By Dixie 
I am sure your dog is nice. I am sure he gives great smooches and licks the tears off your face when you are sad. I am sure he can do a great “Sit” and “Stay”. Sometimes.
Last week your dog ran over from your yard to one of my dogs. I am sure your dog was just being friendly. However, here is why I can’t stop and be neighborly when you are both outside.
Your dog is not leashed. My dog is leashed and I am on the other end of that leash. When your dog runs (charges) at us, I don’t know how my dog Livvy will react. I do know that Livvy is an almost grown puppy, pretty large at 50 pounds and gets startled easily. She is a submissive dog and lays down when she sees a smaller dog or cat to try to get them to play. Last week she didn’t lay down when your (much larger) dog ran at her. She panicked and tried to run behind me and her leash left a rather painful black bruise on my thigh.
I noticed while this was happening that Livvy’s hair was standing up on the back of her neck and near her tail. That is not the sign of an animal who is relaxed and wanting to play. Maybe your dog didn’t have hair standing up and maybe your dog truly just wanted to play. I don’t know. But the main thing is that MY dog doesn’t appear to know either.
A dog is a pack animal. I am in her pack so when we are together outside of our house and yard, Livvy will naturally be in pack mentality. I am, at least most of the time, the pack leader. Livvy is a mischievous creature and she certainly tests me as alpha, but she does obey my commands most of the time. Do I trust her? Sure, but I also know she is at heart an animal who is in pack mode when we walk. She will, when pushed, defend her pack and especially her pack leader. She is both a submissive, gentle soul and an animal who has the means (teeth and strength) to defend her pack if needed.
So, I trust her to an extent but realize too that she is ultimately an animal who will act like one, especially when she feels threatened. Her first instinct is to run but she can’t when she is leashed. Her next instinct will likely be to fight. In the heat of the moment, I cannot trust that she would obey me telling her not to fight. She is ultimately an animal reacting to a threat, whether perceived or not. That is just nature.
A few months ago a woman was walking three big dogs in our neighborhood. I was walking Jack, one of my smaller dogs who weighs about 17 pounds. I rounded a corner and there she was walking on the opposite side of the street towards us with all three dogs pulling her like a team of Clydesdales. I remember thinking that she didn’t seem to have control of those dogs. A split second later one of her dogs broke his leash, charged my Jack and had him by the throat, shaking him violently from side to side. My dog had gone limp and I was afraid he was already dead.
I screamed and grabbed the big dog by the collar and threw him as hard as I could away from my dog. In hindsight I know I should never intervene in a dog fight as that dog could have turned on me or I could have been bitten by either dog, but I was acting purely on instinct, however misguided, at the moment. I grabbed my little Jack, who had some pretty big puncture wounds on his neck and shoulders, and ran towards my house.
I remember thinking how odd it was that the big dog never even looked at me when he came over to charge my little dog. Usually, a dog will come over to the human (implied pack leader) to make friends first (ask permission to approach the pack). Clearly, this dog was not interested in “pack protocol” and the thought process was purely animal attacking animal at that point.
My Jack had several stitches, a round of antibiotics and two vet visits but he is OK. He is still pretty nervous when we are walking and he sees a big dog.
I later found out the big dog then charged a tiny dog named Muffin who was on a tether in his garage and had stepped outside into his driveway. The big dog killed Muffin, probably in a matter of seconds.
I stopped by Muffin’s house later that day and talked to his owner and his two little kids. They were so sad and had seen the blood and body of their little friend, laying in their driveway. They told me they had buried Muffin near where he had been killed. Broke my heart.
An Animal Control officer stopped by my house and took some photos of my dog and a statement. I later heard that the big dog was taken away and euthanized. That made me sad too.
But honestly, it could have been worse. What if those kids had been outside when that out of control dog charged their pet? What if they, as I did, tried to defend their friend and the dog turned on them instead?
What if my dog had reacted back angrily when he was attacked and the big dog had attacked me too?
Any of these things could happen when you are dealing with animals, however sweet and smoochy they may be. They live between our world and the animal world. It is my responsibility when I walk them to keep them, me, you and your animals as safe as I can.
I try to do this by always keeping in mind their true nature, keeping a death grip on my leashes, and watching for and steering them past any potential problems.
But…In a threatening situation, I can’t control my own instinctual behavior and I cannot guarantee control over an animal’s instinct, no matter how sweet and human-like that animal is.
I also can’t control if you are obeying the law about leashes or tethers. It sure would help if you would.
Thank you.