Why does this always happen when I'm at work??

Shalini was walking Teagan this morning after nightshift. As she walked past one house a Shar-Pei ran out, growling and acting extremely aggressively. Shalini stood her ground, shouted at it and it back off, then started forward again. She kept going with no problems.

An hour later she had to walk back past the house, and saw the same dog sitting quietly by the cars on their driveway. Suddenly at growled and 'came flying' out of the driveway, across the road and straight into them both, knocking Shalini over and attacking Teagan. There was a bit of a fight during which Teagan apparently defended herself but tried to get away. She has marks on her rear legs and neck, but no real injuries.

She is now very subdued and whining, and Shalini is now terrified to walk her anywhere. We have called the police and are awaiting their arrival.

However, what do I do now? Teagan already had some dog-aggression issues which we just about had under control, but now.....
Shalini's confidence is now zero, and I don't know how I'm gonna get it back this time.

Any advice greatly appreciated

Sorry about Teagan being attacked.

Please post an update when you can.

Hi Rob. So sorry to hear that Teagan was attacked. I'm glad the police have been called. Here is what I would do; I hope this helps:

1. To Teagan, downplay the whole event as much as possible. For example, don't feel sorry for her, or that will add to her worries. Try to pretend nothing happened.

2. Since Teagan was already somewhat dog-aggressive, continue to take the same precautions that you've already been taking, continuing to be very mindful that you may need to step it a bit.

3. For Shalini, all the sympathy you can muster:-) And maybe YOU walk Teagan with Shalini accompanying you both until her confidence comes back, however long that takes.

This doesn't need to ruin things for you guys. If there is a place you can go temporarily that has NO other dogs (I drive my dog to a state park road....no houses=no loose dogs) for the time being until you can get your equilibrium back, that might help too. If this one dog has been the only issue, hopefully the police can do something about it. It's terrifying to be in a situation like this, but you can move on from it. I've been in a few similar situations, and now I walk with pepper spray, just in case. Please keep us posted on what happens with the police, recovery progress, etc, and hang in there.

Ok, a quick update.

Teagan appears (thankfully) to be physically uninjured, once the drool was wiped off. She was rather quite when I got home, but picked up during the evening.

I took here for a short walk then play past the area it happened. She was a bit jumpy at certain sounds, but didn't seem too upset otherwise (unlike Shalini).

According to the police, the owner said he has a real problem with the dog - it attacks other dogs and horses and is constantly aggressive to all other animals, including his other dogs!
He can't handle it and doesn't know what to do other than give it away - but no-one wants an aggressive Chinese fighting dog.

So why does it take the police getting involved for him to do something about it?? He leaves the dog in an outside run, but last night forgot to secure it.
The police are happy to do nothing and let the dog warden look into it - however I am not. I'm waiting a call back, and will ensure it's dealt with properly.

I need some advice on 2 questions though:
1) We can't carry anything in the UK to protect ourselves properly, no batons, pepper spray, anything. There are some 'deterrants' available, such as compressed air canisters to squirt at dogs (either with or without airhorn noise) Are these any use against such aggressive dogs? Anyone had any experince of them?

2)Are there any techniques I can use to build up Teagans self-confidence? I was thinking of someting like the 'Raising a working Puppy' dvd, but I think she's a bit old for that now - she's 2 today!

Any help from the experts please??

SO glad Teagan is not injured. Good for you for continuing to pursue the matter. Maybe if the dog's owners see that there is a consequence for their forgetfulness, they will take the whole matter more seriously. I feel sorry for their dog too.

I don't know that I qualify as an expert, but VT is in many ways like the UK in it's value-system re: dogs. We are ALLOWED to carry things, but it is looked down on in a very big way, and anyone causing a dog pain in any capacity (like using pepper-spray or prong collar) is considered cruel. And we have a lot of loose dogs here. Before I said "to heck with it" (which I realize is not an option for you) I tried many different things, including compressed air, with and without noise. If that is the only recourse that you have, the one WITH noise works the best to distract dogs from whatever it is they are doing. In a situation where a dog is very intent on aggressing toward you dog, it may only buy you some time, but a less determined dog will likely be scared away. My dog at the time I was trying this was not aggressive, and was quite frightened when another dog would rush at her, so I had to get her used to the noise before I used it in an aggressive-dog situation. I didn't want to terrify her further.

In a pinch I've used breath-spray, and for that one time it actually worked.

Are you allowed to carry a cane or a walking stick? I would think that nobody would be able to say 'no' to either of those things.

To build confidence I still like some of the exercises in "Working Puppy". Just take it slow. Clicker training is a great confidence builder too, because it lets the dog actively participate in it's own training and it learns to have confidence that it's own actions can be the cause of very good things. There's a book on this site here that you might like, if you aren't already familiar with clicker training. If you are, train some new, fun things. Maybe the biggest confidence builder is YOUR confidence level. If you stay cool, it'll be easier for Teagan to stay cool. Hopefully some real experts will weigh in with more ideas....in the meantime, hang in there.

How about carrying a riding crop or a dressage whip. I have found that just the whooshing sound when I try to whack a dog is good enough to scare them off. And if I chase them while yelling like a banshee it scares them even more.

Edited by Debbie Bruce (08/17/2008 11:52 AM)
Edit reason: added the banshee

Just a quick update on the progress so far.

We had the local police pop round to disuss the incident again, after several calls chasing them up. The 'senior' PC came round with the attitude of 'it's nothing to do with us so stop bothering us'.
His attitude changed somewhat when I produced the latest Home Office guidelines for Dangerously Out Of Control dogs and asked why the incident hadn't been recorded properly. He agreed to pass the information back to the original officer.

Shalini checked the incident record, and found that her complaint had - how can I put this - not been accurately recorded. They seemed to forget that she works for them! A few strongly-worded emails to the Unit Inspector has miraculously produced an appointment for a statement to be taken and crime recorded, due to happen tomorrow. Speaking to some of our neighbours, this dog has attacked several other dogs and even horses in the past, so definately needs dealing with properly. And no, we haven't heard from the dog warden yet either.


On the plus side, Teagan appears to be showing no major signs of any issues after the attack. She has been around several other (calm) dogs and has been fine. This has included a crazy 11mth old Springer Spaniel and 2 GSDs. Her relationship with Shalini is the same, no doubt helped by the fact that the alpha female gave the other dog a few good kicks!

What frustrates me the most is the attitude of the L.E. personnel we've dealt with so far - a real 'can't be bothered' approach. It really lets down the officers that DO work hard and still care.

I'll keep you updated.

I am so sorry, but I'm glad Teagen is ok. Man, do I HATE loose dogs. It can ruin all the work you've put into a DA or DR dog. But I'm sure she will recovery. It has gotten so bad I have to carry weapons with me when I take my dog out.

i have no reservations about shooting stray dogs when i have a dog on leash. Especially in foreign countries such as in the middle east, dogs run rampant over there and will attack working dogs, so i have a 40-50 meter rule for strays. I dont understand how you couldnt find a way to carry some sort of protection when you walk your dog, i mean even it has to be concealed, you just have to ask yourself how important is it to walk you dog and offer protection at the same time.

Sorry to hear about this, I had the same problem, Zeus is dog aggresive and slowly working on it except when I would walk my neighborhood off leash dogs would run at him. Usually I would take a stance between the dogs and could stop anything till the owner got their dog. Last time was a akita that came full and didn't stop. I stopped walking my neighborhood and now drive to a walking trail where everyones dog is leashed. If your not allowed to carry baton or pepper spray carry a umbrella.