My older terrier (6 years old) was bitten by one of the breeder's bitches when he was a tiny puppy. She bit part of his tail off. I never put the pieces together until now that I am reading all these dog bite stories. He of course hates all other dogs and has a fit every time he sees one. I tried to look for a thread of people whose dog was bitten by another dog but I can't seem to find one. Any suggestions on how I should handle this? There is only one dog he likes. It's a twelve year old chihuahua, a very mellow old dog. Outside of that he just wants to rip every dog's head off. I have been keeping him away from other dogs as much as possible. This evening we went for a walk and there was a woman who had a huge standard poodle off leash. The dog was out of control and would not listen to her. When I saw him running towards us I picked my dog up, sat him on my left hip and turned him away from the poodle, yelled at the poodle to go away and was waving him off with my right hand. He ended up running away. Any suggestions on how to better handle this?

 Quote: linda west

My older terrier (6 years old) was bitten by one of the breeder's bitches when he was a tiny puppy. She bit part of his tail off. I never put the pieces together until now that I am reading all these dog bite stories. He of course hates all other dogs and has a fit every time he sees one. I tried to look for a thread of people whose dog was bitten by another dog but I can't seem to find one. Any suggestions on how I should handle this? There is only one dog he likes. It's a twelve year old chihuahua, a very mellow old dog. Outside of that he just wants to rip every dog's head off. I have been keeping him away from other dogs as much as possible. This evening we went for a walk and there was a woman who had a huge standard poodle off leash. The dog was out of control and would not listen to her. When I saw him running towards us I picked my dog up, sat him on my left hip and turned him away from the poodle, yelled at the poodle to go away and was waving him off with my right hand. He ended up running away. Any suggestions on how to better handle this?

Yep, that's pretty much what I'd have done too. I usually have more than one dog and not really pick-up-able, but yeah, I put myself between the other dog and mine and order the other one off.

Have you done desensitizing work with your dog? I'm not saying you should necessarily expect a 180 turnaround, but there's a good chance that you can dial this back: "he just wants to rip every dog's head off."

 Quote: Linda West

This evening we went for a walk and there was a woman who had a huge standard poodle off leash. The dog was out of control and would not listen to her. When I saw him running towards us I picked my dog up, sat him on my left hip and turned him away from the poodle, yelled at the poodle to go away and was waving him off with my right hand. He ended up running away. Any suggestions on how to better handle this?

I think you handled it very nicely. You protected your dog and deterred the loose dog from approaching. Goal accomplished...

Connie.... a beginner's question... would you mind telling me how you would go about desensitizing him? I have tried to sit him down and look at me when he sees another dog. These encounters are pretty random since I avoid other dogs like the plague. Usually these are one of the loose dogs in our neighborhood. I do it only with the ones that I know will not come over. Then something happens, like the other day when this woman had her dog loose and it jumped onto my porch and was playing with my garden gloves. My dog went nuts because now there was a dog on HIS porch.... and we are back to square one.

 Quote: linda west

Connie.... a beginner's question... would you mind telling me how you would go about desensitizing him? I have tried to sit him down and look at me when he sees another dog. These encounters are pretty random since I avoid other dogs like the plague. Usually these are one of the loose dogs in our neighborhood. I do it only with the ones that I know will not come over. Then something happens, like the other day when this woman had her dog loose and it jumped onto my porch and was playing with my garden gloves. My dog went nuts because now there was a dog on HIS porch.... and we are back to square one.

Have you seen any of the long, detailed desensitizing threads here? If not, I can do a search and dig up a couple. Not brushing off your question, but it would be a shame to miss the many very good posts on the topic already made.

I can do that later today. Meanwhile, you might use desensitize as a search term and expand the date range to about two years (in "search") to see what you come up with. Be sure the left side is set on "all forums."

I will do that. Thanks so much. You are not brushing me off at all. There is tons of information on this forum already so why duplicate it and waste time?