Tank & The DogPark

Zhevra

(Super Long, sorry! )

I take Tank to the dogpark all the time. He loves running around and playing with the other dogs. Tank gets along with all dogs, atleast all the dogs he's met. He even tries to make friends with the aggresive dogs that I try to keep him away from. Anyways, one day we were at the park and there were probably about 9 other dogs there. Tank was off playing with some Golden Retrievers and I was sitting on the picnic table. A women came in with a small terrier on a leash. I called Tank over and made him stand with me so the lady could introduce her dog. Her dog nipped at Tank and growled immediatly. I asked the Lady if her dog was friendly and she said yes, that her dog was just a little nervous. So I walked Tank to the other side of the park, (I didn't really want him around that little dog if it was going to bite and growl at him)..........Well after awhile this little dog comes running up to one of the other dogs and just full out attacks it. This little dog was growling up a storm and biting this other dog's legs. The two owners came running up and broke it up. Neither dog was hurt, thank goodness. But this lady tells everyone her dog is friendly and that sometimes it just gets scared and she's never seen it attack another dog, and that she'll keep an eye on it. I was a little agitated by then but just took Tank away from the small dog and once again he started playing. So I'm not really paying attention to Tank, I'm talking with another dog's owner when I see this little dog come trotting up to Tank. I screamed at Tank to come over to me and when he started running to me this little dog ran after him. Now Tank weighs about 120 pounds and this little dog probably weighed 12 pounds. Tank actually got up to me and this dog just latched on to his chest. I could hear this dog growling and I could see it's little body pulling on Tank's skin. I had no idea what Tank was going to do, he's never been attacked before! HE SAT DOWN! I'm screaming at this stupid dog to let go of Tank and Tank is just sitting there. He actually kind of coward down like he was scared, but he never once tried to bite or really even do anything to get this dog to stop. I was baffled and I'm not really sure exactly what I did, but I know I reached down and grabbed this dog and ripped it away from Tank. I think I threw the little dog aways (not like a huge toss, but just enough to get it away from us) and the owner came over screaming at me. As the owner is screaming at me, her dog goes and starts attacking Tank's front leg. She reached down and her very own dog bit her hand. She scooped up her dog who was still growling and showing teeth and put it on a leash. I put Tank on his leash and made sure he was okay (he was fine, just a few scratches and what looked like teeth marks, but no bleeding).......I tied him up and went over to the lady to see what she had to say (maybe looking for an apology?) Well the lady had no apology and actually started cursing at me. She said it was my dog who started the fight and it's my fault she got bit. I said, No your dog started the fight and maybe it isn't friendly enough to be at the dog park......I then turned my back on her and left the dogpark furious as can be. I just don't understand why an owner would let her dog go around and attack other dogs. It's rude, dangerous and just plain stupid. Hopefully she works with her dog and it's aggresiveness before she tries taking it to a public place.

Emma

Aww bless Tank, he sounds so sweet and innocent, poor lad with that horrible dog attacking him. I can't believe how stupid that woman was! Telling people her dog is friendly when it obviously isn't! She should not have taken it to the dog park! Hope Tank is ok? Bless him, give him a hug from me.

Zhevra

Yep, Tank was fine. He was kind of wary of little dogs after that incident but he has gotten better. It was a bit funny because he was this giant dog who was scared of tiny dogs. But he has gotten over the fear and gets along with little dogs. I just wish people wouldn't bring their aggresive dogs to the park. It's just an accident waiting to happen!

DeeSpark

What a rude obnoxious lady. Sounds like one of those owners who think because they're dog is small, it's behaviour problems don't matter. I have a small dog aggressive dog. But I don't take it to dog parks, as I'm still working on his aggression. And when a friendly dog does run up to us (sometimes people let their dogs off leash in random places and I never expect it...) and he goes crazy at it, I've never gotten angry at the other owner! Well ok a little bit, for letting their dog off leash on the street when they're supposed to be leashed, but I wouldn't really get to angry at them unless theirs was aggressive.

Tank's such a good boy Didn't even bite the other dog while it latched onto him.He's lucky to not have an idiot for an owner like that other little dog.

Darkpaladin

I hope Tank is fine. I know how you feel 'cause I kept having a similar experience with a dog owner who had a female Akita. The guy does not know what Obedience is and does not spend any time teaching anything to his dogs (he has 3 dogs as far as I know) and his female Akita ALWAYS starts fights with other dogs at the park and every time the guy just goes over gets his dog away and does nothing, he just pets her and thus re-enforcing her bad behavior.

And recently his Akita tried to mount Zeva (while Zeva is always friendly and not at all dominant) and did what Tank did, got her ears down (kinda scared) licking the Akita while the Akita growled, barked, etc.. to her and then when I went to pick Zeva from there the guy said that it was Zeva's fault and I should keep her away because she started the fight or something.

Go figure.

DeeSpark

Ever notice how just about every time a dog starts a fight, the owner blames the other dog. Because they don't want to be in the wrong.... Why isn't anyone working on a cure for stupidity or ignorance yet?

k9luver

Oh my goodness! She thought it was Tank's fault and he did nothing wrong?! @@... I have a 8lb Min Pin and if she ever did something like that, I'd be apologizing profusely and would've removed her after the first "attack" at the other dogs! I'm glad Tank is okay though!

SchnauzerLover

Well see, you obviously have a big, mean ferocious dog and she just has a terrier. ;-) I won't say anything about terriers, because I'm in mixed company. I'll just zip my lips. I will say this: I've had far more problems will little 12 pound dogs than I ever have with 120 pound dogs. Just saying...

RCloud

Something similar to this happened back when I use to take my dog to the park. My dog, who has NEVER had an issue with other dogs, was attacked by a Chocolate Lab completely out of nowhere one day. Being part Pitbull, Charlotte quickly turned the tables and ended up putting this dog in it's place very fast. No dogs were hurt luckily.

As I was standing there with Charlotte, trying to calm her down, the owner (some doofy college kid) had absolutely no remorse and was standing there with his dog PRAISING HER and telling her what a good dog she was and that no one was going to hurt her and my dog was mean. Needless to say I really ripped into this guy prior to leaving. Heaven forbid Charlotte had been a weaker or smaller dog....

I don't go to the dog park anymore mainly because of issues like this. I don't need her getting attacked by some idiot's dog and then being sued and having her euthanized for simply trying to defend herself.

FinnishFox

IMO, its not necessarily stupidity or ignorance. I call it irresponsibility.