Dogs of mine being attacked while leash walking them is something that's just to be expected from time to time. I lost count of how many times that's happened (seems like once or twice a year over the past 50 years) but one of my current dogs (a 50 lb half Pitbull) is getting up there in years. She's now 14. She still thinks she's an indomitable ball of fire in a fight, but her age is showing. In human terms, she's about 100 years old.
Anyway, a week or two ago, I was walking her and a little spitfire of a dog that was with its owner a few houses down from my position on their front lawn got sight of her and started charging at us with all seriousness and speed. He was less than half my dog's size, but powerfully built with a big capable looking head and thick neck, young, and cocksure of himself. The woman began to scream for him to come back, but he wasn't even listening to her.
I tried to keep walking, as we had already turned the corner so were heading away from this dog's origin point, but that didn't deter the attack. He quickly closed and tore into my female half pit. She was pissed off more than anything else (you could see it in her face), and tore back into him. He repeatedly clamped down on her, and she'd turn things around with equal ferocity, getting a grip on him by the neck and pushing him into the ground while shaking him up.
The little dog looked momentarily confused when she threw him back into the street. He looked like he'd lost just a bit of his starch, but quickly regained it, and dove back into the fight. My girl, with equal ferocity, tore back into him.
I tried to reach down and grab this little attacker, but the fight was too all over the place for me to succeed at this. Finally, she grabbed him by the neck again and flung him back into the street (the fight occurred on the sidewalk). He shook himself off, snarled, and hurled himself back at her, but this time, before he could reach her, I booted him back into the street.
Just then the lady who owned him, and had been running towards us the whole time, arrived, and grabbed him as he was again, for the fourth time, starting towards my dog. She apologized profusely, asked if my dog was okay, and left.
I could see this took a lot out of my dog, as she looked about ready to collapse but, while it counted, she dished it out more than it was dished out to her. I think, however, that woman grabbed her dog just in time, since I doubt my 14 year old girl had much fight left in her.
A construction worker who saw the whole thing came over and told me the very same event played itself out just like that a couple of days previously, with that very same dog.
This shot was taken of her last year: