Oh Wow!
This one really hits home for me. Over the past ten years, I've had TWO small dogs attacked by other dogs. One (a Sheltie) was on her leash at the time, I was exercising the other (an Italian Greyhound) in a huge park.
A German Shepherd spotted her from a l-o-o-ong ways away and came running. I couldn't get to Java (the I.G.) before she saw him coming at her and she took off in a desperate attempt to outrun him Being an Italian Greyhound she could go like the wind. She was outrunning him and looping in a big circle back to me, but looked over her shoulder and slipped in the wet grass (it had been raining earlier).
The Shepherd was all over her in seconds! It took me longer than that to get to them,screaming and crying, but I swear, I would have done whatever I needed to do to get him away from her. He must have understood that, and took off just as I got to them. Java lay still, outstretched,eyes closed, covered in fecal material, and a front leg bent backwards at an impossible angle.
End result, vet bills in excess of $900.00 and a dog that was NEVER the same.
The attack in which the dog was on her leash ended a little better, I hoisted the dog up into my arms and hit the attacking dog (a pitbll) in the lips as hard as I could with the metal end of the leash. He hesitated a moment and I thought *I* was in trouble, but he decided against it and ambled away.
As a groomer, I've heard SO many stories of attacks on little dogs by larger ones and two of my clients have had their dogs killed by other dogs.(Several others have been able to interfere, but it's always HUGE vet bills and the attacked dogs almost always is left with ongoing emotional AND physical problems.)
This is a FAR greater problem than most people are aware of.... talk to some people who work in vet clinics.
With Tyke being so tiny, I am absolutely paranoid. I never allow him offleash except on my own property or on my parent's farm. When I walk him I'm always aware of what other dogs are around and how interested they are in him and I walk with a walking stick or something that will double as protection if we're attacked. (I'm actually looking into getting some mace)
At night, when it's time for final bathroom duties, I always go outside with Sparkle and Tyke.
I've SEEN owls take rabbits ..they hit them so hard and so fast that even if you were 10 feet away, you'd be helpless to prevent it. At less than 3 lbs. even IF I was able to prevent the owl from taking Tyke away, the force of the strike would almost certainly kill him. If nothing else, it would break or sever his spine, and the talons would PROBABLY peirce his heart.
Think of it for a moment, large raptors (hawks etc.) are MADE to kill small prey quickly and efficiently, they don't have much ability to subdue prey once they're on the ground, and their talons "lock" into place for a few seconds after the strike. They don't want to put themselves at risk by taking something that would fight back.
When I was growing up, owls and hawks would quite routinely took cats/kittens on our farm. You hear stories of the animal wailing etc. as it's carried away.. believe me, it doesn't happen that way. Depending on the size of the bird, their prey is dead or debilitated as soon as it's hit.
Sparkle doesn't cause me QUITE as much angst as she's 9 lbs., but I'm still ultra careful.
I've lived with, owned, competed, and worked with dogs my entire life. In my opinion, owners of small dogs need to be EXTREMELY careful, Far too many put their dogs at risk without havine ANY idea how quickly and how badly things can go wrong.
And now I'll quietly get off my soap box and go away.
