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  1. #1
    Puppy badhknese27's Avatar
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    !Ace was attacked at Petsmart

    On this particular day we were working on the heel command so everyone was spread out - we were there for an intermediate class. The trainer called us in to regroup to wrap up the class. As we were making our way back to the circle, we came upon this lady and her small dog (chihuahua mix - 12-16 lb). The dogs met face to face and sniffed. It was a calm encounter and both dogs appeared neutral, no signs/displays of aggression whatsoever... then all of a sudden that dog snapped and latched onto Ace's nose for at least 5 seconds. It happened all too quickly. This lady was trying to pull her dog away and she was pulling with just the right amount of force so that her dog is air lifted all the while being latched onto my dog's nose. @$@#$#@%#!!!

    The store manager took down an incident report and I'm supposed to get a call from a 3rd party that works for them. That lady did not even apologize.

    I got him cleaned up and proceeded to let him meet with his fellow classmates with the hope of phasing him out of this bad experience. Luckily, it went smooth. But as we were making our way out he growled at every small dog we encountered... I immediately corrected him with the leave it command, which worked flawlessly.

    Why would people bring aggressive dogs out into public?! What if that was a child...?

    I applied hydrogen peroxide and neosporin when I got home. I'm just worried about the emotional scar as opposed to the physical damage, which appears to be minor.

    Anyway, here's the aftermath..






  2. #2
    Senior Dog Jollymolly's Avatar
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    I have no idea why a person would bring an agressive dog into a public area. Im glad he is okay. Really hope there isnt any long term mental harm.

  3. #3
    Senior Dog Berna's Avatar
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    Just keep it clean to avoid infection. The wound doesn't appear to be deep, everything will be fine. Sorry that happened. Maybe she was trying to socialize her dog, but her plan misfired. She should have apologized at least.
    Cookie Black Snowflake
    July 12th, 2006. - May 25th, 2023.

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  4. #4
    Best Friend Retriever SoapySophie's Avatar
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    Poor puppy!!
    Sophie: Born July 28, 2014
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  5. #5
    Senior Dog Jeff's Avatar
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    Sorry this happened, however, this might not have been an aggressive dog. Could be same thing happened to this dog from a bigger dog and was trying to get your dog to back off. Could be the the dog was never socialized properly as a puppy and they are taking these classes to help with socialization. Some dogs can't handle pups. Could be a lot more going on. However, just because a dog snapped doesn't mean they are aggressive. Then again the small dog owners yours was growling at might wonder the same about you. Anyway my point is accidents happen. I do take Hemi out and socialize a lot however, I don't care who it is when on leash and someone says OH Hi can our dogs meet. The answer is no. Dogs do not need to meet and sniff each other especially on leash. Dogs are different on leash than off leash. A dogs sense of smell is powerful a dog can tell what the other dog ate 12 hours ago from across the room.

    At dog scout camp every year there are about 40 dogs all together. None of them ever get to "meet". We start camp with a hike in a circle, half going one way and half going the other. We all pass on opposites sides 4 times and that's all a dog needs to meet each other and find out everything they need to know. There are off leash play times and so on which is a whole different thing. Not trying to be preachy but for future reference, dogs don't need to "meet". You did the correct thing in the store by saying leave it and walking on by.

  6. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Jeff For This Useful Post:

    KenZ71 (02-27-2015), kimbersmom (02-25-2015), sheltieluver (02-26-2015)

  7. #6
    Senior Dog shellbell's Avatar
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    Yep, bad idea for dogs to meet on leash. It is very unnatural for them, and they will often act completely different on leash as opposed to off leash.

    If you are worried about your dog being emotionally scarred from this, one thing you can do is carry treats with you when walking, and whenever you see another dog, treat him and baby talk about what a good dog he is. He will associate seeing other dogs with good things. I have an adult lab who came to me very dog reactive, and I do this on all of our walks. I would hope that the damage from this one encounter is not too bad though.

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  9. #7
    Senior Dog voodoo's Avatar
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    that sux. think you handled it well.
    Amateur pet owner
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  10. #8
    Senior Dog Snowshoe's Avatar
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    Poor boy. It doesn't look too bad. Hope Ace gets over this soon.

    I'm not sure you should correct him for the growling. I think better would be to distract and best would be to anticipate he might feel antsy about meeting any dog, not just little ones, and get the distractions going so he focuses on you instead. Correcting can backfire and make him even more leery of other dogs. First he worries about the dog, then he learns to worry about the correction which in his doggy mind he could blame the little dog for, and hey, he's right about that.

    I agree with Jeff. The other owner might not have had any reason to expect that behaviour. A pet peeve of mine is people who think they can predict every single thing their dog will do. I don't think that's possible, they're dogs not machines. Heck, even machines act up sometimes.

    I do agree she should have apologized. Should have offered to trade insurance/pay Vet bill same as you do in a car fender bender.

  11. #9
    Senior Dog beth101509's Avatar
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    Poor guy. My main thing is: why are people so rude? She should have been mortified by her dog and been apologizing profusely instead of not saying anything.
    “Don't allow your happiness to be interrupted by overly judgmental people. The problem is not you, because even if you do good all the time, they would still find a way to judge you wrongly.”
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  12. #10
    Senior Dog sparky's Avatar
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    Our trainer told us to allow only 3-5 seconds to greet another dog when on leash, then break off the introduction. She said dogs will decide if they feel threatened in that time. So far it has worked well for us. Mocha always breaks off the meet& greet when we tell him.
    Sorry this happened to your pup.
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    Mocha:Born 7/13/14 Gottcha 9/13/14 Latte: Born 7/15/16 Gottcha 9/9/16
    Labs- "Hearts of gold, heads of stone, cast iron stomachs"

 



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