FAO HT, Tricks, KHarv, Sange and all other dog owners....

Um, you need to speak to my H!

He took our dog out when he was about 5 months old and a mongrel attacked him so, G ran over picked the dog up and threw it in the air and then proceeded to give the owner a mouthful.

I'd say you were quite calm!

If he's battling a chihuahua (that looks like such a silly word!), yes. If he picks a fight with a rottweiler, definitely not! ?

They shouldn't have their dog off the lead if he is an aggressive little sh1te.

? Tricks if I was on my own I don't know what I would have done - something along those lines quite possibly!

Not sure if it was meant to be funny but this just made me laugh out loud in our deathly silent office. Had to pretend I was coughing! ??

I have just done exactly this reading your comment ?

Erm I'm really not the one to ask as it would be my mongrel doing the biting. Hence the muzzle and lead! Poor little abused rescue dog you see.

Im not sure about leaving him to fight his own battles. In a way I would say yes as that kind of thing rarely turns nasty and to stop it may create problems of fear or fear induced aggression in the future? To be honest though, I've got no idea. Sange is probs your best bet!

Yes I must edit the title, as if I missed out Sange!

Trickers, that made me laugh out loud too!

You want your dog to know that you will protect him, although in the same breath you do need to let them stand up for themselves with other dogs. It's a fine line. If it's just snarling and noise (ie establishing dominance) I tend to leave them to it, there's no harm of getting hurt. If the dogs clearly aggressive and there's going to be an attack basically then I step in. It's not the first time a random dog has met the flat sole of my wellies!

Your supposed to be the 'pack leader' so your dog needs to know that one you'll protect it and two you rank above the random dog!

Was it definitely vicious? I know my two play fight a lot and to someone that doesn't know them or isn't a dog person it can sometimes look scary. But they never do eachother any damage or bite hard. My rule is as long as both tails continue to wag then all is fine!

Obviously if it isn't play fighting and damage is done, I'd be having a word with owner.

I was just about to post the same as stripyrache, when our dog is play fighting with his sister it does look a bit rough, she even drags him over the floor sometimes, but it's just play. We also meet a dog where we walk and he's really vocal and lunges and jumps but again he's actually just trying to play!

Technically you are meant to let them fight their own battles but my dog is such a wuss that I have been known to haul other dogs off him and frog march them to their owners and advise them to control their dog or my left foot will! He got bit on his face once by a tempremental mongrel and was bleeding and all pathetic and sorry for himself poor baby!

He does play rough but when dogs are vicious and aggressive it is so hard to not jump in and help them

If it's just snarling and noise (ie establishing dominance) I tend to leave them to it, there's no harm of getting hurt. If the dogs clearly aggressive and there's going to be an attack basically then I step in.

Rightly or wrongly if i saw a dog attack my puppy girl i think my instinct would be to go mental. If it is clearly just a bit of doggy banter to see who is boss id leave them too it. The IL's dogs are always play fighting with our girl and they 'put her in her place', basically show her who is boss but know how far to go.

Thanks for all your comments ladies. Stripey the dog was definitely being aggressive and if I hadn’t picked Ray up then he could have caused some serious damage. He was also on a lead to and the owners jolted him back. Sange he is good like that and will come to me when I shout him, we went to the same park yesterday and we came across a few dogs and we had no problems, Ray gets a bit excited and will chase them but as soon as I call his name he comes running back. I know what toy playing is because he plays with my mates dog de Bordeaux all the time, but I think that I do have to leave him to a degree but if I think it’s getting nasty then I will intervene, after all he is my baby and I do want to protect him.

I am a firm believer though, that if a dog is on a lead and clearly agitated, it is the responsibility of other dog owners not to let their dog run up it. Aggressive dogs need walks too and it's not always the current owners fault that they have issues.

I muzzle Buster but there are times when I can't i.e. when it's snowing (as the snow compacts on the muzzle and stops him breathing) and when it's very very hot (as although he has been fitted properly for it, he's a very active dog even on the lead and sometimes needs to pant more than the muzzle allows).

Not saying you did anything wrong Claire, obviously, and I think if the dog was being aggressive then you did the right thing getting him out of the situation. Just talking generally.

I totally understand your point - ordinarliy we avoid any dog that is on a lead but this dog in particular was on one of those extension leads and at no point did the owners of that dog react they were even stood chatting to me and H. I am sure it isn't the dogs normal behaviour and it is definitely a lesson learnt.

Ah I see. Haha there's not a cat in hell's chance I can ever have a conversation with another dog owner on a walk. Buster's incessant barking, snarling and growling stops any of that.

I've actually had to lift him above my head before because a dog came running up to him with the owner merrily saying 'don't worry! He's friendly!'. 'Yes love, yours might be friendly but does the frothing at the mouth give you a hint that mine might not be?' ha.

Kharv is he a rescue dog or something? Do you know what happened to him? Is he ok with humans? If youve explained before sorry. Im just fascinated by pooches since getting my puppygirl.

He is indeed a rescue. We don't know what happened to him unfortunately. He was picked up by the pound, emaciated with a broken rib when he was about 8 months old. A local rescue centre picked him up from the pound the day before he was due to be put down and we got him a couple of months later.

He's an absolute star with people including kids. We're still always extra careful though because he has got that aggressive nature and you can never be 100% sure.

He's actually fine with dogs that he knows - it's just that initial 'meet' that he's a nightmare with and he will actually bite them not just bark at them. He gets on like a house on fire with my mam's dog who's at least 4 times his size.

There's the thought that not only has he been attacked by a dog (or dogs) but that he has also been abused by humans. He is absolutely terrified of anything like a pool cue, broom etc and they think that may be how his rib was broken.

That's so sad. Poor little Buster.

? So sad, but least he has a loving family now. What type of dog is he? How old? Do you think he might get better as he gets older?

I admire anyone that has a dog from a rescue shelter and I actually looked into it myself. Two reasons why, I thought it would be too much hard work having a puppy but the main reason was the thought of offering love and a new home to a dog that had possibly been abused and ill treated. When I contacted the rescue shelters they said because I work fulltime it’s not possible which is completely understandable. So fair play to you KHarv because it sounds like you are doing a tremendous job bringing up Buster.

He's a Patterdale Terrier. No, I don't think he will unfortunately. He's nearly four now and we've spent a small fortune on private dog trainers and nothing works.

We've just had to come to terms with the fact that that's the way he his. We've always said; he's the perfect dog for 22 hours of the day! I can deal with 2 hours of hell. To be fair, where we live, I can often walk him without seeing another dog so it's not too bad.

OH even lets him off in a field when he can see there's no one else about as he loves to play fetch with a ball. I don't have the nerve to do it, I'm constantly panicking that someone with a dog is going to come. But it's only fair he gets to do it sometimes bless him.

I always say if I won the lottery, the first thing I'd do would be buy a massive paddock, stick a 6 foot fence around it and let him run and run and run!

We looked at a local shelter but the dogs were bloodied, bruised and aggressive. Lunging at the gates. Mostly staffies of some sort. It was so sad cos its obvious they had been badly mistreated and i dont think they have a chance of being rehomed.

I never looked into getting a rescue dog and now I feel bad.

I only ever wanted a Boxer and I have never seen one at a rescue home, although saying that my mum got hers when he was 18 months old from Battersea so I should have looked into it more.

I always say that to my H! Only because im scared she will run off chasing birds though. There should be gated doggy parks like in america.

Oh poor Buster. Here's a weirdie hug for him ?