A dog attack|
April 22, 2011
Below is an account sent to me of a nasty incident when one of my clients was out with her dog. This experience is made even worse by the fact my client wishes to remain anonymous as she is afraid that the dog owner may be dubious enough in character to pursue her, plus the police are taking action. I look forward to hearing your comments?
I have written a summary of what happened to my dog and I a few weeks ago just to make you aware that there are dangerous dogs running about off lead and that you need to take care. I cannot mention too many details for legal reasons but I hope that it is enough for you to understand that you need to be aware.
Whist out walking my little dog with a friend and her dog we decided to go to a local nature reserve as we thought that it would be nice for the dogs to investigate somewhere new ( I do not usually go to these places on my own as I have been previously worried by dogs running around off lead with owners nowhere to be seen). We had just entered the reserve with our dogs (both on leads) along a path which opens up to a large green space with trees and a pond. As we turned the corner my friend shouted good god and as I looked up I saw three large dogs running towards us with no owner to be seen, before I knew it the big dog went straight in and bit my little dog with no warning, she then yelped so I remembered very quickly what I had been told by Avril on a course which I had done last year. I immediately kicked the dog off and managed to pick up my little dog and put her under my arm all the time I was making growling noises as I thought that this would make him stop and go away. It didn’t he came straight for me, this was a very big dog biting at my arms and with his paws on my chest I can still see his face in mine. My friend was screaming at the owner who had just appeared to put his dogs on leads. I didn’t realise until later that the other two dogs had been scratching at my legs and trying to bite (my friend told me the next day) thank god that I didn’t know. I think that it all happened so quickly that I did manage to blank bits out) I found the evidence the next day on my legs. When the owner did eventually get them on leads he walk off. By this time I noticed that my little dog was bleeding and that I needed to get her to the vet immediately. It was not that far to walk and on the way the police came to hand and helped us. When I get to the vets my vet took her to be seen straight away as he was worried about the depth of her injuries. When they sat me down and took my jacket and jumper off they found that I had also been bitten I think that you are so shocked that you switch off and don’t feel a thing. I got away with just a tetanus injection by my little dog sustained a big bite to her back for which she had to have stitches and scratches to her body thankfully she did not have internal injuries which was the main worry. The vet told me that by picking her up I saved her life as this dog could have quite easily killed her. My dog has made a remarkable recovery thank god although I think that I will take a little longer to heal as the threat of something like this happening again is scary to say the least but like all experiences in life we learn from them and I hope that by telling you my story it will make you think and ultimately keep your precious dogs safe.
Avril Munson's Blog 
April 22, 2011 at 10:03 am
what a nasty experience. I once had a similar situation but with one dog not three! and lucky I was with a burly gamekeeper, who dealt with the offending dog by booting it very hard, it slunk off after a few luncges and connecting with his boot a few times, it was also a big dog. I do not recommend this approach of course but I was very glad of it at the time. However he did tell shout to me not to lift my dog and get injured myself as he would take care of the attacking dog. I must admit I wanted to, but in the end it was not neccessary.
hope you are all recovered well.
April 22, 2011 at 10:37 am
What a terrible incident for Avril’s client and her little dog. Some time back I was walking my 2 little dogs when a large dog appeared from nowhere and ran towards us growling and barking, fortunately I had my water squirter with me, so I quickly squirted the dog in the face a few times and he backed off.
I often wonder what would have happened if I had not had the water squirter with me.
I wish the lady concerned and her little dog well.
April 22, 2011 at 12:02 pm
Thankfully I’ve only had to deal with one attempted attack and the dog backed off with my shouting at it. However I do worry about lifting up a small dog because a girl I know has a border terrier that was attacked by a couple of big dogs. She lifted him up and the dogs then lunged up at her face – trying to get to her dog, but nevertheless getting her as well. That said, I think I probably would have to lift my dogs up and just try to kick the offending dog off. I just hope never to be in that situation.
Sending best wishes to both owner and dog.
April 22, 2011 at 1:48 pm
Thanks for telling the story and glad that you are both on the mend and fortunately not too badly injured. So difficult to know what to do to avoid this problem other than passing law that makes it illegal for idiots to own dogs (sadly not much hope.)
Apart from fighting the dog I was thinking how about pepper spray but it seems to be illegal in the UK for dogs although not in the US. While checking that I did stumble across this little gadget (www.dogdazer.co.uk) which might be helpful especially for somebody who is weaker and has less chance of fighting off a big dog (although I guess most of us would struggle with that.)
I also noticed another interesting piece of advice which is if you really think the dog is going to bite you then offer your arm for it to bite, rather than risk getting bitten on the body, neck or face, and then instead of trying to get your arm out once bitten, and then get bitten again, push it into the dogs mouth as far as it will go. The idea to make sure you just get one bite in a relatively safe area and buy time for somebody to help get the dog off and under control. Could be complete rubbish but sounds sensible.
April 29, 2011 at 12:55 pm
Thanks to everyone for thier concern and wishes we are both now feeling much better – hope it helped to outline the dangers.