When Your Dog Encounters Another Dog
When your dog encounters another dog, it is essential to analyze the situation and prevent incidents from occurring. Keeping your dog on a leash is crucial unless you’re in a specified leash-free zone. Unfortunately, you can’t always count on other dog owners to be as prudent as you are. Also, there may be a day when your dog encounters another off-leash dog. These can be dangerous circumstances for dog encounters, but with the right strategies, you can learn how to create positive dog encounters for your dog — even if the other canine is aggressive or off-leash.
Read Dog’s Body Language
The first thing you should do to assess this situation is to read the other dog’s body language. If the dog’s tail is wagging, don’t assume this means that it’s happy. A wagging tail means that a dog is excited — and this could be either a good omen or a warning sign. Similarly, just because a dog’s hackles rise doesn’t mean that they are on the offense. It simply means that they are excited, which may be a neutral indicator.
Watch Your Dog’s Reaction
In addition to monitoring the body language of the approaching dog, you should pay close attention to your own dog’s body language. You know how to interpret your dog’s reactions, so you should be able to tell whether they’re upset, happy, aroused, or disturbed. You can decide if
the other dog is a friendly visitor — or if they pose a threat. Be prepared to take action and deescalate the situation if they are a threat.
Consider Going a Different Way
Sometimes the best way to deescalate tense dog encounters is to leave. Even if you have canine liability insurance, you don’t want to be in a situation where a fight emerges, and you’re struggling to prevent an attack. Canine liability insurance can protect you from the expense of damages in an instance like this. Still, an attack and the following claim can make your insurance rates go up substantially. So it’s better to avoid this outcome and leave the situation if you sense it may be a liability.
Use Treats to Redirect Behavior
You should always keep treats on hand if you need to quickly redirect your dog’s behavior — or another dog’s behavior. Treats are an excellent tool for distraction that can buy you enough time to leave and prevent an attack. If you spot an unleashed dog that heads your way and you’re not confident that it’s friendly, you can toss a few treats to stop it in its tracks. While the other dog is distracted, take your pup and head in the opposite direction.
About Dog Bite Quote
At Dean Insurance Agency, we’ve been providing protection to dog owners since 2012, with more than 10,000 policies issued. Our underwriting criteria and years of experience providing this coverage enables us to offer competitive and fair policy premiums. Our policies are available in every state except Alaska & Kentucky. The quote is free and there is NO obligation to purchase!