Changed my mind. Thread reopened.
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Gfactor**
General Questions Moderator
When I was a little kid a loose pitt type came after me. I ran up a car . he ran up after me. The owner came out and grabbed the dog and took it inside. Then he yelled at me for jumping on his car. It was the first time I told an adult to get fucked.
Encinitas california. two surfers went out and left their dogs on the beach. the dogs wanted to fight each other but I could tell that they didn’t really**want to fight each other. they faced off and I told them loudly that I was going to grab them and pull them apart. Then I grabbed them and pulled them apart.
I think that’s why my wife (who was watching) married me: my masterful handling of dogfights . . . either that or the fact that I fixed the broken axle on her car.
I spent my teen aged years as a paper boy. Mailmen and meter readers probably have more, but paper boys get a number of dog encounters as well.
Intimidation worked probably 95% of the time. But the one in twenty times it doesn’t is scary as hell. In one case it was a large husky, probably a wolf hybrid. I growled and step toward it, it growled louder and charged me. Hitting it with a paper stopped it cold though…lots of dogs are disciplined with paper I guess…maybe why they hated the paper boy.
It is pretty common to encounter dogs on a bicycle. Practice dismounting on either side so you can put the bike between you and the threat.
One thing that has not been mentioned is trying to “friendly” your way out of it. Act playful, not submissive. In some ways this is even more opposite to fearful than acting aggressive. If a dog has been treated well, a friendly voice, a grin, and a butt wag will often calm them right down, or at least temper their aggression. Depends on the situation, of course, but often when a dog is acting aggressive, it is actually in fear, so if it gets the idea that there is no threat, it will often relax, and may even become friendly or submissive. I’ve found that this tends to NOT work nearly so well with smaller dogs for whatever reason…my WAG is that it was more important to breed large dogs for good socialization. It almost always works with hunting breeds. I have not had it make the situation worse, so I usually try this first.
Along these lines, I know of more bites from dachshunds than any other breed. Beware the wiener dog.