My girlfriend and I were walking Zorro, our 18-mo black lab, in a state park last weekend. Hanging Rock state park in North Carolina, as a matter of fact.
We were coming down from the top of Hanging Rock and all three of us were getting tired. We were on a gravel path when out of the blue a rough collie showed up behind Zorro and sniffed his butt. It was off leash. It was completely silent and surprised all of us.
At first Zorro and the collie just sniffed each other. Zorro is on a 6-foot leash and although a little high-strung, he loves to play with other dogs. I expected him to just sniff and maybe do a little play stance, but that nothing would come of it, just like the hundreds of other times he's met a dog on a walk. Suddenly, the collie bares his teeth and chomps on Zorros neck. Not a play bite, but an aggressive attack. Zorro responds instinctively. Instantly we've got an intense dog fight on our hands. I've seen a hundred dominance fights at the dog park, but this was completely different. 100% aggression. Snarling like I'd never heard before.
My girlfriend was holding Zorro's leash so he had nowhere to go and when the two dogs knocked her down she dropped the leash. My testosterone and adrenalin kicked in. I did a stupid thing. I jumped between them, grabbed the collie by the fur and skin on the back of the neck and forced it to the ground, putting my full upper body weight and strength on it. As soon as I took it down it went limp and started panting. I think I was growling.
Zorro came around and started to snap at the collie's ears and I called him off, and my girlfriend got him by his leash and pulled him away.
Whole thing took less than 10 seconds but felt much longer.
The owner showed up about a half-minute later, which was a good thing as I didn't know what I could do with this dog. At the point I'd demonstrated dominance it went limp and was making no trouble, but I didn't dare take my hands off him.
The owner had heard the dog fight and came running. He apologized and gave the excuse that he didn't think anyone was back there and thought it would be OK. I don't remember what I said, the adrenalin was still buzzing through my brain stem and I was a little hazy on my language skills. I may have grunted.
He got his collie on a retractable leash and went the other way. It wasn't until a little later that I noticed that my jacket sleeve around my forearms was all slobbered on. My girlfriend said that the collie had clamped his jaws on my arm when I grabbed him. I was so pumped I didn't even feel it. The cloth and my skin were not pierced so I don't think it was that hard of a bite.
So, we were attacked by Lassie and I took Lassie down!
I'm glad nobody got physically hurt, but it could have wound up a whole lot worse. It's bad enough that for the past week when we take Zorro on a walk he's a lot more wary of other dogs and he has nightmares every night. He's also more clingy with me than he used to be. I hope that he gets over it, but I think the whole thing scared him senseless.
Firearms are not allowed at that state park, so it's not like I could have shot it. If I was armed I don't think my instincts would have been to use a gun, anyway. I reverted back to my neanderthal roots and just grabbed the beast and thumped it to the ground.
We never let Zorro off leash. Even when I take him to a dog friendly beach I've got him on a long line. It's not that I think he'll attack anyone, but I do think a lot of people fear black dogs like him and he'd scare people. Also, if he saw a squirrel he'd chase it into the next county and we'd never see him again. It's hard to fight a dogs prey instinct. Leashes are cheap.
Just as an aside, here's video of Zorro at the beach last month. He's afraid of water (he's a Hurricane Katrina rescue) so we've been getting him more and more exposed to it in a positive manner.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45frxhOs0Bw