Protecting a Small Dog from Dog Attacks

I have a situation related to the "Dog Attack" thread, and I'd appreciate some insight.

I live in a condo in a small city. On more than one occasion I've been out in our "front yard" (a laughable patch of grass owned by everyone in the building) so my 10-lbs. terrier mix can relieve himself, and a larger, unleashed dog has come running up to us from around the corner too quickly for me to determine motive. In these situations I've always picked up my dog, holding him out of harms way, while I shout firmly to the other dog, "No, go away! Go home!" I've always shifted my weight to be ready to kick if necessary, though I'd probably hate myself afterwards for hurting a dog even in defense of another dog. I do not own a gun but have my knife on me, and would probably be happier to use it on the idiot owner than on the dog.

In every instance, luckily, the offending mutt has been friendly, he just was excited to see my little dog and wanted to smell his rear. But my dog is very territorial and will growl at anyone he isn't familiar with, so my main concern is that his territorial barking and growling and refusal to submit to any dog will result in him getting chomped. This has nearly come to pass when we've taken him on (always leashed) walks. He is also extremely protective of me and of course not as intelligent as a human child, so it's not like I can just tell him to run inside the garage and actually have him listen - he's gonna want to be in the fray even if he can't do much.

In a situation like this, what more is there for me to do? Admittedly, the "Hold Up Your Pup" technique isn't perfect, as my dad took a few bites to save my childhood dog back in the day. Animal Control, I've found, is pretty much useless, and the owners just don't seem to get it. One guy apologized only when he saw I was defending my smaller dog, to hell with the fact he was "walking his dog" unleashed on a public city sidewalk and onto private property, and that he wasn't even in sight of the dog at the time. He was with his kids, so rather than explosively berating the man in front of his son and daughter about the city's leash laws and the fact that I would have been within my rights to use lethal force on his dog while on my property if things got ugly, he got The Glare. I was so mad I couldn't trust myself not to lose it.

***FYI We adopted my dog a year ago, he's about 5 years old and altered. There is evidence he was hammered on by some previous owner and probably never had any positive exposure to other dogs before we got him. He is a constant "Work in Progress" for us, so we weren't the one's who neglected his training.

I'm pretty sure that picking up your dog is a mistake, and in many cases will result in a bite either to him or you. (It would probably be my first reaction as well though! <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />) Doing so reduces your mobility as well as negating any chance of using your arms to defend yourself. Perhaps, if legal, take a stout walking stick and/or some pepper spray along when you walk him. Much better than a knife, which should be a last ditch weapon at best. Oh, and buy two pepper sprays and practice with one!

Take a look at the Dog Whisperer on the National Geographic Channel. I thought I had good dogs before watching -- now I have great dogs. Watch several of his shows to understand his training ideas. It will partially help your current issue and will really help the day to day interaction with your dog.

Attitude and confidence goes a long with dogs.

I've trained and worked with a variety of dogs, including protection-trained dogs, but everyone has their own opinion. IMHO -

1) If your goal is to protect your dog, picking him up was in fact the correct thing to do. He's 10#. You probably didn't get off-balance, etc. You also disrupt the "body language" messages he gave or is likely to give that would increase the liklihood of an attack. Don't worry about him barking and snarling: an attacking dog is WATCHING the body language, not listening!

2)If legal..pepper spray. Better yet, Bear Spray. For several reasons: you can use it one-handed and still hold your dog; it is non-lethal so you WILL use it (as opposed to a club or knife... with which you will hesitate); and if the other dog's owner is a jerk, you don't have to stop with spraying the dog.

3)With a walking stick or a knife (which I would consider a last resort for your situation) you need to drop your dog and really (really, really, really) attack the other dog. No bluff. Once you engage to THAT degree, you're at greater risk if you are ineffective. Really, Christina.. a last resort.

But be aware that this may provoke an attack upon you. I know because it happened to me when I was about 10 years old. I was bitten on the back. It hurt but my dog lived. <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

I agree, it may provoke an attack on you. But if the goal is to first try to protect my little dog or cat.. I'd personally still pick it up.

An element to consider is the distance to..the stance of.. and the body language of the approaching dog. Too complex to convey simply in a thread here, but my personal rule of thumb is as follows (and I've done this with a darn large dog, too. Not just a little one): If I have time/space to interdict an attack by changing the "aspect" of my dog, that's what I'll try first. Turning, picking up, etc. My last German Shepherd would drop to a down-stay and hold it while I dealt with the oncoming dog. That is.. my dog would break off eye contact and "attitude" towards the other dog. But that takes work and training in the specific situation. That's beyond the initial question in the thread. Certainly this doesn't always work. Certainly one might still get bitten by the oncoming dog. But that's what I'd try first FWIW

I agree, it may provoke an attack on you. But if the goal is to first try to protect my little dog or cat.. I'd personally still pick it up.

An element to consider is the distance to..the stance of.. and the body language of the approaching dog. Too complex to convey simply in a thread here, but my personal rule of thumb is as follows (and I've done this with a darn large dog, too. Not just a little one): If I have time/space to interdict an attack by changing the "aspect" of my dog, that's what I'll try first. Turning, picking up, etc.

My last German Shepherd would drop to a down-stay and hold it while I dealt with the oncoming dog. That is.. my dog would break off eye contact and "attitude" towards the other dog. But that takes work and training in the specific situation. That's beyond the initial question in the thread. Certainly this doesn't always work. Certainly one might still get bitten by the oncoming dog. But that's what I'd try first FWIW

I concur with KTOA.

In fact, go to the Dog Whisperer website and you can order a video(s) that will greatly help you deal with such situations.

In the meantime, if it were me, I'd have reported the dog to the police and say he attacked me. It is a lie, but it is the only way I know of to legally get the owner to abide by the rules. IMHO, the owner of the unleashed dog obviously hates his dog, or he wouldn't allow it to be out uncontrolled.

My only disagreement with Benjammin's post is that you sholud definitely NOT tell them it attacked you if it didn't. A lot of localities consider those somplaints as sworn statements and if push came to shove...could mean a purjury charge.

Wouldn't be purgery, since not under oath, but many jurisdictions have a "giving false information to a peace officer" section, then there would be filing a false report. The thing to remember in todays world, that it seems like everyone has a camcorder going all the time, so it would really be a bummer to lie to the officers, then have someone hand them a tape of what really happened...

Let me reprhase that then.

Tell the LEO the dog attacked you. Since "attack" is not limited to physical contact, but also includes the threat of physical contact, it isn't a lie. Since you cannot say for sure what the dog's true intent was, you cannot discount that the threat was there, whether perceived or real. His mere presence and the possibility that you felt threatened by him are satisfactory legal criteria.

Now, whether you actually felt threatened by the dog or not really doesn't matter anymore. In your mind, you may not have been threatened, but that doesn't diminish the propensity that a threat existed, whether you perceived it or not. So telling the officer the dog attacked you may not be physically accurate, but nonetheless legally appropriate. The issue of video is then moot, so long as the presence of the dog in your proximity, uncontrolled, is evidentiary. In your mind an attack may not have actually occured, but the possibility that one may have without you being aware of it precludes your assumption or predisposition, and so the more responsible act as a citizen is to assume an attack did occur, or was likely to have occured and necessary legal intervention on the part of the LEO is warranted.

There, how's that for lawyering it up?

Well, in legaleze (is that how you spell that???), what you got there is a lie that will fly...

He he he...

The judge would probably find me in contempt if I tried to rattle that off in his courtroom.

To quote Leroy Jethro Gibbs..."Do ya think???"

what about kevlar body armor for your dog? Dogs can't bite through kevlar regardless of their teeth sharpness.

LOL!!!

Ever wear body armor? I guarantee your dog will not approve. Better just to put him under a big plastic shell and teach him to duck down when the big dog's come snooping.

You know, I've been thinking about this "how to avoid a dog attack" challenge, and I think there's a suitable, albeit slightly extreme solution for situations where you can't avoid confrontation with some idiot's dog that is running around free as a lark. For about $50 you could build an omnidirectional ultrasonic transmitter that sweeps from 18 KHz to 28 KHz at about 100 db. Basically, you'd generate an envelope of great deterrance to dogs ranging from 15 to 30 feet in all directions. In fact, any dog in your immediate vicinity (say 100 yards) is going to know you are there and want to get as far away from you as possible.

Perhaps that is a little too extreme, okay, build a proximity detection system into it so that if any dogs move to within 15 feet or so, it triggers the device automatically , blasting him with wholly unexpected and highly uncomfortable ultrasonic noise. Concerned about subjecting your pooch to such an assault, you can engineer the sound device to create a cone of greatly diminished noise levels within 5 feet of your location. Your dog will still feel the effects, but they will be greatly diminished.

It won't be much longer until we have electronic sentinel systems hovering above our heads protecting us from the threats of having to roam out in public. There are already some great examples of robotic deterrant systems on the market that function extremely well in a household or office environment, providing a highly effective security and protection capability. It is just a matter of a few more years, and these devices will be portable enough to take outside with us. Imagine having a large disc hovering 10 feet above you, equipped with a whole arsenal of security and protection devices, even stowing an array of survival gear if you want. It won't be much longer.

Functional exoskeletons are also very close to a reality now, too. I reckon in another twenty years folks will be walking around in outfits looking like stormtrooper costumes from Star Wars, with an array of HUD and communication systems, surveillance gear, battle protection systems, and atmospheric indepence built into the suit. Bikers will be able to walk away from 11 g impacts without any injuries.

Well, think about it. It's a brave new world, but one full of danger.

Just some crazy notions I guess.

body armor for the dog is not far fetch idea. It can protect against teeth from penetrating soft tissues. It is most logical idea.

if you guys oppose to body armor then why can't manufacturers make taser for dog kind. zzap the offending dog with enough voltage to disable him immediately.

Kevlar just wouldn't do much good in a case like this, an attack of a small dog by a big dog. The puncturing of the kevlar is not the real issue, the crushing power of a large dog's jaws is. Most small dogs injured by large dogs have crush damage. The tooth holes are closer to nuisance value.

Sue

Thanks for all of the replys, everyone. It is a comfort to know that even if my course of action (picking up my dog) isn't the best, it is something that most others would do.

I have heard about the Dog Whisperer, and fortunately the psychology behind what he does and his best techniques aren't extraordinarily new so I don't necessarily have to go to him for insight. There is something about that guy, when I've seen him on TV, that I just don't trust. I can't place it.

As for the kevlar body armor, I think my dog is going to have to stick with a knit sweater. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I'll investigate the legality of pepper spray in my state, though. That'll be useful for my own safety when I'm without my dog, anyway. I'm pretty sure it's legal to carry it in MN, considering our CCW laws (and it's about time I learn to take advantage of that).