[Annemarie]

So, we were on the beach this morning, playing ball and having a grand old time.

We were just getting ready to leave when a lady who had just gotten there with her beautiful GSD asked if I had any poop bags as she had forgotten hers. She heads towards us with her boy, on leash, both mine were also on leash. Next thing her boy attacks Thorai, she drags him off but he is really upset, snarling and growling really aggressively. She assures me that he has never done that before and that he is really good around other dogs?? She puts him in a sit and we take off.

We had just gotten about 10 feet from them when I hear her yell. Next thing he is in front of us and jumps on Chara and has her by the neck. I was helpless, I was trying to hold Chara and try to keep Thorai away as I'm sure he would protect his sister. The lady gets behind her dog and drags him off. Whew, scary. She is clearly upset and keeps telling me that he has never done that before at this point she has him pinned to the sand and he is fighting, snarling, growling......... I have never seen aggression like that before.

So my question is, can I believe her that he is not aggressive???? Can a dog turn into a demon for no apparent reason?? My guys were not acting dominate or giving him any reason to freak out.

 

[GSDOwner2008]

If she is Alpha rolling, I have heard that it can enstill fear in a dog, and they can attack randomly out fear. He might be a fear biter and saw your two dogs as a threat.

 

[DFrost]

If it's purely fear, her dog wouldn't have chased the other one down. She just has a dog fighter and needs to control it.

DFrost

 

[chuckstar158]

Are your babies okay though?

 

[Kayos and Havoc]

I don't believe her........

Hope your two are okay!

 

[grmnshpd21]

By the way it sounds, I doubt her dogs have never done that before. It may have not esculated to the point it did with your dogs, but I'm sure there were signs there that her dog is aggressive, she just either chooses not to acknowledge her dog has issues with other dogs or truly is oblivious. I'm sure she will say the same thing to the next person it happens to.

 

[Maedchen]

Originally Posted By: KathyWI don't believe her........

Ditto- esp. considering that he went after both of your dogs, minutes apart!
Scary!

 

[Annemarie]

My babies are fine, I did think Chara was injured by the way he latched unto her but I think her prong collar saved her.

Why would a fear aggressive dog come after us? Would he not stay with his owner?

I do find it hard to believe that a non aggressive dog could just flip like that and why would she approach us if she knew what would happen. Very strange.

I wish I had put my babies in the car and gone back to talk to her but at that point I just wanted out of there.

 

[pupresq]

It looks absolutely horrific the way dogs latch onto each other's throats when they fight - like they're trying to kill the other or something but actually the throat is a pretty socially appropriate target - there's a lot of skin, it's thickly furred, and dogs can settle disputes usually without injury. I've found most of the dog fight damage I see is either to the people trying to break it up or caused by the people when they pull the dogs apart. Still, very scary and you have my sympathy!!!

I've posted this on a couple other threads but it bears repeating - fear aggressive dogs can and do instigate fights. Yes, intuitively, you'd think if they had an escape route they'd take it and yes, many of them do, but there are still quite a lot of fearful dogs who both provoke and move towards threats while still acting out of fear. Think of the behavior of snarly little toy breeds. That's fear. Doesn't look like it but 9 times out of 10 it is.

My guess would be that if this lady is telling the truth, what she means is "my dog has never actually attacked other dogs" but that she's either not telling about or completely oblivious to 100 other signs that her dog has a problem relating to other dogs. To give her the benefit of the doubt, she may have just gotten the dog and (from the sounds of it) isn't all that experienced. She knows she has a problem now anyway and I hope she finds competent help!

Glad your pups were okay!

 

[selzer]

Looking backward, I would fill out a report with AC in the least.

My sister has a person at her workplace that has attacked at least a dozen different people at different times. I am talking about bites where the skin is broken. The dog is a dangerous dog. However, she pays people off to get them not to press charges, make a report or sue her. Nice to have that kind of dough. One of her comments has been that they will have to take him away from her, because she will not be able to euthanize him. Forget training for the moment here, with this ditz I do not think that would be a viable solution.

Some people do not realize that there is a problem until it is official. And as bad as reports of dog attacks are for our breed, the next attack this dog makes, he may kill another dog or bite someone that is protecting their dog. Then you have a bite to a human.

I do not know or care if the woman is lying. Generally, I like to give people the benefit of the doubt and be forgiving when they are apologetic. However, the seriousness of these attacks seems to warrent more than that.

I hope your puppers are ok. It is hard enough walking two at once, but when such a bad experience happens, it takes some time sometimes to get our critters back to where they were prior. We can work so hard, taking them to classes, and socializing them, and it only takes seconds for them to become completely wary of every other dog out there.