I have a question about how to handle a reactive dog while dealing with loose advancing dog/s.

My understanding is that if a fight breaks out you have to be fair to your own dog and let him defend himself; that two dogs should never meet on a tight leash (if they have to meet for whatever reason); and that unwarrented aggression should be met with a correction; etc...

OK so, if you are being rushed by a loose dog and you are walking a reactive dog how do / how would others on the board handle their own dog in this situation while dealing with the advancing dog? For example, would you sit your dog and try and correct if he got up while the other is still advancing; choke up on the leash and hold the reactive dog at bay by the collar while you deal with the loose dog; prioritize the dilema and forget about your dog being reactive because the loose dog is a more pressing problem; etc...?

Just looking for a bit of brainstorming from everyone.

What about turning and going the other way?
Carrying pepper spray or walking stick?

I guess since I am supposed to be the pack leader my dogs should not be getting overly reactive in the first place, and it is my responsibility to make sure a dog fight does not break out, so I am going to do what I need to do to try and prevent an altercation.

YOU should threaten/warn the approaching dog. Place yourself between the dogs and verbally warn the dog off, if it doesn't leave, kick it.

It is your job as pack leader to defend your dog.

I think there are lots of threads on here of how to do that. Here is one recently posted about someone who was in that very situation.

http://www.leerburg.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=139663#Post139663

Ok I appreciate the advice but that's not exactly what I am looking for. I DO know the pack dynamic in the situation, and the duties of the leader.

What I am curious about is the best way to handle the leash, etc.. of a dog that is reactive to these types of situations. I know that these threads come up all the time and there is much advice on how to deal with the advancing dogs but never any mention of the dog being attacked.

My dogs know to get out of my way when I'm "fighting" off another dog.
If I see another dog charging at us, I immediately drop both my dogs' leashes, give them a WAIT and go all-out after the other dog. I don't bother with obedience at this point with my own dogs - no time anyway.

I would NEVER get a strangle hold on my own dogs during an attack - not only would this compromise my ability to fend off the attacking dog, but it would make my own dogs far more vulnerable and defensive.

Besides, there's usually no time to be correcting your dogs during a charge or an attack by another dog. Best to sort out any obedience or rank issues beforehand


My female shepherd would love nothing more than to jump into the situation and fight the other dog when threatened.
I have had to give her a few very solid prong corrections in the past (right after I found the Leerburg site ) to remind her that I'm in charge and that she's not to get involved unless I ask her to. She doesn't have the strongest pack drive, but the corrections got my point across after a few "sessions". She's now very easily controlled with voice commands alone in a dog-attack situation.
Fortunately, my male shepherd (who's twice her size) naturally has a very strong pack drive and has been raised properly (thanks to Ed Frawley's articles!), so he's never required a leash correction in a dog-attack scenario. He doesn't even get stressed - he just looks to me and watches as I deal with the other dog. Once the threat is over, he's all play again

This is just my experience anyway... If I wasn't 100% sure of my dogs' off leash control in such a situation, I would just walk with another person and have them hold my dogs while I fend off the oncoming dog.

Um, Angela, did you even read Brad's post?

He knows that, he was just asking for suggestions on leash-handling his OWN dog while he's dealing with the other dog.

Carol, I'm not sure that turning away when charged by another dog is a good idea. I know that if I did that with some of the aggressive (but fearful) dogs that I've encountered, that they would attack us from behind!
A strong offensive works better for those dogs...

(I'm not talking about starting a fight with an aggressive dog down the street, only dealing with a dog that's charging straight at you RIGHT NOW I don't go around LOOKING for fights, lol.)

For the record it's not my dog. Just looking for more trainer tools in the box ya know. But I do appreciate the opinions from all.

Please note that in my post I stated that I would do everything I had to do to avoid an altercation....this includes but is not limited to, pepper spray, yelling, kicking, asp, walking stick, and turning and leaving.
Depends on the advancing dog and how serious I think the confrontation will be, the more serious the dog is, the more serious I would get.......

Also, as far as lead handling, I step in front of my dogs and this is a "cue" to them to stay behind me....lucky for me my dogs pretty much ignore other dogs unless they are attacked by them. I reach down and take up some of the slack, but do not put pressure on my dogs, if I were to put pressure on then they would sense that and may possibly act on what is "going down the lead" so to speak.....

Thanks, Mike. But the direction of this post is still going in the opposite direction that I had intended. I still appreciate your opinion though.