On Defending Against Dog Attacks

As I've previously mentioned, I'm a runner. What's more, I'm a runner in farm country where people rarely bother with niceties like fences to stop their aggressive dogs from attacking strangers. As a result, I've been attacked by and defended myself from dog attacks approximately 35 times in my life. This number may be grossly underestimated, as this last three months I've been attacked a good 5-10 times or so alone. I thought I'd share some of these adventures with you guys and open the forum to input on the subject.

Yesterday while running one of my routes, I was attacked by a relentless and incredibly dumb yellow retriever that has attacked me before. She (just a guess) is the alpha dog and works with a beta bull mastiff (who I assume is male). The mastiff is never interested in violence when he is alone, but always acts to try to flank me when the retriever attacks, which is obviously problematic. While finishing a leg of run I was walking past their property, far side of the road from their lawn, when the retriever tried to come at me. I kicked her in the face and she was too quick at shying away to harm her effectively, but I did knock her legs out from under her and send her fleeing. The mastiff was attempting to assist when I unfolded my pocket knife and he instinctively backed off. In the past when the mastiff has interviewed me for violence, the moment I get "deadly serious" he always knows and retreats. I think he's just smarter than she is and decides to avoid me from previous experience and a more generally passive nature.

I've fortunately never been seriously injured in any of my dog attacks, unless you count rolling your ankle from trying to avoid one on uneven terrain. I've found that sliding off the line of attack and kicking a dog in it's jaw is the most ideal response 9/10. If things go South and they aren't in a pack, I've never had a rear naked choke fail me. Only stupid or insane dogs usually attack you from the front, and 95% of the time a dog will only attack you when your back is turned. I assume the % becomes far less favorable if you express fear. I expect that even the subtlest conscious-only sensations of fear can be perceived through pheromones in dogs, though I'm aware of no research to support this hypothesis. You get good at running backwards in farm country, and not running past aggressive dogs to begin with as this only triggers their chase instincts. I find fighting dogs is like fighting a street savvy untrained thug. Dogs instinctively make wiser attack choices than the dumber variety of street thug, and work slightly better as a team usually.

Since the retriever is my problem dog these days and isn't bright enough to learn from former ass kickings, I'm going to attempt to mace her the next run she attacks me (I don't normally carry mace as it's too bulky to comfortably run with) to hopefully teach her tiny brain the lesson the previous attacks never have. I haven't contacted the police because my last encounter with this laughable precinct had me attempting to report their CO to their Internal Affairs department only to learn they have no Internal Affairs department. Also, while some of their deputies are great people, many are very badly trained and would not be discrete about my report. There is a higher probability of retaliation from the owners because I cannot trust in their police discretion.

Enjoy.

 

Seems you should change you're route. Or carry small mace, or a big stick.

http://www.pepper-spray-store.com/products/muzzle-dog-spray.shtml

http://www.trueswords.com/cold-steel-irish-blackthorn-walking-stick-91pbs-p-4085.html



..or you could change your route.

 

You mean carry mace like the very thing I explained I intended to do? And I'm well aware of the inherent risks of my route and consider them acceptable for the convenience of where I do my exercise. The other routes are actually more dangerous. I remind you, I've actually never been hurt from these attacks.

 

Nothing like a pack of dogs chasing a fellow to realy push him through the wall

If you were a bad man you could let the dog bite you a sue the bottom off the owner

 

People in America don't have money. Especially ones too cheap to own a fence.

 

Yes, carry it like you said you were going to do. Thread over. Did you just want to talk about being a bad ass kicking dogs? Or did you have a question?

 

Yeah, I was hoping we would naturally transition this topic into my fantastic qualities as a lover though. This has been very unrewarding. And I actually posted my reasons for posting this, but again, reading is hard so I suppose it eluded you. Quick, hit respond before reading this and say something witty!

 

I treat it like a video game. I keep a mental tally for how many dogs asses I've kicked and I'm at level 24 right now.

 

lol yeah run some other route.

 

lol yeah run some other route.

 

I've been a runner since I was 14 or so, on and off. I'm 33.

 

I'm going to try to make this more clear for everyone. I am not looking for advice on self-defense here. Thank you all. Very much appreciated. If you have any suggestions on how to defend against dog attacks from actual experience on the subject, please contribute to the discussion at hand. That was the entire purpose of this thread. I wrote this to clear up a few misconceptions I've read on the topic here over the years, so I felt it could benefit many of the inexperienced members. End of story.

 

why is map so full of these border line trolls now days ? people that like posting dumb crap but dont really want to cross the line into full troll mode, theres been like a wave of them since the start of the new year.

 

Don't run it just encourages them.

 

You think I'm a troll? And that I've lasted this long? And that I've been thanked in nearly half my posts? Did you think this through? Or are you referring to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern here?

Admittedly, I gave everyone the benefit of the doubt in basic reading comprehension and since I explained my intention in the opening post, expected a level of understanding that my experience here dictates was unreasonable. You in particular seem to be having issue with this talent regarding what I write here a lot recently. I've given some real thought to placing you on ignore because of it, but that requires me figuring out how to do it again.

 

Kicking a dog in the jaw has worked for me as well on several occasions. You're lucky your nemesis is only a retriever.