Dog Experts: How to Act When Encountering a Mean Dog

[Chattyaholic]

Last fall I took up walking for exercise when I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, and there are several different routes I take to avoid boredom. Yesterday I chose my route and started walking, there is a house on a corner of one of the roads where they have a Beagle. No problem, I've seen him before. He barks, one time he followed me a quarter of a mile, but never acted mean. Yesterday there was also a large black dog in the yard. I thought nothing of it, until it started barking and running towards me. I stopped and said "it's OK" several times in a non-threatening voice, also put out my hand so he could sniff it as I've been told this is a good thing to do. Well, this dog barred it's teeth at me and growled! I had no idea what to do next!! I had no pepper spray, no weapon, nothing. I know that dogs can sense fear, so I tried to stay calm. I took a step away, he took another step toward me, barking, growling, barring its teeth. Finally I was able to take several more steps and the dog stayed in the road. My heart was just pounding!! Thankfully he did not try to bite me. I don't know WHAT I would have done then!

Has anyone here encountered a mean dog like that? What did you do? Are there any tricks to avoid being bitten?

I hate having my walking routes shrink because of mean dogs. It gets boring walking the same way every time.

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Carry ammonia and water in a spray bottle. If he goes off his property again and threatens you, spray him in the face.
Or.....cross the street before you get to the property.

 

[iNTeNSeBLue98]

Yikes! I think you acted correctly in the situation, holding out your hand, speaking calmly. Thank goodness the dog didn't jump on you and you were able to get away safely.

I was reading about bark control devices last night (helping a cousin who has a barker) and saw a lot of sonic devices that might be helpful. I recall one of them being a small remote device, like a car's alarm keyring, designed for walkers. I did a search for barking dogs and these are the links I sent to my cousin. I'm not sure which of these (if any) has that device mentioned, but it's out there.

http://www.hitecpet.com/barconcol.html
http://www.ehow.com/ehow/ehowDetails.jsp?id=14259
http://www.gooddeals.com/super_bark_free.asp
http://www.ddc.com/petplace/dogtraining/barking.html
http://www.rlrouse.com/stop-barking.html
http://www.perfectpaws.com/bark.html
http://www.ddfl.org/behavior/barkingdog.htm
http://www.multivet-inter.com/eng/product/aboistop/aboistop.html
http://www.purewhitenoise.com/usewhitenoise.html#dogs

 

[Pin Wizard]

That's frightening. I may be visiting a few of those sites myself...thanks, intense! Once I was out for a walk with ds and my retriever. There's a dog in the neiborhood that looked a lot like mine. He came charging out of his yard and right to us, barking and growling...we were on the other side of the street. I didn't know what to do! I slowly moved ds behind me, but the thing wasn't quieting down. The owner finally came out. If it weren't for her, we could still be standing there. She said she thought his bark sounded too far away and came out to look. Just to confuse her dog a bit more...her words, not mine...both dogs had the same name. She proceeded to blame his getting out on the pool cleaning guy and that he didn't close the gate properly. Oh, come on!!!! It's her responsibility to check and make sure the gate is properly closed before she lets her dog out of the house!

 

[poohtown]

wow - scary!!!

first thing I would do is call the dog warden. This dog should not be allowed to go off property like that. What if it was a child who panicked and started to run - don't even want to think of that.


I like the idea of carrying something to spray in his face. Maybe when you call the dog warden, you could ask him for suggestions.

 

[Chattyaholic]

intenseblue: thanks for the links, I will definitely check them out as a sonic device for walkers sounds like a good thing to have! Maybe our local pet shop would have something like that too...

Gail: does ammonia water have any lasting effects on the eyes? I mean, I wouldn't want to permanently blind the dog or anything like that.

I've thought about calling the owner of the dog, to see if they know how he acts when someone walks on the road (we live in the country, houses are few and far between and no sidewalks to walk on) but I hate "confrontation" so probably will just avoid walking that way from now on.

But then I thought maybe it's not even their dog. What if it's a stray that just happened to be in their yard (maybe their Beagle is in heat and that's why the dog was there...I don't know), because I've walked that way several months and never saw or heard that black dog before. So, maybe I should call...if it is a stray I could encounter it on my other walking routes too...ugh!!

 

[Figaro]

We have had two vet visits when loose dogs attacked our dog and we had to have our dog stitched up. That was the point when my spouse lost all patience with people who don't keep their dogs under control (we have leash laws here and dogs are NEVER supposed to be running around). What he does is out aggress them. He gets into a fighting stance, drops his voice really low and shouts "NO" followed by "GO HOME." And there has never been a problem with a dog attacking since then, although he is fully prepared to kick the dog hard if there is.

All of the above is what our vet told us to do. The aggressive stance is to show pack dominance, the low voice is to sound more like a growl and the kicking is because you are less likely to get bit when you use your foot instead of a hand. The vet also said that having a dominant stance is something that dogs can pick up from quite a distance, and much to our amusement, this has been true(smile). Now when my spouse holds his hand out to friends dogs to pat them, they will squat and pee (involuntary submission). He also often has sent strays ki yi yi ying just by shouting "NO" at them. He must seem like a very dominant pack leader I guess!

 

[GAIL HAYDEN]

Originally posted by Chattyaholic
intenseblue: thanks for the links, I will definitely check them out as a sonic device for walkers sounds like a good thing to have! Maybe our local pet shop would have something like that too...

Gail: does ammonia water have any lasting effects on the eyes? I mean, I wouldn't want to permanently blind the dog or anything like that.

I've thought about calling the owner of the dog, to see if they know how he acts when someone walks on the road (we live in the country, houses are few and far between and no sidewalks to walk on) but I hate "confrontation" so probably will just avoid walking that way from now on.

But then I thought maybe it's not even their dog. What if it's a stray that just happened to be in their yard (maybe their Beagle is in heat and that's why the dog was there...I don't know), because I've walked that way several months and never saw or heard that black dog before. So, maybe I should call...if it is a stray I could encounter it on my other walking routes too...ugh!!

I don't want you to spray it directly into their eyes, just the muzzle area. As to lasting effects, if it is watered down properly, no, it will not have a lasting effect. Certainly less than a dog bite would have on you. I like the idea of calling the owners. That is probably what I would do before taking any other measures.
The dog warden is another GREAT idea. They also sell stuff to spray at dogs at pet shops.
We have leash laws here, so, I never encounter this problem.

 

[Pop Daddy]

bite him

 

[Dan Murphy]

Originally posted by poohtown
....first thing I would do is call the dog warden. This dog should not be allowed to go off property like that. What if it was a child who panicked and started to run - don't even want to think of that...

Absolutely the first, assuming it did not break out of a yard or similar. Pets, whether dogs or cats or whatever, should not be allowed to raom freely. Not only dangerous for people, as you have well stated, but also helps prevent cats and dogs from winding up as road kill and food for the crows.

Hope all goes well.

 

[disykat]

It drives me nuts when people just leave their dogs out with no fence. We have neighbors that do it and claim their dogs are well trained - yeah right - until I try walking by with my dog!

I no longer take my dog walking in unfamiliar neighborhoods because of this - it's bad enough at home. When I'm out I always immediately switch to the other side of the road when I see a dog so they won't think I'm in their territory. That seems to make a huge difference, but is hard to do on the bigger, busier roads!

 

[Melora]

When I hold out my hand to a strange dog I always do it palm down, back of my hand towards him, fingers curled slightly under.... do not put your open hand palm up with fingers out towards their face... for some reason it seems less threatening to them and your fingers arent in danger!

 

[olena]

Carry a spray with you and call Animal Control.

 

[Celluloidgal]

In a dog training course I took once, the trainer said it was safe to use water & a little bit of yellow listerine in a spray bottle as a disciplinary procedure. I guess this could work in this situation also.

Animal Control, Animal Shelter, local Veterinarian, or an online dog board might have some better ideas too.

Good luck