Anatomy of a dog attack

I'm very interested by all of this.

I have two labradors, one chocolate, one golden, I've been around this breed and alsations for my entire life.

I'm very embarrased to have to say it, but recently my dogs "packed" and attacked another dog.

I am at a total loss to explain their behaviour, they were in a wood they are familiar with, they are always off lead in this wood, they mix with other dogs every day, they play with anyone who will play with them.

The other dog, a spaniel, was hurt badly but has survived, its owner and I know each other, these dogs know each other.

Neither the other owner or myself have a clue as to what went wrong that day, we were just having a smoke together, the dogs were doing their own thing, not playing with each other, then my golden lab attacked, and the chocolate one joined in with no worries.

I've seen labradors get very annoyed, usually by silly people that think they are teddy bears and encroach onto the dogs territory.

I'm at this moment very unsure what to do with my two, weve been back to the woods, I've observed them very closely, and its as if nothing has happened, but according to the original poster, I'm an irresponsible dog owner, as I just don't know what caused them to attack that day.

ive been a dog lover/owner for as long as i can remember and none of my dogs have ever attacked anyone or anything if anything they have been on the receiving end of attacks and none of them have been what you would call small or wimpish dogs .  I see a couple of you have mentioned the "DANGEROUS DOG" line , now thats a tag that really annoys me !  my dogs have all been in that band  yet have all been attacked by "loving family" dogs  usually labs,retrievers,collies even jack russels and possibly the funniest time a minature yorkie  yet never bitten back .

 it has absolutly nothing to do with the dogs themselves , its the owners that have the sort of dogs your talking about that are the problem . staffordshire pitbull terriers are the usual target for the halfwit asbo muppets that  buy them as a fashion statement  or simply over feed them to make them big and then walk around with them to make themselves look hard . (if swearing was allowed you would see how much this makes my blood boil).

  so what exactly is dangerous about these beautiful animals ?  they may have the ability to do major damage but so does a poodle so whats the difference ?  ITS THE OWNERS . 

 dog licencing is a bloody good idea imho , it might stop these asbo wannabe's from getting hold of loving family pets and turning them into hated creatures .

and finally for the record , staffies werent originally bred for fighting . they were bred as nurserie dogs to protect babies and children.

im guessing some of you will never change your opinion on these types of dogs but if my experiences can give you a very small amount of positive feeling towards them then i guess my job is done .