Yeah. We all see what we want to, I guess.
Been bitten. Never really attacked except for once.
Yes, I have been attacked by a dog. I was feeding a friend’s Dalmation while they were on vacation one summer. I was about 7 years old. We used to play with this dog a lot, and I had known it for years. It just snapped on the third day I was with it, and it ripped open my cheek. The owners immediately came back from vacation, and insisted that the dog be put down right then and there. My Dad talked them into penning the animal for observation. It died a day later, when it was trying to jump out of the chain-link pen it was in - collar caught at the top of the fence. No one ever gave a reason for why it behaved the way it did. The family got another dog shortly after, and it never bit anyone.
But Cartoon, since then I have owned four dogs. I had all of them their entire lives, and they never bit anyone or even acted aggresive towards people. One I picked up after it had been hit by a car - it didn’t bite me even though it was confused and in the worst pain it could ever have been in. Another I dragged out from under my deck when it was sick and in the last stages of living, suffering from canine luekemia. Again, no aggression on his part.
So there’s proof that not everyone who owns a dog will see them attack a person, even in situations where its expected. Can it happen? Sure. But the danger is almost eliminated, as stated by others, when you treat the animal humanely, and with proper training.
DOG STORY #1
I was precinct walking for a political candidate when I came upon a front porch that I couldn’t see well from the street. As I was about 10 feet from the door, two mean looking junk yard dogs sprang up from a nap and started growling nastily while giving me their evil eyes. The dogs were dirty and mean, but one was an older dog.
I threw some baby-talk at them, “nice doggies,” etc., and stood otherwise still. I avoided eye contact. I calculated what I should do in case of an attack. My initial strategy was simply to try to disable the older dog quickly by breaking legs or gouging eyes, leaving me free to deal with the younger dog, which was bigger, meaner, and more of a handful.
We were in a stand-off. To end the ordeal, I began to back away slowly while maintaining the baby talk. The dogs followed me out to the street but stayed about 5 or 6 feet away. Luckily, I had parked my car right there, and I was able to get in without further incident. I don’t know what I would have done if I was several blocks from my car, other than to keep backing up until (1) they lost interest; (2) someone spotted us who would be willing to help; or (3) I backed myself toward a good weapon.
Needless to say, I now bring a knife when go precinct walking, but I never use it to threaten people into voting for my candidate.
DOG STORY #2
I was walking down the sidewalk and another pedestrian was nearby when an aggressive stray dog seeking trouble had to pick between us. I started to walk into the street to avoid a conflict, and the dog chose the other pedestrian. The two squared off with dog snarling within inchesof the guy. The pedestrian stood very still then suddenly kicked the dog in the snout. The dog walked away. At the time, I was thinking that I probably would have done the same.
DOG STORY #3
I was walking down a residential street past a house. The owner was doing yard work. His unleashed ( :mad: ) dog charged down the lawn at me growling and barking. I felt a sudden move on my part was more likely to prompt an attack. I also hoped the dog was bluffing. I called the dog’s bluff by acting like I was ignoring the attack, and I just kept walking, while mentally preparing for the worst. The dog stopped just short of the sidewalk, inches from me leg, and the owner yelled at it from afar.
DOG STORY #4
I read this one, so I don’t know if it’s true. A guy was walking in the woods when a pit bull attacked him from the front. The dog jumed at him. He was able to step aside, causing the dog to miss while grabbing the dog’s hind legs in mid-air. He swung the dog into a tree. Game over.
CAT STORY #1
I was staying with a friend who had the nastiest cat. I was expecting an attack at any moment. Once, I was walking past the cat and it suddenly went on the attack, clawing feverishly at my foot while hissing and groaning. Luckily, I was wearing sturdy shoes, so I just stood there laughing my ass off watching the cat pour all of its hate, energy, and might in a lengthy yet utterly futile attack on my shoe. The cat eventually pooped out and walked away.
Ever been attacked by dogs . . . or bees, or the dogs with bees
in their mouths and when they bark they shoot bees at you?
The reason I brought him up is that he moved out to California to do work with the Guide Dog place we get our puppies from. I’m not saying dogs are smarter than (most) people, just that there are plenty of dogs who aren’t just waiting to go for your throat.
Have you read it? She is a trainer, and she talks about cases of dogs just as nasty or more than the ones people have talked about here - and gives reasons why they are nasty. Some of the dogs had to be destroyed. Sometimes people screw up training to unrecoverable levels. Sometimes the breed is meant for something, and idiots buy dogs for an apartment that should never be in one.
If you look back in the thread, you’ll see that I give a story about being attacked when I was a letter carrier. My objection is the claim that all dogs are just this far away from being killers. There are plenty of well-trained dogs out there who take all sorts of crap from people. But the vast majority of dogs and breed aren’t going to attack unless provoked, assuming some decent level of training.
If you lock up a dog who needs to run and work in a tiny apartment, the dog might go crazy. Don’t blame the dog, blame the idiot owner.
Oh please. I’ve got more scars from cat scratches than dog bites.
Cartooniverse, sure, I’ll grant you that every animal has that POTENTIAL. Hypothetically. But there are dogs out there that are great, and would never hurt a fly. My grandmother had a tiny little Yorkie that was the sweetest, most docile animal you could ever meet. The only being that would have been threatened by Jennifer would have been a rat.
Yes, you’ve had some nasty experiences with dogs. I don’t blame you for not liking dogs. But you’re wrong to say that ALL DOGS will end up attacking someone, eventually.
I’ve known bad dogs, and I’ve known good dogs. Just like people.
(Oh, and I do acknowledge that my spelling is horrid).
BTW, the vast vast majority of dogs I have ever encountered have been very sweet and docile. Even the ones that bark at you through a fence or from a parked car often turn out to be sweethearts that are just trying to scare you away with noise (all bark and no bite), although I don’t advise anyone to try to figure out which ones those are.
I can sometimes tell the difference between a dog that is genuinely angry and one that is just trying to scare you away from its terriroty. When I’m confident that it’s the latter, I can sometimes become quite friendly with the “noisemakers” once I get them to calm down and see that I am not a threat. Again, I do not advise anyone else try this.
Also, I have never heard of anyone getting mauled by a basset hound. Never heard of a nasty basset. I want one.
I was attacked once when I was in high school. I had walked my girlfriend home, and I’d turned around to head back to my high school to wait for my ride. On the way back, three barking dogs rushed me. I didn’t think much of it, until one grabbed my ankle. I kicked free and ran, and they stopped chasing me. The bite opened the skin, so I went to the emergency room that night to have it looked at. No stitches.
The next day, animal control caught the dog. I had to leave PE class to identify it, caged in the back of his truck. The damned thing growled at me when it saw me. I swear, there must have been something about me in particular that he just didn’t like.
Anyway, from what I heard later, they kept it for observation, and it never showed any symptoms. I was also told that the citation for letting your dog run loose and bite someone attaches to the dog, not the owner, so if the owner wanted, he could just never pick up the dog from animal control and he’d dodge the fine. No idea whether he ever did or not.
Or a pug, which is what I have now. I can’t imagine her ever attacking anyone, partly because she has such a sweet personality and partly because it’s just not practical. I mean, her teeth are just tiny nubs, and her muzzle is like 1/4" long, so she’d have to smoosh her whole face up against you to even BEGIN to bite.