I leashed Prophet and instructed him to follow me. But the Dane was still off leash and bounding toward Prophet. I was considering releasing him, but the attack never got serious enough. She was snarling at Prophet and jumping at him, but still avoiding his mouth. Prophet grabbed her jacket, but let go when I told him to.In reading this anew I noticed details that had slipped my memory and others that I hadn't paid sufficient attention to at the time. At the time I concluded that it was too easy for me to see the other person's blindness to their dog's aggression and too hard for me to see my own and that I needed a professional consult. And, in fact, I discussed the incident a week later with a dog behaviorist and asked about the possibility of some de-conditioning for the dogs.
Meanwhile, the owner was yelling and pursuing her dog. When she got close I realized she was yelling at Prophet! The gentleman I was with, whose little dog was watching with interest, chuckled and asked why she was giving orders to Prophet instead of her own dog, particularly since Prophet was on leash!
Months went by before I was able to speak to the owner of the Great Dane. When I finally saw her, we were in the parking lot of the park where we walk. The Dane was in the woman's vehicle, barking furiously and hurling herself against the inside walls while Prophet listened curiously. I asked about the possibility of joint training so that the dogs could pass each other in peace, but the woman cut me off. No, she said, Prophet is a violent animal who should never be off his leash and who should never be outdoors without a muzzle.
I took a moment before responding to this. Really, I couldn't think of any response that would not have instantly escalated the conflict between us, the people. (I could think of plenty of those responses!) My pause gave her an opportunity to continue. What she remembered is how Prophet grabbed her dog (remember, a Great Dane, much bigger than him, and initiating the attack!) by the jacket (not the throat!) and how his teeth penetrated right through the jacket. At that point I reminded her that her dog had run across the width of the park to engage Prophet. She complained that it was her park, too, and that she liked to come in every day after dropping her children at school at 8:15. Oh, okay. I never have to be in this section of the park after 8:15. She seemed surprised by the simplicity of this solution and I haven't seen her since, which is now about six months.
But I have seen the dog. One morning in early December we dropped into another park because Prophet saw a puppy he likes. They were chasing and wrestling for about fifteen minutes when a familiar-looking Great Dane come in. I wasn't immediately certain that this was the same dog because she was with a man this time. But as they got closer I recognized her. Prophet cautiously walked over to say hello and then gently kissed her face. The two dogs then interacted mainly with other dogs for about ten minutes. When I noticed them giving each other some stink-eye (I don't know what triggered it) I asked Prophet to follow me and left. No fighting, no biting, no barking.
I was really intrigued by the different behavior both dogs demonstrated when the male owner was present. I don't know what to make of it. Was he showing less fear of Prophet? Does the Dane see less need to protect his male owner? But there are other things to consider, too. In re-reading my post from last February I realized that I had forgotten that Prophet was on his leash when that incident occurred. And while I remembered that the woman blamed Prophet, I forgot that she was yelling at him. Does the leash exacerbate conflict? And what am I remembering and forgetting in these stories?
While I am onto canine conflict there was also the fight with Riley in October. Riley is a 90+ pound pit bull, which means he matches Prophet in size. We used to see Riley every night closer to home with a group of dogs that meet after 9 pm when NYC leash laws go off in many of the parks. Riley is two years younger than Prophet and when he was a pup they got along fine. As he got older Riley didn't like deferring to Prophet and they had a couple of arguments while establishing a new modus vivendi. Also, Riley got totally fixated on another dog his age named Sasha and the two mainly had time for one another. I will acknowledge here that Riley showed signs of aggression toward dogs that were too bossy and toward dogs that demanded too much attention, but I liked Riley (and I liked his owners) and so I ignored it.
The night in question Prophet and I hadn't been in that park much for weeks. We arrived before anybody else and as each new dog arrived, Prophet greeted them and then went back to his own business. That night his "own business" consisted mostly of pulling up grass from between paving stones. When Riley arrived the two dogs nodded. Riley went to play with Sasha, but periodically gave Prophet some stink-eye. I ignored this (my bad!) and continued socializing with the people. After some time, and without any provocation that I can remember, Riley suddenly lunged at Prophet, growling and biting him. Prophet tried wrestling Riley off and snarling at him. He tried whimpering. Meanwhile we were unsuccessfully attempting to separate the two dogs. Riley had his jaws locked on and wouldn't let go. Finally Prophet bit Riley and then we were able to get them apart. I leashed Prophet and took him home. We didn't return to that park at night for weeks. Prophet needed a visit to the vet, but he seemed mainly to be recuperating from the aftereffects of a huge burst of adrenaline and was fine after a couple of days.
A few days later I discussed the fight with Riley's male own, who had not been there that night. We opined that in Prophet's long absence, Riley had concluded that it was his park and that seeing Prophet walk around like he owned the place may have set him off. But I was working with incomplete information. What I only learned later was that Riley had assaulted a mostly harmless English Sheepdog named Paddington the night before and the completely harmless boxer Marshmallow the following night! Paddington has a habit of trying to herd other dogs and has irritated Prophet, too, (though to the point of angry barking, not an assault.) Marshmallow, however, is this goofy guy who just lives to play. Moreover, it seems that Riley will now even ignore his friend Sasha in preference to playing with a tennis ball.
All that is second hand; it is what I heard. Here is what I saw: One day during the Christmas holiday Prophet began barking angrily inside the house. I looked out the window to see what was setting him off and spotted Riley with his owner. I walked out to say hello. Riley's tongue was out in a big smile and his tail was going. Prophet followed me out of the house, greeted Riley's owner, then turned away from Riley and walked back into the house. Now Riley began a long sequence of barks of the "Play with me!" variety. Prophet did not return these barks. I called him to come out of the house, which he did. But while Riley's tail kept wagging and he continued the "Play!" barks, Prophet just looked away and returned to the house. Riley then lay down on the sidewalk and began crying pitifully. Silence from inside. I made my goodbyes and went back in myself.
When I sat down to write this I thought I was meditating on the relationship between our dogs' behaviors and us, on our dogs' relationships and ours. As I finish it, I find that I am mainly just boasting about how much I like Prophet. I really do.
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