Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire defense from dogs

well, all I can say my friend, is that your experience differs from mine. I suppose that since both our stories are apocryphal, they don't carry much weight anyway.

Only times dogs ever threatened me in recent memory I just stood my ground and told them "NO!" in a sharp voice.

Twice this past year when walking my yellow lab by a small job site a painter's German Shepherd jumped out of the back of his truck and came at us. Each time it surprised me and startled the crap out of me, but I had enough sense to just stand there and tell him "NO!". Most dogs understand that word and tone, as most puppies hear that expression often enough in their first months of life.

It worked. The dog stopped, looked perplexed, and then returned back to the truck.

Can't say for certain the dog was in attack mode or just "guarding my master's truck" mode or what, but his stance was agressive and he was definitely advancing.

Have used that on other dogs that chased my bike in the past. Stop, keep the bike between you and them and just shout "no" at them in a stern and commanding manner.

Works on kids and wives too (well, wives sometimes.) <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

...With all the posts on chemical and electrical deterents,i'm surprised theres been no mention of what was, when I was a boy,a favored one. Amonia,full strength,in a squirt gun was carried by many early mail carriers in Florida as a means of self defense against aggressive dogs. I have no expierence with using it myself,always prefering a bludgeon,but perhaps others may have knowledge of it's use...It seems to me ,based on my senses reaction to it, that it may well work with dogs as well. Still,a sharp blow to the skull seems MOST reliable to me,and has worked everytime i've had to crack a bad dog..

You reminded me of another dog story.

My friend and I used to rent a basement apartment about 1/2 mile from McNair Compound in West Berlin in the early 70's. The house had a fenced yard and the family that owned the house had a nasty German Shepherd named "Senta". Always growling and barking at us, never bit us but you couldn't turn your back on her or she'd come after you.

Once a friend came over right after an alert, still in uniform. He didn't know about Senta. Well, Senta came up behind him and tried to nip his leg. He calmly took off his steel pot (pre-Kevlar helmet days) and brought it down on Senta's head, just about knocking her to the ground.

She never bothered us much after that. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

....Here's a funny,but truelife story about a bad dog. Years ago when I was working for a cable TV outfit in DeKalb county (Atlanta area),we had a fellow we all just called "cowboy' . Cowboy was a quiet fellow,about 6'4" and 230lbs of solid muscle. He ran the rodeo circuit and had alot of expierence with unruly animals i'd suppose. One day when we'd returned to the shop after a days installations,the boss came out and confronted Cowboy. A citizen who lived next door to one of Cowboy's installs that day had called complaining of him injuring his dog. He said this fellow had "attacked" his dog, who was of course, a fine and gentle animal who loved to play with small helpless children,and would never hurt a soul. Anyway, the complainant said he heard his dog let out a yowell in the front yard,and upon getting to the front door he saw his dog prostrate on the sidewalk,with the cable guy peeling out in his truck. He took the dog to the vet,after finding it awakening from an unconscious state but still obviously badly injured. The vet had to operate on the dogs jaw,which was broken and had to be wired together. The man was irate, and threatening to sue,he claimed that the cable guy's quick departure,without advising anyone of what had occured,was evidence of his WRONG doing!... Our boss asked Cowboy his side of the story and Cowboy said the dog had jumped the backyard fence and came at a dead run for him! He said "I just walloped the dog as hard as I could when it jumped at me...The boss asked why he'd taken off in such a hurry without saying anything to anyone,and Cowboy replied that it was a BIG dog, and he figured he wouldn't wait for him to wake up! ....You may have had to know Cowboy to appreciate the full humor in all this, but we all laughed our butts off!......Nothing more ever came of it,save for big vet bills for the homeowner...

A big, gnarly, aggressive dog used to snarl and bark and run after me every time I would go for a run that took me past its house and I eventually started packing for that reason. I sure didn't want to snuff the dog, but it came close a couple of times. (Do I need to tell you that the cops let me know it wasn't their problem?) I mentioned this to my brother, a veterinarian, and he said, "Let's cure this situation and make some money for the local vet, too." So he gave me four small pink pills that must've been gorilla tranqulizers and I put them inside a hot dog. Next time the dog went after me, I tossed him the hot dog. And the next time I ran by the house the dog wasn't there. Must've been taken to the local animal hospital, makin' some cash for the local doggie sawbones. About a week later the nasty pooch was back, but it looked dazed and confused, sorta like Bill the Cat. Funny thing, it never, ever chased me or anybody else again. Just laid there on the porch, probably dreaming about gorilla tranquilizers. True story.

Not a thing. BTDT, my dog got chewed on (it was on a leash) while I kicked a Rott.

I quickly got smart and released my dog from the leash, it outran the Rott, and we both got away. Poor Dog got 119 stitches. Its was the Rott's 2nd attack and it was quarantined. (I should have shot the damn thing, but was unarmed walking through my nice peaceful suburban street.)

BMT

For my 2 cents worth, I've been attacked twice by dogs. One was a husky (about 70 lbs) and another was by a german shepard (bout 90 lbs).

With the husky, I was lucky enough to have a big crescent wrench in my back pocket (not really luck, I just grew up in a rough neighborhood and always carried something), and whacked him on top of the head so hard his head actually bounced off the blacktop. From then on, everytime that dog saw me he would take off and hide in his dog house!


With the shepard, I happened to be carrying a leather gym bag, and gave that to the dog to bite. My yelling brought the owner out and he was able to get the dog under control.

In spite of all that, if a big dog bites you hard on the arm, it will basically paralyze that arm. Really agressive dogs that want to kill you are unbelievably fast.

Two big dogs can kill you before you know it, unless you have a gun or knife, or get really lucky.

Fortunately, most dog attacks in the US are not that determined.

Still a gun or sharp knife is the only way to go IMO. Stick a dog in the neck like you was bleeding out a hog and within a few minutes, you are home free.

Give a dog your arm on purpose, only if you really believe you are going to die otherwise. One good chomp can ruin your arm for life.

Remember the story about the woman in Europe who had a complete face transplant? A dog did that in one bite. So I wouldn't fool around with serious dog attacks.

Still I've had several large dogs come at me acting aggressive, and by yelling "bad dog, you get in there", it can be real funny to see them slump down and slink back into their yard or dog house!

The more I contemplate this thread, the more I realize what I've REALLY been worried about are my own dogs. And a pretty good description in Pete's link...



Seems like a true observation, and maybe offering insight as to the psyche of fighting breeds like pits versus others. I have read that wolves atacking humans do not stand and growl and posture first like in the movies, but bore straight in, like a dog after a rabbit, this being a reaction to prey.

Wolves DO stand and posture, but in interactions with other wolves, which may or may not lead to fighting. Perhaps most dogs threatening humans act like wolves threatening other wolves, the altercation being one of dominance rather than predation.

Seems like in a pit bull the difference between dominance interactions and the prey drive is blurred, indeed pits about to fight display many of the characteristics of my dogs when they see a cat to chase: excitement, attention and wagging tails.

I keep saddlebags on the bike, maybe this'd be a good excuse to buy me a replica longhunter-type hatchet, for splitting a skull in case a loose pit should presume to grab and shake one of my dogs. Might be quicker and surer than a club.

Birdwatcher

When I was a kid, I used to frequently ride my bike the five miles or so to town; on the way, there was a little white stomp dog of some description that would always come tearing out after me, yapping fit to bust.

That dog lived on the left at the top of a hill; at the bottom of the hill was a bridge over a creek. The bridge was one of those old ones with high networks of stiffening triangles on each side. I'd coast down and across the bridge, and the stomp dog would peel off and trot back home, looking very smug, once I was on the other side.

One day, just for the fun of it, instead of staying on the right side of the road like a bicyclist should, I topped the hill in the center of the road, and as the dog came streaking out of the yard and tucked in on the left side of the bike, snapping for my heel, I edged further and further over to the left. By the time I got down the hill to the bridge, the dog saw that there was no room between the bicycle and the big steel girder for it to squeeze into. It was faced with a choice: either smash straight into the steel, or steer to the left of it (off the bridge). It chose the latter, and arced out into the air out of my sight. A perfect "K'plunk!" sounded a second later as it landed in the creek.

Dog never chased me again.

Jamie: if the dog was fenced and you angered a dog the way you say you did, you are very irresponsible. It's people like you that turn calm/barking dogs into attacking dogs. Try giving him a small dog treat as you go by and I bet you after a few days passing by he will be wagging his tail and be happy to see you pass by. In this manner you wouldn't feel so responsible when the dog gets out and chews up some kid. I have a gas meter reader lady that comes by my mom's house and she gives all the dogs in the neighbourhood a little treats and guess what she does her business and no dogs bark at her or agress her, they actually look forward to her monthly visits. But you have to smarter than the dog to teach it something, right?

When we moved into our present house, the people next door had a female Rott in their backyard which would hang over the fence and bark horribly at us as we passed. This was a problem as our walkway passed right alongside that fence.

So every time we walked by we would toss a dog biscuit over the fence. Took about a week but the dog stopped barking, in about another week she would take the biscuits from our hand while we rubbed her ears. Another week after that and she learned to jump the fence, and would sit on our front door mat waiting for us. About a week after that she jumped though our screen door to get into the house to be with us.

After that the guy next door suddenly gave her away, I wish we would have known, we would have kept her.

Birdwatcher

Right on Birdwatcher. Dogs aren't going to go away, so we have to learn to live with them and aid in there training. It is always better to try non-violent methods first because in the end we all know that the dogs will loose, and they loose big time by paying with their lives.