Elsa was attacked two days ago. My husband had taken her for a run and on that run an out of control Bulldog attacked her. They were running along a path when my husband saw a woman with two Bulldogs that she was not able to control. He yelled at her before she approached, telling her to rein them in. She apparently attempted to do so but was unable to control them. He pulled Elsa over to the side seeing that the dogs were out of control. As the woman attempted to pass, one of the dogs dove behind my husband and grabbed Elsa on the loin. The dog knocked her to the ground and was clamped on immediately.
My husband immediately tried to get it off of her. Elsa was screaming and still on the ground while the dog hung on. The woman pulled on the leash to no avail; the prong collar that the dog was wearing did nothing but deliver the pinch it is meant to do. As the dog hung on to Elsa, it was receiving a neck attack from the collar; adding fuel to the fire no doubt. The dog finally let go after being hit in the head; you cannot pry a bulldogs mouth open, it just doesn't happen. They like other bully breeds to not have a magical locking jaw. What they do have is an extreme muscled jaw that has much more power in it than a normal breed or mix.
Once the dog was off of Elsa, the facts began to emerge. The dog had just been rescued; the woman walking it did not own the dog. It was a neighbors dog who she was walking along with her Bulldog which had done nothing but stand there during the attack. She was completely incapable of controlling the dog. She also informed my husband that she had taken the dog to a school the day before; simply mind boggling.
I will now be dealing with the fallout behaviors that I always talk about. There may very well be aggression towards dogs from Elsa. Socializing after an attack can be challenging. You must be absolutely sure that the other dog is friendly before you attempt. We will be playing with all of her dog friends before meeting anyone new. We will also walk where the attack happened so as to undo what has been done. Many times it will be put in the past; sometimes not, some dogs will hang onto the experience forever.
Some people have said "dogs will be dogs" about this attack. A dog defending itself, having a minor dispute, fight or even leash aggression is a completely different thing than just attacking and latching onto a passing dog. This is inexcusable. If you have no background on a dog then you make sure you have complete control. If you know your dog will do something like this, you don't let it happen. If you cannot control a dog then you don't take it out.
We have the number of the woman walking the dog and we have been in contact. I will be finding out who owns the dog, where the dog came from and many more details. There will be much following up done. I had to do the same thing several years back after a newly rescued pitbull puppy latched onto Jessie's neck and shook her like a ragdoll. A 4.5 month old puppy, shocking. I contacted the rescue who never got back to me; nor did they seem to care that one of their rescues did this. We shall see where this dog came from and what sort of screening it had.
Sadly, there are so many shelters and rescues now that no screening is done. People are given dogs without knowing anything about the dog or the owners ability to handle it. I carry a pepper spray on me; my husband will now also be carrying one.