My six year old escaped serious injury when our neighbors chow attacked him while he was riding his bike to the park.
Thank god he did not panic and did not move.
The park is one block from our house and I was at the park playing basketball, when I heard a terrified scream. I immediately realized it was my son and stepped out into the road to see what the problem was.There was my son laying on the ground with the neighbors chow mix standing over the top of him growling at him.
My son had curled in a ball with his hands over his head face down as if he were in a tornado drill.
I walked over as calmly as I could and squatted down and called the dog to me and he came wagging his tail.I told my son to get up slowly and to walk home as his mom was standing at the end of our yard waiting for him.
I took the dog back to the owners house, and i might add it was very hard for me to keep from killing this dog right there with my bare hands, but I took him up on the porch and knocked on the door.When nobody answered I started to walk of the porch to see if the owners were in back of the house. As I got off the steps his dog starts to growl and bark at me everytime my back is to it.He did this twice and that was all the encouragement I needed and I kicked the dog as hard as I could about 10 feet airborne. I wish you all could have seen it as it was beautiful.
As luck would have it the owner of the dog came out of the house as his dog flew past his head straight up on the porch.He was very upset and I explained that his dog had just attacked my six year old and that he needed to do something about it.
It ended up with the owner of the dog and I in a heated argument, and the owner trying to tell me his dog was just overprotective.
Anyway my son escaped without any injuries and I can attribute most of that to proper education he has learned form me, which alot I have learned from this website.
So a big thank you to all who post here and for all the info is on leerburgs website.Without it I think that my son would have been in big trouble.
As a side note the local police issued the man a ticket for dog at large, after my wife called them to come and pull me off him.
It helps to be the best friend of the local police officer.

I guess I should add that I proved that the dog was not protective at all, which we all know was what I was trying to do when I had the owner in a headlock.

Eric I am so sorry to hear about this...I hope your son is okay, and hopeful he isn't fearful of dogs after this...smart kid to curl up like that-you have taught him well <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> Sadly enough my fiance's cousin was killed by a dog attack, it was a wolf/chow mix, and the city they live in had prior run ins with the dog. The dog was suppose to be put down, but the city over looked it. The end result was a dog that was playing nice w/the neighborhood kids one minute and killed my cousin-in-law the next. I sm sure I don't have to tell you but I will anyway..keep close tabs on the dog, make sure that he hasn't done this in the past..if there is proof that he is a danger to society force the issue and have him put down before someone does get killed, and see what can be done about the owners negligence.

I give ou alot of credit for controlling yourself like you did-I would have killed the dog, and went off on the owner.

Good luck and tell your son good job! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

Responcible pet owners should know where their dogs are at all times. And if a child has been threaten, he should have heeded your message and taken his dog in the house. A dog running around off leash unattended could be as the case proved an liability and a threat to the entire neihborhood. Imagine if the child was not taught to tuck and roll, if he scream and fail his arms and legs the dog would/might have attacked.

Any parent would get upset if you were kind enough to bring him back a live dog after threatening your child and this guy says something "Like his dog is just being over protective". I mean that type of lack of reasoning would open a can of "A%% whipping" just because he was so ignorant. Good thing everything worked out, hopefully that ticket will make him control and leash his dog. If not the next kid or Old lady might get hurt.

If he can't control his dog, it should taken away, if caught without tags and off leash.
<img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif" alt="" />

I can tell you that that guy would be lucky to escape me kicking him halfway across his yard if he copped an attitude with me after his piece of shit chow attacked my son. It does not suprise me to hear that this was a chow. I am not a big fan of that breed. Especially the dreaded "chow mix."

You showed incredible restraint. I commend you for your self control. This guy should have kissed your ass and shown a great deal of concern for your son. Your a bigger man than me cause my wife would be bailing my ass out of jail and that guy would be in the hospital having my size 11 shoe removed out of his ass.

You know I think the thing that upset me the most is that not one time did he even ask if my son was ok. My wife saw the whole thing and the dog just absolutely ran into the road and slammed him off his bike.Then when my boy was covering up the dog stood over him growling and slobbering all over him.
When he came out,he was mad as hell that i kicked his dog and that the dog would not really have bit my son, it was just trying to scare him.It was just a little overprotective.When I said that a dog like that could kill that little six year old and what about the next kid that rides or walks down the road, he replied that maybe we should not walk by his house.That is when the guy ate grass. I did not hit him but I wanted to I just roughed him up a little.
My parting words to him were if I ever saw his dog loose againg I would kill it first and then come over and beat his ass.

Another example of people getting a dog they don't understand and aren't willing or able to handle.
I have a "dreaded chow mix" and she's one tough cookie. They are not a dog for the tender or faint-hearted. For my daughter and I, she's a great dog - we have some real concerns for safety and she's one hell of a watch dog and did not hesitate to protect me when it was necessary a few months back. Seeing her in action was amazing - speed and power I didn't know she had. I knew she had the attitude, though!
A dog like my Ginger should never be owned by anyone who is not prepared to provide strong, firm leadership at all times, train obedience constantly, and socialize them like crazy. Almost every day, I hear compliments on her behavior, but I am well aware that she could easily have been just like your neighbors dog. She is a sweet dog with our friends and family - willing to accept new people and new situations, but we trained for that - its not an accident.
These folks shouldn't have a chow - its not fair to the neighborhood or the dog.
Thankfully, your son wasn't hurt and you weren't jailed <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> Is there any way for you and local authorities could put pressure on for this family to get rid of their chow? With the combination of the owners irresponsibility and dog's behavior, you know it's going to happen again.
Victoria

Victoria,

I notice your list of "do's" doesn't include bite training. Though, to be more semantically precise, I suppose I mean "out training". Is that so? I'm not criticizing, I'm just curious about the train of thought which brings someone to have a dog which they know can bite, but are not so sure about the release. Not that I'm assuming you are one of those people.

.223, 55 grain boat tail frangible, 1 piece.

::Unburying my question:: <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />