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How to sedate my dog?

Attacked by dog, how to get owner to take responsibility?

  • Help me think straight. I was attacked by a loose German Shepherd while out on a walk with my husband and our two small leashed dogs. What should I do next? The owner is in denial and I am concerned for the safety of myself and others. I think that if I threaten a lawsuit I could scare her into building a fence and reinforcing her door. I'm interested in getting her to take action to keep her dog enclosed or to take it to a behaviorist, not trying to win money in a settlement. When we were attacked, the german shepherd (a huge adult male) appeared out of nowhere and targeted the 8 lb yorkie mix that my husband was walking. Our dogs didn't bark at it and we were on the sidewalk. It totally blindsided us. My husband was taken off guard but quickly risked his own safety to get the attacking dog off of our tiny elderly dog. He is a big guy and has years of martial arts training. Despite using his full strength to kick the dog in the ribs and punch the dog in the head, it remained unfazed and kept biting and biting. It eventually got our tiny dog in its mouth and thrashed it about like a rag doll. I was certain my dog would die. At one point it decided to come after our 20 lb doxie mix and I scooped him up to keep him out of the way. I was bitten on my leg, luckily protected by a boot, while kicking the dog away. My husband was bitten on his wrist while trying to scoop up our poor Lulu. By some miracle it bit right where his watch was and left a huge gouge in the stainless steel. The entire time I was screaming for help and kicking the dog as hard as I could in the hips. Eventually, my husband pinned it to the ground with his knees and somehow got our dog free. If I had been alone, at least one of our dogs would surely have died. We were lucky to be able to defend ourselves but it took everything we had and that dog came at us with full force and was hardly deterred. Both dogs were wearing long padded vest harnesses so they were protected and no blood was drawn. Thank goodness. It was horrible watching a big dog like that shaking our little 8 lb dog in its mouth. I feel like we dodged a bullet. Any one of those shakes could have hurt her spine. This was at a house that is a few blocks away from ours. We don't normally go that way but needed to walk to the mailbox. The idiot owner appeared from her back yard after what seemed like an eternity. This is after I was screaming for help that we are getting attacked by a dog, come get your dog. My husband, who was understandably upset, told her to come get her f-ing dog and keep it out of the f-ing street. She had the nerve to get mad at him for using the f-word and told us that her dog was a nice dog. He had to remind her that we were the victims and each one of us had gotten bitten by her "nice dog!" Imagine if it was a senior citizen or a family with children out with their pet! Ugh, what a total idiot. Animal control says I can submit a report and the lady would have to appear in front of a judge but she'd only get fined for a loose dog since no humans were bleeding from the bites. This total moron totally blew us off and didn't seem sorry at all until my husband said he was going to press charges against her. Then she started crying! She is a HORRIBLE PERSON who did not care that we were attacked because she didn't believe her dog would do it. My husband may have fractured his pinky from punching the dog and I threw out my back (recovering from back surgery, great). Our dogs seem to be ok, we are keeping an eye on little Lulu to see if there's any neurological damage. It did appear that me and my husband were not the target of the attack and we were only bitten trying to defend our dogs--so the dog is not necessarily people aggressive. The owner is an elderly lady and swore it was the first time the dog had ever done that and it is always in the back yard behind the fence or inside. I am wondering what to do. If this really was a freak occurrence and the dog was just guarding a perceived threat to its yard, maybe I could let it go. I've already filed a formal complaint with animal control and an officer came to take my report. I can ask that the case be sent to court but the most she'd get is a fine for a loose dog. If this would scare her straight, I'd be willing to do it if it kept others safe. For now, there's at least an official record that her dog was loose and attacked us. I was thinking of asking her neighbors whether it truly is a one-time chance accident. If there have been repeated issues, I was thinking of threatening to sue her with the offer to drop the suit if she fenced in her front yard to keep the neighborhood safe from her dog. I'm not actually interested in a law suit or in getting any money out of her but I would like to scare her into taking responsibility for her powerful and territorial dog. I am having a hard time thinking straight because I am so upset. Has something like this happened to you and what do you think I should do? This is not personal, I just want for others to be safe. There are grannies out walking their malteses in my neighborhood and children with their pups. BTW, I went on Amazon today and purchased a telescopic night stick for future walks. The animal control officer said the majority of loose dogs would be scared away if I threatened them with a stick and swung at them.

  • Answer:

    Calling the police is the best starting point for you. Animal attacks of any type aren't acceptable and you shouldn't have to carry a weapon to defend yourself. You say "the most she'd get is a fine for a loose dog." I doubt this - press the point with a lawyer, if possible. Animals like that should not be loose. What if it had been your child?

anonymous at Ask.Metafilter.Com Visit the source

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Go to vet. Go to doctor. Keep all records. Call animal control. Call a lawyer. Anonomize this post. Don't call the owner an idiot in public.

k8t

It doesn't really matter to me if this was a "freak occurrence" or not, that dog is dangerous. I would definitely talk to the neighbors at the very least to warn them. Sure it didn't attack you directly, you're full grown adults, what if a kid is walking by though? Absolutely go to court, make this as big a pain in the ass for the owner as possible. Keep track of any medical or vet bills, sue the owner for the costs in small claims court or something. Again, the point is to make it more annoying to not keep her dog under control. There is nothing that annoys me more than people who refuse to control their dogs (I may be a bit sensitive today though since a "completely friendly" unleashed dog just attacked another dog right outside my house this week). I don't care if she is an elderly lady, owning a dog is a huge responsibility and one of those responsibilities is keeping it from hurting others.

magnetsphere

Your husband seems like he might have a very short temper (punching the dog) and swearing at the neighbor even when the event was done - the "attacking" dog may have picked up on that. Christ, I really don't understand some people. Punching a dog that's trying to kill your dog, entirely unprovoked, is not a problem. Swearing at a dog owner whose dog just tried to kill yours is...well, what else would someone expect? I'm amazed by the number of people who seem to want to jump to defend owners of aggressive dogs, and the dogs themselves. They're animals - once they start posing a danger, they have no place in society. Don't listen to anyone who tells you otherwise.

Dasein

Call the police, file a report. Just do that, and take photographs of any damage (people and stuff, if there's bite marks in their vests), and then rest and recover for a couple of days while those wheels turn. Do not engage with the owner. You are justifiably upset and full of adrenaline and anger, which is fine, but it means that right now isn't the time. Just let the police do their thing for now. The dog that was shaken is going to feel really shitty later tonight/tomorrow when the adrenaline wears off. Consider going to the emergency vet for a) documentation, b) a look, c) anti-inflammatories. You go to the ER this weekend if you feel bad, otherwise try to get in and see your doc first thing next week. (Documentation, checkup.)

Lyn Never

The first thing I would do is to take your dogs to the vet and have your husband see a doctor about his hand. If you have any bruising or ANYTHING, document it. When I was a teen, my parents brought home a puppy to our not-so-socialized female shepherd/Pitt mix and we were in the hospital that same night. Old dog bit new dog quite badly, but no blood had been shed. She did have very serious injuries anyway. I would do whatever you can to make this owner realize that what her dog did HAPPENED and that she needs to take responsibility for it. Take pictures of the watch, the boots, the dog vests, any injuries, bruises. Make her pay for the vet visit. File that report.

two lights above the sea

No. This is not in any way okay. I see this crap all the time in off-leash areas where a big dog decides to attack another dog and the owner does little to nothing apart from calling - "Oh Fido, come! Down boy!" or some other useless thing. I have had this happen to my own small 20 pound dog, who is and has always been a friendly, gentle dog and who a few times has gotten attacked by a larger dog in an off-leash dog park. When this has happened I am right there and I will physically remove my dog from the situation by picking him up and walking away because the bigger dog will generally not let him walk away on his own, and I have had large dogs JUMP UP ON ME, snapping, trying to get at my dog. Here's the thing, pretty much no one thinks their dog will do that. Of course they don't. But dogs are still animals and they can sometimes be set off with no warning. The owner needs to be cognizant and keep an eye on their dog at all times. And if something like this happens it is the owner's responsibility to physically pull the dog away and restrain it and not just weakly call for it to get down (if they're doing anything), which is totally useless when a dog has been set off. My dog that I mentioned, who I think is a sweet, mild mannered dog, is always near me at an off-leash park (he is always on his leash otherwise, as is required for dogs in most non-rural areas) and I am always watching him. If he were to so much as growl at another dog, I would immediately pull him away or pick him up and we leave, after apologizing to the owner of the other dog. I strongly believe that dogs either need to be socialized to be around other dogs and people and then still watched at all times; or they need to always be kept on leash and always give all other animals and people a wide berth when they're outside. It is incumbent upon the owner to have control over their dog at all times. If their dog is out of control, it is not the other dog's fault, it is not the other person's fault, it is not even the fault of the dog that is out of control. It is the fault of the owner. And it really pisses me off when people don't take basic responsibility because their sweet little Fido would never hurt anyone, etc, etc. And like other people have said, what if this had been a little toddler? No, I think this owner needs to understand that with dog ownership comes a lot of responsibility and it sounds like it might take a lawsuit or whatever for her to realize that. If more irresponsible owners faced real consequences, maybe more people would start to understand what is involved in owning a dog.

triggerfinger

As a point of reference, my Heeler was attacked by an Akita who had him in her grasp as well. There was not much blood, but a ton of damage under the skin...get them checked out for tissue damage please.

lobstah

Also, sorry, overlooked this: I'm not actually interested in a law suit or in getting any money out of her but I would like to scare her into taking responsibility for her powerful and territorial dog. I know people think that lawsuits are these like gold-digging things where people try to extort money of each other over some small infraction. That's a bogus narrative. Suing the owner is a way both to make sure you are not exposed to unfair expenses from this incident and to enforce the law against the owner in a way that will make her think twice about letting this dangerous dog out in the future. It would not be opportunistic of you in this kind of situation. Many laws that are important to society at large are only enforced by private lawsuits in our society, but that can be just as effective and important as, say, having the police investigate crimes.

dixiecupdrinking

Sorry, I selectively read and missed the part where you said "I've already filed a formal complaint with animal control and an officer came to take my report." I would also call the police and see if you could file a report with them as well. Then to vet for pups and doctor for you and husband. Then everybody take it easy for a couple of days.

OsoMeaty

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