Wouldn’t the best thing to do to a charging dog is to run at it and kick it in the face? Now that would take some good coordination, but if it tries to bite it will keep itself occupied on your shoe and has less leverage the more you can stuff your shoe up its mouth. Also you could lift your foot up higher and possibly get it to present its underbelly to you. To do that you would have to get some momentum running at it, but its better than standing still or running away.
Just an aside on one of Glitch’s comments (at least, I think it was Glitch): If you can get your arms around the dog’s chest, you’ve already won, and you can choose exactly how much you want to hurt it or not. Get behind it, and lift it up: Completely off the ground, if you can, but at least lift the front legs off the ground. If you are holding the dog in this manner, it cannot bite or scratch you, and it will have a very difficult time wriggling free. I’m not particularly strong, but I can hold a struggling 80 pound dog completely off the ground indefinitely, this way.
This is also a major dominance gesture, so even if you let the dog free afterwords, you might manage to convince it that you’re the boss.
Of course, this is only relevant if you do manage to get your arms around the dog’s chest. Lots of luck.
I don’t know. I’m still a little hung up on tsunamisurfer’s point regarding the sheer ferocity and speed of a rampaging beast, be it dog or bear or whatever.
Saying, “just get your arms around its chest”, or “hold its lower jaw and press down”, or “place your index finger between its fourth and fifth rib and and apply 45 psi of pressure”, or whatever (ok, I made that last one up), may work on paper. But I’m still convinved that in the grand scheme of things, barring extreme occurances of luck and/or superior weaponry, a rottwieler running amok wins any argument it gets into.
I liken the advice given as something like this … “if you find yourself three feet in front of a speeding semi, simply jump out of the way and you’ll be cool.”
In short, easier said than done.
I know, I know, I asked, so what am I complaining about. I’m not really complaining; I’m just playing devil’s advocate. These techniques be handed out, for what they’er worth, are extremely interesting.
That is my suggestion based on my experience posted earlier in this thread. You probably won’t get a chance to connect however as dogs can back off fairly quickly. Ever notice that very few men are severely mauled by dogs as opposed to women and children? I’ll bet that is because most men will react proactively with violent intent when confronted with a life and death situation.
Chronos: You are absolutely correct, unfortunately this was not the technique I was describing. Getting your arms around the dog with the dog facing you is very difficult. The technique is easier to show then to explain in words, but you end up with the dog craddled in your arms facing upwards. From the position the dog can definitely still struggle free and/or bite you (unfortunately the face is most likely target at that point).
Who’ll hold the dog still for me while I get my arms around it? Any volunteers? 
**Off Topic
Whack-aMole:** your brother was guiding a bear hunt, and had only a .338?!
.375 H&H ain’t bad, but my brother guides in Idaho and Montana, and he carries a Winnie Mod. 70 C.S.E. in .458 WinMag, with a scoped Taurus .454 Casull for backup. That Taurus nearly broke my wrist, and I’ve comfortably shot .44 one handed.
He’s dealt with bears on more than one occasion, and those are his recommendations (he admits that he’d much rather shoot w/ a 35mm SLR, and a 300+zoom) for putting down a pissed-off bear with as little fuss as possible.
On Topic
To hell with gang-bangers, crack dealers or beered-up rednecks; now I’m more scared of packs of wild dogs!
Not really. My dad and I used to hunt wild dogs in Missouri (we got a $10 bounty from the state for each bitch we nailed) and baiting was legal on 'em. My dad used his trusty Garand, while I preferred his Remington 870 with a mixed stack (the woods were pretty thick). A 12 ga. slug is a very nasty “rock” to chuck at a dog. The spray of dirt and leaves (if you miss) is impressive.
All-in-all, I guess dog attacks are one of those things you hear about on the news, but never really expect to happen to you. Whatever your physical capabilities, if you’re not mentally prepared for such a confrontation (reference Jack’s previous comments on his thoughts during his encounter) you’re pretty much toast, IMHO.
Go fetal, and start praying.
well if you looking to kill the dog, (i learned this in a survival class about rabid animals in general) your supposed to let the dog or other animal charge you and then when its close enough, kick it in the jaw to stun it the step on and crush its skull. kinda grusome but it supposedly works (i’ve never had to try it thank god) by the way i also like dogs
a. The dogs in training videos are training, which they’ve probably done several times before, not randomly attacking someone out of illogical anger.
b. Is the dog likely to wait for you to take off your coat and wrap it around your arm of choice?
Wife had a Border collie which would run fifteen feet up a tree. I guess it depends on the dog.
I was attacked by a neighbor’s vicious Dobe when I was about 19.
What most people don’t get, and what has always been obvious to me, is that there is NO WAY that a 40 lb dog can kill a 300 lb human who is:
a: not in fear for his life, and
b: reasonably alert and quick.
The dog jumped and got a mouthful of my left arm. Took about 120 stitches.
I jumped and landed full on the dog. The dog’s ribs punctured it’s lungs and it died. This did not make me happy, but I was alive.
I love dogs. I would never wish harm on ANY dog. Guard dogs have a job to do, but only morons let them run on the street.
BTW, I have NO idea what I’d have done if it was a Mastiff. I have a friend who has one, and we love to wrestle, King always wins. The punishment for losing is to get your face licked by a big wet throw-rug of a tongue for about five minutes.
b.
How about a wild, 145-pound dog charging a 185-man who is momentarily stunned, weaponless, and basically scared sh*tless?
Again, I don’t think many of us have been talking about being killed. Mauled and seriously disfigured (e.g, 120 stitches) by a large dog, yes.
Sailor, yes, something is better than nothing. That was the gist of my initial remark regarding Special Forces training. That said, when a dog charges, the textbook stuff goes out the window. I think the terror factor would be considerable for most people–except all of us, of course.
Now THAT would be a problem. And no, I have no idea what I’d do, no more than I’d know what to do if my friend’s mastiff decided to eat me. Maybe try not to taste good?
b.
“Try not to taste good.”
That’s it! Anyone with dog experience knows how hard
it is to give pills to a dog. You wrap the pill in food, hold the dog’s mouth shut etc. So the obvious way to fend off a dog attack is to wrap an arm not in jackets or padding, but dog pills. The dog gets one taste of medicine and runs away!
On a side note- dachshunds were indeed bred for hunting badgers. Dachshund translates as badger hound.
With a name like Billy Rubin, you’re half way there.
On a side note,while the thread has covered many species of dogs, Rottweilers shouldn’t weigh more than 120lbs. Lately the fad has been to try to breed them larger, but these dogs often have arthritis,hip problems,and require orthopedic surgery because the breed wasn’t really meant to be that big.
I have to put my vote in for a walking stick that is as heavy and long as you can comfortably handle. If attack dogs are a problem in you neighborhood, don’t walk around without protection. If you feel a bit odd with a stick in the city, you might be able to find a sturdy enough cane with a metal handle on the end so that you can turn your cane around and bludgeon the dog with the heavy end. Ok, so folks might think you’re handicapped, but that’s better than being handicapped for real.
I also have to add, in respect for the dogs, that I’ve never personally had a confrontation with one that I couldn’t back away slowly from.
I remember seeing some tv re-enactment of a dog attack. Two Rott’s had gotten loose and were terrorizing the neighborhood. They attacked a jogger, mauling him and biting him here and there for quite some time. Finally, a neighbor threw the jogger a shovel and the Rott’s soon decided they had better things to do.
I think that the characterization of dogs running and leaping at someone’s throat who’s just walking down the street to be a little bit over the top. Inside the junkyard, maybe, but most people’s pets who are loose on the street will give you some warning and are usually acting out of aggression aimed at dominance rather than killing instinct. After all most pets don’t get to bite a person more than twice in their lifetime.
Actually I didn’t use my thumbs for this problem dog. When I was in college I lived in a duplex with two other guys. Next door was German Shepard who ran and bark wildly at us when we left our place. The other guys would run to their car or in the apartment like little girls. After taking this about twice I charged the dog making as much noise as possible. The dog ran back off my yard an on to his. Then I pissed a line across the boundry of my yard and his much to the shock of the dogs owners.
I looked at them and told them to keep their dog off my yard or I’d have it put down.
Confront the owner of this dangerous dog. If the dog is loose call the cops or animal controll.
Last time this topic came up, someone here who was a building inspector had a truly terrifying story about beeing attacked by a large,rabid dog while inspecting an abandoned building. They had gone for the “curl up in a fetal position and wait for the calvery” approach. THe calvery in the form of a cop was apparently justa few minutes behind him. I tend to think that most of us would react the same way: you have to be trained to think cohently and react quickly to that sort of thing.
And Zebra, I don’t think people are talking about neighbor dogs. The hypothetical is a dog attack out of nowhere.
It occurs to me that a better thing to know is how to stop a dog that attacks someone else: after all, most of the dog attacks you hear of are on children, and if a 100lb dog attacks my (hypothetical) two-year old, what is the quickest and safest way to make it stop? Obviously, in a case like that, seconds matter.
I pretty sure that it’s a fair stretch to say there’s no way a smaller dog can kill a big person; but it is likely that a small dog WON’T kill a big person. Dogs usually hunt in packs, and can bring down pretty big game. Once one has you on the ground and it’s teeth near your head or neck, you’d better hope it’s not looking for a kill. Yes, if you keep your wits about you, you’ll most likely be ok against a medium-sized dog, and it might end up in a draw and a few stitches for you. I don’t mean to sound pessimistic, but humans have about the least pound-for-pound fight and strength in them of any animal - the price we pay for using our brains instead of our brawn for hundreds of years. I’ve read that we’d physically loose a fight with almost any animal over half our mass (some book I don’t care to look up right now). That’s why it’s so important to keep the brain plugged in and idling continuously when faced with danger; it’s about our only good natural weapon. Keep them baseball bats handy!
So what is the proper response, if any, to the many neighbourhood dogs who bark and run behind the fences of peoples’ yards as I walk by?
Are they scared? Angry because I’m passing through what thay consider to be their territory? Crazy?
Are these dogs improperly trained? Should the owners be saying to the dogs, “No, Binky*, the street is not your territory?” and rewarding/punishing the dogs’ behaviour approprately?
I wonder whether some people consider their dogs as ‘little people’ rather than seeing them as what they are: non-human creatures with their own ways of behaving.
*“Binky” was a particularly vile chihuahua owned by a relative, who terrorised all us family members when I was a kid. Fortunately, it eventually died.
Scolding - Hell yea, yell that bitch down, i’de rather make a fool of myself yelling at an animal than try and take it on in poochy combat
Jackets around your arm for pading - in my mind, a sound bet that cant really go wrong.
A swift kick to the loverjaw/throat - sounds good, but i have to agree with whoever pointed out the flaw about kicking a moving target. i can hardly hit a football coming straight at me at any kind of speed, far less one that can change direction faster than i can think, oh, adn with teeth.
Runnin’ - Real bad idea, dogs are amazingly fast, ESPECIALLY the little ones.
Curlin’ in a ball - Erm, i wouldnt try this in a million years, i am gonna try my damndest to stay on my feet, “KEEP THAT THINK AWAY FROM MY NECK!”. Curling on the floor just gives it time to find your nrck and deal with you as it pleases, at least if u are standing and flailing you are attracting attention of passers by, adn conusing the animal.
Trying to dodge it - oki, i may hand it to the guy that said we have fastest reflexes in animal kingdom, but we aint using reflexes here. the dog is. Its natural for it to bite and maim us, its natural for us to run away, we aint using reactions, we are using intelligence, which takes time. Time we dont have in this situation, so we are already at a disadvantage.
Killing the beast - once you decide its really going for you rather than just saying ‘HEY, MISSED YA’ in an overexhuberant manner, kill it, no half assed ’ maybe i can imobilise it’ crap, kill the fucker, they started it!
All this said, i think i would be 100% screwed in that situation, i would have to rely on outsde support or… the thing that makes us different from lower animals, tools.
Go all breaveheart on its ass with a long stick
“HOLD! HOLD! HOLD! NOW!” pitbull kebab… mmm;D
:- jacket on arm, spear in hand, at top of stairs with rocks.
Do a lot of people get mugged in tibbet? what with all those swords goin’ about.
I, too, would like to know if this would be effective. Note that it’s not wrapping a jacket AROUND your arm and letting the dog chew on it…It’s like, pull off your jacket, spin it towel-style into a log shape, and hold one hand on each end so it’s horizontal in front of you, then like put it out forwards nice and obvious (and from a front view all you see of your actual arms are your fists holding the edges of the rolled up jacket).
If the dog is charging straight at you ready to snag a limb, wouldn’t he go for the nice low horizontal one dangling out a foot or two in front of you instead of your leg or something? And when it gets a mouth full of jacket, it might latch on thinking it’s a limb (if they bit your pantleg thinking they’re doing damage the jacket might accomplish the same thing, especially a thick jacket), and you can start doing whatever your plan is…
Anyway, any idea if this would work? Is a dog stupid enough to think the jacket you take off as you notice it is a limb, or like, have the instint to just go for whatever’s closest?
- Tsugumo