While walking my dog tonight, an unleashed dog attacked my dog. I pulled on my dog's leash repeatedly in order to seperate them. I pulled so hard that my dog lost his footing. The other dog took full advantage of this and went in for kill. At that point, I stopped trying so hard to seperate them, and resolved not to put my dog in a disadvantageous position anymore. The other dog's owner finally got ahold of his dog and started kicking it. Wonderful pet owner. After the incident I hailed down the police and filed a report. All dogs in my community are required to be leashed and have rabbies shots. I didn't see a tag on the other dog. We have all sorts of wildlife here and rabbies is a concern.

I finally got my dog home and was dressing his wounds when I started to question my actions. My dog had 20 pounds on the other dog, and I have no doubt if I had not put my dog at a disadvantage that he would have "won" the fight. I would, of course, stop him from pursuing the other dog, but I really think, in situations such as this, I should just let him fight.

What say ye hivemind?

If this happens again:

Should I try to seperate the dogs at the detriment to my dog?
Or
Should I let my dog defend himself?

A good swift kick and a 9mm to the top side of the attacking dogs head would have ended it well. If an unleashed dog has enough balls to charge and attack my dog while walking he also has enough balls to attack a human and should be put down. I would have made it easy for the owner.

Always carry.  Then you can quickly end confrontations like this...to your and your dog's advantage.

I would have assisted my dog in defending himself. My dog is kind of small though he only weights 28 pounds so if a bigger dog was trying to attack him I would defend my dog violently if need be.

I agree with viper5194, if the dog would attack another dog it might attack a person or worse a little kid.

Yep. You should have shot the attacking dog. DEAD!

Fuck the owner of the dog. I'm sure he would have been pissed, but he would have had zero recourse.

Go back out everyday with your dog and your pistol.

HS1

Quoted: A good swift kick and a 9mm to the top side of the attacking dogs head would have ended it well. If an unleashed dog has enough balls to charge and attack my dog while walking he also has enough balls to attack a human and should be put down. I would have made it easy for the owner.

1).  Animal aggression and human aggression are totally unrelated.  

2).  In the case of letting them fight let go of your dogs leash or unleash it totally if you can safely.  Once dogs are fighting anything that isn't them is a target.  

3).  If you try to seperate dogs while they are fighting then do so by pulling them back by the tail.  It gives you some control while keeping you away from the fight.

4).  I woulda shot it too.  Safest option for you and your dog.

Stomp the shit out of the other dog while trying to separate them. Kick to the snout or balls should wake him up.

Last time this happened it was two dogs jumping my leashed dog.  I let go of his leash and let him fight while I picked up a trash can and beat the shit out of the other dogs until their asshole owner came running over.  I let go because with two dogs I wanted to give him the chance to get away if he wanted and it freed up my hands.

Stupid fucking owners

+1 on helping your dog.  Had the same type of incident with my Dobie female who was only 8 months old at the time and an American staffordshire terrier.  Let go of the leash and kicked the shit out of the dog until it wimpered away to its owner who came running from the garage.  

One time while walking my dog a neighbors UNleashed mongrol made an agressive snarling run for my dog.  As it lept to my dog I stepped in front and booted that growling turd about 5 feet backward and it collapsed in crumbled twitching mass.  The owner got fucking hysterical.  I just smirked and said; Oh that was yours?  It wasn't on a leash, I thought it was a stray.   I We finished our walk.

Quoted: Always carry.  Then you can quickly end confrontations like this...to your and your dog's advantage.

Can't carry on base, unfortunately. Also the dog's owner and his friends were drinking and playing softball; obviously, not interested in watching the animal. I figured there were about 6 or 7 of them and only my wife and I.
One of them took umbrage at my use of the term "your fucking dog" and didn't like the fact that I yelled at them for violating base policy on leashed animals and yelling at the owner for kicking his dog. Gee, I wonder why your dog is aggressive; perhaps, your beating it has something to do with it? The one who took offense to my yelling, gave me the "come on and fight" gesture with a bat in his hands. I decided not to play who has the highest rank on their ID card and that retreating and letting the base police handle it was the best course of action. They were gone by the time the BP got there.

Quoted: Yep. You should have shot the attacking dog. DEAD! Fuck the owner of the dog. I'm sure he would have been pissed, but he would have had zero recourse. Go back out everyday with your dog and your pistol. HS1

+1 , I carry while walking my dog for this reason. The masses are asses and they have dogs.

I would have shot the fuckers dog. Problem solved.

I have a scar on my lower leg from an attacking dog while I was walking my Doberman, the owner came running out and kept kicking my Doberman in the head and stomach to seperate them, then I pulled the leash and the other dog bit my lower leg, then the owner said it wasnt his dog and when the police arrived the dog and owner was gone.

Protect your puppy.  He would protect you.  The both of you fighting is better than only one.  

I carry pepper spray for loose dogs.  

Colt_SBR  

Happened to my 60lb. (very meek) Chessie when a 100 lb. German Shepherd attacked.  

The Shepherd, sunk low and with ears back, came across my front to get to my dog and shot in for the neck.  

I immediately jumped on the Shepherd's back (I'm 230 and was carrying a 60 lb. pack at the time) and put it in a choke hold with my right arm, while grabbing behind it's neck (the scruff) with my left hand and pulling back as hard as I could--choking the shit out of it.  

The Shepherd knew I had it (it was pinned beneath me) and it's body relaxed after just a few seconds; while being choked its eyes began to roll back into its head.  

After about 20 seconds of this, the owner caught up to us, and I stood up and basically handed the Shepherd over for it to be attached to a leash.  

The damn owner was standing there staring at me like I was from another planet!  

I told him to keep his damn dog away from us while checking mine for damage (there was none luckily).  

I read him the riot act and told him he's lucky his dog didn't get gutted and pointed to the 8" hunting knife on my hip.  

If that dog had slipped away from me, or really wanted to fight with me, I would have slit it open from stem to stern.  

Protect your pup.  

Out walking my cocker spaniel one day when he was a pup and we lived in an apartment. Came around a corner and was immediately confronted by a GS pup, and a bulldog pup not on a leash. Bulldog pup decided to get tough, and attacked the cocker. Long story short, the bulldog went to the vet for repairs, the GS stayed out of it, and the cocker got a steak dinner that night....even though the cocker is a pain in the a$$ he's pretty tough for his size.....

you forgot shoot shovel and shutup in the poll ;)

Don't just watch; Help your dog attack the other one. I've changed the mind of agressive dogs with a kick to the throat, but you could also attack the groin or spine, or choke it with your leash. Whatever it takes.

Quoted: I guess you should have let the dog handle it on his own, but I would have instinctively done the same thing you did I think.

I'm beating myself up over not letting him defend himself better. The last thing I want to do is break the owner/dog trust.

What I wanted to do was keep the contact to a minimum until the owner of the other dog could get control. I didn't think it would be very long, since the owner and his friends were ~30 feet away on the other side of the softball field's backstop. However, it seemed like it took forever for him to get there; I had to pull my dog off the other dog at least 6 times. None of his friends moved a muscle to help. They all stood there like it was some sort of TV show.

Quoted: Always carry.  Then you can quickly end confrontations like this...to your and your dog's advantage.

+1! My sidearm is protection for me AND my dog!

Quoted: Don't just watch; Help your dog attack the other one. I've changed the mind of agressive dogs with a kick to the throat, but you could also attack the groin or spine, or choke it with your leash. Whatever it takes.

I dismissed that option because I new the owner was in the immediate vicinity.

My first thought was to hand the leash to my wife and then remove the other dog, not beat it or kick it. I dismissed that because the owner was close,  and the last thing I wanted was some sort of trouble with the owner and his group of friends.

Dport,

Don't beat yer' self up over it.  Dog won't lose trust.  You took an honorable way out of what could have been a very bad situation.  Make sure you keep on the base police about the incident.  Don't let it die.  The homeowner is the one that sould bear the responsibility for proving it's not his dog.

I see your point, not wanting to put your wife in danger, and didn't really take that into account when I made my post.
Hmmmmm, tough call, but you're all still O.K. so I sure can't fault how you handled the situation. Stray dogs is just one of my pet peeves, no pun intended.