap about you! All they see is your dog! Getting in front of your dog breaks the charging dogs concentration they are not expecting to confront a human???

Having the aforementioned "well trained" dogs myself, if I step in front of my dogs, they "Stay." I can hold the leash or drop it, doesn't matter, they hold station while "daddy" deals with the situation!

Having my eyes and open ears open saved the life of my 12 week old Boxer/Pitt puppy. On a week he was walking on a loose leash beside me, I heard people screaming and a screen door slam. I turned towards the sound and from 20 yards away I saw the (usual suspect) sigh! :crazy::crazy:85lbs fawn colored pitt coming hard and fast aiming right for my puppy!!! Don't think so! I immediately swung my pup behind me and faced the dog down!! That dog's butt hole went thru his mouth he stopped so hard! Owner scooped the Pitt up, we went on our way! 

As they say...been there done that.




Zeusthegsd143 said:


> I don't understand why the animal control never picks him up when I call.


You can't control what other people do! You only have control over what you and your dog do! 



Zeusthegsd143 said:


> But I sure am proud of my boy.


As I said...you should be proud but getting lucky is not much of a plan!


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