My friend and I were walking along the west path of the UVic doggie park, adjacent to the Mystic Vale woods with two small dogs (a mini labradoodle and a bichon/poodle) and two standard poodles. Two dogs approached, their parents were about a city block away walking south along the path. The dogs began sniffing each other, as dogs do, and then one of the other dogs, a dark brown basenji looking dog (though with not a fully curled tail) began to attack the large male standard poodle, Luke. I think the attacking dog's name is Rocky, who had attacked Luke before when I was walking him a month or so ago.
Luke is not a fighter, so he went down and rolled over onto his back. The dog climbed onto him and glared down at him, snarling and showing his teeth. My friend and I yelled at the dog to get off, my friend tried to move him off her dog using a doggie bag. When Luke tried to get up, the basenji type dog attacked again. Luke went down again, and again we saw teeth and heard growling. I attempted to use my foot to move the dog off Luke, and wasn’t able to make contact. I certainly wasn't going to use my hands and risk a dog bite. We yelled and clapped our hands at the dog, and he finally left Luke alone, and we stood waiting for the dog walkers to arrive.
Throughout this we had watched the dog walkers stroll along towards us, seemingly oblivious to what was going on, even though we were gesturing to them and their dog was growling and attacking. When finally they arrived, they asked what happened but did nothing to attempt to control the aggressive dog. They were also with a larger sheep dog who was calm and luckily the other dog had calmed down by this time too. My friend explained that the wiry dog had attacked her poodle and continued snarling at him even when he was down on his back in a submissive position.
Throughout this we had watched the dog walkers stroll along towards us, seemingly oblivious to what was going on, even though we were gesturing to them and their dog was growling and attacking. When finally they arrived, they asked what happened but did nothing to attempt to control the aggressive dog. They were also with a larger sheep dog who was calm and luckily the other dog had calmed down by this time too. My friend explained that the wiry dog had attacked her poodle and continued snarling at him even when he was down on his back in a submissive position.
One woman, a tall blond forty something, told me “don’t you ever kick a dog again” and threatened to call the dog police. I invited her to do so, and asked if either of them have a business card so that when we find the dog bites we’ll be able to contact them so they can pay the vet bills. The second woman, about 5’5” dark haired thirty or forty something, started yelling at us and telling us we’re bad dog owners and should get our dogs trained. I laughed, and they got angrier. The yelling continued for a bit, my friend attempting to tell them they need to leash their aggressive dog and they telling her she should leash her dog. I told the little yelling woman that I could see where her dog gets it from, and that we accepted her apology. They refused to give us their contact information.
