Reply to: How to survive a dog attack....

[LegendsWear7]

What about the old 'Grab the front legs and stretch wide'. I.e. break the f*cker's legs ?

Haven't been in that situation myself but I imagine that would slow a dog down.


Maybe easier said than done.

[horza]

All perfectly true

There may be some nuggets of truth in this BS, but I couldn't be bothered to look.

Er, your cynicism drive is working unpaid overtime here, I'm afraid.

George Donahue is a well known and respected karate instructor with a lot of real-life experience to back it up. I had the pleasure of training with him while consulting in New York and Boston, and this is all good advice.

(NB The story about the pack of dogs attack is new to me, but is perfectly believable. Any former gun-dog respects a man carrying a rifle as an alpha male. He does not require NRA membership for this.)

[zathras]

Helpful advice from the BBC:http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6227497.stm

I see they missed out the key your keys out and stab the f*cker with them or
Kick it in the ******* head with your foot or
wrap your arm in a jumper / coat and punch the little f*cker

Be somewhere else.

[Mailman]

This situation is obviously crying out for a new tax!

Mailman

[Francko]

Bit harsh! He's such a hardworking and frugal chap and so doesn't deserve such treatment. Unless he forgot to change the tapes again.

No worries. There are more chances that Celtic beats Milan football team than shaunboy beating Milan the tape-changer.

[Pondlife]

Btw, try to beat Milan ...

Bit harsh! He's such a hardworking and frugal chap and so doesn't deserve such treatment. Unless he forgot to change the tapes again.

[shaunbhoy]

I might be behind an amoeba

There is no "might" about it!

Btw, try to beat Milan so you get your chance of being thrown out by Roma afterward.

As if Roma will still be there in the QFs Francko. Dream on!

[Captain Jack]

I liked this reply on the BBC site:

" Yes. Next time I get attacked by a rampant dog, I am going to stand still and put my hands in my pockets. That sounds plausible.
Fi, London"

Hey, it's no worse than being advised to hide under the table in the event of a nuclear attack. Never let it be said that the quality of public safety proclamations was better under the Tories.

[Francko]

I doubt you could be more "dum"

I quoted the last chain in the intelligence scale, just before amoebae. I might be behind an amoeba but never below a celtic supporter.

Btw, try to beat Milan so you get your chance of being thrown out by Roma afterward.

[shaunbhoy]

I know. A bit more dum and I could even risk to be a Celtic supporter...

I doubt you could be more "dum" , short of somehow genetically merging you with AtW in a grisly experiment though Francko!

[Francko]

And in your case, also a lot brighter!

I know. A bit more dum and I could even risk to be a Celtic supporter...

[shaunbhoy]

My advice is: get a monkey as a pet, they are stronger and smellier

And in your case, also a lot brighter!

[Mervalous]

I liked this reply on the BBC site:

" Yes. Next time I get attacked by a rampant dog, I am going to stand still and put my hands in my pockets. That sounds plausible.
Fi, London"

[sasguru]

(Continuation of Part 2)

The Pros And Cons of Defensive Tools

For attacks by lone dogs, I'll start with my old standby: A fine repellant for moderately aggressive dogs is a mix of ammonia and Tabasco sauce in a small pump sprayer. Ammonia alone works almost as well, but you have to use more, and I think the increased dose is enough to cause permanent harm to the dog. The sprayer should be set halfway between stream and mist, so that you get good coverage. It works well when sprayed into the dog's eyes, and even better if you can get it into the mouth and nostrils, too. After you've used it once, all you need to do is flash the bottle at the dog and it will leave you alone. The spray has caused no permanent physical damage to the dogs I've used it on and hardly any discomfort to me.

Some people have recommended capsicum spray. All of the commercially available sprays (including tear gas and related sprays and various types of pepper spray) are formulated for use against humans who are standing still or moving fairly slowly. A fast moving dog homing in on your calf or throat is impervious to this spray and any other spray that is too misty. Once the dog slows down to chew on your leg, you could probably drench it, of course, but the price you'd pay is kind of high, and dogs don't need their eyes or noses to maintain their grip, anyway.

Capsicum would work well, though, in place of Tabasco in the recipe above. In an encounter with a dog you're just as likely to incapacitate yourself as you are to stop the dog by using these commercially-available sprays.

Another recommendation by others has been the use of a cattle prod. However, unless the design of these instruments has changed a lot in the last quarter century, I would avoid them. They work fine against passive animals such as cows, steers, and dogs that can't decide whether to bite you or roll over on their backs to get a belly rub. But, they don't work very well on bulls or really aggressive dogs. The voltage is not high enough to convince an aggressive animal of small brain to give it up, but it is high enough to make them REALLY mad. In addition, many of them only work with contact at the tip, rather than contact along the entire business end. In a stressful situation, you might not be able to make the proper contact. I once had a neighbor whose favorite stupid pet-owner trick was to have his Rhodesian ridgeback jump up to chomp on and then hang on to a cattle prod. Its eyes would glaze over from the juice, but it wouldn't let go. As was the case with this particular dog, some dogs deal on a regular basis with cattle prods or other shocking devices wielded by their masters or trainers. They’re rather inured to them, and they certainly know how to deal with a human wielding one with less than consummate skill.

If you have a well-made cattle prod with a large contact surface, and you combine the electrical shock with a well-placed simultaneous whack-shock upside the dog's head, it might work. A higher tech and higher powered equivalent, such as a taser, would fit the bill, but it's illegal to carry them in most places, and if you were locked in a grapple with a dog and zapped it with a taser, you'd probably just as likely zap yourself.

A water gun has absolutely no effect on a determined attacking dog, except perhaps to aggravate it a bit. A water gun filled with the repellant liquid of your choice is bad news, too. You'd have to have a perfect shot to hit the dog's eyes or nostrils, and anything less would be totally useless. I would expect that the average cop seeing a person running with a water gun would shoot first and express regrets afterwards, anyway.

When I had to deal with particularly dangerous dogs, I sometimes used to carry a gas-powered pellet pistol for defense, but this was in a rural area where I was well known and, if not well liked, at least tolerated by the local police. A nicely placed point blank shot into a vicious dog's muzzle or nostril will discourage all but the most aggressive dogs from ever messing with you again, without doing any serious permanent damage to the dog. These weapons are much more effective if you roughen up the pellet with pliers before you load them. Smooth pellets tend to bounce and aggravate; roughened pellets gouge and repel.

One of my brothers likes to carry a drumstick with him on runs. He was a drummer in his youth, and he handles nunchaku as well as anyone, so he can wield a drumstick with precision, speed, and power. For dogs of moderate aggressiveness, a sharp whack on the snout with a drumstick is usually enough. For more aggressive dogs, if you are very fast and you have good hand/eye coordination, you can use his technique of holding the ends of the stick with both hands and facing the dog. If the dog lunges, you jam the stick into the back of the dog's mouth until it can go no further, then very quickly twist your newly placed lever to dislocate or sprain the dog's jaw. A dog with a dislocated jaw is a dog that will never bother you again, or at least until the sprain heals. A dog with a jaw sprain gets pretty passive, too.

A variation that I prefer, because I don't have quick hands, is simply to jam the pointed end of the stick down the dog's throat as far as it will go, use my free hand to grab the dog's foreleg, and then push the drumstick upward and back over the top, pinning the top of the dog's head to its back. Dogs hate it when this happens and will run away as soon as you release them. The three times I've used this technique I've yelled the standard intellectual mantra "bad dog! go home!" before releasing them. The dogs I used this on never came after me again, even though they saw me fairly often. It didn't appear that the stick down the throat had done them any permanent harm -- it certainly didn't diminish their barking.

Multiple Dog Attacks

Dealing with a pack of dogs is very different from dealing with lone dogs. Dogs revert to their more primitive natures when they run in packs (like human teenagers or football fans), and the most difficult dog attacks to deal with are those involving pack behavior. The most successful way to deal with a pack attack is to immediately identify the alpha and beta animals (top dog and the dog who's waiting impatiently to take over) in the pack and take them out of the picture. If you're lucky, when deprived of their leaders the pack will lose its pack mentality and each dog will begin to think as an individual and decide that maybe this pack attack thing wasn't such a good idea after all.

Although I've been attacked by pairs of dogs several times, I've only experienced one attack by a pack of dogs, when I stumbled upon them killing a fawn, so I don't have much to offer by way of tips for fighting dog packs, except to make eye contact with as many of the top dogs as possible.

Surprisingly, in this one case I was somehow able to draw one of the dogs in the pack to act as my defender, and he covered my flanks and rear as I concentrated on the front. I think that when I stared this dog down he remembered that he was domesticated, that he liked humans, and that he was not a wolf. I also knew the dog. He was called Ralph, and he also loved guns and the over-under .410 shotgun and .22 rifle I was carrying probably was an attraction, too.

After Ralph and I had taken out the three most aggressive dogs in the pack, most of the rest ran away. Two remained, whimpering and making gestures of submission. I guess Ralph and I were their new alpha and beta.

There may be some nuggets of truth in this BS, but I couldn't be bothered to look.

[Sysman]

(Continuation of Part 2)
I think that when I stared this dog down he remembered that he was domesticated, that he liked humans, and that he was not a wolf. I also knew the dog. He was called Ralph, and he also loved guns and the over-under .410 shotgun and .22 rifle I was carrying probably was an attraction, too.

After Ralph and I had taken out the three most aggressive dogs in the pack, most of the rest ran away. Two remained, whimpering and making gestures of submission. I guess Ralph and I were their new alpha and beta.

Yo ho ho. A dog who's a supporter of the NRA!

You coudn't make this stuff up.