A Scary Moment- Dog Attack on Our Walk

A Scary Moment- Dog Attack on Our Walk- Abe, Sebastian and Chico

Last weekend, my family and I went on our nightly walk.  It usually is the five of us (my husband, son, Chico, Abe and myself) but last Saturday night we had my parents’ dog Maggie (10lb Dahcshund) with us too.  All dogs had their Nite Ize lights turned on and we were just passed the half way mark and heading for home, when we passed two dogs sitting at a restaurant.  They barked at my dogs and Chico barked back.  Little did I know, that would be the beginning of a dog attack.

We continued walking for two blocks when all of a sudden we heard a dog running towards us and turned around to see a large black dog coming from the restaurant we had passed a few minutes before.  It immediately went for our two smaller dogs:  Chico my Chihuahua mix and Maggie the Dahcshund.  My husband was holding back Abe (65lb lab mix) and I was holding on to the stroller, had Maggie hanging in the air by her leash and was trying to keep the big dog away from Chico with my foot.  It was quite a scene.  A couple of guys from surrounding restaurants came running to help but none of us could get the dog to stop.

The dog’s owner came running up to see his dog focused on my dogs, my son’s stroller turned over and me screaming.  Yes, I handled things well didn’t I?  The owner was able to pry his dog away from mine and pick him up. The poor guy was shaking with nerves.  He said the dog had popped the leash in his desire to follow us.  We offered him a new leash, collar, whatever he needed to secure the dog.  He said he was ok and just about ran away.

Of course, in my mind this event lasted an eternity but the reality was that it was just a couple of minutes.  Two minutes and a lot more grey hair on my head.  We checked over our son and the dogs, everone was fine thank God. The dog wasn’t able to get his teeth on anyone.  I’d like to think that wasn’t his intent.  If he had tried, I am sure he could have succeeded.

In shock, we headed home.

It took me a few days to get over.  I continued to think of what I could have done better, how the dog attack could have been prevented.

I decided I can never know what another dog might do, especially at night, especially when sitting at a restaurant and potentially guarding food.  What I can do is be more prepared.  I need to work on Chico’s reactive barking and probably carry some sort of deterrent.  Like a noise maker to interrupt a dog who is one track minded.  I’ll let you know what I decide to do and would love to know your product recommendations.

I am just so thankful that all of my babies are o.k.  It made our pack closer than ever.  Be careful out there pack moms.  Be aware, know your walk route, use lights if walking at night and make sure you have control over your dogs!

Has this happened to you?  What did you do?

Jenn

Tags: dog, dog attack, dog walk, Jenn Fadal, Nite Ize, Pet Expert

Category: Safety