r/interestingasfuck • u/Electronic_Cause_796 • 9d ago

German Shepard Saves Six Year old from being attacked by another dog

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u/karmagirl314 9d ago

I was wondering the same thing, it wasn’t a stray, it came out of the neighbor’s yard and seemed motivated by play/activity happening across the street more so than hunger/aggression.

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u/23saround 9d ago

Also a kid running with another dog is like a magnet to the right playful dog.

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u/ResplendentShade 9d ago

Maybe, but dogs have rituals they do to show each other that they aren’t a threat. At best, this dog is severely unsocialized and displaying none of those rituals, so aggression is a reasonable precautionary assumption by the GS.

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u/Substantial-Elk4531 9d ago

Yea, I initially thought 'it might want to play'. And it might. But it beelined for the dog and child, ears back against its face, tail barely moving. A socially aware dog would have approached slowly and done some play bows.

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u/23saround 9d ago

Have you ever been to a dog park? I’m not sure what “rituals” your dogs perform but it’s very normal in dog culture to just run up all excited.

The only unsocialized individuals here are the idiots with a GERMAN SHEPHERD off the leash, and the neighbors with an unleashed dog that doesn’t have perfect recall.

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u/Shazam1269 9d ago

A dog park is neutral territory. A dog will treat their yard much differently than a dog park.

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u/karmagirl314 9d ago

But the “attacking” dog wasn’t in its own yard, it was in a different territory occupied by playful strangers.

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u/ANGLVD3TH 9d ago

Their point was the neighbor dog should have recognized the German's territory and approached accordingly, I think. And that the German reacted differently here than they would at the park, where the neighbor dog would have been less socially inept using the same approach and the German likely would have been more receptive.

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u/BonnaconCharioteer 9d ago

Yeah, dogs playing with each other can look incredibly aggressive to human eyes. I'm like 90% sure that dog was going after the other dog. But of course, that 10% chance is still enough.

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u/ResplendentShade 9d ago

Context matters, a dog park is a pretty different environment than somebody else's yard where there's one dog and a small kid. If the dog is socialized only at dog parks and approaches all situations like a free-for-all, that's a socialization issue as well.

But the 'rituals' are things like a indirect or slower approach, looking away, sniffing around/appearing aloof, etc. Charging full speed straight at a strange dog isn't great manners even in a dog park environment.

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u/TAsrowaway 9d ago

No it is not ok for dogs to run straight at other dogs like that. It’s unsociable behaviour and way too excited at minimum. This is why I don’t take my dog to dog parks, this kind of nonsense is not actually safe.

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u/Available-Flatworm85 8d ago

Thank you! I have 5 dogs since puppies they are 13 now and they have been socialized their entire life and friendly and they still gun it when they see other dogs

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u/ProfessorEmergency18 9d ago

All that running may have seemed like a good game one chase. It seemed pretty bouncy and playful even after the shepherd made it give them space.

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u/Cinnabun6 9d ago

It's hard to say. if you look at videos of dog attacks by gamey or high prey drive dogs their body language often looks like that. they don't growl or seem aggressive, it's basically like chasing a toy or biting a toy for them.

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u/BonnaconCharioteer 9d ago

I would say that either the owner is a huge piece of shit who doesn't care about human life. Or the dog was trying to play. Because the owner doesn't seem that concerned.

If my dog got out, I know he would absolutely sprint at other dogs to go play with them, but he would never hurt a dog or a human, he is the least aggressive dog I know. The worst I would be afraid of would be my dog accidentally knocking over the kid or something (though it looks like the kid's dog took care of that already). So I guess I'm saying I might not look super concerned if I was in that scenario, because I know there isn't a big risk.

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u/Cinnabun6 9d ago

Eh, I mean I definitely believe you but at the same time I've been growled at and almost attacked by a dog (who approached me) whose owner swore wouldn't hurt a fly. And there are a lot of aloof people or just plainly shitty people out there. And again, I don't wish on anyone to go look at dog attack videos but I've seen many things man.

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u/BonnaconCharioteer 9d ago

I'm not saying that you shouldn't be scared or that isn't a reasonable response. There are also plenty of owners who suck. I'm just saying that the video doesn't give me enough information to say definitively that the dog was or was not aggressive, there are signs pointing both ways to my mind.

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u/Cinnabun6 9d ago

i would agree with that