Quote: jennifer mullen

From a conspiracy theory standpoint, if the dog was apparently obviously an owned dog, maybe the dog is owned by the woman. ?? It would explain the dog's behaviour, though not hers. I'm just rampantly speculating now though

That's the first thought that went through my mind. She didn't want to admit to having an off-leash dog (pit of all things). But she reported the crime so....

Unless the "robber" comes forward and turns out to be a guy who was walking in the park and almost got attacked by an off-leash dog, there isn't enough evidence (or witnesses) to prove the event didn't happen.

Not too long ago, there were two stray dogs coming up our street. One a Pit Bull (or whatever the correct term is) and a Pug. Long story short, I called the name on the tag of the Pug (Pit didn't have one) and told the lady I found her dogs. She didn't want to admit the Pit was hers until she knew he didn't cause a problem.

 Quote: stephanie biros

I rarely pass on crazy news stories because I know news stories can be skewed, sometimes rather dramatically.

Maybe this story is far-fetched. However, my own GSD I've owned since he was a pup goes into protection/ defender mode when my boyfriend "playfully" acts aggressively toward me, or I toward him. If either of us shows a threatening behavior to the other (all in good fun! We aren't beating on each other over here, I swear!!) the dog reacts immediately and comes toward us, growling, ready to get into the fray.

It's so strange. I don't know where he got that from. I realize I don't have a protection trained dog, so who knows how he'd act if I were out walking and someone tried to really attack me. But maybe he'd snarl and act aggressively enough in the attackers direction that it'd scare off someone. Plenty of crazy people out there.

Also realize that your dog knows you as a pack member.

PIT BULLS DO SOME CRAZY THINGS

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/porcupinedog.asp

 Quote: WILLIAM MARTIN 1

PIT BULLS DO SOME CRAZY THINGS

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/porcupinedog.asp

O.M.G!!!!!!!

Tucker does the same thing. My BF and I play fight sometimes & he does try to get involved, but I don't let him. But he also re-acts to fight's on TV.
Boxing, UFC or a fight in a tv show he re-acts to.
He just doesn't seem to like the noise's associated with rough housing/fighting. I know it's not protection mode because he's not trying to protect me from the people on tv. I just think it's the noise's.
And the same as your dog, he doesn't care if it's someone he know's or not. He will re-act. I took him to an outdoor ball hockey game my BF was playing in and He re-acted to any fight that happened, regardless of who was fighting.

I somehow think that this dog was probably wandering around, was in the right place at the right time and because of his breed (no offense, I love the breed and if it wasn't for our ban here in Ontario I would own one), the attacker took off. We all know the reaction people have to these dogs, and it doesn't matter if the dog is foaming at the mouth and snarling or just walking along the street, people tend to get out of their way fearing the worse.
I think the woman was so glad/relieved the attacker took off that she "glamorized" the event in her mind and felt the dog had done something to scare him off because of that felt he was being protective of her and her son.

I agree...I think it is a very plausible story. I like to hear stories about Pits that are upbeat. Kudos!