A really irritating, but exciting, true life adventure story

[summer_jackel]

This morning, while riding peacefully past a vineyard, Dancer, Coba and I were rushed, or possibly attacked, by three off leash German Shepherd dogs. Their handler responded terribly. We are all fine, and although Dancer did throw me, I was able to control the fall and landed well enough. My hip will be sore for a few days, but I am otherwise unharmed.

I am supremely angry about this and will now proceed to vent.



It was a gorgeous day, and I haven't had the opportunity to ride (a horse) for almost a month. Dancer was a little hot, but in a good mood. We had ridden about 1/4 mile though mostly flat vineyard, and were about to go onto the wider dirt road that borders the river. (This is a supremely wonderful place to have a horse, and I am very happy there...most of the time!) I noticed a woman with a dog a little way ahead of me, and called out to warn her of my presence. At this point, the three dogs rushed at full speed.

These were young, well bred, assertive, well moving young shepherds, not casual pets, but really nice dogs that looked to be from imported or police/military lines. Generally when dogs rush a horse, they slow down and start circling and barking about 7-10 feet away. This gives the rider time to collect the horse, yell the dogs off, and hopefully buy the handler enough time to grab them. This pack meant business; they were in a wedge formation and sped up at the usual circle distance. Dancer saw this, correctly interpreted the situation to understand that wolves were attacking us, wheeled and bolted out right from under me.

If it had been a different horse, I would have dismounted sooner. I regret not doing so and won't make the same mistake again, but Dancer is such a level headed horse, and I thought I could ride him out. When it became clear that he wouldn't tolerate a rider, I came off as well as I could, rolled and came up looking first after the horse. He was galloping homewards and seemed unharmed, so I turned to face the pack.

One of the dogs had Coba pinned by the throat; the other two were deciding whether to pursue Dancer or me. You can usually back an aggressive dog off with eyes and voice if you really mean it, and I have the benefit of having lived close to 20 years with wolf hybrids. I made hard eye contact with all three and snarl-roared at them, holding arms stiffly out to either side, brandishing my crop and letting each of them see in my eyes that I was a wolf and was really going to enjoy killing and eating them. Once I had the whole pack's attention, continuing to snarl 'get, off, bad dog' etc, I advanced on the one who had Coba (and had let him go). Coba recalled.

All three shepherds turned tail and ran full speed back to their handler. I will not pretend that I took no satisfaction.

I yelled at her to leash her dogs, and looked back to Dancer. He'd slowed down about 100 yards away and was looking back after me. I made relaxed-body overtures to him and, assuming that the shepherds' handler was leashing her fucking pack, whistled for him. He had turned to face me and had taken a few steps toward me when the three dogs attacked AGAIN. I roared them off again, but of course Dancer saw this and galloped all the way back to the barn.

I never had words with this woman, nor did I hear her say a thing or see her do a thing to control what looked like about 3k and 200 lbs worth of highly protective-reactive, military quality dog in full pursuit. Granted, I was trying to control a horse in full flight panic without breaking any bones, so I may have missed something.

I am also quite willing to give her the benefit of the doubt for the first incident. We were in a fairly remote area, and she didn't see me first. I lost control of my wolf pack a couple of times, so I sympathize with a potentially inexperienced handler taken by surprise with lots and lots of dog. I have been there. That makes me even more furious about her subsequent failure to contain her pack and come to my aid.

Her dogs spooked an equestrian's horse right out from under her in the middle of nowhere, and she never yelled to ask if I was ok or needed help. She did not apologize, and she failed in her most basic duty---to contain her animals. I can only conclude that I frightened her badly enough when I was stopping her pack that she took her opportunity to run. Dancer was my highest priority, so I went limping off after him.

He continues to be the most wonderful of ponies. He was standing with Eqx outside their pasture; he was upset, but unharmed, and he hadn't even broken the reins or scuffed the saddle. (Which is great, because that was my nice tack, rawr). I calmed him down, got back on, rode back and gentled him past the place where the scary thing happened, and went looking for bitch with shepherds, but she was long gone. I tracked her for awhile, decided it wasn't worth it, went back, rubbed down the horse and double checked Coba.

We came out of it unharmed, but that was some of the worst dog handling I've seen in a long time, and I am really mad.

Comments

[howl-at-the-sun.livejournal.com]

That makes me mad even reading about. My fucking god, how irresponsible and dangerous. I am glad you and yours are okay.

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

I'm glad we're ok, too. I am still achey as everything, but I didn't need a doctor. That was some of the worst dog handling it has been my misfortune to see, though!

[keihound.livejournal.com]

Holy hell, I am so sorry. That is intense to say the least. She has no business keeping dogs.

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

Hey, thanks. We are ok, which is the most important thing---but that was just amazingly poor handling, especially given what an advanced level pack she had. It was not a good experience, but at least we came out on top of it.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Vent away: that was *horrible*. You live in such a tight-knit community, I'd be surprised if you didn't meet her again. I hope you get a chance to confront her without dogs or horses around: she really needs to be told not to off-leash if she can't control them. I'm sure she thought, "Oh, remote area-- no problem!" Maybe she was a dog-walker?

So happy that you and your pony weathered this all right. How is Coba doing? When mine have been attacked, they usually sleep for a day afterwards. Was he the only dog you had with you that day?

L.A.'s a crowded city and I often encounter riders on the trails. We always make sure to get well off the trail and (they) sit and wait until the rider goes by. My sister had horses and we know that some horses are fine with well-behaved dogs-- but some are spooked by anything with four legs that isn't another horse. We try to be polite.

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

I'll certainly be keeping an eye out, but honestly, I'll be surprised if I see her again. This happened next to a river about a mile downstream from a public beach, so she might have been from anywhere. I also board about 45 minutes away from where I live, so I'm only able to go out a bit less than once a week, and this time of year, I don't always ride when I visit. I certainly hope that her dogs' behavior taught her that she needs to gain better voice command over them, but honestly I never heard her say anything. It was really weird. I would almost wonder if she set them on me on purpose, but that seems so unlikely. If this had been a trained pack and deliberate malice rather than an untrained pack and incompetence, I don't think I could have stopped them; still, there is this weird thread of doubt.

Coba seems ok---it's funny, he was all frisky and happy right after it happened, tail up, all proud---"Yay, we won, we drove them off! Our pack is strongest!" Silly little thing. When he realized that I was hurt the next morning, he got very concerned and clingy. His attitude seems to be improving with my health, but more than any of the others, Coba is hyper-aware of what I'm doing and feeling, and he is prone to emotional sensitivity and stress if he thinks something is wring. I did find one small tooth-puncture in his leg, but it remains clean and healing. I am glad that he's at least well armored by all of that coat, because he certainly has no other defense, and that attack might have sent a similarly sized dog with less coat to the vet.

He got to play with a very gentle and even timid shepherd bitch at the park today, so I don't think he took emotional/social harm by it. My horse, on the other hand, may now be much more sensitive about dogs, which is really annoying. Coba was the only one I took with me on that ride, which I'm glad of, even though Bliss' presence by itself often de-escalates dog aggression because he's so huge and nonviolent. I have never met a dog with its chase/grab/kill/eat sequence, and the canine social values that go with that, so utterly disassembled, and watching more typically wired dogs try to figure him out can be pretty funny. This pack was too determined; they would have taken him right down.

[saigh-allaidh.livejournal.com]

Yikes! That's seriously scary! I'm glad everyone was all right. What a a$$hole to not at least try to get her dogs under control. I can understand the incident starting if they're new to her and she was taken by surprise, but she should have followed up! Made sure the three of you were okay!

I am rather worried about something like that happening with Saorsa. She's so aggressive when she gets scared. She's chased after our dogs and I am pretty sure there's a reason we no longer have fox or coywolves around the house anymore. I think she's gone after them too. I'd hate to have her kill someone's dog! Even if they're in the wrong, I still don't want to have her kill a dog.

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

It was a horrible experience, and I really hope that that lady re-thinks her dog handling on a profound level. I have a lot of forgiveness for the original accident, but I remain shocked at how poorly she handled her animals.

In the moment, I would have been pretty happy if Dancer had decided to be a stompy, aggressive stallion instead of fleeing, but I am very glad in general that he doesn't want to trample dogs. I'm concerned that he will be more reactive about dogs after this incident, and plan to dismount the next time we encounter a loose one. Dogs aren't his favorite thing to begin with, but he is a laid-back horse.

[doronjosama.livejournal.com]

That is HORRIBLE! I am so glad that you are okay, and your boys are all right. What an awful, irresponsible woman!

I am learning so much having our dog, and even though she is remarkably low key and well behaved (for a dog with terrier in her!), I would *never* take her anywhere off leash. I want to be able to control her if we end up in an odd situation.

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

It was a rotten experience, but I'm glad it wasn't worse. I think it was reasonable of her to have them off leash in a remote area, but she did so much wrong after---this was just some of the worst dog handling I've ever seen. I never heard her say a single command or attempt to drop or recall her pack; she didn't run after them when she realized they were off. As someone who kept a pack of very dog-aggressive wolf hybrids for the duration of their lives, I have a lot of sympathy for the original accident, and am just utterly furious over her subsequent failure to help me or contain them.

I love being able to let my pack off leash where possible; one of the many wonderful benefits of training them. I miss the wolves a lot, but it is nice to meet strange dogs in the woods and know that mine are going to play, not fight.

[archteryx.livejournal.com]

This is the sort of thing that you often hear ending in death, not just for the dog they choose to pick on but for their handler as well. As much as this situation sucked, you kept your wits and you talked dog right back to them...and they backed off.

You deserve some pats on the back for that. I've done the same with Canada Geese, so I know about talking animal. But geese don't threaten to tear out the throat of one of your pets. Or your own.

Now go and take your righteous anger out on the idiot human being that caused this disaster in the first place.

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

Sadly, I have no way of knowing who she was or finding her, though if I see them again as a pack, I will recognize the dogs. She never came to investigate what had happened or help me, and my priority had to be to my horse, who at that point was completely out of sight.

It was an ugly situation, but I will admit that I am pleased by my own handling of it and my ability to stop dogs. I've never had to stop three young, assertive dogs on full offense, and it's nice to note that I was up to the task. I'm glad that we came out of it as well as we did.

[phineus.livejournal.com]

Fucking hell, I feel a little sick reading this. I'm glad at least that you, Dancer and Coba are all right, considering.

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

I am still processing it; it was a really weird, unpleasant experience. I think we did ok, and we are all unharmed (other than my butt, which is still kind of amazingly sore, none of it in a good way).

[(Anonymous)]

Wow. Just... wow. I'd be tempted to find this woman and ... my first thought is sue her for reckless endangerment ... before she kills someone.

Or talk "sliverback" to her the way you talked "wolf" to her dogs, and melt her down into a little puddle of terror from which she will not recover until she gets professional help with her dogs or else gives them to someone who will handle them correctly. But this is the kind of problem that I find unacceptable, and tend to want to solve by breaking things until they're fixed.

Anyway, congratulations. Not many people could do what you did. I'm impressed.

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

Oh, I've terrified people by being mad at them, and certainly had plans for being assertive with her, if I could find her. My first priority was to catch Dancer, though, and by the time I'd accomplished that, she was long gone. It was a nasty incident, and I hope she's learned something about her dogs.

[joreth]

WTF dude? My family raised hunting dogs, so they were big and scary looking, but extremely well-trained. Even still, sometimes shit happens. And when it did, my parents ALWAYS were very embarrassed and penitent after the dogs failed to heel and slobbered over a guest or even growled at someone approaching the door or a passing pedestrian on the sidewalk. Knowing that animals are animals and that we are asking them to ignore their very nature in order to coexist with us on our terms, my family taught me that a misbehaved pet was a reflection on the owner, not the animal, for failing to either teach or contain one's animal within the bounds of human-appropriate behaviour. My family always fell over themselves in their attempts to correct or make up for whatever mishaps their dogs got into.

In other words, and I don't even have to tell you this, dogs are going to attack when they feel the need to attack. If we are to ask our dogs to behave according to our rules instead of theirs, then it is our responsibility to make sure they behave, one way or another, and it's our fault if they don't. Then the onus to apologize falls on us. There's just no excuse for her failing to apologize and see if you were OK. That's the bare minimum she should have done - that and containing the dogs to prevent a second attack.

Some people should not be allowed to have animals.

[summer-jackel.livejournal.com]

Yeah, this was a situation that might have remained simple bad luck but was made so much worse by handler error. If she had run after her pack as soon as they launched and yelled their drop command or recall command, it might have slowed them down enough for her to grab one even if they did not fully obey, and given me time to dismount safely. If she'd gone after her dogs while I was taking my fall, they might not have grabbed Coba, and if she'd contained them when I sent them back to her, Dancer wouldn't have run off.

Pryde, Fen and Jez were inclined, as a pack, to rush and pin any dogs that they happened to catch unawares in the woods; the few times this happened, I was able to stop them with my voice and then grab them before any damage was done (I was even able to call them off of a deer once!) And then, of course, I'd apologize profusely to the other dog's handler. I'm much more relaxed about my current very non-violent pack, but I still keep a watchful eye on them---and when I had the wolves, I was profoundly vigilant and aware of everything just beyond their sight (as well as keeping aware of roughly where the wind was, if it would bring them the scent of another dog before I saw it). The level of vigilance one must keep over one's pack in order to maintain it responsibly certainly varies by pack, but those shepherds were some serious dogs---they were not pet-bred animals or even showring types. They were capable of high performance, which in shepherds means willingness to stop and close with people. They required the highest possible level of handler vigilance (and training in keeping with the maintenance of that much dogpower) and had, instead, incompetence---not that any handler should let any dog run up to a horse. I sincerely hope that this lady learns from what happened and changes her approach to this pack, even when out in the woods. I can't believe she never asked if I was ok.

[ladyringo.livejournal.com]

That made me mad just to read. I am glad to hear that you, Sir Fluffiness and Dancer are all okay!