Fila People- Need Help

[Renee750il]

That's not even an issue, Dan.

The fact that he let the people come in without challenging them tells me he's damned stable -- the small dog was a new interloper who had not been properly introduced. That was a case of handler stupidity on the part of the small dog's owner. They're the ones who need training.

From what you've said, he sounds like a helluva stable dog!

[Miakoda]

Well, in this case both dog owners were at fault. While almost all will state that the Fila had no business bolting and running free, the small cutesie wootsie fluffybottoms of a dog had no business running free.

If two dogs are off-leash and there's an incident, it's either both owners take the blame or it's a "no fault" incident.

As for this situation, without knowing the history of the other situation, I'd say that all that is needed is some responsibility to not fling gates/doors wide opening when entering/leaving and go back to done basic obedience training (like the good ol' "leave it" or "out" commands").

[DanL]

my wife spent some time with the owner today and told him what you guys have said and what we thought- that it was not a dog problem, but a training one. i told her to tell him how Gunnar has dog aggression issues, and how we keep him out of situations that set him up for failure, like dog parks. We also suggested a lock on their front gate so the in-laws can't show up and let themselves in like they did, another way to prevent the dog from being placed in a no win situation. He likes the lock idea and agrees that this is something that can be fixed. He doesn't want to get rid of the dog.

I told her to ask about the other dog (which had $1000 in vet bills, but the father in law paid it because he felt bad that it happened because of him). The SPCA is involved and I said why is it this dogs fault, he was contained and got out while the other dog was roaming free- the owners of that dog were lucky it didn't get run over.

I'll keep everyone posted on what happens, and thanks again for the help! Best dog forum on the 'net by far!

[Baxter'smybaby]

I have no words of advice on the topic --but just wanted to say it's nice to see you here again! Stick around, why don't you?

[Miakoda]

DanL, thanks for working with them. Sometimes when something bad happens, people immediately throw themselves into worst-case-scenario-mode and they lose the ability to calm down and think the problem through.

We have padlocks on ALL gates in our yard. The gates in the dogs' backyard are all padlocked, as well as the gates in our horse pasture. An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure.