I was in the back yard doing some stuff when I realized the east neighbor's dog was in our yard. He has a pen with about a twenty-foot fence, but they had let him out to play and he jumped my four-foot chainlink fence. This dog is friendly to me because he knows me, but very very big. He looks like he is part wolf. One eye is green and one is brown. He is half as tall as me on all fours, and when on his hind legs, he is taller than me. I am a bit over 6'1.

So I grabbed the new dog and tossed her into the house and shut the door before she saw him. Bear was with me and she went into the garage. But I didn't see the older dog, Mister T. So this dog was running the inside of our fence trying to get to the dogs in my neighbor's fenced in yard and I went to him and called him to me. He let me pet his head but when I tried to get his collar, he took off running. Then Mister T came walking through the yard towards us. The dog jumped him and grabbed him by the throat and was swinging him around in the air two feet off the ground. I had no idea what to do so I just grabbed the dog's throat from behind and choked as hard as I could and held him in the air until I got to our gate and I threw him over it as hard as I could. God that dog is heavy. I'm just glad I was able to hold his throat/neck tight enough that he could not get to me when I got him off the dog.

I checked on Mister T, he had a scraped/raw looking place on his neck and was shaking like a leaf but so far he seems okay. I'm glad I was right behind the other dog when he got to him, he only had him for seconds.

So a few minutes later I see the neighbor (that own's this huge dog) trying to get it into our side gate, I guess so he can keep it from running down the valley. So I am here with my heart pounding and I yell for him not to let the dog into my yard. He said something I couldn't understand and then kept trying. So I screamed that the dog almost killed my dog and if he lets him back into the yard, I will kill him. (the dog, not the dumb kid) I was running on adreneline and totally freaked out at that point but now I feel bad because I am sure I scared the kid half to death and I doubt he is older than 16. But he will be lucky if the dog does not hurt or even kill someone or kill someone elses pet before he gets it back. I saw the neighbor with his cellphone (the one with small dogs right next door) and I figure he called the police/animal control, so hopefully someone will catch it if the owner does not.

holy crap! you are so lucky you didn't get hurt in the process. but i completely understand your actions.

just wow. scary as hell!

Geeze louise. Sorry to hear that, Weretable - I'm glad Mister T's okay. Your remarks are excusable given the scare you'd just had, though. Still, I would be freaked out having such an undisciplined huge animal living next door.

Scary stuff. Glad your animals are OK, and I hope this comes to a good resolution.

Woah, that sounds horrible. Glad Mr T's ok.

Oh God, that's terrifying! I don't blame you at all for what you said to the kid. It was the exact right thing. The owner needs to know that his dog is dangerous and you have every right to defend yourself and your pets from it. I hope that Mister T feels better soon.

Gosh I hope Mister T is ok! Will you take him in to get him checked out?

That would totally freak me out.

The dog is back in his pen. I do not know when they got him back in there, but at least I know he is not loose running around the neighborhood. I heard the kid's dad really yelling at him earlier, I am hoping/guessing he was getting on to him for letting the dog loose and not watching him. They put up the pen when he was a puppy because he was jumping our fence and jumping the neighbor's fence, he even tore the neighbor's dog's ear off playing with him one time. So it isn't like they didn't know he could/would get out at first chance.

T acts fine and I think the dog didn't get a good grip on him, he just had fur/skin. I figured he would be badly hurt if not dying after that, but he was lucky. I am keeping an eye on him though, he is eating and drinking and breathing normally and if I see anything that concerns me I will take him in.

No sympathy for the kid here. I am so sick of people getting dogs and not getting the training and not taking the responsibilty. I am glad you and the animals are OK.

Glad things are ok. Keep a nose out for infection if Mr. T's skin was broken.

I was in a simular situation years ago- a dog had grabed my cat and was shaking her. I had always thought I would jam my thumb knuckles into the joint of the jaw and pry their jaws apart if a situation like this happened. I grabbed it's neck and choked it till it let go of my cat. effective.

Wow, weretable. I'm glad it to hear things have settled down and Mr. T's going to be alright. Sounds like you handled yourself exceptionally well under the circumstances. Good job.

How very terrifying and infuriating.


I'm glad it turned out ok, but you yourself could have been injured or killed. When dogs get into that frame of behaviour, they are no longer domesticated animals.


Now that things have cooled off, it's time to have a calm neighbourly chat. Those people need to know that no more mistakes can happen... ever.

If it had been me, I'd have killed the dog with a rock, or whatever was handy. Sorry if that puts you off, but I have seen way too many disfigured children(5) or badly injured adults from encounters with a dog who has "temporarily" gone wild.

Your dog should see a vet if its skin was broken.

Mercy, weretable. That's so terrifying. We've got two big dogs across the street, a rottweiler and what I think is some kind of rotti/shepard mix. They're good pups, as far as we can tell, but sometimes they get overzealous and bust through their invisible fence. Then they freak out that they can't get back onto their property. They're so big and so powerful, all it would take is one bad reaction on their part while they're in this state and someone could get seriously hurt--and I fear it would be my fearless little one.

Hope Mr. T is back in top form soon.

Goddamn! Good thing you were there and able to deal! Vicious dogs are scary but big men can be formidable too, just in different ways. I think you ought to go put the fear of god into someone of a legally responsible age, though. The 16 year old will walk if that dog kills someone.

I'm not against dogs. Just against having huge dogs that could kill someone, and not containing/training them properly. Honestly I don't think anyone has any business keeping such a massive beast as a pet unless they live out on a ranch and have coyotes to fend off and lots of room for the dog to move. But people buy 5000HP cars to commute to work in, too, and there's no stopping them.

Jackasses.

I love dogs, but I was attacked (on my bike!) by a big Shepherd/Rott (maybe) mix once and still have the thigh scars to show for it. In those days people just got tickets for not controlling their dogs, though -- these days that can get a dog put down.

As a dog-lover, I know it ain't the dog's fault. Too bad putting stupid owners down isn't on the table.

I'm a dog lover too. I've got two (a border collie x german shepherd, and a pug x maltese...the later is peering through the back screen door at me as I type this). But I wouldn't think twice about strangling / attacking any dog who attacked one of my dogs, or a person. Or, to be honest, one of my own dogs if they showed that kind of behaviour to someone. I once kicked a dog who attacked my neighbour's beagle. And, like stillcho, I was once attacked by two german shepherds while I was riding my bike. The owner (who didn't have them on leads when she was walking them through the park) ran off after I was bitten. I went and got some shots and was fine, apart from the scar I've still got. A friend of mine was attacked by a dog when he was delivering pizzas and he has hated every dog since - I'm not like that, because I know every dog is different. But I can't stand people who walk their dogs off leads, because you never know what they will do.

Dogs are wolves, plain and simple. They can be trained, as they should be. But they're still carnivores with sharp teeth and strong jaws, and they all have their own individual personalities. I'm glad the dad's kid was giving him an ear-bashing, and I hope your dog is okay.

What arse_hat and jimbob said. dogs become well mannered when people train them to be that way. Regardless of size.

I hope Mister T is ok!!! Please give him a big hug and pat for me.