Four-Legged Threats

younggunz, I agree with you in general, but am a bit confused about the part about things with "Tyson" going
downhill as you locked eyes with her
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.

Locking eyes with a dog is a way of establishing dominance, and can often go very wrong with alpha-type dogs. It's not one of the body-language signals you want to send, in the vast majority of cases, as it is actually likely to increase tension and chance of attack.
 
I used to volunteer at a pound near where I live and they had several pits at that time that were seized fighting dogs.

Still had to feed and clean up their cages though, but no one wanted to go anywhere near them due to how aggressive they were. Still, had to be done so I open the cage of the first, he charged teeth first - so I popped him in the nose, hard. He backed off, fairly stunned then tried again with the same response from me. After that he and I were pretty much good buddies until the day he was put down. And I was the only one who could go anywhere near him.

With pack oriented animals, its a dominance thing. Granted, if a random dog on the street is coming after you, you are likely not going to take time to play Cesar Milan.

But as far as responding with a firearm, Mleake put it pretty well, bullets have a way of doing things you don't want them to do - no matter how good you are.
 
The discussion so far has focused largely on single animals, but we should all remember that the behavior of dogs changes when they form packs, even small packs of two or three. Prey-seeking behavior becomes much more pronounced, and they coordinate attacks by circling and surrounding.

The choice of club, pepper spray, knife, or firearm will vary with situation and availability, but one universal is that you need to get your back against something - a wall, a car, even a good sized tree will help - in order to keep the attack in front of you, so you only have to defend in one direction at a time.
 
I agree w/Tailgator. Most have some inclination of knowing this but sometimes people are clueless on this issue. You might not be scared of dogs, never had an issue, & so-on, but this willnot stop three dogs on a warpath from attacking you. It can happen.

MLeake, I can't explain it. I have never been frightened of dogs, and I have never had a bad experience worth mentioning. I have thought about the dominance thing in the past w/Tyson. Was it somehow possible that tyson was declaring her dominance over me? I know it sounds silly, but that dog somehow got in my head. She looked like she was about to attack on multiple occaisons. The owners weren't very good owners and they had "incidents" with Tyson in some forms and others. I do not more info than that except that I do know they got rid of the dog, as my girlfriend told me that. One of their major reasons was the dog was "out of control" but again I am not sure what if any incidents played out with Tyson. Her lack of being trained and controlled, and/or dominated might have been a reason this dog was dangerous. I do believe the dog was a danger(at least to that young tike).
 
younggunz, I'm not saying the owners shouldn't have established dominance over their dog early on. I am suggesting that "locking eyes" will either work, or fail in a catastrophic way.

Normally, what's suggested is avoiding direct eye contact, while maintaining full height, and moving slowly away in an arcing path. Direct linear movement and staredowns are considered provocative. Getting shorter (squatting) is not recommended, as the height difference is a cue to the dog that you might be bigger than it should mess with.

OTOH, if I'm trying to get a shy dog to approach me, then squatting and looking slightly away from it, while holding my hand out and low, might work.
 
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I have never really had any issues with any dogs, of note.

I have two dogs, but I would not say that I am an expert on their up-bringing or training. My dogs are great, as much down to our training as to the fact that we have two good natured, affectionate, gentle pooches.

However, and perhaps it is because it is not present in the UK, but my concern about a dog attack here in Estonia is the existance of rabies. This could be particularly true of an attack somewhere outside the urban area.

It may not be the mostly likely complication in a dog attack, but it is the one I find most worrying! Needless to say, a bite, in such circumstances would be worrying; so arm's length or more would be the order of the day.
 
"A vicious, attacking dog can be stopped without killing it. The question is how much pain and bites are you willing to endure to stop the dog and restrain it so it is unable to continue attacking. The average person has no idea how to restrain an attacking dog so in their case, resorting to shooting it is probably their best bet."

Good one ... I guess the question is, why bother trying to save a "vicious, attacking dog?" adios, Fido ... I'm not willing to suffer so much as a single bite; if the dog attacks and I can do it, he's toast ...

I always carry when walking my dog, especially in the early morning hours when it's still half-dark ... we were rushed a while back by three pets who'd gotten loose one morning when all I had was a 3-inch folder; fortunately the dogs peeled off before they attacked, but I won't risk that ever again ... I carry a Surefire also, mostly looking for skunks my dog for some reason believes are his natural enemies but when you see those glowing eyes in the beam, look out ... usually it's a whitetail, but not always ...
 
In all the times I've been attacked by dogs I've never needed a weapon. Same goes for humans. It usually only takes a couple hits and a good show of aggression. That being said, some breeds and anything rabid may take more than that. In such a case, IF you are lucky to see it coming you may have other options. Most of the attacks I dealt with were surprising to say the least. I had no idea a boxer/pit could jump a 6 foot fence:eek:.

I'd say contact weapons are better, especially in more populated areas. If you have a child, significant other, or a pet you may not want to be shooting in their direction. I've seen dogs recoil from the sound of an ASP, or just the aggressive move towards them. As always, I start off without a weapon, and if that doesn't cut it, I cut it. ;)
 
In all the times I've been attacked by dogs I've never needed a weapon.
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time(s)? You don't wear a tie made from steak do you? ;)

Now I've had dogs attack dogs I was walking, but only had one try to actually attack me (coincidentally the same number of times I ahgve been attacked by a rooster as well...). This of course does not count the irascible TBone, the ancient Yoda of wiener dogs, who gummed my foot for the insolence of blocking him from a rattler his nearly blind self was about to meander onto. Out of my way human!
 
I once worked in junk yards, auto salvage yards, all had pit bulls or other kill type dogs in their yards t keep people out at night. I been thru the worst of em no bites, but the day I go to a friends yard to get a alt I stopped to pet his new yard dog a black pit female. She was all cozy, tail waggin, lovin the petting, I stopped, she grabbed my foot in her mouth and bit hard. I still have a scar :) I reached down and petted her she let go..... told him she wouldnt keep folks out uinless they stopped petting her :) but she did bark...

Some folks know how to handle a dog, some freeze up in fear. A dog can do terrible damage.
 
My father was a letter carrier retiring in 1965. I know mailmen carrier pepper. I never discussed that w/ my Dad.

About that time I was working at a neighborhood pharmacy and one am the mailman came in, kind upset. He said he had just peppered a local dog-a quite small one.

About 5 min later the dog owner/neighbor came in for some supplies to 'clean up' the dog. It was the mailmans fault, of course.
 
zincwarrior said:
time(s)? You don't wear a tie made from steak do you?
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Nah, it's just my animal magnetism. Or something like that. Oddly enough, three of the times were in the same alley way, never the same dog. The other attack wasn't.
 
zincwarrior, as far as the rooster goes, my wife and I are Zac Brown Band fans. When they released Sic'em on a Chicken, I thought she'd die laughing. When my wife was little, one of her family's farm roosters attacked her several times. It finally did it one day in front of my wife's mother. They dined on chicken that night...

But why did you keep walking down The Alley of Dog Attacks?

So far, I've been fairly lucky. The only times I've been bitten were when I was a kid, and I had those coming. Not from intentionally being mean, but small kids don't necessarily grasp the concept of old dogs with arthritis in shoulders and necks... Petting them the wrong way hurts.

As an adult, I've had to break up some interesting dog fights. I haven't been bitten, but have seen other owners get bitten - usually by their own dogs...

I've occasionally run into the loose, aggressive dog, but so far staying calm, maintaining full height, and easing away while talking to them in a low voice has done the trick.
 
Prop to Mr. Leake for being a fellow Zac Brown fan.

Got bit by a dog once that was more of a two way accident than anything....no harm, no foul.

That being said, I'll echo what a poster said concerning dogs as opposed to cattle. Coming from a family of cattlemen, I've seen Pops, various Uncles, and GrandPappy drop various four legged predators, namely coyotes, but an odd dog or two when they started threatening our livestock.

Livestock was/is my family's lively hood. I love dogs too, but I will defend my family, including the family dog, who is now a very old and lazy hound dog.
 
Last week I bought zach brown for my wife's bday coming up later this month. Its been overdue for about a year as she has said before she wants it. I chose the one that seems to have two albums on it for only a little more money(I think it is the two major albums live). It also has a dvd with a bunch of videos of the popular songs.
 
I got massive points for taking the wife to see Zac Brown in Alpharetta, GA for her RN/BSN graduation present.

Opening acts were unknowns; apparently Zac makes a point of promoting local GA bands as often as possible. However, let's not drift too far. I'd hate to get the thread locked, and Zac would probably feel kind of bad about it, too...
 
MY 12Gauge Marine Mag with 2 3/4" hard cast Brenneke slugs in it with 2 round of 000 Buck after the 1st three slugs. I dont really have a backwoods sidearm yet but for now would use my 1911 45ACP with 255gr Buffalo Bore HC. Buffalo Bore ammo is cool. However, I want a Colt Delta Elite or S&W 1006 in 10MM for backwoods. I like the 10MM and think that would be a good backup round if my shotgun fails and I need to do muzzle contact shots.
 
When I was a paper boy, I discovered that all the dogs that threatened me would high-tail it if I quickly bent over like I was picking up a stone to throw...that must be something in their instincts. However, back then there were no such things as, "Pit Bulls". Nowadays, I would just slap leather...well, reach into my pocket for "my little friend".
 
Re: "Locking eyes" with a dog

Making direct eye contact with a dog you don't know and is threatening you is a really bad idea. In dog language, that is a threat to their perception of their own dominance in the moment, and can easily provoke them to fighting to re-establish their dominance.

On the other hand, if you can't make eye contact with a dog in your own household, you have a problem. That dog does not respect you as the dominant personality, in charge, worthy of being obeyed. This is a dangerous situation; you cannot safely live with a dog that thinks that s/he is in the dominant position in the household, because that essentially means that he expects you to obey him/her and s/he will be willing to fight or attack in order to enforce and preserve that dominance. In that instance, I still would not recommend staring the dog down as a first step, but you should seek professional assistance in re-establishing the missing obedience from your dog, with the goal of eventually being able to stare him/her down and do other things that display your dominance without being seriously challenged by the dog.

Qualifications to advise on this subject: a doctorate in veterinary medicine, nearly 30 years in practice, and many hours of postdoctoral course work in animal behavior.
 
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