Being a father has taught me a new gold standard for fear. Also, a legal question.

[Bear44]

Ok, this may not be the most popular opinion, but I have thick skin and can take it.

Maybe the dogs thought they were trying to protect your kids from you. As has been pointed out, dogs sometimes view children as other dogs. Especially those who are part of a family that has kids.

According to your account, they did not show aggression until you put yourself between your kids and the dogs and assumed an aggressive posture. Dogs can sense and are sometimes very responsive to human emotions. You already stated that you were afraid during the encounter. You also had quite a bit of adrenaline flowing. The fact that you vomited after is a good indication of that. Dogs can smell that. I am pretty sure that your wife was giving off a similar scent.

So, look at it from this perspective. The dogs see your kids as potential pack members and now they have two large predators (cuz that is how they view you) who are surrounding them and smell like aggression. There is a good chance that they were not looking at your kids at all. They were keeping tabs on your wife. In their eyes they were looking for a way to separate you and your wife (the aggressors) from potential pack-mates (your kids).

That would also explain the behavior once your wife and kids were in the house. Your relief at that causes your fear to subside. The "aggressive" smell declines and the potential pack mates are out of sight. Time to move on.

Now, I am not saying you didn't handle the situation correctly. They very well could have had ill intentions and would have attacked if provoked. Either way, the situation came out positive, so the actions to get there don't really matter in hindsight.

That being said, there is a good reason why "dog people" don't get attacked as much as "non-dog people". That is because us dog people will usually greet strange dogs with caution, but not fear or aggression. Once you start to exude fear or aggression, the dogs will react in kind.

So, I guess the point of all this is an adaptation of something that Bear44 posted here not too long ago: Meet every dog with cautious respect, but have a plan to kill them if necessary.

Wrong read on this. They had no reason to believe the kids were part of their pack. They had never met them before. The reason they became aggressive when the OP put himself between them and his kids is because they were ready to fight for their dinner. Exactly the same behavior you'll see in nature when an adult prey animal tries to protect their young from wolves.
When the kids got in the house the prey was no longer available. Time to move on.

 

[Bear44]

I also highly recommend that you NOT try to find the owners yourself. Let animal control handle that. Remember, the owners have probably never seen this behavior and they'll think you're nuts. Most AC officers have enough experience with dogs to know that just because the owner didn't see it, doesn't mean it didn't happen.

 

[SkyBreaker]

You have more patience than I do brother. My hats off to you. I woulda popped the dogs. No human witnesses meams the dogs attacked me

 

[Tailor]

Ok, this may not be the most popular opinion, but I have thick skin and can take it.

Maybe the dogs thought they were trying to protect your kids from you. As has been pointed out, dogs sometimes view children as other dogs. Especially those who are part of a family that has kids.

According to your account, they did not show aggression until you put yourself between your kids and the dogs and assumed an aggressive posture. Dogs can sense and are sometimes very responsive to human emotions. You already stated that you were afraid during the encounter. You also had quite a bit of adrenaline flowing. The fact that you vomited after is a good indication of that. Dogs can smell that. I am pretty sure that your wife was giving off a similar scent.

So, look at it from this perspective. The dogs see your kids as potential pack members and now they have two large predators (cuz that is how they view you) who are surrounding them and smell like aggression. There is a good chance that they were not looking at your kids at all. They were keeping tabs on your wife. In their eyes they were looking for a way to separate you and your wife (the aggressors) from potential pack-mates (your kids).

That would also explain the behavior once your wife and kids were in the house. Your relief at that causes your fear to subside. The "aggressive" smell declines and the potential pack mates are out of sight. Time to move on.

Now, I am not saying you didn't handle the situation correctly. They very well could have had ill intentions and would have attacked if provoked. Either way, the situation came out positive, so the actions to get there don't really matter in hindsight.

That being said, there is a good reason why "dog people" don't get attacked as much as "non-dog people". That is because us dog people will usually greet strange dogs with caution, but not fear or aggression. Once you start to exude fear or aggression, the dogs will react in kind.

So, I guess the point of all this is an adaptation of something that Bear44 posted here not too long ago: Meet every dog with cautious respect, but have a plan to kill them if necessary.

I may not have been clear on this earlier, but I am not as a default, afraid of dogs. I grew up with dogs, helped my aunt do obedience training from about 8 years old till I turned 17 and she took her training business up north. I've mostly worked with GSD's because so many of her customers wanted them, but we trained some APBT's as well. The APBT's we trained didn't quite look like either of the dogs I encountered the other day, but the similarities are pretty strong. The time working with my aunt taught me a lot of respect for the power of a dog, as well as how fast they are. Despite that, the situation developed so much faster than I was ready for it.

I was not thrilled to see two dogs roaming on their own, but I wasn't especially worried until my daughter's exclamation caused them to head our way. Stalking behavior looks different than protective or playful behavior. I honestly think anyone seeing this unfold would have absolutely consciously or simply viscerally recognized this behavior for what it was.

But more importantly in this case, this is how I see it. Sure its *possible* that these two dogs somehow considered two random (to them) kids as potentially part of their pack. Sure its *possible* that they only meant to protect my kids from big bad dad. Fact is, I don't care. Some random dogs don't get to claim my kids (in any meaning of the word claim). A dog the size of either of them could inflict a mortal injury in seconds to a toddler. In the ocean a nearby shark might just swim near you and then move right along. That doesn't mean I would be ok with my kids swimming with them.

I 'm trying hard to not turn into one of those overprotective parents who shelters their kids from everything. But what can I say, it is of total importance to me that my kids get to live long enough to whine about how mean I am because I wont let them get pierced eyelids or facial tats at the age of 15.

I suspect a lot of people wont like what I'm about to say, but its the truth. With what I have learned about dog attacks on children just in the time since this incident, I would absolutely have killed those dogs if I knew then what I know now.

 

[07JKX]

dogs belong on leashes or contained by some other means... period and regardless of breed. It is even more important in high residential areas.

glad you or the family didnt get hurt and that you were able to resolve the situation without the tramatic visions of a "doggy!!!" getting blown to bits being engrained in your children's minds.

 

[Boxer101]

I am a dog person. Always have been and will be.

that being said, I am glad your family is safe and applaud your ability to handle the situation. IMO the dogs were able to identify you as the pack leader of your family. keeping eye contact on the lead dog was important. Good job on keeping tabs on the 2nd dog. You demonstrated that you were protecting your pack and were not fearful. In nature fear is a weakness and weakness is to be exploited. The Dogs were testing you. The rest of the pack are spoils of war.

I walk with a collapsible baton, my glock and two large dogs that have never been allowed to roam without a leash (except at a dog park). I have sent several other people's dogs home with a bruise and a tail between their legs. I believe in leash laws. I perceive dogs not on a leash as threats to me, my family, and my leashed dogs. I act in a manner to defend them.

 

[wesleyscott]

had a moment similar while walking with family and family dog. another aggressive dog pulled the leash out of the older ladies hands and came at us. started to go for my dog and had to pin him down, knife drawn and ready to act. luckily the owner caught up and pulled dog away. people can be really irresponsible with their pets and it's sad, all they want to do is please their master.

 

[Wheels Up]

From someone who knows the worry and anger when their kids do get bite and posted the episode here, I would have not fretted about it and shot them both. Sorry, folks, but they are dogs not kids, so low on the totem pole. As animal control and the sheriff's told me multiple times, if you feel threatened you can kill them..period. Matter of fact, the sheriff's deputy said he would had shot he dog that bit my kid if it was his son. The law states not only in defense of self, but if you percieve immient threat to others, you can defend yourself against dangerous animal (paraphrase).

For a follow-up to my story, after 10 days of quarantine of this pos belgium malinios, my other neighbor who has 2 girls who sided with this pos owner, came over to my house to tell me their 5 yr was bit in the back and back of her head, blood on both, 3 days after that mutt came home. Unsaid, but thinking told ya so and lucky it didn't rip her face off. That dog is gone now, but he still has another one. I am in the yard now with my shotgun or pistol always close by now. In addition, I finally got a Blackmouth Cur for us, so as soon as he gets a bit larger, he'll have our back.

 

[loadnplenty]

It is hard not to shoot sometimes, and this sounds like one them. I know some people have suggested pepper spray, but from expierence if threatened enough to use force, shoot it. I sprayed a pittbull on duty one day and it just got more pissed off and focussed it's anger and attention to me. Next step was shooting it. Since then I just shoot them if I have to use force. I have two dogs of my own and I am not an dog hater by no means. But some pitbulls are quite tough and a perfect shot in the boiler room doesn't always drop them instantly. You have to make your decision based on what you feel is best for your family and what you can live with.