Hi Claire
What a scary incident - glad to hear that Bella is relatively unscathed.
The whole on-lead/off-lead debate is a difficult one - if we never let our dogs off lead then they'd never learn anything about inter-dog relations, or how to obey our commands. There does seem to be different etiquette around the country though. I'm also in London and in most parks people seem to be generally understanding and want their dogs to socialise and let them meet and greet without getting panicky - however in other parts of the country I've noticed people automatically put their dogs on-lead as soon as they see another dog coming, regardless of whether or not it's leashed. The law would always be on the side of the dog that is on-lead but I think it's upto the owners of aggressive dogs to warn people off well in advance if they can - the trouble is I think some owners of such dogs are either too embarrassed to admit how unfriendly their dog is or just keep their fingers crossed that "this time" it won't cause trouble. I have to say though on a single walk in a London park we can come across as many as 35 dogs in the space of an hour - it's just not feasible to keep putting them on lead all the time just in case the other dog might be aggressive - it's more a case of being vigilant and second guessing from either the other dog or it's owner's body language whether their might be a potential for trouble.
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Thanks for that, Colin - I'd actually been thinking the same thing earlier on (after my last post), that the etiquette probably varies from place to place. My mum lives in the middle of nowhere in Cumbria so is likely to bump into maybe 1 or 2 other dog walkers during a 2 hour walk, and there is masses of space to avoid each other if needed. In my local park I can guarantee I'll meet at least 8 other dog walkers on a 20min walk at 7am and maybe one of them will be on a lead but all the rest are allowed a free run to play with each other and there have never been any problems (apart from the one dog on a long flexilead which is not under control as it is allowed to wind the lead round and round the owner and/or other people while it plays with other dogs).
Oxleas wood, where the attack happened, is full of dogs off lead (like you've said, Colin, you'll meet 35+ on a walk) and that's why I was so affronted at being told by the BT's owner to keep Bella on the lead (never mind muzzled!!). It's a dog walking park in London so 80% of people have their dogs offlead - so to take a dog that you know is aggressive to a place like that and expect everybody else to guarantee that their dogs won't ever approach you, is asking alot, I feel. Other people there do have their dogs in muzzles (eg greyhounds because there have been a few cats killed), off lead, and there are no problems with them, and if this woman had her dog in a muzzle then neither it, nor Bella, would be having yet another trip to the vet's. Thankfully Bella is very well-trained in playfighting and did not roll over and show her belly, but stayed standing up holding onto the dog, and that is probably what saved her.
Anyway we've been to the vet's, "massive bruising" is the diagnosis (you can see under the swelling its going all purple) so at least there are no puncture wounds. He saw her bite plane and said the BT must've been taking the mickey out of her braces!
She's feeling quite alot better today, back to being a pesky little thief, so she'll be fine in no time at all.
I'll just make sure that in future she doesn't approach anyone sitting down holding their dog by its collar - it happened when we'd just got into the park and the woman was tucked around a corner so I hadn't really had time to assess anything, so will be more wary next time.
