Last night while on a walk I was charged by a territorial Rot that got out of his fenced back yard. What should I have done?

Question

Mr. Frawley,

I emailed you last week about my 4-year-old bitch out of one of your Orfey litters. I want your opinion on the following matter:

My wife and I walk in our neighborhood several times a week. We usually have Nicki, our Leerburg shepherd with us. We have on more than one instance had a dog loose in the neighborhood, some people I guess just do not have the knowledge to realize what can happen if a dog gets loose. I have always had the fear of what would happen if we met a 50+ pound dog loose with him feeling we are in his territory. Well Sunday night on our normal route it happened.

At one corner house there is a Rot, probably about 100 - 110 pounds in size, behind about a 3 foot chain link fence. He always runs the fence and really makes a lot of noise growling, huffing and barking. Needless to say this is not a dog I would walk up and open the gate and say lets see if he really means what he is saying to us. Well on his usual run up and down the fence the gate came open, I think his shoulder hit it and it just opened. He came out of the backyard like a bullet, I don't think my Golden Retriever runs after a ball as hard as he came out of that fence. My first reaction was to let Nicki meet him with the full 6 foot of leash I had, but realizing that in a dogfight even the winner will probably need several stitches I kept her within about 2 feet in front of me. When the Rot was charging Nicki was ready, and even tried to head him off, but could not get very far with me holding her leash tight. When the Rot got within about 6 feet he slowed and then slowly walked up, he seemed to not be sure he wanted to get very close to us; Nicki had not made a sound yet. I figured he was charging because of our dog but he does not act any different even if we walk without one of our dogs, so it's really hard to say why he charged. Nicki was not intimidated at all, she was at the end of all the leash I had given and never said a word, however, the hair was up on her back and she never took one step backward except for where I pulled her back if she got close enough to get bit.

I told my wife to get the people in the house and we circled so we were between the Rot and his own house so if he decided he did not like her approaching his house I could let Nicki occupy him a little. He did run in on Nicki once and they got together once, Nicki jumped and grabbed him by the neck from the side and although I don't think she actually bit him he did back off and would then not get within about 3 - 4 feet of us. At this point a kid ran around the corner and grabbed the dog. As soon as he started pulling him back the dog began acting like he was the toughest thing on the planet again. The kid?s father came out and about the only thing he said was how did he get out, not I'm sorry or anything.

I feel we were lucky to get out without a pretty good dog fight and my wife and I are going to start walking a different route through the area to avoid that house. My wife asked me why I did not kick the dog when he got close enough because I am a 3rd degree Black Belt and can really put a lot of force in my kicks. I told her that I did not kick at him because I did not want to miss, slip and end up on the ground, if I knew anything it was that. I checked Nicki to see if she had any cuts or marks, I found none and did not feel that I needed to take her to the vet so we just came home.

My question is this: What is your advice in a situation like this?

I did not want to let him and Nicki just fight because I knew he had probably 50+ pounds on her, and even if she won I would have had to most likely get her some stitches. However, I would have totally turned her loose before I let that dog get very close to my wife or me. I have seen Nicki get after my 90 pound Golden and have no doubt that the Rot, even at 100+ pounds would have had his hands full with her and she never once tried to hide behind me. It was me that was pulling her back so that they did not fight, except for the one time he got a little closer than I wanted him with his attitude, and he did not seem to want to get that close again.

I am really glad that we had Nicki that night and did not have to deal with that dog without her as protection. She never did even bark the whole time, she only growled when she jumped and grabbed him by the neck. When he backed off she only did that deep in the chest growl. I was a little surprised because when they were pulling the Rot back he was making all kinds of verbal threats, and Nicki was just watching him not making a sound. My feeling were that this dog was not near as mean up close as he was at a distance, because the way he charged out of the yard I thought we had a REAL PROBLEM. My wife says thanks for breeding such a tough dog that was not intimidated at all. We?re both glad we had her with us.

Doug

Accepted Answer

Let's begin by stating the obvious - you were very, very lucky. Until someone has seen or been involved in a full blown attack they will never fully understand how scary this is or how dangerous it is for someone who does not know how to deal with the situation.

The first thing that needs to happen is you need to call the police and insist that a police incident be written and put on file. The reason is that this needs to be documented so if it continues to happen the police can take action. One only needs to read about the case in which I testified against the owner of 3 Rots that killed a young boy. If the police refuse, then contact the District Attorney’s office. The fact is, contact was made no matter how minor.

You did the right thing in freezing and facing the dog - never turn and run, this only triggers the attacker’s prey drive to attack. Keeping your dog close to you was also the right thing to do. It would have been a mistake to let your female go or even let it out to the end of the leash - that would probably have started a dog fight. I would have probably screamed “NO” at the dog and told it to go home in as deep and rough of a voice as possible.

I would suggest carrying a can of pepper gas with you during your walks. If you have to use it, try and get the spray right into the nose and eyes of the dog, even if it means that you are going to have to spray your dog along with the attacker. When you spray, empty the can on the dog - don't just give it a little puff.

The best solution is doing what you are going to do, walk on a different street in the future.