Dog fights

Hi,

I thought I'd share a tale about a nasty incident which resolved itself by one key action.

I was walking my two terriers last night, when a big black labrador decided he would rather chew on my dog than his stick. Teeth and fur flew, mostly from my husband directed at the lab's owner. My dog managed to get away dragging one leg behind him, looking very distressed indeed.

Recognising that the scrap between the owner's was just as important as the scrap between the dogs I decided to have my say (unusual for me as I normally steer well away from conflict). Firstly checking the dog wasn't bleeding (luckily he was not), I calmly said that the dog was okay, that we'd all had a fright, but now the man knew his dog was capable of attacking another (it was the lab's "first time") he should take better control of it. The man was expecting anger and got angry back at me, but I kept firm and calmly said my piece. In the end he calmed down and apolgised. The net result was no harm done, and the injured dog learned a valuable lesson about scrapping.

The key point in the incident was the realisation that we had all reacted emotionally to the dog's fighting, and one of us had to "get back to our senses" to keep it from getting out of hand. That quickly brought me out of the emotional trance and back into the here and now, able to deal with the situation. And next time he's sees a black lab, my dog will steer clear!

Lyndsay