Mikey attacked another dog...

[Alysser]

Before anyone freaks out, neither of the dogs were injured to badly. Mikey has nothing on him and the other dog has a scratch on his ear...so nothing major. I am just upset that he hurt another dog.

I took him to work with me this morning. I take him about once every two weeks and he seems to enjoy himself. He wags his tail the whole time, he doesn't have dog aggression issues. He has never shown aggression (much) in the past. He has gotten into a few spats when he was uncomfortable, I always knew what the trigger was, but never anything like this. I went outside and told my co-worker to watch them for a few seconds. I had to clean up dog poop in the yard. So, I hear this ridiculous fight and I ran inside. Mikey is on top of the dog snarling and the dog is yelping. The dog is a little westie mix. As soon as I grabbed his collar, he stopped and ran away. Now, no I wasn't there and didn't see it. I've been with the Westie mix before and I have observed his behavior a few times. He tends to start fights. If a dog goes up to sniff him he will turn around an snap and he growls when other dogs try to play with him MOST OF THE TIME. I am not saying he's a bad dog, nor am I excusing Mikey's reaction, but I do think the other dog started it in this way. Mikey is not the dog to attack for no reason. Granted, it sounded a lot worse then it was and there was no real injuries but it just really scared the crap out of me.

We separated them and Mikey was put in a play-yard with on of him long time "pals" and he was fine. He was wagging his tail and playing the rest of the time.

Maybe I am just paranoid. I recently did a paper on dog aggression for a class and read about "chemical imbalances" that made dogs attack for no reason and all this crazy stuff. I just got scared since he's never done that before and we've had him for 2 years now. My boss said he's still welcome and sometimes they just have spats, they're still wild animals, etc. I just freaked out and apparently was very visibly upset. I just feel horrible that he hurt another pup, is all. :( I've never claimed he was the perfect dog but I've always loved him for his friendliness and always point that out as one of his best qualities. He's an extremely happy dog and he is always a lovebug, I just hope this was an isolated incident and nothing else.

[happylabs]

Okay sweetie, first of all, calm down. Whew! I would be upset too, however, I agree with your boss. I think it was an isolated incident. I would just keep an eye on our sweet Mikey when he is around the Westie. I feel confident the other dog was the aggressor just knowing and hearing stories of Mikey in the past.

Growling and barking and biting is the only way dogs have to defend themselves. I feel more sorry for Mikey. And, maybe the Westie will think twice before he does it again! :p

I think it will be okay.

Hugs for you and Mikey :)

[snakemama]

Jasper is a playful and non-aggressive dog, but he'll stand up for himself if another dog oversteps his boundaries, and he has been in a couple of tussles when I didn't catch on that things were getting out of hand fast enough. I wouldn't freak out about it, at least you know how to prevent it from happening again. Mikey is such a doll. :)

[Taz_Zoee]

Thank goodness there were no serious injuries. I would feel the exact same way you are feeling. But I also believe it was a one-time thing. I was also thinking it was because you weren't there at the time. Maybe Mikey reacted that way to the other dog because he wasn't as comfortable without you there. Not saying Mikey started it, just saying I'd be curious to see if he reacted differently had you been in the area.

Please give Mikey some kisses on his adorable little face for me! :D

[Varga]

My guess would be that Mikey just walked into the other dog's space a bit too quickly and since the Westie isn't comfortable with other dogs he reacted the way he always reacts but at that point it was already too late for Mikey to realize his error so his "fight and flight" instinct kicked in. No big deal, since both dogs backed out immediately afterwards and no grudges were held.
Taggart has gotten in similar situations before. He's easily excitable and sometimes (not so much anymore though since I guess he learned over the years) I think he just forgets proper dog etiquette and gets right into another dog's face to do the whole sniffing and greeting thing and unavoidably he has ruffled some feathers over the years with that careless attitude. He's better now though, by far. But like I said he's still very excitable so if he's with a dog who's boundaries are easily overstepped I wouldn't be surprised if it happened again.

[Freedom]

Geesh, even when dogs are playing the sounds can get me rattled, especially if I can't see, don't know they are playing. I'm sure you recognized Mikey's voice, so I can well imagine you were upset.

Glad to hear no major injuries.

I don't have any ideas to offer. Though it did occur to me, "would not have happened if she were there," as someone has said. Was the Westie owner the one you asked to watch Mikey while you were outside? Ask a different person another time, see if that makes a difference.

[Alysser]

Sorry this took me so long to respond to.

I guess I freaked out LOL. I was scared. But yeah, thinking about it now alot could have set him off. He isn't an aggressive dog by any means and it takes ALOT to tick him off. He has never acted out aggressively, but I think he was standing up for himself more or less, which is good. There's a difference between dog aggression and standing your ground.

Glad to hear Mikey's not the only friendly dog who's done this! That's a relief. Of course, it sounded so much worse, I am glad he got the ear and not the throat. The thing that scares me is that he's a very strong dog. He might only be 30 lbs but he's STRONG.

The guy was my co-worker, not the customer. My boss had to tell the dog's owner, don't know how that went though. Hopefully, the owner wasn't mad!

Thanks guys for making me feel better though! I appreciate it. :D

He still acting like his friendly, goofy, mischievous, and bad self! He ate a sock whole last night...oy what a week.