I took Keeda for a swim at the local lake today. On the way back, we saw people getting their dogs out of their truck by one of the houses on the corner. Their house was across the road from where we were walking and Keeda and I only glanced at the dogs and kept on walking. I was listening to some music at the same time, my earphones in.

Suddenly, I see Keeda tense out of the corner of my eye and a dog barking in the distance. I rip my earphones from my ears and see the bigger of the two dogs across the road bolting at Keeda. It gets to us and bares its teeth, lunging up to her. Keeda silently pulls in front of me toward the dog and I pull her behind me, putting myself between Keeda and the big snarling dog, which is weaving back and forth and growling at Keeda behind me. I pull my leg back and kick out at the dog. When the bigger dog sees me going for it, it runs off back across the road and to its owners.

This whole time, the owners said nothing. They didn’t even call their dog. Heck, I didn’t even see them watching what was happening even as their dog was snarling at mine. When the dog runs back the man calls out a “Sorry” and goes back toward his garage.

Now, here are three things that were reinforced for me from this encounter:

1) When out walking or doing any sort of activity with your dog, never listen to loud music. Make sure you can hear everything that’s going on around you. If you’re in an area that’s known for aggressive or loose dogs, don’t wear earphones at all, or at least keep one earphone out at all times so you can hear better. I made the mistake of not doing this today. My area isn’t known to be particularly dangerous, but as I learned today this can happen anywhere. I had my music up loud, relaxedly walking back home (in fact I could already see my house from this spot), and by the time I realized what was happening this other dog was already upon us.

2) Don’t trust other people to have control of their dogs. I kept an eye on the two dogs across the road as we were passing them. They seemed OK. But when we were already past and the house wasn’t in clear view anymore, that’s when the other dog made its move and bolted at Keeda

3) Have your dog on leash. Keeda acted very well in this situation, in my opinion. We’ve had a problem with her running at other dogs when she’s off lead to play. When the other dog ran up to her, she knew this wasn’t the time to goof around. She pulled toward the dog once, but stayed behind me once I stepped in front. After the other dog left, Keeda went back into her heel position and walked back home with me calmly. She acted courageously, not barking or lunging back at the dog out of fear or aggression. She moved to defend herself, I pulled her back and when Keeda saw that I would take care of the situation, she trusted me to do so. However, had she not been on a leash and heeling, there’s a real chance that Keeda would have run across that road to play with that big aggressive dog and gotten herself in some real trouble.

So what should you do if another dog runs up to you and your dog and displays aggression? I have fortunately never had to deal with a full on dog fight before. But in cases like this, when the dog is snarling at my dog but hasn’t made contact yet, I step between them and do my best to chase the other dog away by yelling or mock-kicking it. If the other dog was to actually make contact and attack mine, I would probably go in there with guns blazing and kick the heck out of the attacker, or grab the nearest stick I could find and use that. I wouldn’t even hesitate or bother to yell at it first. I love all dogs, but my job is to protect my pet and I’ll do anything necessary to get the attacker off of my dog.