“Everybody has a plan. Until they get punched in the mouth.”
- Mike Tyson.
What part of this interaction made you think you were fighting for your life? Did the dog attack you? Growl? Try to bite? Because if you kicked a dog in the groin just for standing up and putting his paws on your shoulder, that’s pretty reprehensible. Unless you’re leaving some critical info out of this anecdote, it sounds like the dog was just saying hi, and you kicked him hard enough to make him fall down to the sidewalk. Do you not hear how fucked up that sounds?
I just tell them it’s a medical examination.
Get real. Having a large animal suddenly jump on one will trigger instantaneous response, be it fight or flight. No time for thought. A pity if it was just overfriendly, but better to get out of potential danger rapidly and avoid potential maiming or worse.
I’ve treated a TON of victim of dog attacks, and they can leave people permanently scarred and disabled.
I agree 100%. Large dogs can be very friendly and gentle. I had a huge dog that would put his paws on my shoulders. He loved people and was very gentle, especially with small children.
Well, that’s kind of why I was asking for clarification as to what exactly the dog did. I’ve had dogs of size stand up and put his paws on my shoulders too, but since he was just trying to lick my face, I did not find attacking the animal to be a necessary course of action. I’m aware of the damage a dog attack can cause, and of how and why the fight or flight instinct kicks in. I just don’t necessarily think the situation as described would be one of those. Annie is free to clarify, if she chooses.
What a hilarious thread!
Your automatic assumption was that she was assaulting an animal. Mine was that she was (or felt she was) being assaulted by an animal. Interesting dichotomy. I suspect I’ve seen far more animal assaults than you.
Aren’t you a doctor in a prison? Of course you will have seen more animal assaults, and any other assault, than us regular folks not working or living with criminals do.
Normal dogs are rarely hostile, unless you make a habit of kicking them.
A friend of mine says back in high school she was taught by her brother, a Marine, to punch a guy right in the Adam’s apple. She told me she had to do it once and the guy crumpled into a gasping heap.
If a dog puts his paws on your shoulders, it’s as aggressive as a human coming in for a hug. An attacking dog simply doesn’t do that. Because, you know, it exposes their groin.
Note to self: Don’t try to hug Annie-Xmas.
As a dog owner, I agree with that sentiment, but I’d still try to kill the dog.
I don’t know how far I’d go. I don’t know how far I can go. Which is really what terrifies me about fighting - I’m the kind of person who’ll avoid it at any cost and will walk away when spat upon because I know, from experience, that if you corner me I’ll a) fucking do my utmost to kill you, not a single hold barred, no matter what the fight is/was initially about and b) blank it out afterwards. I also know I will not stay down once that reservoir of nervous rage gets tapped into.
So, um, yeah, I’m a modern-day shieldbiter.
I love this thread. If I may be so bold to ask those who have responded so far, have you been in a fight (a real one where a real effort is made to injure your opponent) since your middle school days?
My last fist fight was when I was about 20. That was 46 years ago.
I told you I only use my move sparingly. It ain’t clean. And any dog that is large enough to put its paws on a person’s shoulders should only do it when invited to do it. Else, its owners are non-dog-training slackers who shouldn’t have animlas to care for. There. I knew a lovely Harlequin Great Dane who would do that. **If **you stood in front of him, looked him in the eye and patted your chest. Otherwise, he didn’t do it.
That’s a potentially fatal blow. That’s the one blow I would probably hold back on unless I really and truly was fearful of losing my life or sustaining great bodily harm.
Last one was in the early 00s. Last one I was actually trying to fight back I mean, I don’t count a much more recent event consisting of trying to stay out of a big brawl and not catch a stray punch, failing, pushing back then doing one’s best to dodge a drunken guy’s spirited clumsy flailing about until someone or other restrained him and dragged him away.
Nope. That was another impetus (in addition to injuries) to my stopping training. I realized that at my stage in my life I was already protecting myself from the vast majority of potential self-defense situations by not going out drinking late at night in sketchy bars, etc. Can further whittle that down to near-zero by not being an asshole - flipping off drivers, talking back to perceived insults, etc.
If I really wanted to narrow the remainder I’d look into concealed carry.