Defense against dogs

I am not a professional dog trainer but have assisted lots of dog training when my dog was attending training. Let me begin by telling you that a dog is generally faster and stronger that it looks. A medium sized dog that broke free by accident (a german shepherd) got the asistent trainer by the unprotected forearm. One of the two bones was fractured. The guy was "paralized" with pain and it took several months until he was able to work again with dogs. Another assistant put by mistake a protection for small-to-medium dogs on his forearm and gave it to my bullmastiff, he basicly felt on kis knees when bitten and got extensive blues on the forearm.
Now, when dealing with dogs, you must realize that they are NOT human. This is the most frequent mistake. Do not belive the crap about "you look him in the eyes to get him scared". I may work with a small, fearfull and non dangerous dog, but a dominant dog will charge you for the same reason. When you encounter a possibly agressive dog (not responding to your verbal commands), there are many scenario's.
1.) You might decide the best way is NOT to fight. This is wise if you are unarmed, in a desert area, and facing a dog you are not sure you can beat. Belive me, with all the knives and batons in the world, I would try to avoid fighting for example two rotweillers or whatever. If you decided to avoid the "fight", the best thing to do is
- hide your arms, never wave them arround
- don't run. If you run you might get bitten from behind, fall, and belive me, lying on the groung is not the best posotion in confrunting a dog.
- try to look away from the dog, not over the dog. Just look at a weaker dog avoiding a dominant one, you'll see what I mean.
- try to walk away calmly. Don't get too close to the dog! And be carefull not to enter his teritory, if obvious.
- if the dog approaches you too close, don't move and look away.

2.) You might decide you have to fight. You have children to protect who won't be calm enough or could look like "pray" to the dog. This is when the dificult part begins.

let's say your strong arm is the right, and there is only one dog
- if you have a dog too, let him loose and give it the command to atack. This works even with more than one "agressor". They will fight your dog, your dog is more resistant to bites than you, and you can kick/stab/hit the other dog(s) in the meantime. Now if you don't have a dog:
- try to protect your weak aforearm with belt + jacket if available
- get gun/knife/whatever in your strong arm
- when and if the dog charges you, make a prayer, feed him the "protected" forearm, prepare yourself for big time pain, and try your best with whatever you got.

If you encounter like three agressive Mastino Napoletano (180 pounds of muscled body each), you better have a gun or try the "peaceful" alternative. You won't win the fight unarmed , you will be put down and you have pretty high chances to get killed. But this is an unlikely situation.

Almost forgot, running may be the solution in one situation: the dogs are quite far (let's say 50-100 feet) and you can get out of teir teritory before they get you. It is unlikely they will seriously attack you outside their teritory.

Do not forget dogs don't feel pain as acute as we do. I remember once having to squeeze pretty hard an Amstaff by the balls more than 10 seconds before he decided to let go the other dog to see who tickles him :D And it was not a trainded dog for neither attack or fight. If you get bitten by a stubbern bull-type terrier (amstaff, bullterrier, pittbull) you will get pretty messed-up. If you want to break free, the best solution will be to pry-open his mouth (if you have someone else arround 'coz you'll need asistance) or to inject water in his nosetrills (but what are the chances of having a seringue and water arround :confused: ). If neither solution is available, stab it 'till it drops dead, go for the throat, belly, eyes, heart. If you don't have a knife, hit him in the nose BUT remeber that your hand is in his mouth. OUCH.
 
bad thing about "arm feeding" I have with is if the foaming at the mouth.
Then what to you do if a rabit dog is gonna to attack you?
Can't let him bite you that's for sure.
 
If it were between getting bitten by a rabid dog on the weak arm or some more vital area (like your neck), I'd still let him have the arm. If you are within any reasonable reach of medical attention, they can administer rabies shots. I read recently that the rabies series is now shorter and much less painful than it used to be.
 
The first was as a teen ager, I hopped a fence to cut through a yard, and the resident lab mix took offence. I had time to wrap my trench coat around my forearm while it postured. (I was carrying it because it was a hot afternoon after a chilly morning)
I started backing to the fence I'd hopped while trying to soothe it vocally, and he pounced. I fed him my armored arm, and threw her against the fence. then I kicked it untill it ran away. After that, I got out of the yard, and ran. I'm not proud of myself, but I was a punk kid.
The seccond time was when my next door neighbor was attacked by her chow. It want feral, and she was prone on top of her child to protect it. I heard the noize, and went over the fence with a post hole digger handle, and beat it to death. It ignored me the whole time, so it must have been out of it's mind.
The last time was walking outdoors at night. It was some kind of wild dog, cyote, or small wolf, but I'm not sure which because it was fairly dark.
I kicked it untoll it caught my leg, then bashed it with a trail rock. I'm just glad there was only one of them.
In my experience, canines are extremely tough, and tenacious fighters. Kicking seems to work better than punching, and can be effective since they're low to the ground. They can, and will catch your foot if you let them, though, and can shred your leg. I was lucky.
I've had several other run ins with dogs which I was able to solve through intimidation, and psychology. Keep in mind, most times they're defending some person place, or thing. Also, some times their freindliness can be a little threatening.
Stand over them, and yell back at them in a loud voice. That is, after all, their language. They respect size, and being taller is extremely intimidating. They should back off a bit, but still hold their ground. Try walking off at right angles so you're neither seen as retreating, nor threatining whatever they're guarding. Don't turn your back untill they shut up, or otherwise loose interest.
Don't run, they'll catch you.
 
Gonna toss in my 2 cents here.

I grew up with a professionally trained German Shepard attach/guard, that once went through a large plate glass showroom window after someone trying to force open the door of a motorcycle dealership (she got the moron, and pinned him to the sidewalk till the police arrived.) She recieved a deep cut al the way across her right front paw and yet still did the job. We raised German Shepards for most of my early life, and I will say that the way to handle a large attacking dog is the exact same way you would a person.

Most large dogs run 80-100lbs. Would a 80-100 pound person intimidate you?

I have been jumped several times by large dogs, and have yet to have one do any "serious" or even "moderate" damage to me, by just applying the same face strike, and leg trips that work on humans. If a dog ever gets you down, fight the same way you would a person.
 
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