Speaking of dogs running around loose, I’ve been trying to find the best item or method to use on my frequent dog walks when a loose dog approaches and they growl then my dogs get all mean (which only happens with some dogs, I don’t know why) and next thing you know it looks like a dog fight.
This has happened and I’ve tried yelling (slim sucess), kicking (worked once, but invites a bite on the leg), mace (trust me, be very careful of noting the wind direction before spraying mace), and just running and dragging my dogs along and hoping the other dog(s) will lose interest.
My walking partner and I have been discussing maybe carrying a bat or stick, but that is awfully inconvenient because both your hands are taken up unless you devise some kind of sheath (wouldn’t that look funny?) or carry it under your arm or something.
I’ve jokingly thought of a “taser” but I’ve never really seen one and have no idea where to get one.
Shoot it. Wild dog threatens you? BOOM end of problem.
I guess this depends on where you are, is it an urban setting or are you out in the boonies and these are semi-wild dogs that are giving you trouble? I guess if you are in suburbia you can’t just go around shooting dogs, pity that…
I would guess that a ‘taser’ intended to incapacitate a person would likely kill a dog, also be aware that in some jurisdictions tasers are treated as weapons.
What about an air horn? That might do it!
Along the stick line, you could get a tacticle baton, you know one of thos telescoping metal whacker things. Be aware that these too can be classified as weapons…
Like I said in the other thread, I have been taking an umbrella with me on my walks. I can open it, and a lot of dogs are spooked by an open umbrella. I don’t think I could ever hurt a dog, (and I have a good feeling those dogs I encounter are someone’s pet - I live in town) and I wouldn’t want to hurt any dogs. All I want to do is scare them away so me and my dog can get home safely.
We live in a semi-rural area and have problems with loose dogs all the time. There is a leash law, but apparently 95% of the people who live here don’t think it applies to them. Fortunately we haven’t yet come upon any aggressive loose dogs, but my dog will try to snap at any of the loose ones that get too close. I think he feels he is at a disadvantage since he is leashed and they are loose and he just wants them to stay away.
For now we are doing what racer72 did - we carry a squirt bottle filled with a combination of ammonia and water. This has worked quite well, though we still have a problem with one dog in particular who will follow us just out of range and bark at us. I’m trying to decide whether to buy some pepper foam to use on her ( I belong to a breed-specific listserv and someone on that list says this is what he uses and says it’s quite effective) or just calling Animal Control and have the dog picked up. She’s always outside by herself - the actual owners of the dog basically just ignore her. However I am afraid that if she gets picked up they won’t pay the fee to bail her out. I don’t want anything bad to happen to her, I just want her to leave us alone. So the pepper foam may be the next step.
Heh - I’d thought of a super soaker, but you have to remember to prime 'em and all the ones I’ve seen so far you need to have two hands free to make a good shot. It would be hard to hold my dog’s leash with one hand and take good aim with the other. Of course I could start taking target practice …
So sorry I haven’t been back to thank you all; computer problems, you know?
The squirt bottle sounds good except for it taking up a hand to carry it or I guess I could get a small one and put it in a pocket. Same problem with an umbrella, it takes up one hand, unless I get one with a curved handle and drape it over one arm.
The telescoping rod sounds best for me–small when un-telescoped so easy to carry. I’ll have to check that out.
I guess a taser is out. I wouldn’t want to kill the critters.
Maybe pepper foam would work better than pepper spray but I still think there might be problems with wind direction.
Thanks to everyone and good luck to romansperson, I know exactly what you mean.
Either Bitter Apple or Animal Repllent. The former is a horendously bitter liquid. A co-worker sprayed her plants with it to protect them from her pupppy and cat. Since she won’t use such things on her pets without testing them on herself first, she put ONE drop on her tongue. She said it sucked all the moisture out of her cheeks and she had to drink 7 glasses of water to make that sensation go away.
A a spray, it’s dreadful but causes no harm other than serious annoyance.
I don’t know what in the animal repellent, but no cat ever set foot on our pation when we spritzed the stuff on the porch. It also does no harm but animals find it so foul, they leave immediately.
I used to live near a park that I and many others walked our dogs at regularly.
Of course, all dogs are supposed to be on leashes, but many let them loose to run around the park.
One day a man was walking his dog on a leash there. A couple had let their dog off the leash to run. This dog approached the man with the leashed dog. He draws a pistol and shoots the dog.
The dog didn’t die right away, but it did eventually.
The couple claimed that the dog was harmless and never attached anyone.
Granted, this happened in a very liberal Massachussetts city (Newburyport). But, this was a very big deal. Town meetings were held to discuss the situation. Everyone heard about this from the local papers. The shooter was never made public, and IIRC no charges were filed against him because he was technically within the law. Needless to say, no one let their dogs loose in the park after that.
There was a fenced in tennis court there. We would all go inside and then let them loose to play.
I know they make a special brand of mace specifically designed for use against dogs.
I get visual images of someone just walking down the street and blasting every dog that gets close with a 12 guage shot gun.:eek:
I`m a little concerned that I find that funny.
We have had an on going problem with people’s dogs running amok in our semi-rural area.
The dogs were not bothering anyone, nor causing any damage, but I was not able to leave my kids outside alone.
Attempts to reel any one of the four dogs in to me were unsuccessful. Three ran away while one stood point and just taunted me. ( All wore collars and tags and were not strays.)
After several months of sporatic sightings, they started coming around alot. Like every day. So I started calling animal control.
Then the dogs started dragging on to my property the remains of a dead deer and having a little snack on it.
UGH x Pi
Apparently many people were having problems with the dogs running amok on their property and we have alot of farms and gentlemen farmers in the area who have livestock getting hassled. I was the only one with Bambi entrails left behind. Oh Joy.
Animal control set up a trap on our property. A humane trap. That same day, one of the dogs was shot dead by a home owner who watched the dog attack and kill an entire coop of chickens.
The Dog owner, last we heard, is thinking of suing the shooter.
Ain’t that something?
Haven’t seen the remaining three since. But it will be a week tomorrow, so we will see.
