I kicked a dog was I wrong?

[gezzerglide]

Me and Clyde were out for our walk. There is a large vacant lot near where we turn around and come home. We were crossing the lot. and hear a a woman frantically calling her dog. A big retriever looking dog is bounding toward us. (off leash)

He and Clyde start their dog greeting, the woman comes up and starts to call her dog off. I asked her to get her dog. The dogs continue their dance of sniffing one another. No fur up, no aggression on either part. A guy runs up and goes for the the loose dog, both dogs go up in the air after one and another. I pull Clyde back by the leash, and instinct took over, I feel bad but I kicked the other dog. Before anything else can be said, the couple and their dog are gone. I do feel bad about kicking a dog, but at the same time I feel like I was jusitiified. No blood was let, I broke a flip flop, had to walk 3/4 of mile home barefoot. I do realize, that their dog was loose unintentionally, (by the calls) and I don't ever want to hurt others, but???

Clyde seemed fine except for wanting go after a cat near the house. (he never done that before) The only other time he had shown any aggression toward another dog was when a little mexican dog was in his path back to a frisbee, he looked back at me as to say what's this? The the mexican dog bowed up, and I had to pull Clyde back. The owners apolgized, "he thinks he bigger than he is..

[mbc1963]

Tough situation!

 

First off, I've had the exact thing happen with my dog - he's tense meeting other dogs, anyway, and the approach of a human or MY attempt to pull back on Buddy's leash causes him (and often the other dog) to suddenly flare up into a fight, where before they were tensely just doing the meet and greet.

 

Second... yeah, you were probably wrong to kick, inasfar as kicking is not likely to improve a situation like that. But I've done the exact same thing myself. It's one thing to analyze what's right and wrong when you're cool-headed and far from a tense situation. It's another thing to keep calm, cool, and collected when you're attached to one of the dogs in a dog fight. Since my dog is usually the aggressor, I've even found myself whacking at him to try to get him away from the other dog. I know intellectually it's a bad plan, and I work on my actions, but in the moment, all I want to do is split up the fight and drive Buddy away.

 

::Sigh::

 

Better luck next time. I try to think of it as "I get a little bit better each time," and "I learn from my mistakes."

 

Mary

 

Mary

[Barb Scott]

If you were wearing flip flops, it couldn't have been too damaging to the dog!

Barb S

[juliepoudrier]

If you were wearing flip flops, it couldn't have been too damaging to the dog!

Barb S

How true! I'm surprised you didn't have to limp home with a broken toe!

 

J.

[1sheepdoggal]

Ive been bit on the foot doing just that, kicking at a couple of dogs while they were mixing it up. Truth is, it was my dog that bit me! Course, she was the one that started it, so in my eyes, she is the one that deserved the boot. Nowadays, I find alternate ways.

[DTrain]

There is something else in this. I notice you said that he wanted to go after a cat after this. I am struggling with my youngest dog at the moment and I am not quite sure what to do about it. About a month ago I had my young dog out on a leash and his father off leash in a field near our house. A dog from a house close to us, he is a large terrier cross probably close to 100 pounds appeared in the field behind us and jumped my young dog, dad jumped the big dog and for a minute things were out of control. I called dad off and went after the big dog myself and chased him off. Up until this point the young dog showed no signs of aggression. Ever since then I have had trouble with the young dog lunging at other dogs and even some people. I have been working on it with not much success. I may post in the training section for help with this.