OK, to respond to your responses:

LesSnyder - I looked up pictures of the laminated sticks and they're real artwork. Probably stronger then plain ones.

Mostlyharmless and Rebwa - I did a little search on dog behavior and it looks like territorial agression as opposed to prey or pack protection is what's driving the behavior. I've had one instance were "NO, BAD DOG!!" worked, so it's not reliable.

ireckon - I do carry a folder most of the time, and have had one disasterous experience with pepper spray, which I'll relate shortly. The folder's too short to do me much good beyond the "sacrificial left arm" technique, but I like the reach of a golf club. I like the reach of a 4 1/2 foot walking stick even more...

Richlacal - What you are advocating is both illegal and likely to cause permanant injury to the animals. I prefer to think of myself as a "nice guy", and I'd like the neighbors and police to share that opinion. I just don't want to get bit.

The disasterous and embarrasing pepper spray incident - Well the new can of pepper gel must of has some residue on the outside. When I wiped an eyelash out of my eye you can guess the rest. I spent half an hour with my face submerged in the bathroom sink. On a pain scale of 1 to 10 that was about a 7, but my eye closed tight on it's own. Getting a tattoo is about a 6 for reference.

I've decided to go the route of a hickory or other wood walking stick. I found some advice on using it for fending off attacking dogs (thrust it, don't swing it). Besides, I've been looking for an excuse to get something more elegant then my beatup old Cascade Tracks aluminum stick.