Hi!
I have a very well behaved german shepherd that’s never agressive towards anyone or anything. My neighbor has a yorkie that is a rescue from a hoarding situation. The yorkie is extremely agressive towards me and my dog. Every time he catches a glimpse of us he runs right up to my dog and starts barking in her face and snapping at her feet. I don’t think there has been any biting yet but it’s only a matter of time.
This has happened on four separate occassions. At first I tried to be understanding - he was a rescue dog and needed time for training and rehabilitation. But I get the distinct impression this dog is not being trained, or at least not by a professional.
The thing that fucking blows my mind is that she lets the dog off leash when she thinks she is alone. Normally if her dog was friendly I wouldn’t give a shit, but this is an extremely aggressive dog. Twice now her dog has been off leash and completely out of control and we’ve both walked around a corner and into each other. This is fucking infuriating to me, and I was sure to let the owner know. I told her that if I see her dog off leash one single more time I’m calling animal control.
My big fear is that one day my dog is going to have had enough and stand up for herself and fucking eviscerate that little shit, and I’m going to have to have my dog put down for being “aggressive” even though she has never once instigated an attack.
Did I do the right thing here? I don’t want her to get rid of her dog just because of me, but my dog was here first and is never the aggressor. I feel like I’ve been very patient, but it’s been a year and a half and I’m at my wits end.
Thanks!
Chances are if your dog is well trained and well socialized with other dogs, including smaller ones, and hasn’t attacked the other dog after all this time then she most likely won’t suddenly go nuts one day and kill the other dog. She might correct the other dog by nipping/snapping to enforce her boundaries, but it sounds like she’s a well-mannered dog if she’s tolerated the behaviour so far. Sometimes it’s best to let dogs enforce their own boundaries that way, but with a dog as small as a Yorkie vs a dog as big as a gsd it’s understandable to still want to avoid that.
Ultimately telling the other owner to control their dog or you’ll contact authorities is the right thing. Maybe your dog has been tolerant, but that doesn’t mean every dog will be tolerant, and if your neighbour is letting their dog off leash in public to torment anyone who passes by, then chances are eventually that little Yorkie will meet a big dog that won’t be as tolerant and isn’t well socialized with other dogs, and that will end very badly for the Yorkie. You’d be doing the poor thing a favour if you managed to prevent that from happening, even if it gets taken away from your neighbour in the end.
That was my reasoning as well. I’m just not a confrontational person and I felt gross about the whole situation. Hearing it from other people is reassuring. Thank you!