Four-Legged Threats

Tailgator is indeed right, I have dealt with peoples dogs that did not like people at all, but never bothered me. My ex had a wolf that she picked specifically for his aggression. When she first introduced us I looked him straight in the eyes from a standing position, then sat on the couch. He took to me instantly. We fought for a while for dominance the next few months, but I won. When she got new room mates they were afraid because they knew how mean he was, and he never listened to them or showed that he was afraid. Animals respond well to body language and will be less likely to challenge someone who shows no fear. Also, one of the dogs that tried to attack me avoided a kick, and I am pretty fast but not like I was then, all because I took that extra step forward, not back. He knew I was attacking him and took off. Still scared the hell out of me to be walking home in the dark and hear an odd "clicking" sound behind me. Even more when I turned around and it was a white Pit Bull lunging at me. :eek:
 
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.
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I have met many a dog(s) on the trails in the mountains used by folks who bring their dogs to the forest. I will tell you better than half of those dogs take a defensive posture when meeting people on the trail.The owners do not have the control that they think they do.I have seen the dogs totally ignore any commands given by the owner.You turn your dog loose in the woods and it's a different animal than your sweet would'nt hurt a fly fido at home.
 
There was an article in today's Fort Lauderdale paper that a young girl was being attacked by her pet pitt bull. Two neighbors attempted to get the dog off of her by beating it with baseball bats which had no effect. Another neighbor came on the scene with a Ruger 9mm. He fired three shots into the dogs side but the dog refused to release his grip on her face. He then fired a 4th round into the dogs head being careful not to hit the girl. This caused the dog to release its grip and stare at the neighbor. The pitt bull quickly resumed his attack on the girl forcing the neighbor to fire a 5th shot which was also a head shot. The dog finally released its victim and eventually died. Five rounds fired at point blank range with two to the head before the dog stopped it's attack. True story. I used to think my snubby would protect me against a dog attack but now I'm not so sure.
 
Recently a couple in my neighborhood were jogging with their 2 dogs, one a large golden retriever and the other some small breed about 15 lbs. The smaller dog was attacked and killed by coyotes. The man stated that there were 4 coyotes and they showed little fear towards him although he was able to finally chase them off after grabbing a downed tree limb. They made off with the poor unfortunate little dog.

This incident occurred along a creek that runs through our town and it is heavily wooded in many parts, evidently making for good coyote habitat. I ran into one around dusk while walking on a trail along this creek about a year ago. He did not act startled by my prescence. He calmly turned and melted into the woods.

Since then, I always have my Benchmade Osborne knife with me while on my walk and occasionally my LCP.
 
Seems to me so many of these stories would have ended different if "I would have been packing". Really it seems like alot of people could read these and others and start and when the day comes (not if but when) you can take care of dogs or whatever else...
 
I have had dog's all my life and they were, and are, part of the family.
Mean, aggressive or unpredictable dogs never made it into the family though.
I agree with others about bullets doing bad things that weren't anticipated, besides a side arm, I use a walking stick that will wear out just about anything in my neighborhood;)
 
I don't carry a walking stick or a cane. I also don't carry pepper spray or a taser.

I cannot out run a dog.

I don't have time enough left in my life to spend hours at the library learning how to assess a dog's probable intentions, . . . then the cat's, . . . then the bunny, . . . etc.

I also don't push my luck against dogs.

If one attacks me, . . . it will most likely be the last time he pushes his luck.

May God bless,
Dwight
 
Once, many years ago, I was forced to shoot a dog to protect my grandmother. At the time we had a friendly,old,arthritic,half-blind mutt. Our dog was on a chain in the dooryard when a large stray (some type of bulldog weighing about 60-75lbs.) decided to pick a fight with the old boy. By the grace of God I looked out the kitchen window just in time to see Gram headed toward the dogs with a maple switch about four feet long and as big around as my thumb. It should go without saying that, seeing this, I ran for a gun. I've always kept one loaded and this time it was a 4" bbl S&W model 547 9mm revolver. I got outside just in time. I was 20' away when Gram swatted the stray with her switch. That dog turned on her faster than you'd believe and crouched to leap. It was so close to her that I couldn't aim for the head or even the heart. I pulled up and shot it in the back end of the ribcage. It happened so fast that I didn't even have time to take a two-handed grip. The results were as follows: Gram, surprised by the shot, promptly fell on her butt. The stray instantly lost any desire for aggression. It ran around the back and side of the house and by the time it crossed the road was moving considerably slower. It made its way up an embankment and died under a pine tree. Note: this took place more than 25 yrs. ago and I have no idea what ammunition was in the gun. Well, that's my story for what it's worth.
 
Folks in this part of OK take their unwanted dogs to the country and turn them loose. The small and medium sized dogs are soon killed by coyotes but the Pit Bulls, Rottweilers and other big dogs survive. They attack folks pets and livestock.

i've killed numerous feral dogs while working or hunting. A few years ago i was attacked by a huge Samoyed while opening a gate; that dog took a .50 muzzleloader bullet to the chest.

Many of the Pit Bulls running loose are meth lab guard dogs whose owners went off to jail or somewhere. Those are some bad dogs. A friend called me one day when i was on the road close to her house. Two Pit Bulls were after her cattle. Got there ASAP and killed both dogs. Another friend had to put down two horses that were torn up by Pit Bulls. Those dogs also badly injured his stud horse.

Our county does not have a dog catcher. Our sheriff tells us to handle stray dogs ourselves and we do that.
 
I have found myself in actual fear for my life from two dogs...one on each arm and dragged to my knees...I wasn't armed but if I had I would have shot both..

And my dog is loved more than most people I know.
 
lomaxanderson said:
I have found myself in actual fear for my life from two dogs...one on each arm and dragged to my knees...I wasn't armed but if I had I would have shot both..
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How did they attack you? Would you have been able to get to a weapon?
 
Speaking as a former mailman in a previous century, I can tell you that pepper spray they give you at the USPS is a joke. If you can hit an attacking dog with that little stream of pepper spray you would make Annie Oakley look like Mr. Magoo. You have to hit them either in the nose or in the eyes. Good luck doing that.

I had to shoot a dog that was only partially pit bull once. I shot it with a 12 ga. loaded with buckshot from just a few feet away. It didn't even fall down. It just whimpered. Luckily I had a backup round which did finish it off. Pitbulls can be tough as nails.

Most dogs will back down if you look them right in the eye and intimidate them. Yes I know it is a challenge but it is also an act of dominance and "most" dogs will respond to it. And if you react well an adult human can almost certainly subdue an attacking dog. It will hurt like crazy but it's better than having certain body parts in the clenches of a pit bull (and that is what they will go for). You have to give them an arm to bite. You put your off hand and arm where the dog has to go through it first. The dog will bite that arm if it has the intentions of biting anything. Once he does you raise up his head and grab it by the bottom jaw. You then push away with your weak hand and pull toward with your strong hand. If adrenalin is on your side (and it certainly should be) you can break that dog's jaw and make it a helpless, dying animal. I told you it was going to hurt. You'll have a bunch of stitches and a lot of pain but it's better than being attacked where it really hurts.

If there's more than one dog though you're in trouble. That's why I never walk or ride my ATV without some hardware of some kind. I was chased by a pack of dobermans once. It was a mother and a whole litter of nearly full grown pups. I was just lucky I had room to hit the gas and move on down the road faster than they could chase me. Those dogs could have easily killed me. And getting to your gun quickly is something you really need to practice because without being able to do that you're in trouble with a pack of dogs.

I knew a guy who kept about 25 dogs on his property to protect his "crop" (a real dirt bag who was my wife's cousin's boyfriend for a while) when the census lady came to visit. He wasn't there. She knocked on the door. She was about 90 at the time she died on that porch. Another elderly lady was killed not far from my farm. Dogs in packs are killers. They act completely different if they run in groups of more than just 2. If your dog is running with a group of dogs I would suggest stopping that activity before you end up paying through the nose for a dog attack on someone not to mention what they can do to an innocent person. I've seen pack behavior in just 3 dogs. I will never have more than 2 dogs as a result. Most of the time it isn't a problem but sometimes it is a big problem.
 
I have three dogs, all mutts, each about 95 to 100 lbs. Pretty big dogs. I have to dispatch strays 4 or 5 times a year on the farm. A lot of Rabid animals in my area of SC.

When I was a child my dad and I were hunting and had a dog with a collar attack. Dad said it was Rabid, I never saw it. He jerked me behind him and fired with a 12 gauge. He went and told one of our neighbors what had happened and nothing else came of it.
 
There is no room in this world for mean dogs. It's amazing the number of people out there that will go out of there way to make excuses for mean dogs and not shoot them but then will talk about taking the life of a mugger with a grin on there face. If you think it would be easier to kill a person than an animal you need help. Frankly, if you are legally carrying on PUBLIC ground and get attacked, cornered, growled at etc by a dog not only can you shoot it, you dang well better. You put me in possession of a gun and pepper spray with a mean dog in front of me and I'm grabbing the gun.

LK
 
L Killkenny, again, some of us are saying that a gun carries risks to others in the vicinity that other methods do not.

You go ahead and grab for your gun every time you feel threatened... Just pray that you are a good shot under stress, and with a moving target; and pray there is nobody downrange.

Me, I prefer graduated levels of force, at least as options. When your only option is a gun....
 
I'm not saying to start spraying lead all over the shopping mall every time some little foo-foo dog barks and snaps. Anyone who would actually think that has no business with a gun and my post does not indicate that at all. What is does say is that we need to stop being such big nancy's about getting rid of these POS's. No room for em.

I've been attached by dogs, 3 at the same time to be exact, and you are right it is a lot tougher to maintain composed during that time. But still this attitude that it's bad to kill a mean or a potentially mean dog whenever possible needs to stop. Heck if I'm gonna try to restrain it, chase it away, etc.

LK
 
LK, there's a difference between "mean" and "potentially mean."

We've actually had one TFL member post that he considered spraying a dog that was barking at him from the other side of a fence, while the dog was within its own, fenced yard.

In other words, there are some folks on here at either extreme end.

I've corralled stray dogs ranging from pit bulls to mastiffs, but I've been pretty good at reading their language - lost, possibly even scared, but not mean. I wouldn't try to catch a dog I read as "mean." If forced, I'd shoot it; I don't carry spray, but on the few occasions I've encountered dogs I considered iffy (and I have a pretty high threshold) I have successfully employed the "pick up a rock and prepare to throw it" routine.

I've broken up some fights between very large dogs - but they were fighting each other, not attacking people, and even then it wasn't total bloodlust. It can be done, but there is some risk. Then again, there would be very serious risk attached to pulling a gun and shooting a dog at the puppy park...

There's a certain amount of risk assessment that should go into all this... risk to ourselves, risk to loved ones, risk to bystanders.

While there may be too many people out there with rose-colored glasses with regard to dogs, there are also too many people out there who think a gun is the solution to every potential threat. A quick perusal of T&T threads will show you all sorts of those.

Neither viewpoint is practical.
 
There is no room in this world for mean dogs. It's amazing the number of people out there that will go out of there way to make excuses for mean dogs and not shoot them but then will talk about taking the life of a mugger with a grin on there face.
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I love animal pets,,,
My cat is more important to me than most people I know.

But I (like L_Killkenny) simply can not understand the attitude that I must evaluate and understand a dog's motive as to why it's growling and baring it's teeth at me.

I do a power walk late in the evening as an aid to sleep,,,
Many times I have been challenged by the presence of a snarling dog.

I would bet that most of these animals are someone's beloved pet,,,
In many cases I can see a collar on the dog,,,
I don't let my cat run loose at any time,,,
The dog owners should do the same.

Never the less, it is out in public space and threatening me,,,
I carry a decent pepper spray and a handgun,,,
So far the pepper spray has done the job,,,
But the moment it doesn't deter a dog,,,
I will shoot it with no qualms at all.

I am a human,,,
It is not.

Aarond
 
When I started running two summers ago for the first time in many years, I had three experiances with dogs. The first was a very small white dog that came out of nowhere and started biting at my ankles. He was biting just hard enough to snag my socks. It made me kinda laugh although I wasn't happy about it. As I ran I heard a little old lady behind me about a hundreds yards away yelling stop, please stop. I stopped and she eluded to the fact it was my fault for running. She called the dog and when he begrudgingly got about half way back to her I resumed my run. I could hear her again. Stop please stop. By the time I turned around the dog was biting at me again.

A couple of days later I was out running and a police car was sitting at the end of my street. I asked the officer if carrying pepper spray was legal and if it would be effective against dogs. I new nothing at the time and did not have my CCW yet. The officer was very knowledgeable about pepper spray. Showed me the normal stuff they use and the crowd control spray, percentages and effectiveness of each. He said it was not only legal in our state but that his department highly recommended law abiding citizens carry it, and keep it in their home at each entrance. He said 10 percent pepper spray was very strong and very effective. I found the strongest being 18% wildfire spray and that's what I carry.

The second encounter with a dog was the same summer around a month later. A pit bull came running from a back yard and stopped about 10 feet in front of me. He was showing me his teeth and really growling. I pulled the pepper spray from my pocket, and feeling this was not going to end well just started pushing the button when the owner came around the side of the house, and the dog ran back to her without her giving a command. I missed with the pepper spray because the dog started to run back to her right when I started pushing the button. I wouldn't wish harm on anyone or any animal but must admit from time to time I wish I could have seen how effective the spray would have been.

The third time I encountered a dog running, the dog was behing a screen door, but it scarred me more than the other two encounters put together. He was huge, barking violently, and lunnging against the screen door like two rams butting heads. How he didn't come threw that door I still don't understand.

I never go for a walk or a hike without my pepper spray or my firearm now. Those three experiances all in one summer was enough to tell me animals can be just as much of a threat as a human. I will use the pepper spray if I think it can deter the attack, but If he has clamped down, or is a sizable animal, I think I'm reaching for the gun.
 
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