Hmmm....had a not so good experience with my dog today. we were hiking off leash on a trail that allows dogs off leash and he got harassed by a pack of three loose dogs.
Some guy had three dogs off leash and they were all out of control harassing other dogs. They harassed my dog twice, they were smaller than him but they were ganging up on him snarling and biting at his neck and ears and legs at the same time so he was pretty stressed. They weren't drawing blood so they weren't being vicious they were just being very rude and overbearing. Then they left him alone, and he was fine, no blood or anything. they weren't vicious dogs, they were just extremely ill mannered. I call them "pirana dogs" because of the way they were ganging up on my dog, swarming around him snarling and snapping nonstop and not quitting.
I saw that the dogs were all wearing shock collars, and I later saw that the owner had a shock collar remote hanging around his neck and he was fiddling with it everytime he yelled at his dogs.
So we kept on walking on the trail, and my dog met and played gently with a small puppy which was nice. Her owners thought it was so cute that she was following him around. But then the three nasty "pirana dogs" appeared again suddenly and set upon the puppy. they ended up quite far away because she was running so hard with her tail between her legs trying to escape and they were pursuing her and then they caught her and she fell and rolled and they were all over her the three of them snapping and nipping her constantly. her owners were in a panic and didn't know what to do. My dog took off running to save his little friend and I didn't try to stop him. He body-slammed one of the pirana dogs and so they left the puppy alone and set on him yet again.
Again the owner was just standing at a distance watching, yelling, and fiddling with his shock collar remote. I swear whatever he was doing with the shock collar remote it was only inciting his dogs even more!! (and this is not the first time I've seen this happen with other dogs and other owners, which is why I don't like seeing shock collars being used for obedience training...) My dog was getting overwhelmed since he was outnumbered. Since this was the third time they were harassing my dog, blood or no blood, I was so mad I grabbed a branch that had fallen nearby and started running full speed towards the dogs, I wanted the owner to think I was going to beat his dogs with the stick and actually I had every intention of doing so if they didn't leave my dog alone by the time I caught up.
When I had almost reached them, then the dogs finally ran off and again the owner didn't apologize or say anything. Probably he thought that since his dogs did not draw blood then everything's OK and he has nothing to apologize for.
Rough dog play is natural and harmless and healthy IF all the dogs involved are equal participants and are all enjoying it equally. It is not OK if it's unequal, for example in this case three dogs together bullying one dog, even a puppy. And not if the outnumbered dog is giving off all kinds of submissive signals that are going unacknowledged, at that point the owner should intervene. But he didn't lift a finger (except to fiddle with the shock collar remote which only made his dogs worse and more frenzied) nor did he even apologize, and that's what makes me so mad.
About half an hour later I saw those same pirana dogs and their owner in the distance, I picked up a rock to prepare, but they turned and went another way. Lucky for them.
