It is always very upsetting to hear of a dog attack particularly if it’s an attack on a dog you know and love. In Brisbane City News recently, there have been a number of near fatal dog attacks.
One story that comes to mind is that of poor Ebony who was attacked twice within 5 days. The first was by two pit bull terriers, they were unrestrained and savaged Ebony with twenty puncture wounds. The second attack occurred on Ebony’s first walk after recovering from her wounds. She was attacked this time by a Belgian Shepherd, which is believed to be a trained security dog. Ebony is a three year old poodle and would not have stood a chance, if it wasn’t for a passer- by who hit the pit bulls with a stick until they released her from their jaws.
Dawn Pedder with Ebony, who escaped a vicious attack by other dogs. Reported City News 27 Jan 10
Stories like Ebony’s are not uncommon, it’s extremely heart breaking and devastating when something like this happens. So what can you do to limit any risk of this happening to your dog?
If your dog is left alone when you are out, it is important that they are secure within appropriate fencing. This is to ensure that they can’t escape and just as importantly to prevent other dogs entering your backyard. It’s also a good idea to leave your dog in the backyard, opposed to the front yard, this limits the risk of your dog being let out by a stranger or a delivery person by mistake.
If you dog is not a regular to Paddington Pups and doesn’t often socialise with other dogs, it is important to really know their temperament. Make sure that if your dog is irritated easily, or doesn’t cope well with other dogs in its space, it is not advisable to take them to an off leash dog park. Once your dog and other dogs are off their leads it is a lot harder to control their behaviour.
Make sure your Dog is desexed once it has reached an appropriate age. By desexing your dog you reduce your dog’s the desire to wander or for wandering dogs to get into your yard. By desexing your dog you also reduce your dogs desire to compete for dominance which in turn reduces the likelihood of a fight breaking out in the first place.
Any dog trained to be a guard dog or who has been continually ill treated has the potential to be dangerous. The following list is some of the dogs that are responsible for dog attacks in Brisbane over the last year. As you will see this list is quite varied and diverse, it includes but is not limited to Chihuahuas, Staffordshire bull terriers, Cattle dog, German shepherd, Rottweiler, Labrador, Rhodesian Ridgeback, Boxer, Bull Terrier, Bull Mastiff, Border Collie, Siberian Husky and Pitbulls. “Most owners acted responsibly” “I think any breed of dog would be dangerous in the wrong hands,’’ Staffordshire Bull Terrier Club of Queensland secretary Kristy Roebig
In Most Dog fights the dogs will resolve the situation quickly and often if we humans interject this can make the situation worse. However if your dog has surrendered and is simply being attacked this tends to be the result of the attacking dog refusing to see the signs that your dog has surrendered. Suggested ways to break up any Dog fight Include, throwing water on the situation, pulling them apart, if you must pull dogs apart always do so from their back legs. Poke or squirt water on the attacking dog near its anus this will distract and divert the dogs attention enough to discontinue the fight. Get Help! Always make sure your hands and children are kept clear as an aggressive dog could turn on you.
If you know anyone who might have a potential dangerous dog, check with the owner that they can’t escape from their backyard, and suggest when walking the dog that they are always kept on a tight leash.
My dog and I were attacked by 2 dogs today, one a rotti and the other a pitti. This is the second time, luckily passerbys intervened. Last time this helped she ended up needing lots of stitches and could have bleed to death as the attacker just missed puncturing my dogs main artery. I hate the fact that I dont feel safe taking my dog for a walk. Im angry that nothing is done to stop these incidents from happening.
You Poor thing Michelle.
Dog attacks are not a nice thing to have to be involved in and you are right it is not fair for you to not feel safe when walking your dog. It sounds very fortunate for you and your dog that passers by helped.
People who own any dog particularly strong aggressive breeds or dominant dogs should take the up most responsibility when taking their dogs out unfortunately this is not always the case. If you can try top avoid places where this sort of thing might happen again, I personally prefer to walk down streets where I know not many dogs live in the front yards, or industrial estates where there are no dogs at all, alternatively visit dog off leash parks that have more than one section for different size dogs to be separated and if you see a dog and owner you don’t like to look of then its time to leave.
You can and should report this attack to your local council giving descriptions of the dogs and as much details as you can the dogs will then be registered as dangerous dogs and should anything like this ever happen to anyone again the dogs and the owners will be dealt with appropriately.
there is no bad dog, only owners with bad information that need to learn to train them correctly
some good informations here, I’m currently trying to train my dog (a Jack Russell Terrier) and I have to say it’s definitely than what I was thinking. Do you have any tips on how I could improve?
Thanks for the post and for creating a nice site. I have been seeking reliable information on dog training and can put this information to practice. I have found it hard to find good recommendations, as there are so many web sites with garbage information. Definitely keep it coming!
Dog training is a necessity for a doggy to behave. One of the biggest challenges I have observed so far is that dog varieties respond in different ways to some types of procedures.
That is pretty instresting. I think that pitbulls are just very misunderstood
What do you think of Cesar Milan?
Thats So true Margie. It is very imortaint that all dog owners are responsible and train thrie dogs appropriatly.
Training your dog is one of those on going things I recomend to speak to a professional dog trainer if you are having issues.
Pitbulls are misunderstood so are alot of other breeds of dogs one of the biggest issues however with Pitbulls and other similar breeds is that they have what is called lock jaw. Which just makes them more dangerouse in any fight
He is Great
My greyhound is my life. If I didn’t have her, my mental health would suffer. We walk 2 miles most days of the week, which is good for us both mentally and physically. She pampers me with her cuddling. She’s sensitive to my emotions. She’s the reason I get out of bed when experiencing anxiety or depression.
Dogs are great to have as dogs and are great to own to keep you inspired to exersize by jogging them and they make it easier to not really feel depressed.