EEEK!!!! Dog Attack Discussion

[Villains_Rock]

LOL..I'm like Connie. I almost want to take them all home!! I have however, been scared a few times when I run out at my parents house. It's a country area where the lots are a minimum of 5 acres. With all that space...people just leave their dogs in their unfenced yards. During my 5 miles that I ran on Monday, I encountered a Pinscher, Rottwieler, two labs, two Mastiffs and a Golden. I usually talk to the dogs and tell them how cute they are. In a "baby voice" and for some odd reason it works. I say stuff like "Aww...you are a big boy. Look at how cute you are!". If you are a dog owner, you know that calling a dog by name stops them from being aggressive towards your house guests upon entrance. Since I don't know the names of these dogs I tend to use the standard "Buddy" or "Pretty Girl" and tell them that they are good dogs. They back off almost immediately! Strange...but it tends to do wonders for me!

BTW...glad to hear that everyone is ok after all of the scares!

 

[Cruella de mom]

When we lived in Mississippi there were no lease laws. Our neighborhood was invaded by a pack of dogs that had runaway from home. Most of them were lab mix but there were a couple dalmations and other pure breed looking dogs in there as well.

At that time, I ran with my chow/shepherd mix named Polly. DH and I raised Polly from infanthood. We bottle fed her as a puppy. She was the only one of her liter that survived after the owners tried to kill them. Polly was extremely loyal to meand my children. She did however have a ferocious bark and the hairs on her back would stand up as she growled at strangers. Most delivery men would call from their trucks rather than risk getting close to her. IF you ran past my house, she might make you nervous but she would leave you alone unless my kids were in the yard. Then she would bark.

Mind you, Polly taught my son to walk by leting him pull on the skin on her back while she slowly tried to walk away. She was not aggressive at all.

Until the day that she and I ran into that pack of wild dogs. She was amazing. She pretty much scared off most of the pack by attacking the alpha. She was absolutely terrifying to watch! I did get bit, but I didn't get mauled. I took Polly to the vet so they could clean up her wounds and they reported the attack THEN the sheriff's office came out and tracked down the pack and took them in.

After that, Polly would not allow any other dogs near me or my kids. Even dogs that she had played with before were no longer allowed. I could no longer take her for runs because she would chase other dogs even if they werre not close to us. Before, she had always stayed right at my side.

I did buy pepper spray. I have used it on attacking dogs. It works. I highly recommend that if you run near dogs, that you carry it with you. It also works on wild coyotes (yes, we have coyotes here in Atlanta) but they will usually leave a human alone.

Cecilia
in memory of Polly - the best dog ever.

 

[Lynn G]

I walk with my two malamutes, and we run into several loose dogs, my problem is that my malamutes do not like other dogs, if a dog comes too close, they will try to fight it. I have been successful with the stern "Go Home" or "Stay" or "No" on these dogs. I have never feared for myself, just my dogs getting into a fight.

 

[ultramickeymouse]

Found out my friend and world record holder Helen Klein was knocked down by a dog on Sun at 6:00 am on her run. She was bleeding all over and had to jog 2 miles afterwards to get back home. Her husband put 14 stiches in her had which was ripped to the bone. She had both elbows, knees, forearms and chin scrapped or bruised. I forgot to mention she is 86 years old. Keep dogs on a leash or fenced!

 

[windwalker]

Found out my friend and world record holder Helen Klein was knocked down by a dog on Sun at 6:00 am on her run. She was bleeding all over and had to jog 2 miles afterwards to get back home. Her husband put 14 stiches in her had which was ripped to the bone. She had both elbows, knees, forearms and chin scrapped or bruised. I forgot to mention she is 86 years old. Keep dogs on a leash or fenced!

My racewalking mentor has a bad scar where she was baddly bitten by a loose dog in a residential area. I do all my walking in commercial areas or along a highway to avoid dogs. I couldn't agree more about the leash and the fence. We have a totally non agressive chocolate lab but she NEVER goes out without a leash and we have a fence for the yard.

Walking Panda

 

[Villains_Rock]

Last night I went for a leisure "wog" with my buddy Chopper (my large semi-aggressive mutt). We ran into mutiple families with dog in thier yards that were not on leash...and came CHARGING at us! Chop does not get aggressive unless he is afraid and luckily I got him to run from the problem before it became one. But geesh I was terrified of what could have happened! The worst part is that I live in a busier area with lots of traffic. I can't believe people let thier dogs out to run free like that!! I have always used a leash and gental leader when walking my kids!

 

[Raenstoirm]

I have had a bad experience with a dog, but I was a baby, so I don't remember it much. One day, when I was a little over 2 years old, my mom had the idea to take me for a little stroll down the sidewalk. We got about 4 houses down from our house and this pit bull came out of nowhere and mauled me. Since it was a nice day in a suburban neighborhood, people saw what was happening and came over to help. As the story goes, after the dog was pulled off me, I replied "mommy that is a bad dog!" Luckily all of my scars are above my hair line, so you would never know. Funny thing is, pit bulls are one of my favorite breeds, I just would never have one because of the stigma.

As for lose dogs in general, we were at a BBQ over the weekend. The owners have a border collie (Mattie) that is unleashed, but they have 14 acres. There were a lot of people at this party. It was actually my fiancé's companies summer event. These people had offered their home since they had all this land. So about 95% of the people at the party had never been there before. So anyway, a huge storm blew up out of nowhere and everybody rushed to get all the stuff undercover. Somebody let "Mattie" inside in the commotion. Turns out it wasn't Mattie and Mattie was not thrilled with the interloper. They had a bit of a scuffle and Mattie ripped interloper's ear open. Both dogs were black and white border collies that looked very similar. After we got the interloper cleaned up, the owner of the house, put her in the car and drove to a little residential area about 3 miles down the road. Asking around, he found her owner. Now the issue is, interloper lived in a populated area. Her owners were not out looking for her, which means they didn't know she was missing. It was a horrible storm, so if she had not come across our party, she would have been out in torrential downpour and horrible wind, lighting and thunder. They never thought to check on her!

 

[nataliela]

One morning we had a rottweiler charge us as we ran past his yard….He WAS on a chain…..but we didn’t know this until he jerked back….That adrenaline helped us pick up our pace though!

I also always talk sweetly to dogs and cats on the route- You never know what might happen

The only real problem I’ve had with a dog was a loose pit bull puppy….sweet as can be, but kept running right in front of our legs, almost causing us to trip. She was jumping on us and running in between us. We thought that she would leave us alone after a few minutes, but as we were about to cross a busy intersection, we decided it was time to find her owner- guess what No tag! Just a decorative collar? We found someone working in their yard and asked if they could hold onto her for a few minutes until we crossed the road so that she wouldn’t follow us.

Thanks for posting those tips!