Suggestions?

About a week ago I was walking my dog in this quiet and secluded neighborhood that we always walk in. We never run into trouble. However, on this particular day a chihuahua bolted out of a car that had just pulled into a driveway and immediately started barking and biting at my dog’s feet. For context, I have a 2 year old golden doodle. She’s a medium sized dog and is about 80+ lbs. She’s friendly, isn’t aggressive, and is very shy when befriending other dogs. She was ambushed into having this interaction with this chihuahua that’s already starting off hostile so she’s doing anxious circles around me to get away from it. I’m using my foot to shoo it away, trying not to hurt it, as the owner is near me trying to grab it. The owner is taking too damn long to grab his dog so mine, who is a flight rather than a fight, tries to run a bit to get away. Y’all im 5’2 and around 100lbs idk. So when she yanks the leash forward, my upper body goes forward too. My hoodie goes over my eyes and I can’t see where she’s taking me for a moment. I manage to stand up straight and the owner is able to get his dog. My adrenaline was so high that it wasn’t until after the interaction I noticed two of my fake nails had ripped off my fingers and one was bleeding. She is fine as she has a thick coat and has no wounds. She was just stressed and confused. I’ve been monitoring her behavior and she’s still my happy girl ^v^. After this experience I was in my head about what I could’ve done better, what I should’ve done instead, and how I’ll be able to defend her if (god forbid) it happens again. It all unfolded so fast and unexpectedly that I got tunnel vision and blacked out on what to do. I try to walk her at least once a day so we both just get our legs moving and enjoy the outdoors beyond our yard that she enjoys laying and people watching on teehee. So I still want to walk her, I just wonder what measures I could take to defend her. After what happened i learned to not restrain my strength when it comes to being aggressive back if a dog won’t back down. She’s a sensitive dog so I’m going to try my hardest to be her strength if that ever happens again. Any suggestions?

777Q

Date posted: 15h

Please this is just my personal opinion, do not take offense . To the extent possible a greater responsibility I feel falls on you with being a visitor to the quiet neighborhood. Your dog is considerably larger than the chihuahua .

Enthusiast

Date posted: 15h

@777Q I see where you’re coming from! However, we’ve lived in this area for a couple years, been up and down these streets multiple times, and nothing has happened in this area before when passing by the house it happened in front of. Given her personality, she’s not aggressive, doesn’t bark, and doesn’t chase after other dogs. My post was just a summarized version of what happened but I don’t suspect the owner of the chihuahua even lives in that neighborhood anyway and was just visiting with his dog. I try not to blame aggressive dogs on the dogs themselves as it’s mostly a reflection of their owners care to an extent. I understand her being big is intimidating but all we were doing was walking with a leash and no barking ^^ We are exposed to new environments often and if a dog is going to be aggressive to the first foreign animal it sees that poses no threat then that falls on them not the foreign animal. My dog is capable of being friendly to dogs and animals it’s never encountered. But I don’t take offense to your comment as it is something to consider, thank you <3

777Q

Date posted: 15h

Try anticipating the best you can the area you are visiting and how the interactions with you your dog and the surrounding environment might play out .

777Q

Date posted: 15h

I can weigh in if you like but the suggestions might be a little hard to hear even though it would be meant by me to be honest and helpful.

Enthusiast

Date posted: 15h

@777Q I’m open to hearing!

Amason22

Date posted: 12h

There's not much else you could do except try and pick your dog up which I understand might be impossible. Fighting the dog off is the only thing you could do and luckily it wasn't a bigger dog so it was pretty easy. Maybe run towards the person who's dog is attacking you, that way by the time you get behind them they can just scoop their dog up. Also, with no disrespect to the person above, I cannot see how this is your fault at all. If I let my dog leap from my car with no leash and she started attacking another dog I would be so embarrassed and apologetic.

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