Muzzled dog attack

Article about attack by muzzled dog.
By Laure-Anne Viselé, July 2010

Aggressive German Shepherd bullet

Today, I took my 10-month old kid and my dog (fox terrier mix) to a park where offleash dogs are tolerated. I was walking with a group of friends and their own dogs when we saw this German Shepherd bolting towards us displaying all the possible signs of aggression (raised heckles, tail held high, ears pointing rigidly forward, and a hard stare). All the dogs in the group got agitated and started barking, growling, and posturing.

He darted straight for my dog, and repeatedly tried to bite through its muzzle, repeatedly ‘head-butting’ Roger (my dog) violently with his muzzle. My dog was in a complete panick and kept making distress yelps, but the other dog would not let him get away. Thankfully, the muzzle held on and my dog didn’t get bitten.  I could not do anything, as I had to stay close to my kid in case that dog decided to go for the pram too.

The owner taking his time…

It took the owner a while to eventually get to us, approaching the scene at an infuriatingly casual pace. When he eventually got there, he just smiled and muttered to noone in particular ‘such drama’ as I was screaming at him to get his dog under control. The man made absolutely no attempt at restraining his dog, and made no mystery of his opinion of my outrage.

I wonder where his lack of manners, courtesy and empathy would stop. Would he brandish a blank gun in my face, and just say: “Such drama It’s not even loaded”?

I am still seething and, what compounds my frustration is that I regularly meet equally anti-social and irresponsible dog owners, and that there doesn’t ever seem to be any repercussions. One such encounters even ended up with repeat visits to the vet’s for bite wounds.

So here I am, once again, with my utopian vision of a world where dog owners are so considerate that offleash dogs are welcome everywhere, and that I can go out without fearing for my dog’s and my kid’s safety. In the meantime, would it be too much to ask that owners of out-of-control dogs at least pretend to apologise?

Further reading

Dogs and society

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Responsible dog ownership

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4 Comments

  1. Posted 25 August 2010 at 21:55 | Permalink

    I agree, all dog owners should control their dogs or not be allowed to have them. Just look at the dog mauling case with Diane Whipple and Marjorie Knoller in which Diane Whipple died at the hands of Knoller’s dog: http://www.examiner.com/sf-in-san-francisco/marjorie-knoller-murder-conviction-dog-mauling-upheld-photos

  2. Posted 29 August 2010 at 19:48 | Permalink

    Thanks, Sheila. I am totally for responsible ownership. I dream of a world where peer pressure alone would inspire people to do the right thing. It’s a sad fact that we need laws for it.

  3. Posted 25 December 2011 at 13:44 | Permalink

    whoah this blog is great i love reading your articles. Keep up the good work! You know, lots of people are looking around for this info, you could aid them greatly.

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