Ever been attacked by dogs?

In My Humble Opinion
1

On the “Fear Factor” TV show tonight, one of the tasks was to play burglar and grab three packages–one at a time–in a mock living room guarded by attack dogs. A fresh dog was released for each package. The contestants wore heavily padded suits, helmets, face masks etc., and even then some wound up with bruises and nips. The contestants pretty much ran into the room and the dogs pretty much grabbed them where they could, including seat and thigh. In the contest I think my strategy might have been to deliberately “feed” the dog my left elbow if I could, then try to drag him along as I dealt with the package.

But that caused me to wonder what I would do if I were attacked by a big dog for real, with no padded suit or trainer. I suppose I would try to kick it away if I could, but once it got a grip on something I think I’d be in trouble. I usually carry a ballpoint pen, and I might try stabbing with it, but somehow I don’t think that would be very effective. So here’s the question: you’ve got a pit bull hanging on your thigh; what do you do?

2

I was out walking in the woods one day when a lone pitbull appears about thirty metres ahead of me. I didn’t think much of it first, but as I take a few steps, I realise that the dog has switched to agressive mode. I stall, hoping he’ll go away. He’s stalling too because there is a fallen tree in front of him. There are three options available to him if he wants to get to me: jump over the tree, crawl under the tree, or take the long way around the tree. After thinking about it for a long, long time he decided to go around.

“Gee, you’re not a bright doggy,” I said. He didn’t like that and charged. I figured I had three options: stay still, run for my life or go for a field goal. I chose to run. Or, rather, my legs did.

I soon came up to an intersection. Left would have led me to my car, right, deep into the forest. I went right. By that time the pitbull had caught up with me. He snapped for my arm and just barely missed. I tripped on a branch and fell into the woods.

Now, I probably would have been done for if not for the fact that there was a branch between him and me. He had three options to get to me: jump over the branch, crawl under the branch, or take the long way around the branch. This time, he couldn’t make up his mind. He nervously pondered various possibilities for a few minutes (really) whilst I was playing dead.

I heard some footsteps, and hoped it might be the owners. I was preparing to dish them some serious shit once they’d taken their mad dog away from me. I didn’t expect, however, that the owners were in fact two kids, about eight or nine years old. I don’t think they even noticed me, all hidden in the bush that I was. I was too surprised to say anything.

3

I still have the scar on my elbow. It’s an interesting (at least to me) story, though. I was at a former SO’s place in the country. About an hour away from home. The family had a rescued German Shepard that hated, literally everyone who was not a family member. They had to put the dog in a cage to let anyone (not family) leave the house. On the fateful day, my SO is locking the dog up, and I exit the house about 30 secconds too early :frowning: .

The dog gets away from her, and charges at me :eek:

I manage to run before getting mauled, but still get my elbow torn open before reaching the car. Great. Now I’m bleeding from my left elbow (thank og, 'cause the car’s a standard), and it’s an hour drive home. Manage that, with a bit of blood on the uphostery, get home, still in a bit of shock, and ask to be driven to the clinic to get checked out.

Of course, nobody’s free to drive me. Back in the car, drive to the clinic, wait surprisingly only 20 minutes, and get a doctor on his last day there. I then proceed to get stitched up while being offered baklava and told not to look.

Rambling, yes. Needed to be written, yes. Thanks for your indulgence.

4

I was attacked by an 80 pound chow in 4th grade, we were in the yard of my friend’s uncle petting him when I touched his upturned tail which evidently had a bruise on it. The dog went wild and bit me in both calfs, then both arms. He then got me by the back of my shorts and bit into my behind. I fell to the ground and he started going for my neck (as my 3 friends looked on, scared to death) and the owner came out and kicked the dog 20 feet off of me. He apologized and said the dog had been acting crazy because he had been playing with racoons in the yard lately (good to hear). I was bleeding from head to toe and took weeks to heal, but I survived luckily because the owner was off work that day. It’s an event I hope I’ll get to replay when I die - this time I want to be 200 pounds, not 100. I think I’ll win :slight_smile:

If I do ever face a dog again I will bend my head down to protect my neck in case he jumps, hold one arm straight down over my crotch to protect my abdomen and lower region, stand firm sideways putting only one leg forward to prevent being knocked down, and hold my forward arm out for the dog to bite. You are most likely going to get bit, your only choice is to control where you get bit. At this point I will swing my other arm around the dog’s neck and choke it or poke its eyes out or claw and scratch and kick and do whatever I can do to win.

5

I was running about in a park one time, swinging from the monkey bars in the playground, when a huge dog bounded over and snapped at my dangling legs, barking and growling. I dropped like a rock and fled screaming all the way to the other side of the park.

I had the biggest fear of large dogs after that…

6

I was attacked by a bitch guarding her newborn puppies when I was at the tender age of 2.

Don’t remember a thing about it, but I’m still very uneasy around dogs these days.

7

When I was delivering mail one summer I got attacked by a mid-size dog. I was fooled by an identical looking dog lolling on a lawn around the corner. He got to my pants leg before I got him with my Post Office doggie mace, so I didn’t get bitten. Of course the owners then rushed out and said their dog wasn’t really trying to bit me. :wally I managed to restrain myself from macing them. It was only slightly comforting to realize that biting me was a federal offense - and someone from my office got bitten quite badly that summer.

8

I was attacked by one of our own Kelpies at the age of 4. The attack was without provocation or warning, so I had no hope of avoiding it. I was sitting on a fence railing with the dog (alpha male) eyeballing me at my feet. I jumped down to pat the dog when he lunged and tore the right side of my face open. After a 30 mile dash to the nearest doctor, all the while holding my face closed, I was sewn up in the surgery, and he really didn’t do a bad job all things considered, but I did need corrective surgery as a teenager.

9

When I was about 10 I was bitten by an Alsatian: just walking down the street, minding my own business, when this HUGE dog comes racing out of a driveway, leaps up and knocks me flat, and starts biting me on the side of my chest - promptly loses interest and runs back inside again. I think I was too shocked to cry, even though I was bleeding profusely - kept on walking home, and when I got back my parents went ballistic: rushed me to the doctor, where I got 15 stitches {I still got the scars - wanna see 'em?}, then called the cops: got driven out in a cop car to the house, where {from the safety of the car} I identified the dog.

This was in the late 70’s, so I think the owners got off with a talking-to: these, days, after a spate of high-profile attacks on kids, it would probably have been impounded and destroyed. And good riddance, too - I wasn’t exactly scared of dogs after that, but I still don’t trust the bastards: I’m super-vigilant around Little Case and dogs, and any dog that goes near attacking him is going to find my thumbs buried in its eye-sockets until they reach brain.

10

I take that to mean that the owners are fined or jailed for allowing their dog to bite a postman? If so, how much or how long?

11

My husband is a letter carrier for the USPS, and he gets attacked by dogs not inrequently. His biggest frustration is when a dog is snarling at him or attempting to bite, he’s loudly telling the owner to get the dog immediately, and the owner is just ineffectually calling out to the dog (who’s ignoring the owner completely). Come up and grab the damned dog by the collar, as obviously your soft requests aren’t doing anything. (And yes, you as the owner might get bitten - better you than the postman.) If the owner continues to not do anything to get the dog off him, out comes the pepper spray and/or a quick boot with the foot to show the dog he means business.

He understands that dogs are territorial - he grew up with dogs as pets - but if your dog isn’t going to behave when he’s trying to deliver the mail, you’d better lock up the dog in the house or expect that your mail won’t be delivered if the dog is out. Plenty of the dogs on his routes adore him and come up for treats or to play when he shows up, but there are a few that just don’t like him being there.

His worst incident was an attack by a rabid Doberman (IIRC) - the dog knocked him onto the ground (he’s over 6’ tall and broadly built, so this wasn’t an easy thing), and was attacking his shorts-clad legs when it couldn’t get past the canvas mail bag being used as a shield to protect his face/neck/chest. He kicked out firmly and repeatedly with one foot, and finally heard and felt one of the dog’s front legs snap or dislocate. The dog ran off, and was eventually found and tested for rabies, while my husband had the series of shots soon after arriving at the hospital.

12

I walked out on my carport one Sunday morning to get the paper and there were two rottweillers waiting. I was about 25 feet from my door and the dogs were menacing. In the seconds that you have to make a decision, it isn’t easy to make the correct one. I chose to yell firmly “go on, get out of here”, which they took as their cue to attack. The only thing I had immediately available was a yard rake. Again, my split-second decision was to hold it closer to the raking end because I thought that the other end would hit harder even though it had foam padding on it. The dogs were both attacking but I was effectively blocking their advances with the rake. It is very difficult to get an offensive hit in when you are blocking advances from two large dogs. I remember thinking, “This is a lot more difficult than I would have imagined.” Eventually, I got one good blow to the jaw of one of the dogs. He quit --gave up—stopped. He wasn’t hurt because of the foam padding on my rakes handle (boy, was I cursing the fact that I had foam padding). When the one dog quit. The other dog followed suit, and they both started strutting away down the street —very much like bullies. They seemed to have the attitude, “He’s not worth it”. But they certainly weren’t cowed. I walked a couple of yards down the street after them, and then I thought to myself, “What am I doing?”. So I walked back into the house and called the law. The law, of course, did nothing. At the time there was no leash law. Apparently because I was successful in fending off the attack, they were unable to do anything. If I had been bitten, THEN they could do something. :rolleyes: Later I spoke with a neighbor who witnessed the incident. He said that he thought I was lucky. Fortunately, we now have a leash law and the offending owner has moved away.

The actual attack lasted somewhere between 15 and 30 seconds but felt timeless, if that makes sense. It was very intense. I was focused, yet very pumped with adrenalin. I specifically remember at one point early in the incident thinking, “these dogs could get the best of me”. I also remember thinking, after successfulling landing several glancing blows to the dogs, “why, oh why, does this rake have padding?” This was the one event in my life in which I experienced the “thrill of the fight”. It was, in away, glorious —and frightening.

13

My favourite dog-bite story of all time, as a trainer, was this one…

I was in a school a week before the incident teaching some little workshops on “bite prevention” to kids K-6. I showed them, using my therapy/service dog, how your behavior can affect the dog’s behavior - prey drive, herding drive, dispatch drive, you name it. Now, the dog I was using for this was highly trained but has the prey drive of a really badly hungry wolf. :wink: I showed the kids that if you run up to a dog squealing, he will start pouncing and doing the same (or howling/barking, like mine tends to do). Showed them what happened if you ran away, screaming, too (dog chases, etc)… and pointed out that my dog was doing it out of play behavior, but hey, could you just imagine if he was being protective instead of playful? We also talked about when you do NOT approach a dog - loose dog in a yard that’s not your own, bitches with puppies, dogs with food… etc.

Anyway. A week later, I get a note from the mom of a grade 1 boy who was in the workshops.

Kiddo had been attacked by a German Shepherd in their neighbourhood on his way home from school - she saw the whole thing from their driveway.

The kid saw the dog running towards him and did what he’d been told to do - stop, stand really still, put your hands into fists and hold them by your side. The dog was charging his way, and his mom was starting to run when the kid shouted out “MOM, STAY THERE!”… and looked away from the dog. The dog came up to him, and stopped dead, barked aggressively… then sniffed him, growled and barked… and walked away.

The kid backed away from the dog, always facing it (not turning his back, but looking away from the dog (i.e. not challenging the dog)) and when he thought the dog was a safe distance away, he ran home.

Now - while it’s true that a dog in attack mode may still knock you down and bite at you, you have a greater chance of survival/less damage if you stand still than if you try to run away. Running away will only make the dog’s prey and dispatch drives kick in more and most big dogs can outrun grown adults. Hell, I saw that all the time when watching police dogs in training. If a perp runs away, the dog kicks into “chase it down and kill it” mode. If he stands still, the dog will usually stop and bark aggressively at him… until he makes a move (especially turns his back on the dog) and then take him down.

Anyway - food for thought. I thought that 6 y.o. boy was pretty brave… he did the right thing and walked away with a scare rather than scars!

14

I was attacked by my friend’s dog. Apparently, she was protecting her new born pups.

Wasn’t as scary as being attacked by a mob. Dog’s don’t carry knives, and this was just an avg size mutt.

15

May I ask why people love dogs and are afraid of birds?

I’m a huge bird lover, but people tell me all the time they’re afraid of birds. When I ask why, it’s two answers: the brid will bite them, or it might fly into their hair.

I can’t do anything about the second fear. Birds may perch on your head but it’s really because they like you! But the second one: well a bird just can’t do the amount of damage a dog could. They don’t go for your eyes, they go for whatever you stick at them, for example, your finger if you don’t know never to point at a bird.

Yet people have no problem with big hulking brutes of dogs. Don’t get me wrong - I like dogs, too, but I’m more afraid of strange dogs than any bird.

I’ve never been attacked, but when I was about 8 or so, a dog came charging up his walk while I was walking to the bus stop. I must have done something aggressive, for all of a sudden he charged me! I screamed and ran, and ran, and didn’t stop. Luckily it didn’t chase me.

Last year I was out walking near my house, on the sidewalk in front of a row of houses. Well a dog came running up out of the garage of one of them, snarling and slavering. I think they must have had an invisible fence, because it stopped right at the edge of their property, and continued freaking out that I dared walk so close.

And my Uncle had two dogs that had bitten everyone in the house but him.

16

Phobias, by definition, are irrational. I couldn’t tell you why hive insects, their nests, or really bad dermal welts and abrasions squick me out like they do but they most definitely do.

Besides all that, birds suck and are evil. I had to live with one for three months. NEVER AGAIN.

17

When I was a kid I delivered newspapers. Now you pay by mail, but at the time I had to go up to the door to get paid. One house had a chain-link fence around it. I could never tell if anyone was home from the street. They had this little Yorkie that they allowed to run free in the yard. This dog was weird. When I came into the yard it was very friendly and playful. I was fine if someone was home, then they could grab the dog. As soon as I tried to leave this dog turned into a raving lunatic. If no one answered the door had to turn and run for the fence or the little shit would bite the hell out of my ankles.

All right so it doesn’t have the drama of some of these stories. My only serious run in with a pitbull was ended with a 12 guage. Not much drama. I won.

18

:frowning: But…but…they’re not. They’re beautiful, friendly, intelligent creatures.

Waaa! I love them!

19

When I was 7 months pregnant with my first child, I was walking down a quiet side street and I stopped just to look around at the houses. All of a sudden to my right I hear dogs barking in a fenced in yard (about 6 dogs). Before I know it, the owner opens the gate and lets the dogs out!! They come rushing at me, circling me, when one dog takes a bite out of my leg! I’m screaming at the man, "Get your dogs away from me " and then “You’re dog bit me! He bit me!”

Finally, he calls his dogs back inside the yard and I have to limp bleeding, back to my MIL’s house. I had a scar on my leg for about a year before it finally went away completely. It was awful!

20

Working for the power company, I had a mantra: “All doggy have a momma that they love and who feeds them.” So, whenever I met a dog, I would talk adoring baby talk to it. This work about 99% of the time. In fact, I had a guy call me and say he couldn’t believe I went into his backyard with his two pitbulls.
One day, however, I was walking up someone’s blacktop driveway, and spun quickly on my heel to go ring the doorbell. The noise scared the hell out of the old black lab asleep in a shadow near the house. I hadn’t seen him and he hadn’t seen me until that moment. He was so freaked out he just jumped up and bit me on the hand, literally within about one second of waking up. I couldn’t really be too mad, although I did go to the hospital so he had to be put on house arrest for a few months. If he didn’t have a local license, he would have been quarantined at the pound for months. That would have been awful for the owner. I don’t hold a grudge about it, although it hurt pretty bad and I wasn’t so nice to his owner at the time.