Scary Dog Moment

[serrac]

Out with my 8yo Lab Louie last night on his evening walk, I spotted a guy about 30yds ahead who appeared to be being taken for a walk by his dog.

As I got closer I realised we'd met this dog a couple of times before - it's an American Bulldog, probably about a year old but BIG and all muscle - quite intimidating even when it's just standing looking at you. 

Whereas before It had been in the company of a young guy, this time it was with an older man, probably 70ish.

As we got closer he moved with the dog up onto an embankment so we were about 20 feet apart as we passed.

The dog clocked Loiue and, despite the guy telling it "no" several times, lunged towards Louie, pulling the guy off his feet and dragging him down the embankment and onto the pavement.  He was only just managing to hold onto the leash, being fully stretched out on the pavement, and I was thinking "oh man, what's going to happen if he lets go of that leash".

The funny thing is Louie seemed quite unfazed by all this, he didn't react with aggression or show any signs of fear.
He's pretty laid back but will respond if confronted with out-and-out aggression, or maybe more-so when very alpha dogs give him "the eye".
On the other hand I've often seen him just stand there or step back when another dogs are yapping and snarling in his face so I reckon he's pretty good at reading a situation and knows when they are acting out of nervousness and there's no need to engage.  So maybe this dog just wanted to play and Louie read the situation correctly.

We just moved further away and I asked the guy if he was OK and he said yes so we kept walking.

No contact was made and no-one was injured AFAIK but this was certainly an uncomfortable experience for me and I dread to think of this happening to any of the other dog walkers in town, a couple of whom are little old ladies with toy breeds.

What do you think - should I report this, or leave it and hope the owners have learned something from the event?

Cheers

[Lloyd90]

The issue with reporting it, is that nothing has actually happened (although that is a good thing), and unless you have the person's name and address there's not much the Police can log about it. 

 

Sounds a bit situation but nothing really surprised me re public and their dog ownership skills anymore to be honest. 

[Scully]

As Lloyd has said, there’s nothing to report. 
There’s a dog in the village which is extremely aggressive; it is very Wolf like and it’s elderly owners have to restrain it whenever my dog and it meet, to the extent it rears onto its back legs in an attempt to get to mine. Even their son struggles to keep it in check.

Even more annoying is it’s on one of those retractable leads and at full extent it can be round the corner long before it’s owner, who hasn’t got there yet. It runs towards us and is only checked when the owner does so or it reaches the extent of its lead.
It once rushed through a hedge when it saw me, onto the road on which I was walking, but luckily ( as the owner hadn’t spotted me ) I didn’t have my dog with me at the time. 

My OH turns around and walks our dogs in the opposite direction if she spots it coming. We have even opened a gate and gone into the field while it passes, as has the owner if he gets to a gate first. 
I’m dreading the day that lead breaks, but have mentioned to the owners that if it does, and it attacks mine, there will be consequences.
But until then unfortunately, there’s nothing I can do. 

Edited January 19, 2022 by Scully

[Agriv8]

Well done for staying calm.

It’s a scary experience which I have avoided all but once !

Agriv8

[Walker570]

Without a doubt there are too many out there with dogs who should not have them.  It is fairly quiet in this village apart from one small  dog which as soon as it leaves the house on it's lead never stops barking at a high pitch right around the two mile circuit until it gets bagck indoors. The owners never tell it to stop or stop it pulling on the lead. Pathetic.  Unfortunately I do see one or two occasions on shoots where the owners should have left the dogs at home. Obviously either non or failed training. Again  Pathetic.

Happily on shoots the majority of dogs I see are well trained, some just too clever. At Prestwold last week the little spaniel belonging to the Keeper decided she would rather curl up alongside me on the gun bus and she was so small that my cap cover her.  Cracking little dog.

Edited January 19, 2022 by Walker570

[oowee]

I would report it. Why wait until there is an incident. Be firm and be persistent. 

A community protection notice (CPN) orders the person responsible for the dog (usually the dog owner) to stop or control its behaviour. A CPN is usually issued to deal with minor incidents, including when a dog:

• strays

• causes alarm

• damages property

• shows it’s capable of aggression

A CPN orders the responsible person to:

• stop doing something, eg letting the dog into children’s play areas

• do specified things, eg muzzling the dog

• take reasonable steps to get specific results, eg attending dog-training classes

A CPN can last for as long as the authority issuing it believes is necessary (eg, 2 weeks to fix a fence, or several months to allow someone to attend a training course).

[ninjaferret]

Forewarned is forearmed i would report it, too many what if's....... 

[Lloyd90]

8 hours ago, oowee said:

I would report it. Why wait until there is an incident. Be firm and be persistent. 

A community protection notice (CPN) orders the person responsible for the dog (usually the dog owner) to stop or control its behaviour. A CPN is usually issued to deal with minor incidents, including when a dog:

• strays

• causes alarm

• damages property

• shows it’s capable of aggression

A CPN orders the responsible person to:

• stop doing something, eg letting the dog into children’s play areas

• do specified things, eg muzzling the dog

• take reasonable steps to get specific results, eg attending dog-training classes

A CPN can last for as long as the authority issuing it believes is necessary (eg, 2 weeks to fix a fence, or several months to allow someone to attend a training course).

 

 

All good if you know the owners name, address and details to give the Police.

I got the impression that the OP didn't have the details of the bloke, therefore it's difficult to report. 

 

We have calls in work where someone rings up saying they want to report a concern about a child, don't know the name, don't know the addressm don't have any details like car registration, etc etc. Without details of the person almost nothing we can do. 

 

 

If the OP see's the guy again and somehow gets his details then obviously report it to the Police. 

[WalkedUp]

I am shocked that it is an American bulldog that is out of control and aggressive 🤣

When the frail old man realises it is too dangerous and he doesn’t want it around him or his family anymore the dog will be “rescued” (a synonym for bought second hand by a well meaning f’tard). It will then be more of a danger and nuisance to the public, and another family. These dogs are catnip for idiots. 

A woman at my sons’ school “rescued” a similar intact aggressive male American Bulldog from a “rescue centre”. As the parents all know my dogs the lady asked me what advice I had for it, I said a bullet. Within two days her husband had taken it back to the “rescue” centre and then bought a spaniel pup. Very sensible man, except I would have taken it to the vet. 

Edited January 20, 2022 by WalkedUp

[Rob85]

3 hours ago, WalkedUp said:

I am shocked that it is an American bulldog that is out of control and aggressive 🤣

When the frail old man realises it is too dangerous and he doesn’t want it around him or his family anymore the dog will be “rescued” (a synonym for bought second hand by a well meaning f’tard). It will then be more of a danger and nuisance to the public, and another family. These dogs are catnip for idiots. 

A woman at my sons’ school “rescued” a similar intact aggressive male American Bulldog from a “rescue centre”. As the parents all know my dogs the lady asked me what advice I had for it, I said a bullet. Within two days her husband had taken it back to the “rescue” centre and then bought a spaniel pup. Very sensible man, except I would have taken it to the vet. 

Careful now, the "they are the most kind and gentle and protective of my kids" crowd will be here shortly to put you right!

It seems the new catnip for idiots is any one of the new fangled crossbreeds, a lady talking to me just yesterday was complaining about her nutcase cockapoo, this kindly cutsey ball of fluff running amok even though it was at training classes since 15 weeks,  straining on the harness and zero recall. From what I heard from her and is also the case for this American bulldog in the post, its the owners need education and training before they even consider owning/training a dog.

[Lloyd90]

32 minutes ago, Rob85 said:

Careful now, the "they are the most kind and gentle and protective of my kids" crowd will be here shortly to put you right!

It seems the new catnip for idiots is any one of the new fangled crossbreeds, a lady talking to me just yesterday was complaining about her nutcase cockapoo, this kindly cutsey ball of fluff running amok even though it was at training classes since 15 weeks,  straining on the harness and zero recall. From what I heard from her and is also the case for this American bulldog in the post, its the owners need education and training before they even consider owning/training a dog.

 

The owners need to buy a goldfish and leave dogs for people who actually can meet their needs. 

[Benthejockey]

9 hours ago, Rob85 said:

Careful now, the "they are the most kind and gentle and protective of my kids" crowd will be here shortly to put you right!

It seems the new catnip for idiots is any one of the new fangled crossbreeds, a lady talking to me just yesterday was complaining about her nutcase cockapoo, this kindly cutsey ball of fluff running amok even though it was at training classes since 15 weeks,  straining on the harness and zero recall. From what I heard from her and is also the case for this American bulldog in the post, its the owners need education and training before they even consider owning/training a dog.

Cockapoo, sproodle etc etc all the bad bits of both breeds and no redeeming features unless you're the person breeding them then the price the idiots will pay for them is quite a redeeming feature I'd imagine!

[7daysinaweek]

I shudder when I hear about aggressive dogs and the idiots that own them.

All agressive dogs pose a risk and in my experience, typically, the larger the animal the greater the extent of the injury.

[harkom]

I believe that Gov't is looking to repeal the dangerous dogs act, with the intention of replacing it whereby the dog is not deemed to be aggressive solely on its specific breeding  - the emphasis on guilt will fall on the owner for inadequate training and control. Perhaps a step in the right direction?

[12gauge82]

On 29/01/2022 at 16:46, harkom said:

I believe that Gov't is looking to repeal the dangerous dogs act, with the intention of replacing it whereby the dog is not deemed to be aggressive solely on its specific breeding  - the emphasis on guilt will fall on the owner for inadequate training and control. Perhaps a step in the right direction?

Absolutely a step in the right direction, breed specific legislation is an utter failure, not to mention a cop out for people to blame a breed, rather than the idiot that owns the dog.