WE WERE ASSAULTED BY AN OFF-LEASH DOG…AND HOW THE ECOLLAR SAVED THE DAY

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Has your dog ever been assaulted by another dog? How about a BIG dog? One that was coming right for you? Here’s my story…and why I am grateful for the ecollar.
My dogs and I were assaulted by an off-leash German Shepherd last Monday. The off-leash dog was young, aggressive, and the owner was nowhere to be found. My dogs were leashed, obedient, and had an experienced handler.


I knew the second this shepherd zeroed in on us there was going to be trouble. He made a beeline right for us. There was no time to turn around, cross the street, or yell for help (preferably from the owner…which was nowhere to be found).


I stamped my foot…yelled NO as loud as I could. Dog kept coming. I grabbed my Pet Convincer (which sprays air in the dog’s face and makes a scary sound) and sprayed it directly in the dog’s face. Dog didn’t even care.


By this time it was every dog owner’s worst nightmare. An aggressive dog right in your space.
Leashes were getting tangled and I was afraid I might break a finger so I purposely dropped them. Having your dog leashed when they are getting attacked exacerbates the fight. If my dogs are being attacked I want them to be able to defend themselves.


Within a second there was a full blown dog fight between my German shepherd and the off-leash shepherd.
Knowing better than to get in the middle of a dog fight I grabbed the remote for my dog’s electronic collar and pushed the button.
She immediately left the fight and ran back to me.


The off-leash shepherd…seeing that my boot was swiftly coming his direction…decided to call it a day, and ran back the way he had come.


Of course, my foster dog who LOVES to herd and chase anything that moves…took off after the fleeing desperado. A single tap on his Ecollar brought him back to my side.
I am extremely grateful that I had Ecollars on my dogs. Without them I would not have been able to de-escalate the dog fight so quickly (or safely), or call my foster dog back to me.
With the busy road we were on there was a high chance that one…or all…of the dogs would have been hit by a car if I wasn’t able to gain control of the situation quickly.
This isn’t the first time their Ecollars have kept them safe, just the most recent.

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