I am wondering what the best way to defend against against an attack from a vicious dog like a pit bull, doberman or a rottwieler (sp)?
My father told me when he was in the service that a crusty old Gunnery Sargent was trying to sneak back on base after curfew and was attacked by a guard dog and stuck his left forearm so the dog would latch on and then he gutted it with a knife.
Sounds logical, but what’s the scoop?
Yep…give the dog your arm to latch on to. Still gonna hurt like hell but better your arm than your face or neck which the dog will want to try for given a choice.
After that have at the dog as best you can.
As one soldier on a UK chat show put it, he and his mates would just shoot them 
When pushed for an unarmed response, he suggested grabbing it’s forelegs and pulling them apart, breaking it’s ribs. No cite, just something I remember.
I’ve heard this a few times and it never made any sense to me… in order to grab a dog’s forelegs from the front you have to get face to face with the dog; that’s the dumbest thing you can do - it’ll tear your face or neck to shreds before you can even make a grab at them. To grab them from behind you have to get behind and on top of the dog, and an attacking dog ain’t gonna let that happen. Even if you do manage it your head will be around their shoulder area when you grab the legs. The dog will just turn it’s head back to the side and again tear into your face.
I once had an unarmed “serious play-session” with my landlord’s ex-police german shepard who wanted to be dominant over me… it was bordering on turning into a real fight but didn’t. Dogs are a lot faster and more maneuverable than many people realize. They are very good at keeping their jaws between you and the rest of their bodies, and it’s pretty well impossible to lay a hand on them without getting bit. If you’re unarmed, short of playing matador ANY physical attack/defense strategy will involve you getting bit, probably several times. It would be wise to keep your face and neck from being attacked.
This happened to my Dad… he told us he stuck his hand/arm down the dog’s throat, pushing as hard as he could. The dog instantly forgot about biting him. He got a few scratches and the dog almost died. No story on how he thought to do this or how fast he had to be.
I do know that he was a strong as an ox; I would believe it if he told me that he’d ripped the dog’s jaw off and then beat the dog with it.
Never go anywhere near other dogs without a buddy, either another human or a dog. It doesn’t matter how tough your dog is. At the very least , your dog will be a sacrifice while you run away.
Brave Sir Robin.
Search is not my friend, but we had a very similar thread not too long ago that included some interesting posts. And I don’t just mean the ones about inserting your finger up the dog’s butt.
I have an amazing x-ray of a pit bull who was stabbed by his owner - with a 10-inch chef’s knife. Apparently the dog was food aggressive. The dog decided the sandwich on the kitchen counter was his and when the owner tried to snatch the sandwich away the dog latched onto his arm. The guy grabbed the closest thing - the huge knife he used to cut the sandwich - and stabbed the dog with it. To the hilt.
The dog walked into the ER on his own. We took pictures of this dog standing there with the knife handle sticking up from his back, then we sedated the poor thing, took the x-rays and euthanized him when the damage was obvious and too extensive to attempt to repair.
The owner was devastated. Then we had to call the cops. (no charges were pressed in the long run.)
Well, he got the dog to let go.
The guy had to go to the ER, too. His arm was hamburger.
My Dad did electrical service work for years, having to visit peoples houses to work on pumps, air conditioners etc. He met a lot of mean dogs. Like Cedman, my Dad was insanely strong. His preferred tactic was to kick the dog in the throat/chest just as it leapt to bite. That kind of time takes a cool head though. And it had the advantage of not being lethal to the dog of his client. He also usually had a 12 inch screwdriver in his back pocket in case his timing was off.
This is horrible, but jamming your hand down the dog’s throat might work (although you’ll get torn up in the process, and there are some important arteries in your arms…). Also ripping it’s lower jaw off, or kicking the shit out of it (if it hasn’t gotten to you yet, aim for the head). If you have a weapon, use it. If it goes down, stomp on it’s head.
My husband was once attacked by a Doberman as a young man. He barely won, and felt terrible about it.
This is a common claim… Steve Irwin (the crocodile hunter) said his strategy for getting away from a crocodile that bit him would be the same. I’ve no doubt that it has worked a couple times throughout history, but it sounds like a pretty good way to get your fingers or hand lopped off to me. Imagine someone trying to kill you by shoving a few carrot sticks into your mouth. Are you just gonna lay there, or are you gonna simply bite them off, yank your head away, twist your body, and resume the attack? It doesn’t matter how much you can bench press, you stick your hand into an aggresive medium-to-big dog’s mouth with less than ninja-like precision (or luck) and it’s coming out a bloody mangled stump… when the dog decides to let go for a better grip.
Guns is good.
No gun = run.
No can run, gonna get bit, get over it and win with the other appendages you have free.
Never let them get to your head, neck, gut or crotch. You’ll bleed out for sure .
Hard to do those things when you are gagging and vomiting. The point is to try to get your fingers into the gag reflex zone - highly distracting for the attacker, and the gag response continues for a period after the source is removed. One of the downsides of a combined feeding/breathing orifice.
Si
My dad was a country doctor almost 30 years ago and as such had to visit farms. The dogs at the farms usually crowded upon his car when he was visiting and even though they weren’t attacking him, it was quite the unpleasant experience. Especially when he had to visit a couple of farms on a single day and the same thing happened at each and every one.
So he bought a starter gun. And he only had to shoot it once at every farm to dissuade the dogs from ever charging upon the car again.
So that’s my tip: a starter gun
My grandfather had horses and he (and we) used to ride them around the backroads of the small town he lived in. He always carried a squirt bottle of watered down ammonia. From up on a horse, he could probably shoot a stream 20 feet. When the dogs came out barking and chasing him on the horse, a little shot of that changed their minds. They learned real quick. If he went by that house a couple of weeks later, the dogs would just watch, and if they did start his way, just the sight of the bottle would usually turn them away. So there’s an idea if you go places where you encounter a lot of strange dogs.
Exact same thing I did, only it was on accident but it worked. It took the dog about 5 seconds to realize he couldn’t breathe. I got about 3 good kicks to the stomach of the dog before he backed off. This was enough time for me to get back through the gate.
My thoughts too, you’re either bending down to grab it, or it’s jumped up on you to grab you already.
My Google-fu was weak, I was trying to find a reference to a small French pistol that (IIRC) was meant for cyclists to use against dogs that attacked them in the countryside.
We did this recently, although my search-fu hasn’t pulled up the thread yet. Short version is, you are much more capable of using your brain, understanding of dog behavior, and powers of observation to avoid a dog attack in the first place than you are of physically besting a large dog in melee. Sure, you can contrive artificial scenarios in which this question is relevant, but by and large, understanding dog behavior and body language (and keeping your eyes open when in a position to run into unknown dogs) will give you much, much better protection. Your fingers vs. a dog’s teeth? Iffy. Your brain vs. a dog’s brain? Much better odds.
Relying on any single procedure to defeat an angry dog in a fight, is like taking on Emelianenko Fedor with a one punch knock out plan. If it doesn’t come off first time, you are in a shitload of trouble.
Best to stick to Sailboat’s advice, methinks.