Northern California Babies

NBR - Unleashed dog came after my friend & I

While out on an evening walk.  We had our dogs (my two, her one) and I saw the loose dog in the front yard.  Before I had the chance to get out "that dog is not leashed" it was out and attacking our dogs.  I was fumbling with my gloves, trying to get to my pepper spray.  My friend was screaming.  The owners came running out, got the dog off ours, and then proceeded to cuss and scream at us.  I finally (controlling myself) got to the point of finding out if they were putting the dog away (since we had to pass back by that point to get home) and the guy apologized.  He clearly had been drinking.  I've walked past that house at least 300 times, and never have seen a dog there.  It was super scary.  Now I will always have my pepper spray out on the ready.

But for others, who might encounter the same thing, I asked my sister (manager of animal care at a zoo, and an animal trainer) what I should do about my dogs in that situation.  I was worried that by pulling on their leashes, I'm restraining them, not allowing them to defend themselves.  She said probably the best thing to do would be to drop the leash so they could properly defend themselves.  So scary...

One other thing, my husband posted a legal blog about it, in case anyone wants to read the legal aspects of it.  Luckily, our three dogs managed to defend themselves, and it was all over so fast, no one was injured.  But here is a link to his post if anyone wants to read about legal rights in the situation: https://cocolawblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/its-dog-eat-dog-world.html

Just wanted to put it out there, in case it happens to anyone else. 

Re: NBR - Unleashed dog came after my friend & I

  • Yeah, she and I talked both ways.  About hanging on to the leash, so they don't both run away and keep fighting.  Or letting go so they aren't restrained.  She was saying that she had just seen a dog that had been attacked at the vet and had sustained pretty substantial injuries:(  (Little dog vs big dog.)  I will just resort to my pepper spray I guess...

    It's terrible because I love that walking route too!  It's well lit at night, a perfect distance.  I thought about going back to the guy's house the next day and attempting a sober conversation with him.  He's always been friendly when I walk past with my girls in the stroller.   

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  • OMG, the same thing happened to us a couple weeks ago in our neighborhood. I saw a dog (pit bull) not on a leash and coming towards us. I admit, I was scared b/c its a pit even though I know there are nice ones and try not to label them all as bad. The pit started after our shih tzu, twice. It was super scary. We avoid that area of our neighborhood now.
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  • CelynCelyn member
    I'm sorry that happened to you.  I've been in that situation - with my small dog vs a group of loose dogs (we were in Spain where leash laws are non-existent and packs of dogs roam).  My instinct was the pull him up into my arms and kick at the other dogs.  In doing that I put myself in danger, but leaving him on the ground would have been certain death for him.  Carrying pepper spray is a good idea (just remember not to spray into the wind... :)
  • I think that you should call animal control and report the incident. Here's why. My sister was living in LA and was walking their dog on a leash. A similar thing to you happened. This dog came charging at their dog. Before her husband had time to react this dog had bit their dog and bit his hand. Animal control wouldn't do anything because this was the first reported incident. This dog may have charged or bit other dogs or people and because it wasn't reported, animal control had its hands tied. So my vote is to report it so that this dog and dog owner has a record of this incident so if this dog is allowed to do this to someone else, that the dog can be taken away and re-homed with someone who will properly care for it and train it. It couldn't hurt to call. I'm so tired of irresponsible dog owners.

    BTW... my newest pet peeve is dog owers who get the extra long leashes and allow their dog to run all the way across my lawn, almost all the way to my front door. I'm not sure how many feet that is but it's more than a car length! The sidewalks are for exercise... not everyone's entire property!



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