Yesterday Mindy and I met some friends at the park for a picnic lunch. I debated and then decided to make it a rare “non-working” outing for Mindy, so she wasn’t in her vest and was free to sniff around and be a puppy. (She gets plenty of puppy time at home, remember, but everyone can take a vacation once in a while!)
Another dog was with us, too, who has spent years recovering from severe fear aggression. She’s remarkably functional now — no one could guess, looking at her, how fearful and reactive she used to be — and she was really enjoying her day, too. Mindy and I respected her space, sitting at the opposite end of the picnic table, but everything was absolutely fine.
Until we started walking.
Mindy and I were walking in front, the other dog trailing a bit behind us mostly because they’d stopped to pick up some items. I heard growling, started scanning, and I saw a Yorkie about 25′ ahead of us, fixated and growling.
We’d seen a Yorkie earlier, when we called politely to the boy walking it and asked him to keep a distance from our table instead of letting the dog run out on its extending leash toward us. He had obliged, and we thanked him. I wasn’t positive this was the same dog, but it didn’t matter, this one was definitely aggressing. And I could see that while the people were standing around it, no one was holding the retractable leash now; it was pegged to the ground with a scavenged stick through the handle.
Mindy and I stopped, I looked around, and I started to make a wide circle about the dog, going into the road. A woman near the dog laughed and called, “He thinks he’s 200 pounds!” I didn’t respond, because it wasn’t funny.
It got less funny a few seconds later, when the Yorkie pulled his stupid Flexi off the makeshift peg and came for us.
I was carrying an empty water bucket which I thrust out, blocking his reach for Mindy. We spun for a moment, me keeping the bucket in front of him as he tried to get around it and at the same time holding Mindy at arm’s length on the other side. And then the second Yorkie I hadn’t even seen arrived to join in.
I’m not sure exactly what I would have done at that point, but I would have escalated to protect my puppy. I cannot risk injury or, even worse, a crippling scary experience for a dog who will be a guide. At that point I probably would have risked my own injury in grabbing for one dog and kicked at the other to keep it from Mindy. (I keep citronella spray on my bike for such emergencies, but I didn’t expect to need it at a picnic lunch!)
Fortunately I didn’t have to, because finally the Yorkies’ people realized what was happening. They picked up the two dogs, apologized, and tried to pet Mindy with one hand while holding a snarling dog with the other.
Mindy had a great recovery; this photo was taken a couple of minutes later, and you can see her loose leash. (She’s watching our second dog catch up to us — they’d taken off to avoid trouble!) I was still a bit grumpy, but very pleased the whole scenario had come out as well as it had.
Mindy was mostly confused by the attack. If those two dogs had gone for our second dog, instead of Mindy, they would probably be seriously injured. Here was a dog fine with kids running and playing in the park, fine with dogs passing, fine with dogs lying quietly near her, but she would not have been able to tolerate two snarling dogs running at her. There would have been bloodshed, and both practically and legally, it would have been the loose dogs’ fault. And years of training would have been destroyed in a single moment of someone else’s irresponsibility.
Our second dog wasn’t dangerous or a risk to anyone engaging in normal behavior, just as a jogger isn’t dangerous when in the park jogging. But both may defend themselves when attacked. And the worst part of this to me is that the small dogs’ people were laughing about their aggression.
Aggression isn’t funny in a small dog. It’s not funny in a “non-aggressive” breed. It’s dangerous to others and it can be dangerous to the aggressive dog as well, as here. And yet I once backpedaled with Shakespeare while a woman howled with laughter at her toy breed at the end of a 30′ flexi in full rage, leaping and snapping at my Doberman’s face. She thought it was the funniest thing she’d ever seen — but she probably wouldn’t have been laughing if the situation were reversed.
So, take-home messages:
- Retractable leashes make me angry. Public space is not an appropriate place to use them (much less as a makeshift tie-out).
- Aggression in a small dog is not any funnier than aggression in a large dog. It’s not cute, it’s not a joke, it’s aggression.
- Aggression can endanger the aggressive dog just as much as anyone around it. I would never want to kick a dog, but I’d do it in an emergency. And an aggressive dog might target a dog willing to defend itself.
- Those Yorkies are living creatures, always learning. They could be taught better ways to view the world around them. They don’t have to live like that, either.
Small dogs are like that? Napoleon complex? Nope, that’s poor socialization and training, and we should address it. Tell your friends that their small dogs’ behavior can be changed, too, so that they and their dogs can live better!
The people who should read this post, are not the people who will ever read this post. Which is sad, because both the dog and the humans suffer. Keep fighting the good fight, Laura.
Hi Laura. I’m glad you and Mindy managed to survive the unattended Yorkies on a Terr(ier) without any ill effects. I think this might be your next challenge: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/dog-spies/2014/05/30/2-reasons-dogs-dont-want-to-be-walked-by-a-drone/
After reading this, I am very thankful that all the dogs in my parents neighborhood are leashed walk and the humans are very respectful of other dogs space and ask if their dog can come over and “say hi” first, and are not offended when the answer is “no, not today”.
I too have had my frustrations (in the condo building that I lived in while in Miami) with small dogs that weren’t very well trained by their humans. Fortunately Abby is very patient (not much that you can do in an elevator) and shoots me a look that says “Really… ugh this is just _so_ annoying”. So Abby is not up to power walking, but I’ll take having patience and good manners over that any day.
ZOMG. I would shatter little drone bits all over if a drone-walked dog got into trouble.
I’ve got nothing against small dogs — size matters not, as Yoda wisely said. Manners does. I hope you positively reinforce the walkers in your parents’ neighborhood for their consideration!
I just had an aggression incident at work yesterday. Lots of neighborhood residents bring their dogs to walk on the grounds, and one of those dogs (a mutt with at least a little pit in her, but not much because she’s on the small side compared to pits) is fine with people but not well socialized with other dogs.
Yesterday her owner parked himself on a bench just inside the gate, keeping his dog near him (which I think was his first mistake). When another neighbor and his standard poodle arrived at that gate, the first dog charged them, barking ferociously. The poodle and his owner decided not to come in, and they walked around the block instead.
I was busy and didn’t witness what happened a bit later, but apparently the dog followed them outside the walls and charged them again, and the poodle’s owner had to kick the mutt to get her to leave them alone. I got a phone call about that a while later, and promised the poodle’s owner there would be a discussion about the incident. We’re technically a city park, so dogs are required to be on a leash, but we may need to talk to individual dog owners about 1) following that rule, and 2) recognizing when they are creating problem situations, such as setting their dog up to be territorial and aggressive.
It’s frustrating. I’m not a dog trainer or even a dog person, but because I’ve gotten to know you and I’ve seen how great dogs can be when they’re happy and well-trained, I get particularly frustrated with dog owners who don’t bother training and socializing their dogs properly.
It never ceases to amaze me, either, that people with little dogs thinks it’s funny that their little Yorkie/Chihuahua/Shih Tzu/whatever will charge my Rottweilers barking and growling at them. I’ve, also, heard comments about how “cute”, or “brave”, their little ill mannered 5 pound dog is. I always point out to these people that if my dogs acted like that towards theirs they wouldn’t think it was “cute” or “brave”. In addition if my dogs weren’t so well trained and bit their dog it would be MY dogs who would be blamed for something THEIR dog started.
I HAVE kicked dogs that have charged a dog I was walking, on more than one occasion. Recently I was walking a client’s Chihuahua when someone in a house we were passing just opened their door and let five loose shih tzus run out, and they all came charging aggressively right at my client’s dog. I carry an air horn but those dogs were on me so fast all I could do was kick them, each of them, one after another as they came within range. Fortunately they seemed so be persuaded after receiving one kick apiece and soon the owner collected them. They were all small but with five of them they could have easily killed my client’s dog. I told off the owner and made sure to collect his information in case the chihuahua had sustained injuries that were not immediately apparent, but the sad thing is he probably didn’t learn anything and probably continues to let his dogs run loose. I myself have a reactive 12 pound JRT mix, but I take her issues very seriously.