Ax and I headed down to his home field as usual today to get some disc practice in the snow in since the wind finally died down to reasonable levels. We had been there maybe 5 minutes or so doing short warmups when this young guy and his girlfriend show up with two dogs. One appeared to be a young mixed breed and the other was a very stocky black Bully Pit about 4 inches shorter than Ax. No problem, I call Ax over to me and they pass by with both dogs leashed. We exchanged brief pleasantries and they continued on toward the beach. When they got closer to the beach, they unleashed both dogs and they started to run around. I tossed Ax a few more discs as far as possible away from the other dogs. He shagged them and returned to me as usual, ignoring the dogs. At that point, I thought to myself, I really don't like the looks of that Bully Pit or his posture across the field and we should probably just bounce. As I was mulling it over I started to wipe the frozen snow/slobber mixture off of one of the rings. Ax is laying in the snow 3' in front of me, eyes fixed on me and the ring as always, and out of the corner of my eye I see the pit charging across the field at a 45 degree angle right at Ax's back as he lay there in the snow. I guess he heard or sensed it coming and he leaped up when it was about 10' away and whirled to face it. It's intent was definitely an attack because it was snarling. Ax managed to mostly side step it rather than absorb the full blow from the charging dog and leaped on its back and began biting it as it went by (his signature move). Fortunately, this time I was only a yard away, and I was able to grab Ax's collar with my left hand and yank him off and immediately grab the pits chain collar with my right hand. Great, now I'm standing between 150+ lbs worth (Ax is 75 lbs and the pit was definitely heavier) of snarling snapping dogs trying to kill each other. I was able to hold them apart until the pit's owner ran across the field and grabbed his dog while apologizing profusely. Miraculously, neither dog was injured, and I was not bitten. My back isn't feeling too swift about now but all I could think of was keeping the bully pit's massive jaws off of Ax. His head was easily 3 times the width of Axl's.
As most on this forum have heard me brag Ad nauseam, Ax can really handle his business when messed with but I wasn't about to risk him being badly injured or killed because this IDIOT decided to unleash his obviously aggressive, untrained Bully Pit. If he was going to get to Ax, he was going to have to go through me to do it and that wasn't happening...and I'd do it again in a NY minute if necessary.
It might seem hypocritical of me to be complaining about another dog being off leash considering the fact that Ax is hardly ever on one, but he minds his business, obeys my commands, and is not a danger to any human or canine (unless they attack him). If he was, he would NOT be off leash.
As most on this forum have heard me brag Ad nauseam, Ax can really handle his business when messed with but I wasn't about to risk him being badly injured or killed because this IDIOT decided to unleash his obviously aggressive, untrained Bully Pit. If he was going to get to Ax, he was going to have to go through me to do it and that wasn't happening...and I'd do it again in a NY minute if necessary.
It might seem hypocritical of me to be complaining about another dog being off leash considering the fact that Ax is hardly ever on one, but he minds his business, obeys my commands, and is not a danger to any human or canine (unless they attack him). If he was, he would NOT be off leash.
