Dog attack

[Floridatilly]

We had a scary encounter yesterday. My daughter was at dance so the rest of us, me, my husband and two boys (13 & 6) and our little dog Tilly went for a walk down the canal.
A man and his dog stopped ahead of us and told us to pick our dog up as his dog did not like other dogs. We were walking opposite ways so when the man and dog had passed a safe distance away we put Tilly back down and continued on our walk. I was at the front with Tilly, my husband and the boys strolling and chatting a few feet behind.
We then heard shouting behind us, could not see the man shouting but saw the mans dog we had just passed come charging towards Tilly, I tried to pick her up but the dog was so fast it reached her first and went for her, Tilly did not retaliate, she did not growl, she just rolled over exposing her tummy.
It all happened so fast but it was like slow motion if that makes sense. As Tilly turned over the dog opened its jaw around her tummy, I grabbed the dogs collar and yanked as hard as I could before it clamped down on her as my husband kicked the dog and shoved me out of the way getting the dog off Tilly. The sound the dog was making was terrifying, like something from an horror movie. At this point the owner arrived and he and my husband got the dog off Tilly and I picked her up. The man was shouting at my husband for kicking his dog but my husband was scared that it was going to attack me because I was trying to get between it and Tilly. He said it was just warning Tilly and would not harm her. It ended up in a shouting match.
Both my boys were very shook up and as the man left the scene with his struggling dog we checked Tilly over. She has a bad puncher wound to her snout area right near her eye which was bleeding really badly but otherwise ok. She was shaking like a leaf.
I honestly think if Tilly would have snapped back or growled it would have ripped her apart. I think because she submitted to the dog it was not as bad as it could have been.

I don’t actually know what you are supposed to do in one of these situations. My initial action was to save Tilly but my husband thought the dog was going to attack me.
Tilly is 10 and this has never happened before but if I had been on my own with Tilly then it certainly would be a different ending. My six year old is still going on about it now.

The guy knew his dog was not safe around other dogs and it managed to get out of his grip, his lead was trailing behind has it ran for Tilly. It was a boxer dog which I have never known to be aggressive.
Very, very scary. The puncher wound is still bleeding today so it’s looking like a vets job bless her. We have bathed it and she is fully up to date in vaccines
It looks worse because she is so tiny so it’s a big hole.

[Floridatilly]

Just to add, we could not walk straight home because that was the same direction as the man and his dog so we walked on a bit further. We met such a wonderful couple, they could see Tilly’s bloody face and the lady picked her up as we told them what had happened. They was so sweet, they gave Tilly some ham off their sandwiches and made a fuss of her because she was a trembling mess and they helped to calm us down too.
Little acts of kindness are so lovely and appreciated after a scary encounter

[Hopefulholiday]

How awful for you it really annoys me when people have aggressive dogs and expect you to change what you are doing to accommodate them. If the dog is so dog-aggressive that it will attack it should be muzzled in public.
I’m not good with dog encounters and it’s hard to know what to do, my dh would have taken on the other dog too. My dd was charged when taking our dog out by a large German Shephard which then got clipped by a car, when she came home she was in floods of tears as she was so shocked.

[SimonB]

Hope she’s okay. I must admit one factor in us not getting another dog is the stress of dog walking our late Labrador who was attacked a few times in similar situations. One dog even bit the end of his ear off. Another dog gave him a nasty puncture wound that turned septic with another big vets bill.

[buryboy]

Wow, so sorry for what's happened but grateful it wasn't even worse

Unfortunately I don't trust dogs of any kind that are capable of doing relatively serious harm.
I would have been petrified

[Tinkerbell]

I would report to police with description of man and dog. Vet can back up size of dog re bite marks. Unacceptable behaviour. We have a HUGE 65 kilo dog, on a walk one day another dog ran up, our dog on lead and started to get aggressive my husband gave it a kick. Sorry if you can’t control your dogs people will do what they have to do to protect themselves, their children and their dogs

Hope your dog feels better soon

[signtalker]

As a serving pc and a dog owner of a dog that’s been attacked this really makes me boil.
In public dogs should be under control, this dog was not he was off lead. You are allowed to use reasonable force to defend yourself if you feel you are put in fear of being attacked.
Unless you have the details of the man and where he lives etc not a lot the police can do .

Hope you’re little dog recovers soon.
Jules

[marypoppins38]

Oh my gosh, how scary! I am a dog lover but I don’t blame your husband in giving it a kick in those circumstances. It could have been s very different scenario. I think you should definitely report to the police and maybe post in local Facebook pages in case this dog as attacked others. If it is as volatile and dangerous in that he has to warn you to pick up your dog to pass it then it needs to be muzzled when walking it in public. Hope you are all ok, poor Tilly x

[MinniMouse]

Definitely report it to the police. We have a working cocker and I used to walk him round a loch near us with my SIL and her dog. There was always this pit bull which would charge at us every time we went round and I would scoop our dog up in my arms. This happened several times and a couple of times I didn't hear him coming and he got to our dog before I could do anything. Our dog ever since then is very wary when other dogs approach and I usually give a warning if there is a dog coming towards and ask if they can put their dog on a lead as my dog doesn't like being approached when he is on the lead - I think it's because he can't get away. He is fine off the lead, still an be wary but will never attacked. It's usually labs that take a dislike to him. My dad walks him regularly and has had several run ins with people in the village when their dog has gone for him. Why can't people put their dogs on a lead if they are prone to attacking. One of my major bug bears with dog owners!

[bonnies mum]

Fed up with people who have dogs off lead and not trained well enough to respond to commands.
If you know who this man is I would report him - could be worse next time.