Here I am walking alone at night and all of a sudden a barking dog comes charging at me…
What do I do?
I know i cant run, the dog will catch me.
Many people have said you can kick the dog in the head, but I’m not so sure about that…
Also, just in case this were to happen again, what would the most effective weapon to carry be?
I thought gun, but then i thought that was overkill
I thought knife to be impractical
I Thought one of those long lighters to be insufficient
then I thought Taser and saw my money to be insufficient
Pepper spray would make the dog madder? and it would be hard to spray it without getting bit?
the weapon has to be concealable as well, and easy to transport…no baseball bats here…
Pepper spray would be quite effective. The bear repellent kind is not stronger but shoots lots of volume with better range than most self-defense stuff. It’s a larger can and carried outside on a thong or belt hook, so it’s less likely to be buried in a purse. It would be an excellent choice, assuming you don’t mind having it out.
Depending on your size, you can try to bluff. If you’re signifigantly bigger than the dog you could start yelling and running toward the dog. Be solidly intent on killing the dog though.
It’s going to depend a lot on training, and how serious this animal is. A moderately trained person with a knife or extendable baton, which are both easily concealable, will be able to kill a dog with little risk. An untrained person is going to get hurt.
For the untrained pepper spray would seem to be the best choice, but it has its disadvantages. The biggest one is that it does nothing to physically stop a dog. A dog in a true killing frenzy won’t stop for broken bones or a ruptured eyeball. Pepper spray is just going to piss it off once it gets to that point. In reality few dogs will get to that point, but it needs to be clarified if you want to stop all dogs or just most.
Short of a firearm, there is nothing concealable that a complete novice can pick up and reasonably expect to use against a dog without getting hurt. A sword cane would probably be your best bet, but it’s stretching the definition of concealable.
My personal preference would be a long stabbing blade. They still meet the definition of concealable, barely, and have the best chance of successful use by a novice.
I read an article once (no cite, it was a long time ago) by a guy who had been a commando during WWII. It was about how to deal with aggressive dogs. The gist of it was when it bites you (not if, you’ll notice) you should shove whatever it bit as far into its mouth as you can and use whatever you have left to shoot, stab, or beat it to death.
Aside from the time I used the Farley Mowat method of peeing on a bus stop sign to mark it as my territory so the dog would let me stand there, I’ve had the most success with not going where the dog is.
Failing that, the bear spray’s probably your best bet.
I’ve worked on political campaigns, where you walk up to people’s doors just like a mailcarrier, and face just as many unwelcoming dogs.
There are small electronic devices available now, that you can easily carry in a pocket. Pressing the button on them broadcasts a high-frequency sound that you can’t hear, but dogs can, and it hurts their ears. The closer they get to you, the more it hurts. They seem to be very effective – I’ve never seen a dog who didn’t stop and run away from you.
If only I could carry my Quaterstaff around with me, I’d be all set, lol. But a 6’ pole is rather difficult to be sneaky with. Plus, I can’t very well carry it around the mall just out of worry that I might be attacked in the parkinglot on the way to my car.
For the short amount of time I carried Pepper spray, it really did make me feel safer.
It’s amazing how aggressive a formerly friendly dog will get if it’s a female protecting puppies. I remember one of the jobs I held as a youth, feeding the neighbors’ cats while they were away for a summer. They left their sheltie, Lady, behind, and Lady had recently given birth to puppies. That occasioned some very unladylike behavior in the dog.
Every day I went to feed the cats, and every day I had a face-off with Lady. I took to carrying a large stick with me at all times, and standing my ground screaming at that dog whenever she would approach me. I’d look directly into her eyes, raise my stick high, and yell at that dog to leave me the fuck alone or she’d learn what a thousand million years of evolution hadn’t bred out of this ape-descendent. I never let my eyes drop and I never moved back one step once I had engaged her, and I think that, plus her generally pleasant disposition, is what saved me from a mauling.
So, generally speaking, act like a vicious caveman and carry a big club. It might look like the river scene in 2001*, but you’ll convince most tame, domestic dogs that you are dangerous and dominant. And being dominant is the main thing you can hope for here. Of course, this won’t work if you are facing a dog willing to call your bluff, or if the dog is in any way able to sense that you might back down: I was willing to kill that dog, and you must be willing to do the same.
*(You know, where the two tribes of proto-hominids faced off across the stream and screamed at each other until one group found sticks and began to bash in the brains of the less evolved tribe? Yea, I’m a geek.)
Just get the dog on its back and rub its belly. It will calm the dog down, and he will then be ultra friendly to you. I know this works because I saw it on a Simpson’s episode.
First, be sure to know what you legally can/can’t own or carry. Don’t break the law.
In the last 10 years I’ve peppered sprayed about a dozen dogs while serving process for my part-time police job. I’ve found it’s either 100% effective or 0% effective. No in-betweens. I sprayed dogs right in the face, nose, and eyes with zero effect. Nothing! Zip. I’ve sprayed dogs where it worked perfectly. I have no idea why there is 2 extremes to this. But when you spray a vicious dog with 30% 3million SHU spray and it has no effect, it’s frightening as hell!:eek:
The ultra-sonic device (sometimes advertised as “pet trainer”) is the same. Some dogs jump a mile, others couldn’t care less.
The one thing I’ve found to be very effective is a battery operated electric stun gun. The “bzzzz” of the electrodes freaks dogs out. I’ve yet to meet a dog that doesn’t run like crazy from it! But they’re not legally in all places.
I’d say first line of defense is to stand very still and let the dog check you out. I’ve yet to be bitten by aggresive dogs because of this. They always are more bark than bite and when I freeze and just let them sniff, they generally ignore me.
That said, if a barking dog was running at me and didn’t seem intent on the ol sniff test, then I’d hope I had pepper spray. Just remember that a dog won’t get the subtle hint, so spray first and ask questions later. If you spray in front of where the dog will run, it will still get a whiff before it gets to you.
If you are standing next to something- anything, pole, car, mailbox, tree, etc - then if a charging dog is coming at you wait until it is real close, about to jump and knock you down (that is how dogs attack a standing object, running objects get hamstrung) then move behind the object, the dog will put on the brakes, lose momentum and get a bit confused. This is now the best opportunity to kick the ever living shit out of it. Kick it HARD. Go for a field goal. Then scream and jump up and down.
If you are attacked, fight back. Don’t hope it will stop, dogs don’t. They will try and get your throat and then you are a goner. fight back with everything you got- teeth, fists, feet, knees, grabbing skin and twisting, clawing eyes- do it all. Fight back and don’t give up.
The best way is the dog’s most sensitive spot: if you’re right-handed, you hold out your left arm horizontal so the dog bites that forearm, then you kick them in their sexxoring organs–you let them bite, then lift up your arm, they hold on with their mouth, and this lifts their front legs off the ground and then you have a clear kick at their lower stomache area. Boot em good, “punting for the field goal” style, with your toes straight forward. Remember that dogs naturally attack in packs because their tactics don’t really work well when there’s only one dog attacking. The downside of this is that you must, must let the dog grab your off-arm first. If you kick early, they are likely to simply grab your leg and drag you to the ground, and then you’re on their level and in a lot more trouble.
If the opportunity presents itself, sinking your fingernails into their nasty bits and scratching HARD is another way, I am told. Dogs instinctively recoil when their genitals are attacked because it’s extremely painful and they know they have no way to defend themselves.
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This is really bad advice for any dog large enough to be a problem in the first place. It would work well on a lap-dog you could lift or a dog dumb enough to run up to you, stop short, and then bite. However, most dogs will take on you the run and you have to deal with their momentum. It’s very likely that their initial hit on your arm will take you off your feet. If not, they’re going to be thrashing your arm back and forth with the sole goal of getting you to the ground so they can reach your throat. I’ve never tried your tactic on an attacking dog, but I doubt very much that you could keep your feet after being hit by even a medium size dog, and if you did, you probably couldn’t lift it off the ground as easily as your advice suggests, and, if you did get its front legs up, lifting your own leg to kick it is likely to allow it to unbalance you with its thrashing. If you get it locked on your arm, you’re probably better off keeping your center of gravity low and your legs underneath you so it can’t throw you down and using your free hand to punch it in the throat. Again, I’ve never tried to disable a dog like this but I’ve wrestled with some big friendly mutts who could take me down easily if I didn’t pay close attention to my balance.
But they’re not legally in all places.