- Joined
- Mar 3, 2000
- Messages
- 2,785
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 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 ). 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.
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 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 ). 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.