About ten years ago I was walking my dogs, I had a 95 pound German Shepherd and a 35 pound Border Collie and they were both four and all muscle. I had them both leashed, and a leash in each hand. We were in my old neighborhood in Portland, a residential area. It was a weekday in the late morning, and the neighborhood was quiet.
I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye, and then my dogs turned and pulled on their leashes. I turned towards the direction of their pull and saw a huge English Mastiff running full bore towards us. The fight lasted only about 90 seconds, I spent most of that time trying to keep my Border Collie out of the fray. The Mastiff locked onto my Shepherd.
The owner ran up, he was a really big guy, and it was a struggle for him to pry his dog off of mine. I was shaken, my Shepherd was straining at the leash for more, and the owner was apologizing but clearly didn't have full control of his dog. I gave my Shepherd a quick inspection, didn't see blood so I left.
When I got home from work that night my Shepherd was covered with huge abscesses and I rushed him to the emergency vet. I tracked down the owner (it wasn't hard to find the guy who owned the 200 pound dog) and he could not of been more gracious or apologetic. He paid my vet bill and tearfully told me that he was giving his dog away.
I learned that dog fights can be very sudden and that even if my dog looks okay right after the fight it's important to get the owner's info. That was the worst fight, but there were others. I've learned that you can get an aggressive dog to release if you grab it by the upper, inner thigh and grip hard while pulling it out of the fight (just be ready to deal with it's head when it spins around at you).
I found that a collapsible baton was the best weapon to carry while walking my dogs. Fortunately I never had to use it, but I didn't trust pepper spray because of wind and the danger of hitting my dogs while trying to break up a fight.
Most importantly after a couple of decades of owning and walking dogs I've learned never to expect the absolute worst from other dog owners, there are simply too many idiots out there with big, mean dogs.
I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye, and then my dogs turned and pulled on their leashes. I turned towards the direction of their pull and saw a huge English Mastiff running full bore towards us. The fight lasted only about 90 seconds, I spent most of that time trying to keep my Border Collie out of the fray. The Mastiff locked onto my Shepherd.
The owner ran up, he was a really big guy, and it was a struggle for him to pry his dog off of mine. I was shaken, my Shepherd was straining at the leash for more, and the owner was apologizing but clearly didn't have full control of his dog. I gave my Shepherd a quick inspection, didn't see blood so I left.
When I got home from work that night my Shepherd was covered with huge abscesses and I rushed him to the emergency vet. I tracked down the owner (it wasn't hard to find the guy who owned the 200 pound dog) and he could not of been more gracious or apologetic. He paid my vet bill and tearfully told me that he was giving his dog away.
I learned that dog fights can be very sudden and that even if my dog looks okay right after the fight it's important to get the owner's info. That was the worst fight, but there were others. I've learned that you can get an aggressive dog to release if you grab it by the upper, inner thigh and grip hard while pulling it out of the fight (just be ready to deal with it's head when it spins around at you).
I found that a collapsible baton was the best weapon to carry while walking my dogs. Fortunately I never had to use it, but I didn't trust pepper spray because of wind and the danger of hitting my dogs while trying to break up a fight.
Most importantly after a couple of decades of owning and walking dogs I've learned never to expect the absolute worst from other dog owners, there are simply too many idiots out there with big, mean dogs.