dog fight: what's the etiquette?

**gaseousclay** · 05-16-2012, 06:11 PM

so, my dog got into a scuffle with another dog yesterday at the park and it wasn't pretty. Everything was going fine at first. My wife and I had been there for about an hour at this point and our dog was playing with the other dogs and just doing his own thing. From out of nowhere another dog comes along and is behaving in an aggressive manner toward our dog. The other dog started chasing him and then proceeded to snarl, bark and nip at him while he was trying to get away. At one point this dog caused him to stumble and yelp. The next thing you know, a full blown fight breaks out between my dog and the other dog and all hell breaks loose. I've owned George for 7 months now and he's never gotten into a fight like this. He's been harrassed plenty of times by other dogs at the park but he's never fought back. When it was all said and done I jumped in and grabbed George by his collar. I saw the owner of the other dog leashing her dog up about 10-15 ft away and I saw that he was bleeding. I asked her if her dog was ok and she said yes and that his nose was bleeding. So basically my dog got him pretty good while our dog came out unscathed. Despite the other dog being the aggressor (in my opinion) I still felt bad that he was hurt. On the other hand, I also felt the onus was on the other dog owner for bringing her aggressive dog to the park. My dog stood his ground and when he was further provoked he fought back.So my question is, what would you have done? Would you assume financial responsibility for the injuries the other dog sustained? Or is it the other dog owner's fault for allowing it to escalate? I know I could've stepped in and pulled my dog out at the first sign, but like I said, in the past these other aggressive dogs usually went away or I would step in and pull my dog away. The other owner simply leashed her dog and left and that was the end of it. What would you do? Am I wrong in thinking that my dog did nothing wrong?

**ghurlag** · 05-16-2012, 06:18 PM

I'm the kind of person that will go out of my way to make a situation "right", but in this case, if you were to offer any compensation, you would be admitting liability, effectively, and could open yourself up for a lawsuit, and would be fighting an uphill battle for your chivalrous gesture. I've seen it happen. We live in a lawsuit happy society, and unfortunately you have to look out for you first.

**mretzloff** · 05-16-2012, 06:20 PM

I do not think you should assume any sort of liability. Bullies, whether dogs or humans, should never be allowed to get away with their actions.

**demaro** · 05-16-2012, 06:21 PM

YOu handled the situation perfectly. I walk my two labs a few times a day in my neighborhood and have had dogs run out and attack mine many times. My dogs are friendly , but will fight back if provoked. My labs are tough and have never lost a fight. Most people do not apologize to me after this happens , even though I have my dogs on a leash and under control while their dog is not. One tome I had a small cocker spaniel come out and attack my dogs while I was walking them in the middle of the street in my neighborhood. One of them fought back and drew blood on the cocker spaniel. I felt really bad and apologized even though I knew I did no wrong. The people told me not to worry about it because their dog went after a German Shepard a few months before.

**Illadelphia** · 05-16-2012, 06:42 PM

Originally Posted by mretzloff

I do not think you should assume any sort of liability. Bullies, whether dogs or humans, should never be allowed to get away with their actions.

love that video.

**ghurlag** · 05-16-2012, 06:47 PM

Originally Posted by demaro

YOu handled the situation perfectly. I walk my two labs a few times a day in my neighborhood and have had dogs run out and attack mine many times. My dogs are friendly , but will fight back if provoked. My labs are tough and have never lost a fight. Most people do not apologize to me after this happens , even though I have my dogs on a leash and under control while their dog is not. One tome I had a small cocker spaniel come out and attack my dogs while I was walking them in the middle of the street in my neighborhood. One of them fought back and drew blood on the cocker spaniel. I felt really bad and apologized even though I knew I did no wrong. The people told me not to worry about it because their dog went after a German Shepard a few months before.

a cocker spaniel with a death wish...

**Go West Young Man** · 05-16-2012, 09:05 PM

Dogs get into scraps if you let them, best thing is to apologize, make sure there's no real damage, then move on quickly.

**riooso** · 05-16-2012, 09:21 PM

That vid. is brutal!

R

**scottish steve** · 05-16-2012, 09:26 PM

All youtube videos are banned where i am. I just get an error message in the middle of the post. Did a forum member just post footage of a dog fight?

**ouch** · 05-16-2012, 11:21 PM

Originally Posted by scottish steve

All youtube videos are banned where i am. I just get an error message in the middle of the post. Did a forum member just post footage of a dog fight?

No, just the victim of a bully responding with one of the best bodyslams you'll ever see. Get Vince McMahon on the phone.

**gaseousclay** · 05-17-2012, 05:10 AM

Originally Posted by demaro

YOu handled the situation perfectly. I walk my two labs a few times a day in my neighborhood and have had dogs run out and attack mine many times. My dogs are friendly , but will fight back if provoked. My labs are tough and have never lost a fight. Most people do not apologize to me after this happens , even though I have my dogs on a leash and under control while their dog is not. One tome I had a small cocker spaniel come out and attack my dogs while I was walking them in the middle of the street in my neighborhood. One of them fought back and drew blood on the cocker spaniel. I felt really bad and apologized even though I knew I did no wrong. The people told me not to worry about it because their dog went after a German Shepard a few months before.

thanks for the reassurance. I posted this on another forum and some of the members felt that I should pay for part of the vet bill, or even suggested that my dog was the aggressor and not the victim. I actually found this remark a little offensive since my dog was the one clearly being provoked and harrassed by an aggressive dog. This is the first time i've seen my dog fight since we adopted him. In all other cases it's always been an aggressive dog that would chase my dog at the park and I would have to lead my dog away while the owner of the aggressive dog did nothing. Though i've only had him for 7 months, I know his behavior well enough to confidently say he would never start a fight. He wants to do nothing but run and play with the other dogs, unfortunately, the park I go to is an unofficial dog park so there are no restrictions or regulations whatsoever.

**rearviewmirror** · 05-17-2012, 06:15 AM

You responded PERFECTLY. You apologized that your dog kicked her dogs ass, even though her dog started it. End of story!

**gaseousclay** · 05-17-2012, 06:28 AM

Originally Posted by rearviewmirror

You responded PERFECTLY. You apologized that your dog kicked her dogs ass, even though her dog started it. End of story!

technically I didn't apologize. I asked her if her dog was ok and left it at that. an apology would be an admission of guilt

**raisindot** · 05-17-2012, 06:42 AM

Anyone who brings dogs anywhere and lets them run around loose with other dogs has got to accept the possibility of an unscheduled dogfight happening at any time. The nature of dogs (and most animals) is to test each other to see who is the alpha male of the group. You don't necessarily know that the 'other' dog is by nature an aggressive dog--maybe the other dog is a sweetheart and just today it decided to go Travis Bickle because it didn't like the way your dog was looking at it. (How many times do you read in the news about the pit bull owner who says, "Rover's always been a sweetheart, and she always played well with the baby--until he ate her, that is." Every dog has an inner wolf inside that can come out at any moment.

Anyone other than Michael Vick who lets dogs run around loose with other dogs should take care of their own dog's injuries and no one else's. If your dog gets injured, you pay for it. If the other dog gets injured, the other owner pays for it. If you don't want your dog to injure of get injured, keep it on a leash.

**Champion of Capua** · 05-17-2012, 06:58 AM

I don't think you did anything wrong except maybe not confronting the other dog owner nicely before the fight happened. I take my beagle/basset (bagel) to the dog park every now and then and I see this sort of thing quite a bit. I have little tolerance for people who let their spaz of a dog run around picking a fight. I have no problem letting people know something bad is going to happened if they don't get control of their dog. I find that the other dog owners feel the same, nobody likes to see one dog ruin the day for everyone.

**Wisdom** · 05-17-2012, 07:11 AM

I understand your impulse to make things right, but it sounds like most people (myself included) believe you didn't do anything wrong in the first place. I might have stepped in a little earlier, when the other dog started showing signs of aggression toward mine, but your behavior was perfectly rational and I don't think anyone can really say "you should have" anything..

About the most you could do is trade numbers and let the other owner know that your dog is up to date on all of his shots, etc.. maybe call in to see how the other guy's doing out of courtesy. There's no need to hate on the other owner or other dog.. I'm sure they both regret the situation enough as it is. If the other dog had gotten a piece of yours, you'd probably want the other owner to at least show sincere remorse and concern.
-\Visdom

**Pkrankow** · 05-17-2012, 07:20 AM

Originally Posted by gaseousclay

technically I didn't apologize. I asked her if her dog was ok and left it at that. an apology would be an admission of guilt

Gotta love our litigious society.

Phil

**thatsilverguy** · 05-17-2012, 07:25 AM

The way the other dog owner acted tells me that dog has done that before - she probably felt relieved that things ended as peacefully as they did.

And I agree with the folks who are telling you not to approach the other dog owner. America is the land of the litigious - unless you want this other person to take everything you own at the least don't say anything. At the most set your defense or start legal proceedings against the other person.

In America it doesn't matter who is right or wrong but who is politically better-connected or has the better lawyer.

**COHunter** · 05-17-2012, 09:38 AM

Dogs fight, that's how they sort out the ranks. It's the pack mentality. The biggest problem is people giving dogs (and all animals for that matter) human traits that they simply don't have. A dog can't be a bully, he has absolutely no concept of that, it's an erroneous human trait placed on a dog. Had it been a dog that attacked a person, different story, but dogs scrap with other dogs. It happens. But you have to cover your backside anymore, so don't admit to anything, just let it be an incident in the past.

Incidents like these are why I can't stand go0ing to dog parks, too many potential problems, isn't worth the stress.

**jwcarlson** · 05-17-2012, 11:30 AM

This is partially the reason we've completely quit taking our beagle to the dog park. He's more of a people dog than a dog dog. He gets along great with most dogs but when one continually backs him up he starts to worry me some... mainly because he gets. I don't understand dog behavior, but...

Someone had a big fat girl dog that took a liking to our beagle... he didn't seem to enjoy her, she kept walking into him and pushing on him. He never got aggressive just kept walking away from her.

Another dog getting aggressive with him and he'll start getting defensive... I guess somehow they understand the differences.
We take off whenever we see someone with a pit bull there. Maybe that's wrong, but I don't really care. I'd rather not have to stab someone else's dog to death if it latches on to mine. I refuse to sit there and have my wife watch her favorite thing get killed in front of her eyes. So now we stick to the backyard and have our friends two jack russells come over and her parents bring their two mini weiner dogs over (can't spell dauschhund or I would ;)).

Awhile back one of our friends had their Jack Russell bitten by a pit bull at the same park. She got her skull bitten up pretty good, just barely missed blinding her in at least one eye. She survived. They tried everything to get her loose and he just wouldn't let go. When all was said and done they got the name and phone number (surprise surprise it was bogus). "We just rescued him"... Who in their right freaking mind would take a freshly rescued dog (pit bull, no less) to a busy dog park?