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Loose/aggressive neighborhood dogs
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Loose/aggressive neighborhood dogs
Hello!
My husband & I adopted a 2 year old Malinois in October and she has made amazing progress since I signed up for the membership and committed to making serious progress. Lily used to get set off by even seeing another quiet dog across the street. We’ve progress enough where she even plays well with my brothers Greyhound.
My biggest issue is some of the other dogs in the neighborhood. In the 3 1/2 months we’ve had her we’ve encountered 7 loose dogs with only one repeat offender, one almost breaking the fence to get to us, and another dragging their teenaged owner across street to get to us (my husband ended up jumping a fence with our dog to get away from the 80+ lb pit bull because there was no winning that fight). Luckily I’ve only been bitten once by another dog in the scuffles. It’s hard not to feel like I’m the common denominator in the whole thing but when you walk 3-4 times a day I suppose you’re bound to run across some things. I tend to feel like I’m just in ‘don’t get either of us bitten mode’ because, of course, it only seems to happen when my husband or I are walking separately.
Does anyone have any brilliant suggestions? Or just want to share in my misery with a situation they just couldn’t avoid for moral support? 😂 We don’t walk from 3:30-6:30 pm when most people are walking their dogs and we always turn around when we see other dogs or pick the lesser of two evils if there’s a dog coming the other direction too. I hate the idea of being held hostage by our neighbors poorly contained dogs but it’s starting to feel like we can’t make as much progress if Lily keeps basically getting a reason to be defensive whenever she sees a dog. I’m certainly trying to stay positive but I know you all will have some great suggestions! Multiple heads are better than one, maybe you all have found something that works. Thanks in advance!
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4 Replies
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Definitely following this one. Our Male GSD was twice attacked by our next door neighbour’s husky that dug out of their yard. Once at 12 weeks old and again at 16 weeks old. All we were doing was returning from a walk and the husky came out from between the cars and just started biting, no growl, no bark, the expression on it’s face changed and he just ran over and started biting. I think it was his loose puppy skin that saved him from being hurt worse when the husky was dragging him. I used my foot to push the husky away 4 times but he just kept coming back and I didn’t have time to scoop ours up. My husband and the neighbour’s teenager finally got hold of the husky so I could get ours to safety. You can never unsee that, and you can never quite forgive yourself for not being able to protect them properly. Are there things I would have done differently knowing what I know now? Absolutely, but I had to put that behind me so that I could walk our pup with confidence so that I would not transfer my anxiety and stress onto him. I am proud to say that he so far shows no signs of anxiety, aggression or reactivity from the incidents and is 13 months old. Robert’s advice and our local trainer’s advice were to possibly walk with a walking stick or a heavy flashlight, continue walking with confidence until the dog gets too close and then turn and step towards it to apply spatial pressure to it and bang the walking stick on the ground to scare it off with noise. Hang in there, it sounds like you have an extra dose of irresponsible owners in your area. Maybe go for a drive to a neighbouring town and then walk there?
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Hi Susanna
I too deal with this. I live in a rural town where there is no leash law. I get the same few pits that run up on us occasionally and our neighbor constantly puts their shepherd wolf mix in the backyard where it digs out and harasses us during training.
The easiest method I have found is avoidance. I drive 15 minutes to a park that has a walking track and walk my dogs there instead. On the days that I do walk my dogs in the neighborhood, I carry a weapon. A sturdy walking stick is good because you can deter dogs away but can still defend yourself and your dog if the need arises.
This really sucks to have to deal with and I’m sorry you have to go through it. I hope this helps at least a little.
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Thanks for bringing up the topic. I’m facing a similar problem, and the suggestions already posted will help make our walks safer.
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In the Philippines there is a native stray dog wherever you turn. I estimate around 10 to 20 in my development — depending on season. It’s both heartbreaking and frustrating. I walk our dog with a Cane and No Fear. The No Fear works with 99% of encounters. But there is always that 1% and usually it’s a female, oddly enough. That’s where the Cane comes into play.
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