What would you have done?

[e.rigby]

Here's a section I was hoping to never have to post in! Well, at least not about my GSD... I do have a aggressive dog, but his behavior is being managed (plus, he's 25lbs -- which makes handling him a gabillion times easier!)

So just two hours ago I was at the park with a friend and her grandchild (who is 6 or 7). She has 3 Aussies, though she only had one with her today (and I just had Virgil with me). So it's her, the grandchild, me, and two dogs.

The grandchild was at the play ground and my friend and I were in the baseball field (right next to the play ground) letting the dogs play. They were ok with each other, have been off leash together before, but today they were just playing by themselves (chasing balls - each had his own).

So about 15 minutes in, the grandchild comes into the field and wants to throw the balls for the dogs. Virgil thinks this is awesome, and is chasing the ball she throws for him. However, the Aussie isn't playing ball anymore. As the grandchild comes near Virgil the Aussie walks in with his head lowered and lunges toward Virgil biting at him on his face (only one bite actually punctured -- so the attack was more so to bully him away). However, that bite caused Virgil to retaliate and all the sudden there was a dog fight. (this all happened INCREDIBLY fast). I saw it in slow motion and would have redirected everything but I'm just not that quick.

The 'fight' sounded and looked worse than it really was. Mostly scruff bites and posturing and noise. However, as soon as I saw and opening (again, everything happened so very quickly) I went in and grabbed the hind end of my dog and pulled him away. The Aussie was still trying to go after my dog. I was trying to instruct the Aussie's owner to grab the hind end of her dog but she was panicking and wasn't confident enough to really go in. The Aussie broke away and then came back and was about the jump on my dog and grab the back of his neck when Virgil grabbed his knee/leg area. It was at this point that the Aussie started to panic and it was at this point the Aussies owner came in and grabbed her dog's collar (not a great move, as she ended up getting bitten by her dog) and from there it became a tug of war to get the dogs apart because if you try to take something from Virgil he tends to grab it tighter. He's also not much into re-gripping. Anyway, that moment was the only real moment that either dog really 'hurt' the other. I eventually got Virgil to release (again, everything is happening in the blink of an eye almost) but the Aussie ended up with a puncture wound on his hock and bruises (not punctures) on his inner leg area.

The Aussie wanted to keep going after my dog, but once I had Virgil away he was back to being attentive on me.

Once the grandchild left the picture, the Aussie was fine.

So the Aussie was either being protective (though my guess is the Aussie was being jealous) of the grandchild and Virgil.

Virgil was attacked, got cut up a little bit, and fought back.

Not a horrible fight (though I'm sure most people would have thought the dogs were going to kill each other).

I'm not sure how else to have handled it on my end. I can only control one dog at a time, and I wanted to get my dog away (safely) but the other dog wasn't relenting.

Since Virgil didn't back down, would you consider him intolerant or acting appropriately for the situation?

The Aussie is a big Aussie (25inches at the withers), and very overweight... so they were about the same size.

Considering the size and power of both dogs, no one was seriously hurt and even when Virgil had a hold of the other dog, he didn't do that much damage. I think the human equation of all this caused that part to be worse.

I'm a little shaken up right now, I tend to remain calm when things are happening like that, but then just crash after.



Vigil is the GSD (of course) and the red merle is the Aussie in question.

[fuzzybunny]

I don't think he acted inappropriately at all. The dog bit him. I think fighting back is a natural response when you're being attacked, IMO. I think you handled the situation well too. I don't see what else you could have done.

[e.rigby]

I guess my biggest concern was restraining Virgil when another dog was still loose and on the attack; I felt like a pretty bad person for holding my dog while he was in a situation to get hurt -- yet at the same time I didn't want him to do any serious damage to the other dog.

After everything, I put him in a down stay so I could go check on the other dog and he gave me lots of calming signals which made me feel crappy -- at no point did I yell at him or physically correct him. With aggression, that kind of behavior doesn't work and tends to just fuel the situation. I'm so humanizing right now, but I feel like he thought I was letting him get attacked by holding him back.

When my little dogs have been attacked, they will defend themselves, but they are typically the underdog in the fight. So I've always gone to the other dog to separate that dog from hurting my dogs. (I've learned my lessons the hard way about dog parks) Anyway, I don't worry about my dogs continuing the fight because they are small and have always stopped once the threat is gone. I feel now that Virgil would have stopped had I gotten the other dog away from him instead of holding him away.

He definitely wasn't the underdog in the conflict.. but I'm looking at him now and he's definitely sore and moving stiffly and I feel rather crummy about everything that happened

After the fight I had my friend leash her dog and we walked them together and did a few commands where they could be rewarded for obedience. The Aussie was perfectly fine with Virgil and Virgil had no negative reactions toward the Aussie once the kid was out of the picture.

[fgshepherd]

I don't blame you one bit for being shaken up by the events. I think you did the right thing by removing your dog. He got bitten in the face, if it weren't for your quick response, he could have gotten bit in his eye or tore his nose or lip. Who knows what made the Aussie go haywire, dogs are dogs. But you did right by removing your dog from the situation. I know, you feel really sad and crummy, but your pup still loves you and all is well in his world again!

[koda girl]

Sounds like you did the best you could in a bad situation. I do have a question. Will you let Virgil play with the Aussie again? The reason I ask is because yesterday a dog my dog plays with all the time found food at the park. When my dog went to sniff the food the other dog attacked. We also had a hard time separating them. My dog left with a chunk taken out of her face. I will post a picture. But now I don't know if I should let her play with this dog again. What if next week there are chips or something else on the ground? So I would like to know if you plan to let your dog play with the Aussie again?

[e.rigby]

As of right now, I'm not going to let Virgil off leash around the Aussie. Since I'm friends with the owner, I will be going out for walks with her to let them get together under structured supervision. I don't think I trust the Aussie around Virgil just yet because I'm not sure if this is the start of something bad or if it's something that happened because all the wrong pieces were in place at that particular moment in time. If the Aussie acted aggressively out of jealously, I really want to know what causes him to get so jealous. He's never displayed such behavior with any of my smaller dogs -- so maybe he feels as though Virgil is real competition :/

I think I'd recommend the same thing for you. I wouldn't keep the dogs apart, but maybe have some get togethers where they will both be on leash. Maybe going for a walk or a hike? If the other dog was resource guarding, it very well can happen again; unless you can insure there are no resources around then it might not be completely safe for your girl. I think it's more important for the owner of the other dog to work to fix that dogs problems... resource guarding can be scary stuff (the jealousy the Aussie was displaying was resource guarding as well -- just with a person, not food)

[e.rigby]

Originally Posted by fgshepherd

I don't blame you one bit for being shaken up by the events. I think you did the right thing by removing your dog. He got bitten in the face, if it weren't for your quick response, he could have gotten bit in his eye or tore his nose or lip. Who knows what made the Aussie go haywire, dogs are dogs. But you did right by removing your dog from the situation. I know, you feel really sad and crummy, but your pup still loves you and all is well in his world again!

Thanks

I also think your right, he was his typically goofy self tonight and earlier today we met a new dog and he did great with him! So that made me feel a lot better too.