Dog on lead, approached leading to a fight

[nhacaik]

Hello all,

I need advice and your valued opinions on this sad event.

This might turn into a lengthy read but I feel I need to cover all matters to accurately put this across.

Monday 20th December, I was walking my dog (know as Tee for this) around the usual area and route along our local beach. With it being the holidays, I was with my 7 year old twin boys, who were pottering along beside me using their imagination and I was partially listening to them and playing along.

We were situated up against top of the beach next to a fence that protect the sand dunes, away from everyone, minding our own business.

My dog Tee wears a collar and a harness. The lead feeds through the harness and clips to the collar, I find this keeps the lead up high and stops it getting tangled on him, other dogs, posts, large stones etc.

The lead is a 10m retractable bright day glow yellow. During this incident it was locked at about 2m length as we had just passed a busy water outlet that attracts families and other dogs, so I don’t like Tee to play or pee there etc., out of respect.

I also wear a nylon belt around my waist that feeds through the handle of the lead. Allowing me to be hands fee and the added insurance of never actually dropping the lead.

I’m always scanning ahead for people and dogs, to stay out the way of and so I can pull Tee in, distract him or just assess the situation.

In this situation, a dog catches us off guard approaching us from behind without us releasing and instantly injects its nose to Tees butt. Tee spins around, and without notice attacks this dog, as quick as I can react to pull in the slack / grab his harness as it’s happening at my feet, it’s over and the dog whimpers back to its owners, who are about 30m away frantically running over.

Tee is instantly settled, he’s not pulling or growling for more, no further sign of aggression.

I hesitantly stay put and watch the two owners fuss over their dog, checking him over. I stood and waited for what feels like a while but was in reality about a minute. I didn’t want to antagonise the situation. I also had Tee so couldn’t approach, so just stood silently waiting to see if they wanted to say anything.

Nothing was said, just a couple dirty looks by them so I just continued my walk with the boys and Tee down the beach. A little shaken but not overly bothered.

My dog Tee, is a two year old male Siberian Husky who’s not nurtured. He’s become selective with his recall so is always on the lead. Over the last 6 months other males have started to show aggression towards him and he retaliates by going stiff and heckles fluffed out. Which I can read then distract or rein him in. Never resulted in a fight.

Tonight, 27th December while on the final stretch home from a long evening walk with my wife, boys and Tee, a car pulls up and I’m accosted by a man and a woman. They get out the car and the fella asks for my wife and boys to continue walking. Wife says no and stays put. This fella goes on the say he’s got witnesses that I’ve got an aggressive dog and it’s attacked others etc. and I didn’t pull Tee off their dog and fled the scene. Load of BS. I stay clam and direct my questions and statements at the woman who’s calmer and was actually at the incident. Turns out their dog is their daughters and is also around 2 years old not neutered. Apparently needing a £500 vet bill. She’s not got much to say really. Think her fella is just wound up and taken a misrepresented view point.

While this was going on a lady with a Irish wolf hound walk past rather close and Tee didn’t batter an eye lid. Like to prove a point

I’m not sure what they were accosting me for other than it was chance they spotted us while out driving, must live in the area and wanted to to vent their anger and say slanderous things to scare me into paying their bill?

I’ve reached out to the police who have advised it’d be a civil matter at best.

Obviously I’m sad to hear their dog picked up and injury in the scuffle. But I can’t see what if anything I could have done otherwise or what I’ve done wrong?

Thanks,

 

[gloriainexcelsisdeo]

@nhacaik Depends on the state, leash laws are common, the dog that's off leash is usually to blame. Like being rear ended it's almost automatic. Barring certain circumstances but That's why some states have leash laws. In court you would win

 

[nhacaik]

@gloriainexcelsisdeo Thanks. This is in the UK.

 

[somberry]

@nhacaik UK here with a dog that does not like her bum being sniffed. Your dog was under control and on the lead, the other dog was out of control off the lead. The other dog owners are legally in the wrong and put their dog in danger.

They’re trying it on with you.

 

[gloriainexcelsisdeo]

@nhacaik I would Google leash laws in you area and I'm sure you can find some cases published.

 

[gloriainexcelsisdeo]

I work for a vet clinic and most of the time when this happens and litigation is filed, the off leash dog owners has to pay vet bills. But like Everything law related it's open to some interpretation. You sound like you where being responsible. Same if a dog gets out and gets attacked, owner is responsible for their pets actions. But I have no clue what UK rules and regs are.

 

[solagratiaprosalute]

@nhacaik Check your laws, but also look into getting Tee fixed, no need to keep him intact unless you’ll be breeding him, which with possible dog aggression it wouldn’t be a good idea. I would switch to a 4’-6’ lead that isn’t a retractable because they’re not safe.
I’ve had incidents like yours before and normally I stay back but hell over and check on their dog, a simple “is your dog okay?” Works well enough to show people you care about their dog. That being said their dog was off leash as well and being off leash isn’t safe unless your dog has a success rate of 95% with recall. More often than not 2 intact males tend to have issues with each other to put it lightly.

 

[alecs]

@nhacaik Look, I do have to ask. Why isn't Tee neutered? That's something worth looking into.

Other than that, the off-leash dog is to blame.

 

[nhacaik]

@alecs Thanks. Covid has created a back log in the UK. His first appointment got postponed and I didn’t get around to booking it again. I will chase this up asap after this now though.

 

[thenarrowpath]

@nhacaik Ugh, bummer OP! I echo the other comments— the off leash dog people are to blame.

I live in a place where a lot of dogs are unsocialized OR socialized to be aggressive “for protection.” This means I’ve come to be hyper vigilant about every possible dog interaction. I am stunned at the idea that some people would just let their dogs run around off leash and then blame others for the bad, predictable consequences.

 

[zdh1997]

@nhacaik If their dog was off the leash and ran up to yours, your dog was setting boundaries and saying back the fuck up you’re in my space. Immediately calming down after and not having the situation escalate was exactly what he was supposed to do and was a great boy! I have a cattle dog who will run up on leashes dogs and when dogs display aggression or really get out of my space vibes she respects it and backs up. I would tell them they should keep their dog on a leash the next time they’re walking in a public space. Hopefully you won’t have to deal with them anymore

 

[groov3ydud3]

@zdh1997 Please don't let your off leash dog run up to other leashed dogs. Even if she backs off, it can be harmful to the other dog if it is reactive or not used to that. I have a reactive dog and we've had several instances where an off leash dog running up to her sets her back in her training and reactivity by quite a bit even though the other dog was friendly.

 

[snowsquall]

@nhacaik I agree with the other views that you were being responsible and the other dog owners were not. I have a dog reactive dog that I have full control of when we are out, despite it not looking like that with his barking, but it amazes me that others have so little regard for how my dog is reacting. I would feel terrible if something happened, but you can't control how other people do or don't control their dogs.

 

[interloper]

@nhacaik I’m in NZ so things are probably a bit different here. We have off leash dog parks where it is fine to be off lead as long as your dog is under control. I personally don’t think a dog coming to sniff another dog is aggressive or out of control - it’s their way of saying hello. If this had happened to me I probably would have asked at the time whether their dog was injured and if he’s okay. Dog “fights” can look worse than they are. Your dog may not have even put his teeth on the other guy. Can they even show you a vet bill related to this?

A similar incident happened to me once with my two Neapolitan Mastiffs. I hadn’t seen one of them do a poo and this lady with a little white fluff ball started yelling at me relentlessly about it, to which one of my dogs reacted by tossing her dog like a salad. Then a whole mob of little dog owners came at me. They accused my dog of being aggressive when this lady was the aggressive one lol. Nobody should yell at a stranger over dog poo. So in this case I made sure that there were no injuries to the tossed salad dog and then left.