Posted on 05/22/2011 6:05:50 PM PDT by george76
That is a great reason to own a gun. Anyone could see that.
All you have to do is what you’ve been doing except that I would suggest toning down the counter-aggression ruckus.
[Cardinal rule #1: Aggression -breeds- aggression]
*Calm and in control* is king.
The “alpha dog” is -so- in control, it needs only to stand still and *be*.
This is the psychology of the canine mind.
I’m currently working with a 100 pound Euro Dobermann who is without doubt the most “driven” Dobe I’ve ever had.
[so much so that I’ve not had to do the months of training I did with American Dobes. He just innately *knows* his job. “Harm Mom. Die a bloody death.”]
If anyone ever does kill me, it will have to be a little kid because he totally adores them to the point of making a public damn-fool of himself just to get their attention and affection...LOL
There is not one single doubt in my mind that, if he chose to do so, he could take me apart in 10 seconds or less.
[he outweighs me and I’m just a little runt]
Yet, because I have trained so many Dobes [and other breeds] what freaks him out more than any other form of ‘discipline’ from “mom”, is the dreaded stiff-backed, stony, silent treatment.
In dog language, he understands that I am calmly and without question stating my place in the pack...the one who is “so big and bad”, I can afford to just disregard my underlings.
Ten seconds of that gets me 10 minutes of him trying to smooch up and ‘apologize’ for his lapse in manners.
Next time you run into a small “practice” dog, give it a try.
Keep the bike between yourself and the dog, just in case but stand there and look straight ahead, quietly disregarding its existence.
Odds are you’ll blow its little yappy mind.
You are not reacting like you “should be” and this confuses them to the point where they get nervous and run off.
Who knows?
In their mind, they could fear that you are so confidently alpha, you could suddenly bite them.
[I’ve walked and rode a horse on a *lot* of dog-filled country roads and it’s never failed me. 99% of the time, I just ignored the dog and kept on going like it wasn’t even there. They got bored and frustrated by the lack of ‘expected reaction’ and went home.]
*Never* been bit.
It sure beats killing somebody’s improperly trained dog just because the owner is an idiot.
Interesting points. I haven’t been threatened by a dog in a long time, but I don’t know about looking away. I’m not comfortable with taking my eyes of something trying to get at me.
I’ll take that under consideration. I think I trust your judgement.
“I’ve used this stuff when bicycling and being chased by a dog. “
Seriously, dude, the answer to everything is contained in that one sentence, right there.
You are being -chased-.
Moving objects provoke predator behavior.
Next time, try just suddenly stopping and see what the dog does.
You end the action that triggers the instinctive imperative to chase...and the chase ends.
Simple as that.
I have Ibizan Hounds who were created to chase down and kill -fast- prey.
I also have rabbits in the yard which they will chase when they get a chance.
One *smart* rabbit, however, has to learned to outwit them.
When they charge it, it just sits still, no matter what.
The pack of them has poked it with their noses, prodded it with their paws and ran around it yapping yet it never budges.
They get bored, give up and go off to play.
The Alpha rabbit then makes a slow, almost comically dignified escape through the fence.
Smart rabbit who’s gonna live to be an old rabbit.
That particular spray I shot at his face and he stopped chasing me.
To a dog, a direct stare is an invitation to fight.
You can turn your head forward but you can still see the dog with your peripheral vision.
Watch two strange dogs meeting for the first time.
-Neither- looks the other in the eye.
It’s “rude” and considered an aggressive act to do so.
They stand side by side sniffing, averting gazes until one of them makes the first friendly overture of a “play bow” or lowered tail wag.
If one dog seems intent to lock eyes with the other, that is the dog who is about to start some crap.
*Most* dogs understand all this quite perfectly and universally.
Their subtle body language speaks absolute volumes to anyone who understands it.
Some, like Pits, have that normal behavior “trained out of them” so they can be ‘good fighters’.
[a thousand plagues and poxes upon those who would so pervert the dogs’ normal natures]
Other dogs [most notably small toy breeds who are “babied”] are so poorly pack-socialized that they don’t even “speak dog” any more.
I dread those the most but feel sorry for them, too.
They’re frequently neurotic and miserable.
Ah, well, then.
Speedy brutality is always the best answer, isn’t it?
If you call a dog’s eyes being irritated and stung by pepper spray brutal then, yes, you could call it that.
Chows are beautiful dogs, but they scare me. 0.0 They’re so fluffy on the outside, but soooo terrifying on the inside...
Again, what you say rings truth. I guess I never thought about it like that. I always figured I was top dog and I had to let the other one know I was ready to go.
Yer shaking up my whole world here Salamander ;)
I don’t want to hurt nobody’s animule. I’ve just always had to figure I was going to end up on top of a fight. Back when I lived in Arkansas I would carry a bottle of vinegar on my bike when I was out and about. It usually worked, but one time I squeezed the whole thing in some old yard dog’s face and he barely blinked. After that I carried ammonia in that yellow bottle. I never had to use it because my tactics of fearlessness worked. Not that I am fearless, but it is a good shirt to wear in the country.
Here in the city, I haven’t run across a dog that wanted any beyond a firm stare and some choice vocals. It is the owners I am more concerned about. I don’t want to bust a cap on somebody’s dog, but I don’t figure to let one tear me to pieces either. I’ll chew (!?!) on the advice you have put to me. Sounds like right, I may have to reunderstimate my own place in the food chain. I’m too old to get myself into a dogfight.
That’s what my “letter carrier” has in her belt. And we sell it at the bike shop where I work.
Dunno, never tried it, I think the bear spray sounds interesting to me.
If somebody sprays it in your eyes, how would you term it?
“Yer shaking up my whole world here Salamander ;)”
Shaking up everybody’s whole world is a dirty job, sir, but somebody has to do it...LOL
I have *never* understood why or how people would let their dogs run loose when they *know* the mail is going to come 6 days a week.
I went a step further.
The front yard where the mail lady [and UPS, FedEX, etc] comes in is fenced -off- from the back yard where the dogs are.
Why?
So they don’t get in trouble for obeying their normal, natural instinct to guard my property.
Am I the only person who sees the sense in keeping your dogs and your delivery people’s “worlds” *separate*?
[my mom was a rural delivery carrier for 30+ years...lucky for her, most of it was done from inside her Blazer and the local yokels had brains enough to bring the hounds in around delivery time]
I am hoarding, gathering, being educated by, and immensely ENJOYING your posts, but that story about the rabbit — man, what a GREAT post! Really, Salamander, thank you so much for all the great info. I’m a bit of a walker, and have been terrified of pits, Rotts, etc. Thanks so much for your info.
Well thanks...:)
I hope it serves you well on your walks.
BTW, that rabbit is the only one who has successfully avoided the local chicken hawks.
When one flies over, *bip!*...the I’m-not-a-rabbit-nothing-to-see-here-move-along act starts.
:)
I’ve also got an uppity possum regular visitor who doesn’t play dead when the dogs spot her. she goes all ‘primitive rage’ on them and it freaks them out.
She did play dead the *first* time they found her in the backyard but after releasing her stinky “been dead forever stench” scent glands in their faces, they now avoid her like the plague.
She hunkers down, snarls and hisses at them until I come out and escort her to her exit spot under the fence...LOL
Where I live, a gator can grab you quicker than a pit bull. In our case, with our laws, if the gator attacks me, I cannot shoot it (with my LEGAL gun). If my neighbor attacks me, it is legal to shoot him. Anybody see something “funny” with the gun laws?
I never take my corgi to a dog park. I do not like the idea of unleashed dogs milling about; particularly aggressive ones. I walk him on a leash in the neighborhood only. I have a CCW permit and go armed in case someone’s pit bull gets loose and attacks one or both of us.
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