I’ll tell you what I do. And I’ll tell you why I do it.
I was on a morning walk with Leopold and Halo today when an
off-leash, med-large dog saw us, and then ran, barking, full-speed towards
us. The owner tried to call off her dog,
but clearly did not have control over her dog (annoying…).
What did I do? I did
not retreat. I stood tall, held my
ground, and then actually took a large step closer
to the charging dog. In a loud,
commanding voice, I said “That’s enough!” The dog stopped charging us and
stopped barking. Then I told the dog to
go away (both verbally and with an arm movement).
Why did I do this? I
did this to try to take control of the situation.
The owner clearly did not have control over her dog, so I stepped up and
took a “dominant” role. And by that I
mean that I did my best to put out a calm, confidant, and assertive energy. I stepped closer to the dog and used an arm
motion when telling it to go away because dogs tend to be more visual
communicators than verbal (for more information on this fact, please read mypost on the best way to communicate with dogs).
My goal in reacting to a charging dog this way is not to be
aggressive, but to take control of the situation by using verbal and visual
cues to let the dog know that I have done so.
This is not the first time an off-leash dog has charged at
me and my dogs:
Chris and I had recently moved to the Annapolis
area and were out walking Leopold (we had yet to adopt Halo). We were strolling down the street in a
residential neighborhood when two Boston Terriers suddenly appeared in a yard
across the street. They ran to the edge
of the yard and started barking at us.
They were off-leash, and I wondered if they had somehow slipped out of
their yard and were roaming free. I
considered trying to catch them to find their owners, but decided there were
actually in their own yard because they didn’t seem to be leaving it. We decided to move along and started back on our
way. As soon as we turned our backs on
these dogs, one of the Boston
terriers bolted out of its yard and charged at us, barking wildly.
As soon as this happened, I turned back to the dog, took
steps towards it and said in a very firm, raised but controlled voice “That’s
enough!”. The charging dog stopped dead
in its tracks and both dogs stopped barking.
“Go home!” I said, and pointed to the dogs’ house. The two Boston Terriers put their tails
between their legs and ran back home.
Chris told me later that even he was scared. Ha!
Why did these dogs charge?
From my understanding, these two boston terriers
most likely saw us as “intruders” approaching their territory. They were barking at us to scare us away;
when we turned to walk away, in their minds they had been successful, which
only encouraged the behavior (positive reinforcement, if you will). It gave them the confidence to scare us even
further out of “their territory”. This
is why I took a step towards them. In a
way, I believe I was telling them it was not
their territory, and that they needed
to go back to their own.
Having another person’s dog charge at you can be somewhat
frightening, I know. And some people may
not feel comfortable confronting the dog in such a way as I described above. The alternative is, of course, to let the dog
complete its charge and harass you and your own dogs. And running away will of course not work,
because dogs instinctually will chase (as you saw above, even walking away can
trigger chasing behavior). I’d rather
stop the charge before the dog gets to me and my dogs.
Of course, it’s important to assess the situation and decide
on a response accordingly, but it’s also important to remember that most dogs
will respond to a calm, assertive show of “dominance” with respect, not aggression.