Dog Behavior

On July 7th  2009, what animal control officers are calling an American bulldog came at us on a dead run, shortly after we left our house for a walk with our dogs. The dog ran past Suzanne, slipping her collar as Suzanne tried to grab her, and attacked our Irish setter Coral. 

Suzanne wrestled with the dog, trying to keep herself between the bulldog and Coral. Dan, who had Ashley, ran over to help, kicking the dog, spraying her with citronella, but to no avail.  Unfortunately, Dan’s approach put Ashley in range of the bulldog who then grabbed our 12 year old Dalmatian by the throat and started biting.

Four neighbors heard the screaming, ran over to help, and attempted to help Suzanne pull the dog off Ashley.  Finally, they were able to get the dog off Ashley and one man pinned the dog to the ground, even though she continued to struggle to get to our dogs.

After emergency medical and veterinary care, we found Coral had puncture wounds. Ashley suffered a torn ear, punctures and a laceration on her neck requiring sutures, and Suzanne suffered a broken hand trying to fend off the dog. 

We are thankful both dogs’ wounds are healed, Suzanne was in a cast for 5 weeks but made a full recovery after physical therapy to regain strength and range of motion in her hand and wrist.  

There are lessons to be learned from this attack.  First, if you find a loose dog, call animal control – even if you take the dog back to its yard.  We discovered this dog had been out at least once before.  Had the owners been ticketed and forced to fix the fence, the attack might have been prevented.  

We also discovered that in Denver at least, the laws and penalties are less severe for attacks on other animals than on people.  While dogs that are aggressive to other dogs may not be aggressive to people (or vice versa), there’s a good possibility people are going to be injured when intervening in a severe attack.  We think that needs to be taken into account when crafting animal control ordinances and penalties.

We’ve had many people tell us that what we experienced is their worst nightmare – having their dog attacked by another dog and being powerless to stop it.  Had not those four neighbors risked their safety to help, we are utterly convinced this dog would have continued her attack until our dogs were incapacitated or dead. 

Our evening walks are no longer relaxing. We are constantly vigilant, worried that a loose dog will appear out of nowhere.  As an attorney friend of ours put it, what we experienced is no different from any other violent crime in which you fear for the safety and survival of your loved ones.  Dog to dog aggression doesn’t just affect the dogs, but people as well, something that should never be trivialized.