LucyDog
Well-known member
Today, I took Lucy and Charlie Brown out to meet a friend for coffee. We found a sunny spot on the grass outside the coffee place. (We are having the most amazing weather here in Northern California...it was about 70 degrees). Anyway, the dogs were hanging out on the grass, on leash of course and this little Maltese come along, off leash with her owner trailing like 10-15 ft behind (so a decent distance). Now personally I hate when people have their dogs off leash in areas not really designed for it. This is a busy shopping area w/ a lot of traffic and a dog running into the street would almost surely get hit by a car. Also, you never know how another dog will react to your dog and unless you have a dog willing to come to you on command....well you know the rest. Anyway, this little dog trotted up to Lucy. Lucy is usually always friendly...she gets excited and barks but she has NEVER exhibited any sort of aggression toward another dog before. Well, Lucy lunged for this dog and it was not in a friendly way. She was ready to rip this dogs head off. The owner not only did absolutely nothing, but she actually kept walking past me as I am trying to corral and correct Lucy while simultaneously keeping track of Mr. Brown, and got into her CAR!! I was appalled. Luckily, the Maltese got the message loud and clear and backed off and eventually ran over to her owners car. Irresponsible owner aside, I was really surprised by Lucy's behavior. The only explanation that I can come up with is that she was feeling protective of Charlie Brown (he's our new puppy). I took her to the dog park later in the day and she was her normal happy go lucky self with all the dogs there. Any other ideas about why she would suddenly show aggression toward another dog or do you think I am right about her protecting the puppy. Also, any tips on how to handle this type of situation and/or prevent it from happening again would be appreciated.