First Day Back

Last week, Nugget was attacked by an aggressive St. Bernard mix at his favorite park. It's an on leash park but most people use it as off leash. Since it's not enclosed and Nugget is a runner, I don't. We make our way across the park greeting the other dogs. Last week the offending dog was there off leash and nugget approached to greet him. Little did I realize the owner felt it was acceptable to bring the dog's favorite chew toy and leave it in the grass. As Nugget got close this dog lunged. I tried to pull him away Nugget turned to run but this dog kept coming till 2 owners got him under control. The end result was 3 bloody cuts on Nugget's head, a patch of missing fur and, more damaging, a dog who is terrified of the dog park.

Today was our first day back. He is now unable to be around larger, off leash dogs if he isn't off leash too BUT he at least let me take him there and played with the smaller dogs just fine.

Some photos to commemorate the moment. First thing he did after cautiously entering the gate was find a grassy hillside and roll all the way down it (note: he does this in the winter too when there is snow, I call it REAL dog sledding! )

 

Poor baby! So glad he wasn't seriously injured! Shame on that owner for not having the dog on a leash when they most likely knew it was aggressive.

 

Unfortunately too many dog owners are a menace - to other dogs as well as their own. It's good that Nugget is ok though! He looks like a MinI BT.

 

Lilibeth_Seasong - Tell me about it! I've owned dog aggressive dogs before. It happens, mostly due to human mistreatment directly or indirectly, and it doesn't mean they shouldn't be loved. It DOES mean extraordinary precaution to protect both your dog and any others. When I had a dog-aggressive dog, he was never off-leash and in areas where we may run into other dogs, I kept him muzzled. I crossed the street on walks when other dogs approached and was just generally responsible about it. And even with a friendly dog, under no circumstances is it acceptable to bring their favorite bone to the park. It's just asking for trouble. I'm grateful Nugget's okay, but now he's got PTSD. In one fell swoop, he's no longer an ambassador for the bully breeds, something I took a lot of pride in and used to educate people on the truth about bully breeds, but he is now showing signs of fear aggression towards large, off-leash dogs. And that doesn't come close to how bad I feel for Nugget, whose clearly been shaken up. I hope that this will pass with patience, love and strong leadership. And if I ever see those people at the dog park again, I plan to talk to them. When it happened, I just wanted to get Nugget home so I did a quick body check there and left without much exchange but if I see them there again, it's going to be a different story.
NCE12940 - He's a BT, but definitely NOT a minI haha. He's the full breed standard size for colored BTs, weighing in at 60lbs haha, minI BTs max out at about 35. He likes to think he's much smaller than he is though. He's a rescue, a really lucky find at a regular dog rescue, so I don't have papers on him. But he's as pure as the driven snow, as far as anyone can tell.

 

With nothing to compare him to in the pics, he looked *Mini*. Maybe you don't want to tell him that I have a friend who used to breed standard BTs; now only has rescues. Her favs are the colored; hated whites.

 

With nothing to compare him to in the pics, he looked *Mini*. Maybe you don't want to tell him that I have a friend who used to breed standard BTs; now only has rescues. Her favs are the colored; hated whites.

Yeah he's got a longer body and shorter legs that make him look squat sometimes. Then he gets up on your lap and suddenly you're gasping for breath and wincing in pain haha.

I like the colored ones better too, I think they are more stable in terms of temperament and prone to fewer health problems. Lately BTs are bred to really exaggerate the head shape, creating these giant egg-shaped heads. It's kind of weird. If you look at photos of BTs from, say, the 40s or even General Pattons BT, they have less of a funny shaped head, there's a tiny bit of a stop in the muzzle and they almost have a doberman type look to them. Nugget's got this type of face. He's my "throwback" doggie haha.

 

Probably also one reason I guessed MinI - the last ones I saw didn't have as exaggerated a head. BTs are cool dogs And newborn puppies are so solid that they're like little bricks. I hope Nugget's innate BT temperament comes through for him and he gets over his trauma!