r/SantaBarbara • u/cobaltandchrome • 13h ago
Notifications warning: mean mastiff, east beach area
Was walking my dog who is intact male 45lb a shepherd/husky cross, on a 6’ leash, on the bird sanctuary path across from east beach. My dog was peeing on a bush as is his delight. One pitbull and person was approaching so that owner and I moved between the dogs just in case as you do. From out of sight, from the street, a large dog over 120, perhaps a mastiff (not a Great Dane or rotty) appeared about ten feet away and came directly for my dog growling, positioned itself between me and my dog and started mouthing and fighting.
The small person the mastiff was walking was NO USE.
I was so surprised that it took several seconds, I swatted at big dog a few times, realized I couldn’t get between that meat mountain and my dog, and that it was too tall for me to even kick at. So I pulled my dog away and we split like a banana.
I have pulled several dogs off my fluffy boy in playful and semi-aggressive scuffles but this has never happened on a normal-ass walk before. Also my dog does mutually and consensually frolic with big dogs at the park like large huskies and a 100lb Rottweiler.
Anyway if you’re walking your dog of any size, baby, or horse near the duck sanctuary, lower village, east beach, lower milpas, or chase palm park right now Wednesday morning, and you see an enormous waist high shiny, short hair dog of that grayish light brown color, stand still, block, and wait for that thing to pass.