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How to 100% stop strange dog attacks while on a walk with my dogs?


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Hello,

 

Had the scare of my life the other day while walking my BC and my Daughter's chiweenie (little dog). We were in an abandoned shopping center, no other people around, no cars and surrounded by cyclone fencing. All of a sudden I see an huge pitbull/boxer? mix come running at us at full speed. I freaked out as I could not see any one else around nor any defensible place to get on top of. I picked up the chiweenie and took off running to try to get to safety and/or get out of sight. Soon ran into a cyclone fence and obviously couldn't get over holding a little dog plus how would I get the BC over?

 

So I did the only thing that I could think of which was to pull the cheetah-scaring trick from the movie The Gods Must be Crazy. I ran at the the dog with my arms over my head yelling at him for all it was worth. Luckily for us, that did the trick but I really feel that I got lucky. I mean, there wasn't even a car around to climb on top of. After this incident, my legs were shaking and my heart was beating like mad as that dog was hella big and very muscular.

 

Long story short: what can I do to 100% prevent being a potential attack victim in the future? I don't want something that "might" work like a pepper spray, etc. Is there something out there that will prevent this from happening short of a .357? Remember, I have two defensive snarling dogs in my hands so I can't be doing any fancy kung fu stuff with sticks or the like.

 

Thanks for your help!

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I've often thought of putting Buddy in a "stay" and doing the "crazy lady charging" thing with a stupid, friendly lab who's just too dumb to know that Buddy is about to go whoopass on him.

 

We should conduct a group experiment to see how many attacks we can prevent. :)

 

As for 100%, I wish I knew. I think in life there's never any 100%.

 

Mary

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I'd advise against pepper spray, because it's not really all that accurate - in a panicky situation you have to get the cap off, and point it directly at your target, and make sure that the wind is blowing the right way and it doesn't blow back at you and your dogs. The last thing you want is to be incapacitated yourself. I'm sure it would be handy to have in the right situation, but lots of times it's going to be useless.

 

I'm not particularly concerned about constantly being attacked by large dogs, and I guess I'm glad I live somewhere where this doesn't regularly happen, but if it were a concern of mine I'd walk confidently and carry a big stick. It's got some reach, some heft and generally one whack with it would be enough to deter most dogs from advancing.

 

RDM

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First, I would suggest NOT running. When you run you will make the dog want to chase you

 

Second, a big stick is more likely to be helpful than pepper spray. Go buy a walking stick and take with you on all walks.

 

Third, I have no clue what a small stun baton is but will now have to do research.

 

I also don't take my dogs for many walks as we don't have sidewalks or street lights and cars fly up and down the streets. It is just not safe. I am lucky that even when we do have some loose dogs around they pretty much stay away.

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Hmmm, how about an air horn like the ones crazy sports fans use? I like the walking stick idea. I've never had an aggressive dog come after me when I have my dogs, but our neighborhood does have two little hairballs that like to try to bite my heels when I run by their house. I wait until they think they're about to get me, then I turn and run at them yelling and stomping. Scares them away every time. Last time I squirted the closest one with my water bottle. He hated it. Maybe someday they'll figure out just to leave me alone.

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I really like that airhorn idea.

 

I once broke up a dog fight (trespasser dog jumped our fence and was beating up my dog) with a cast iron skillet. I was washing dishes and had the skillet in my hand. I flew out the door and chased trespasser dog back over the fence. He started running as soon as he felt that skillet on his rump. He was fine. I saw him at the neighbor's the next day. He never offered to come back to our yard.

 

Sorry, off topic but this conversation reminded me of that day.

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I think you've already got excellent advice. I second avoiding pepper spray. If the wind is blowing the wrong way, if your dog accidentally gets in the line of fire - if YOU accidentally get a face-ful - it's a really, really bad thing. Pepper spray only works if you have a clear, direct aim at your target, and the wind isn't blowing back at you.

 

Stun batons are a possibility, perhaps. I've never used one, but they sound interesting.

 

However, I agree with the walking stick! And please don't EVER grab up a dog and run away with it. You are encouraging the other dog to greater excitement, possibly greater aggression, and might even make yourself a target.

 

The best course I can think of is literally walk quietly and carry a big stick. There is no 100% proof against aggressive strays. But if you power up your inner mama wolf and turn the aggression back on them, as you did ... I think that's a great place to start. Get angry. Get big. Get bad. Roar and charge and remind the silly SOB that humans are the dominant species.

 

Ooh-rah. :P

 

(But I am serious.)

Cheers ~

 

Gloria

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I understand the not running thing, but the reason I did so was that initially there was a small rise between us that I thought obscured the below waist eye level sight line of the strange dog. My thinking was that if he didn't actually see my dogs with me (under his viewing angle), I would remove the main reason for him to continue pursuit. Plus I thought if things got bad I could get to a busy main road and I could get on top of some lucky passing car if I ran out of easy options. There were no defensible features in that area that I could get on top of.

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Here is the abbrieviated link to the stun baton: My link

 

I wonder if it does the very intimidating crackling and sparking like a regular little stun gun?

If you read thru the original thread you would see the comments from someone who owns the baton and answers that exact question. Start at msg #10.

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