We adopted a dog (looks like a black lab mixed with a lot of other things including some pit bull) about 3 months ago. He is never aggressive towards my husband or I and is very nice to most people. He will bark at new people entering the house sometimes (not always) but has never shown true aggression towards a person since we brought him home. We have taken him to the dog park a few times and he has briefly met/sniffed some dogs in the neighborhood or other places in public (parks, outdoor bars, etc.) and never had a problem. Usually he whines like he wants to meet other dogs but won't bark back even if they start barking at him.
Last night we saw a friend in the neighborhood who had his dog with him and wanted to let the dogs meet. He had a large pit bull (male - ours is also male). We let the dogs sniff each other and they were just standing there sniffing when all of a sudden the other dog lunged and attacked my dog. There was growling and barking and the big pit bull was biting at our dogs throat (he didn't actually leave any puncture wounds). My dog fought back and barked/growled as well and actually scratched the other dog's eye up a bit (it was bleeding). I am really scared now that my dog can't be around other dogs. Is it normal for dogs to fight back like that or was my dog also being aggressive?
Last night we saw a friend in the neighborhood who had his dog with him and wanted to let the dogs meet. He had a large pit bull (male - ours is also male). We let the dogs sniff each other and they were just standing there sniffing when all of a sudden the other dog lunged and attacked my dog. There was growling and barking and the big pit bull was biting at our dogs throat (he didn't actually leave any puncture wounds). My dog fought back and barked/growled as well and actually scratched the other dog's eye up a bit (it was bleeding). I am really scared now that my dog can't be around other dogs. Is it normal for dogs to fight back like that or was my dog also being aggressive?