When I mean “go off”, I mean out-of-the-blue, dog losing it’s shit “going off”. In my 40 years on this earth, that never happened to me, until yesterday…
I never approach strange dogs and I never pet strange dogs without owner permission. If dog wants to come to me, that’s okay. If dog doesn’t want to come to me, that’s okay, too. If dog wants to come to me for a polite sniff, I do not look at dog, but I let dog sniff me and make his own mind up. Sometimes dog wants to make my acquaintance, sometimes dog does not. If dog then wants to make my acquaintance, I will ask the owner of dog if it is okay to pet dog. So now that you know how I interact with dogs I do not know, let’s move on with the story.
Every two months or so, I have to pick up medication for Jersey at my vet’s office. Just like I do every time, I open the door and walk in. Immediately a dog comes up to me an starts to sniff. I pay no mind and keep walking through the door. This scenario has played out dozens of times during my visits to the vet’s. I’m moving slowly and the dog keeps sniffing, no biggie. I was working at my Dad’s all day and I’m sure that I have picked up all sorts of interesting smells. I start to say “What a good doggie, you are” and while the “wh” is coming out of my mouth, the dog lunges for me and starts barking.
Immediately, I move away and take a page out of Cesar’s book. I turn to the side (to make myself look smaller and non-threatning) and stare at the wall to avoid giving the dog eye contact. From the corner of my eye I can see Dog is crazy-kite-on-a-string-I-wanna-get-you straining on the leash. Owner says that my hat is making his dog bark. I take my baseball hat off. Nope, it’s not the hat.
So I try to take it a step further and sit in a chair to make myself appear even smaller and less “scary” It sort of helped. Dogs loud scary barks turned into small growly/barks and he retreated behind his owner. I’m still staring at the wall, but from the corner of my eye I can see that Dog’s eyes are glued on me. Owner tells Dog to “be nice” and swats him with a handful of papers. Even when they are going for the door, Dog is still staring at me the whole time.
I take a breath and go to the counter. “WTF was that?” I say to the vet-tech. She says that Dog was just nervous and that some dogs will behave like that when they are scared.
The entire drive home, I’m playing out the scenario in my head. My encounter with Dog disturbed me. Did I fling open the door? Was I stomping my boots? What if I had Dexter or Jersey with me. What if someone came in with a little kid?
Dogs owner does not understand or maybe even care that his 90 pound dog is fearful-aggressive and has a problem with strangers. Dog could have done serious damage if he had bitten me, but thankfully that did not happen. Dog is a cross-breed of dogs from the Molosser family. If he were to menace an overly sensitive person, there could be problems from the Authorities. Dog needs professional help from an experienced trainer and he probably isn’t going to get it.
The moral of my story is that socializing a dog at a young age is very important. Jersey grew up in a machine shop and from about 12 weeks of age, every two weeks for about two years, we went to a horse auction which is probably the loudest, most obnoxious place for a dog to go. People yelling, making sudden movements, carrying weird stuff, wearing hats and stompy loud boots, horses all over the place. Since Jersey is really, really, ridiculously good-looking, everyone just had to pet her. The horse auction was perfect place to teach her about the weird world we living in. Dexter has been going to the scrap yard 3 to 4 times a week since he was a wee lad. Scrap yards have noisy machines, big trucks, people dressed in strange clothes and people doing strange things. Another good place for a dog to go.
The other, and more important moral of this story is if your dog has a problem with certain situations, do something about.
Well, this sounds a bit like a tale of two Shepherds who live at my house. Kuster loves everyone and assumes that everyone loves him. He’s been going to all kinds of weird stuff since we brought him home. Morgan was not socialized well and had about the worst start a dog can have, and we’ll be working on repairing that problem all of her life. We make forward progress for months and then a setback appears. *sigh*
houndstooth recently posted..In A Nutshell
Wow, what a scary an unsettling thing to happen. Especially since I’ve heard (from Ty Burkert) what an appealing person you are to dogs.
I find that doorways are also very upsetting for some dogs. The owner allowing the dog to approach you when you first came in may have been the trigger in a weird incident.
I hope the dog’s person gets some help for him. But it doesn’t seem likely. Especially if the vet staff didn’t step in. If that kind of incident happened at my vet’s office, the staff would have taken it in hand.
I’m glad you’re ok and that this wasn’t much worse.
Pamela | Something Wagging This Way Comes recently posted..If Dogs Invented the Internet
In his own way, Mr. Ty really approved of me being in the RV. He just plunked his butt right down next to me which is something that Amy says he never does with strangers.
Dogs generally “like” me, even the cranky ones, so this dog had me really concerned. Dog was on a leash, so if he got a bite in, it wouldn’t have been that bad. I was wearing a really heavy sweater and had a good pair of jeans on, too. I was more distressed about Owner’s lack or concern and what could have happened ie. what if someone came in with little kid that would have been at perfect face height. Now that could have been tragic.
I also found the vet tech’s indifference to the whole situation bothersome, too. Like really, she could have told Owner to put his dog in the car before finishing up paying the bill.
Wow! I wonder what the reason really was. I’ve never had that experience. I’m so thankful that we socialized our dogs early.
I’m so sorry that you had that experience and I’m glad that you’re okay. Thanks for sharing how you handled it; I wouldn’t know what to do.
Kimberly, The Fur Mom recently posted..5 Huge Dog Training Mistakes I’ve Made as a Dog Owner
I that had happened to a child it could have had a lifelong effect. Glad you are ok, but sorry for the dog too. The owner wanted to blame you, or your hat, for bad behavior, then swatted the dog. And why do so many large dogs end up with such stupid owners?
jan recently posted..Puppy learns to go downstairs from a very patient teacher
Actually, I find that owners of small dogs let their pets get away with way more anti-social behavior than owners of big dogs. I guess because when a small dog loses it’s shit it looks cute?
It is soooo important to socialize your dog early on for that exact reason. Glad it wasn’t any worse.
Sage recently posted..Boring!
The owner of that dog is irresponsible. Big or small, when a dog behaves like that, the owner must correct immediately, apologise, and consider what can be done to change or control the dog’s behaviour. The man’s lack of contrition or effort is galling! For a start, if my dog had lunged like that, I would have removed it from the confined space and taken it outside to wait for my turn. Sorry if it’s winter but that was MY dog that just lunged at someone without provocation. The vet tech should/could have requested him to do that and should definitely have done more in this situation. Poor dog. It’s going to get into big trouble one day, no doubt. Glad you’re okay, if unsettled and confused.
Georgia Little Pea recently posted..Medium stone CONTINUED, Saturday 19th January.
To be fair, I came in as Owner was paying his bill. But really, he could have put his dog in the car and come back in to finish up.
Yikes, I am so sorry that happened to you! Just really awful all around. I am actually really stunned the owner wasn’t more upset because I know what it is like to be at the end of that leash and it isn’t a whole lot of fun. Granted, it’s not fun for the recipient of the barking and lunging either. I am very glad you weren’t more seriously hurt.
Still, this scenario has happened to me – almost exactly – and I couldn’t beat it out of there fast enough! Back when I didn’t know Shiva very well I used to have hope that she would remain calm when approaching strangers. For some reason, even though she was fearful of them, she could not stop herself from going up to people and checking them out. She would do this so quietly and seem so calm about it that I would hope the interaction would be positive and that she would just move on. Of course, she never did, and the slightest movement of the person in her direction would have her barking like a monster. It was awful. Eventually I learned better and I learned how to set her up for success by distracting her and not allowing her to approach anyone, ever. Nowadays this wouldn’t happen because I probably wouldn’t just sit in the waiting room with her, a situation bound to increase her anxiety, and if I did I would have a pocketful of treats to distract her with.
Anyway, all this is to say that the owner needs to learn his dog needs help. Otherwise his dog could end up hurting someone and the idea of that is scary for so many reasons. I hope he clues in soon.
Kristine recently posted..Went to Bed. Took the Dog.
Completely agree. That owner needs to manage it better.
melf recently posted..Black & White Sunday #21 – Just Chillin’
Whenever I hear things like this I wonder if the dog is sick or hurt. It is shocking that the vet staff didn’t shuffle everyone around to facilitate you coming in and the dog going out. Plus if the owner was tugging back on the leash that can cause dogs to react.
If my dog misbehaves I don’t blame it on others. I feel like I have failed him if he does misbehave. I know who he reacts to new people and situations so I know what to do. The vet can be a scary place for dogs, so when we go I stand well out of the way of the door and other dogs.
Lisa B. recently posted..Show Off Your Dog’s Waistline: Kato
That happens a lot. I’ve worked at a vet clinic and can read dogs pretty well. Dogs will try to bite out of no where and surprise me all the time. It’s important for owners to warn people or get a good handle of their dogs in the waiting room. A client’s dog once bit a woman in our waiting room. The dog was a regular at the clinic, and afterwards had to enter and exit the clinic via the backdoor forever.
Ann Paws recently posted..A Pit Bull Puppy Named Shiner
Yikes! That would have freaked me out. I once had a dog go off on me that I was walking at the shelter. Well, less going off on me than going off in general because he was hyper-aroused. It scared the shot out of me because he could not be calmed down no matter what body stance I took. It terrified me.
I agree. Socialization is so damn important. If a dog doesn’t get it and is adopted from a shelter then the owner has a responsibility to make sure they have a chance to be socialized or manage their dog so no one is harmed.
I have seen dogs go off on a person with a hat before, but I suspect this dog was reacting to the smells on you or just had a reaction to you based on looks or body posture. So odd though because clearly you did all the right things.
I am so sorry that happened to you Karen. Yuck!
melf recently posted..Black & White Sunday #21 – Just Chillin’