scary situation

I do not think you over reacted at all.  Pit bull mix breed or not, ANY dog you do not know could potentially present a threat to you or your dogs. 

I would be very scared!

I don't think you over reacted, any loose dog you encounter with yours on a walk could mean a fight. I HATE loose dogs when I'm out walking my dogs and I don't care what breed they are. I have had an ACD try to attack one of my girls, even after I threw my bike at him and kicked at him.His owner was just walking along calling the dog the whole time - never came over to get him! The last multi dog walk I took a sheltie came charging across the road at me and four dogs - Jora (GSD), Jagger (Belgian), Ziggy (Corgi) and a 3 month old puppy I was babysitting. I had to have Jora and Jagger lie down and hold Ziggy and the puppy behind me while some little kid came running across the street after the dog. And one time when I still had a male GSD some lady's Dal came running down her drive way in to the street while she was carying stuff in the house She yelled to me "it's ok she's friendly!". And when I was biking with the dogs - couldn't go more than two houses without someone's dog charging at me and me having to stop (only because if the dog was going to grab mine, I didn't want to be on the bike). UGH!!!

 My solution is that I'm, ordering some DirectSTOP/Spray Sheild (http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?PGGUID=30E07263-7B6A-11D5-A192-00B0D0204AE5) and will use it without hesitation on loose dogs that come up to mine on walks. My hope is that if people think their dog just got pepper sprayed, maybe they will think twice about letting them run loose. Until I get it, I've not walked my dogs in the neighborhood at all - too many loose dogs.

That is what my husband told me to get. But I am thinking that this dog did not seem to have too much connectivity going on between the ears, if ya know what i mean...And if I sprayed him, it may push him into mobile mode- at me and my huskies...I am telling you, I had a vision of horror when this occured.  The things that you hear in the news do not help...How a pit will latch on and passers by cannot unclench the teeth inspite of all kinds of physical duress put upon this kind of dog.  Plus I have my own little handicap, my boys short fuse when another dog approaches his sister....

I walked by purposefuly on the way home and in consecutive days to get over the fear and also to (foolishly perhaps) see if that dog was still there, ...He has not been there.  I am meaning to speak with the guy and tell him about what can happen with town meeting having this kind of crap blown all out when we expose our dogs to these kinds of sitches...In the news is not good for this !

I'd only be scared if the dog showed some form of aggression or was tensed for a fight.  But then I'm the one who will yell "Hey you ... whatcha doing out here?  YOU need to go home!  Now ... go ON .... HOME ... where do you live?  My boy doesn't like other dogs so I'm just standing here.  What ARE you waiting for.  GO ON HOME ... Hey mister?  Is this YOUR dog?  No .. honestly I don't really care how "ok" he is ... MY dog is protective of my female here, we're leashed and your dog isn't.  Please come and get him and contain him??  I just got out of a town meeting and there are at least 12 pages of laws with YOUR name on them ... shall I go ahead and list them for you while you stand there?  Oh .. you're coming?  Well good -- I would like to complete this walk before  Christmas, 2008 ... and ... yes I do talk a lot ... thank you very much ..."

It's amazing -- when I open my mouth and start talking to strange dogs like I'm Aunt Callie from around the block usually they turn tail and go home ... probably just to shut me up!  It does work. 

 If YOU get scared, your male will feel compelled to kick into protective mode and that then spells trouble.  I never let myself get scared ... not ever ... not of a dog.  Mad?  Yep.  And frankly I've had some really aggressive dogs decide the big lady just ain't worth taking on.  They may think they're angry dog or aggressive ... but dang ...not only is SHE mean ... meaner than ME ... she talks a lot too ... she'd probably talk me to death while I was waiting for HER to bite me ... OUTA HERE!!!  I've never had it fail to work.

 I don't think you were over reacting.  Loose dogs are one of the reasons I won't walk Kirby in my particular neighborhood without another person walking with me.  About 50%  of the time I am bound to walk upon at least one loose  dog.  Although I live in South Florida, I  live in  community  where everyone has at least one acre of land.  Sadly  it seems like so many people think the perfect thing to guard rot in their large backyard is one or multiple big dogs.  Naturally these bored dogs have plenty of time to spare figuring out how to get out of their yards.  The last time I walked, four large dogs decided to pop their fence open and charge Kirby.  I really thought that was going to be the end the way they came in.  There was no pause, no barking at that point, just four dogs running full tilt all eyes locked on Kirby like he was a juicy steak.  Honestly I think the only thing that saved my dog's life was I happened to be walking with my father and an extra extremely loud shout (we had both already been trying firm go home/stop commands) and a foot stomp from him stopped them at the last minute.  If it had just been my 96 pounds of me I don't think I would have had a prayer at getting them to stop and with four dogs attacking at once I wouldn't have even been able to try and body block Kirby.  Now a days if I don't have a walking partner I drive five minutes over to a neighboring development to walk Kirby because their community isn't tolerant of off leash dogs so you almost never see any.

Nah, I don't think you over reacted. Ya just never know...

A few months ago i was walking Wyatt and a small black and white dog (maybe 20 lbs) ran over and had a solid stance while staring at Wyatt. There were some little girls across the street that were crying, so i decided to take the dog back to them. It was too small for me to bend down and walk it by its collar, so i put Wyatt's leash on that dog and walked Wyatt by his collar. A few seconds later that dog launched an attack on Wyatt. Obviously i know a 20 lb dog is not gonna hurt my beast, but i freaked out. I picked up up in the air by his collar, causing the little girls to scream more. Loose dogs on a walk=bad news.

The most important thing to do in this situation is to remain as calm as possible. If you get tense, your dogs will pick up and on it, and so will the loose dog. Stay calm - as hard as it seems. I would not pepper spray a dog, unless it was displaying signs on aggression. I wouldn't want to make a calm situation turn into a dangerous one. Do you know where this dog came from? Are you able to talk to the owners at all? Your neighbor seemed to know him - next time, can't you ask that he come grab the dog?

Emotionally, I do think you overreacted. I've done that too! And still do, sometimes. I'm not pointing fingers. :)

I think what you did was totally appropriate. Much better to have someone get control over a loose dog than risk a bad encounter. There is nothing wrong with caution!

I do think you have a fear of pitbull type dogs, and this led you to feel freaked out. The only problem with that (besides your own comfort) is that as someone else mentioned,  dogs pick up on tense people and you could accidentally start a a fight.

I wouldn't have sprayed the dog in the situation you experienced, but having something like direct stop on you will help you FEEL calmer. I know that I maintain my cool 200% better when I have direct stop or something similar on me. I've never needed to use it, but I believe that having it has helped me prevent problems because I feel calmer and not as helpless.

Nah, you didn't overreact.  I feel VERY nervous when I see a loose dog outside of it's house.  It's not like the dog park where it's neutral territory, plus isn't a dog staring that intently is a threat IMO. 

One time I was walking and saw a Golden Retriever outside in a drivway not on a leash.  It looks perfectly friendly and as I was walking by just kind of said "hi bud" to the dog and it started growling. Sophie's hair starting standing up and we moved on quickly as he was staring as we walked away, obviously protecting it's territory.  Ugh, sends chills up my spine!

erica1989

The most important thing to do in this situation is to remain as calm as possible. If you get tense, your dogs will pick up and on it, and so will the loose dog. Stay calm - as hard as it seems. I would not pepper spray a dog, unless it was displaying signs on aggression. I wouldn't want to make a calm situation turn into a dangerous one. Do you know where this dog came from? Are you able to talk to the owners at all? Your neighbor seemed to know him - next time, can't you ask that he come grab the dog?

i'm glad you said it because i was gonna lol in situations like this i just keep walking and reassure my dogs. but..... there arent many loose dogs out there that worry me when it comes to my dogs. i just make sure to keep mine focussed and seem as unconcerned about the stray as possible. its likely he is just looking after "his territory" and keeping an eye on you guys until you left. its likely he was friendly, but if your dogs acted at all hostile - read over protective- that could change in a heart beat.

dogslife

The things that you hear in the news do not help...How a pit will latch on and passers by cannot unclench the teeth inspite of all kinds of physical duress put upon this kind of dog.  Plus I have my own little handicap, my boys short fuse when another dog approaches his sister....

 Yuck, sorry you had to deal with a loose dog on your walk. That is always nerve wracking.

In terms of the expression of the dogs, I have a pit and his relaxed expression can come across as intimidating, even when he is harmlessly watching something. If he is starting to get even slightly DA you can tell by his tail carriage and body posture. (His tail gets curled all the way over his back like a Nordic breed.)

That being said, I consider any loose dog dangerous, simply because it's safer for me and my dogs if I act calm but assume the loose dog is a total kujo. I typically do what Kallie does, and if I am not comfortable, I turn and walk away.

If it happens again, you could drop a note in the mailbox to let the owner know you walk by regularly with a dog that can be protective and you'd hate for anything to happen if the owner's dog was off leash. Make a copy and keep it in your files. You are being more than nice, by giving fair warning that the other dog is at risk by being loose, as well as all the dangerous dog laws.

The reports that pits clamping on is media hype.

Hope that info is helpful and you don't continue to have problems with loose dogs in the neighborhood!

 

You all have great responses!  I think if you actually saw the sitch we were in you would have recognized how serious this really was potentially.  This dog did have the stance, and the glare. He did not move an inch when I spoke and my two dogs were quiet and stayed right with me here.  There wasn't any tension in my dogs. Not at all.In fact I think that they trust me to not put them into dangerous/ hostile situations and this helps maintain the dogs' composure...Just as my other dogs before these two. 

I have never felt like this where I felt I did not have enough tools/ability to know that I could protect me and my pups. I usually can read a dogs face much better, but this guy had very little expression...Just a glare and standing still.  I have these kinds of dogs next door and they are easy for me to read.  My shouts to go home and I did talk quite a bit in hopes to keep him from approaching esp, my male!! That would have been ww3.  If I had only one dog it would have been feeling far more manageable, you know what I mean??  I had no free hands- but that trash barrel which was empty got a good kick from me and made a ton of noise, any other dog would have high tailed it off from all of the wracket I was creating, but not this dog. He did not move a inch!

I have been in these situations before and I have always felt secure in my abilities to get on w/out any damage. Not this time though.  The potential was not just born out of fear.  I am not like that.  Sure the pit additive did give me an little extra pang of anxiety, but just how he stood and did not move, like a dog ready for anything.  Not good!!

I did what I usually do - waited for this neighbor to come out and get his friends' dog.  He did not come out right away but I demanded that he did.  If he wasn't there, I most likely would have turned and walked away in the other direction...But if I had to do that it may have looked like we were running away to this dog. I really do not know what this would have turned out as...I know my male would be able to defend, but the jaws on this pit mix pup were large.   It could have gotten ugly in a hurry.

I intend on talking with him when I see him again as I said before.  He hasn't been around but I do feel that he may have told his friend about this as I did say that if he did not get this dog, I would call animal control!...I was a wreck and this man knows me and that I am not like that...He said to the dog "shes just nervous"  "it is ok" which was good talk for him to do. But he doesn't know the nature of dogs all that well..I know this from conversing with him on many other occasions.  This does not mean he can't learn though~  lol.

Every person and dog should have the right to walk safely in their neighborhood. Even if this dog was nice the dogs on leash could be leash reactive, overly protective or even fearful. Loose dogs, nice or not is not ok.

Citronella spray!

dogslife

What are your thoughts on this? Do you think I over reacted? Do you think think it was wise of me to holler for help and get the guy to get his dog? what would you have done.

No I think your fear was within reason,  I have 9 dogs in my own home, these are dogs who live together and love each other ..MOST of the time... This afternoon we had a really bad thunderstorm come up very quickly, the 3 boys ar ein the kitchen where my daughter was making sandwitches,  Lights go out and bingo bango the oldest adult nueter male and the second youngest intact male are ready to duke it out big time, a second nuetered male tried to weigh in so now I have 3 adult dogs battleing , my daughhter trying to seperate them , The Hubs standing stupidly in the hallway yelling Knock it off... yeah like that was going to do the trick, one of my granduaghter sis a few feet away and yes I have a back injury and yes I knew this was dumb but I picked up a sticky ball paddle ( suction cups on one side flat on the other) and weighed in . My dogs are NEVER hit, I don't don't believe in it. But I smacked each on the Butt with the flat side of the paddle making a very loud noise and also a significant sting I am sure , everyone tucked tail and split in different directions. Bear in mind THESE dogs live together and love each other. They feed next to each other, they play together endlessly , they have spent much of thier lives together.

So let's think a strange dog, unleashed making a confrontational eye contact with your dogs....  Nope I would have yelled bloodly murder and kicked every can in sight to drive the dog away. I also would have sent a letter to the caretaker that they will be dealing with animal control should the dog be unleashed again outside of the fenced yard.  It is sad that they are risking the dog's health and future because they want to "trust" an animal that doesn't even belong to them.  And it has little to do with breed, the eye contact is enough to assure me this dog would have been a probable threat.

Bonita of Bwana