What should you do if your dog is attacked?

I will say that I am NOT a fan of using breaksticks on other breeds outside of the "pit bull" breeds. Many of types of dogs use a chomping action instead of a bite & hold & you will get your hand chewed on if you try to use a break stick on these dogs.

I guess I carry the break stick to use moreso in case a loose dog does get into with my leashed dog. This way, when I get help I won't have a problem getting my dog to let go.

As for the cattle prod idea, I can only imagine someone walking down the street swinging that thing.:yikes:

I saw a women walking in the park the other day with a golf club ( an iron). I bet nobody messes with her.

Talk about paranoid park walkers

Well there is a couple of things you can do or carry around with you that don't even look like a weapon but serve the purpose nicely.

Firstly, you can get walking sticks with a metal pommel on them that actually has a fair bit of weight behind them. If you simply flip ends and swing the metal into anything your going to cause a fair bit of damage andif you connect with the head the animal will be stunned or possibley un-conscious for a few seconds and would likely think better about coming at you and your dog again.

Second, a heavier walk shoe or shoes with steel toes. To often people use way to light of a kick though, you draw your leg back and aim like your going for the field goal that will win you the super bowl with the other dogs head or ribs.

Third thing you could do is stamp at an angle into the other dogs from legs or from the side on the hind legs. You're going to break the other dogs leg by doing so.

I walk both of mine at once, gives roaming dogs a bit more to think about... my one dog Princess, and Jenn(SummerRiot) will attest to this one... is not a dog I'd want to pick a fight with on any occasion. Despite the fact that Tyr is the larger... it is her I would not want to try and take a bite out of.

After reading this thread I'm paranoid...

Thanks for the responses everybody, I think I am going to invest in some of that Halt! stuff, just in case.

I don't think you should be paranoid, just aware that it can happen. If I hear tags jingle or a chain rattle, I instantly start to look around for what made the noise. Around here, most loose dogs will not approach people, but will attack other dogs.

An animal is hypotheticaly threatning my dog, or friends or family. Why is it sick to stop that threat?

The same people that cry "sick" are the ones that would say "I would've done something somehow" once the damage makes headlines!!

Oh man.... I wish I had read this thread earlier!

Yesterday later afternoon I took T-Bone to a very quiet Beach area. I never see a lot of people there...and if someone shows up you can see them from a good distance. I have tons of work to do with T-Bone regarding walking nicely on a leash- but her recall is pretty much prefect, so I don't worry about her running away.

So yesterday this guy with a boxer on a leash walks towards us. I called T-Bone to me and put her on a leash as well. The guy seemed really nice and his boxer and T-Bone got along well. So we keep walking and out of nowhere this other boxer comes running towards us. The guy calls the dog, but the boxer couldn't have cared less. I had T-Bone sit next to me and just prayed that dog was as friendly as the other boxer. But he sniffed and circled me and T-Bone, started to growl and snap at T-Bone. Immediately, I got in between the dog and T-Bone and the boxer jumped, growled and snapped wherever he saw an open spot. I just screamed at the guy to move his @ss over and get his dog...and it seemed like forever. Eventually I pushed the dog back with my leg, I was worried if I would kick him in his face, he'd start going at it harder.

It was strange... I always thought if a dog attacked T-Bone I'd kick the sh!t out of it...but my focus was just to be in between the dog and my dog... Even after the guy finally got his dog on a leash, I first checked on T-Bone...and made sure she was okay instead of yelling at the guy. She was still just sitting there... looking at me with her big brown eyes. The sun started to set, so I didn't have the best light, later at home I saw that she has a puncture on her cheek I cleaned it and put medicine on it. It broke my heart. WhenI turned around the guy- was gone. I think I know where he lives, because I think I saw his dogs running around in his yard...and I'll just try and go there today to give him a little bit of my anger.

Sometimes I wish my little T-Bone had more fire in her instead of just being this big teddy bear. I just ordered the Halt.

LOL Sharky, I'm not sure the community expects to have to dress for combat just to walk their dogs. The thought that they need weighted sticks just to take a walk with their responsibly leashed dog is not a good vision. Steel toe shoes in 100 degree heat could be a problem if not create a create a good deal of resentment. I weight 112 pounds. I have seen loose dogs that weigh more than I do. Kicking them with anything isn't going to help me much. If I could carry a gun, I would. And if I would, and I am a real animal lover, it is only a small sign of how angry the public at-large is getting.

i don't think i could ever kill a dog or break it's leg or anything like that unless it was already on my dog and biting or seemed like it had rabies or something. I know most of the roaming dogs in my area and could never bring myself to killing them unless i was certain i could not stop them quickly any other way. If it took one bite or serious snap and it's owner was not around then i would use halt or pepper spray or a stick.

ToscasMom, you can actually get some very nice looking shoes that still have the toes made out of steel. Typically designed for project managers who have to switch back and forth between meetings and job sites... but yeah at 112lbs I don't know if you could do enough damage to make the dog rethink it's course of action.
So you don't necesarily need to wear a big heavy boot. You can get pretty nice, well ventilated shoes taht still provide the steel toe.
And the weighted stick would primarily be a walking stick that in a pinch can be used as a weapon.
Most hiking sticks and walking canes have a weighted end or a knobby end to hold onto that would very easily double as a weapon.

When you take my suggestions out of the application I mentioned and look at them for the application they were designed... it doesn't seem so much like your dressing for combat... just using normal everyday items that should the need arise would work out fairly well.
Certainly wouldn't look as bad as carrying around a cattle prod (sorry, had to )

The guys is lucky it wasn't my dog that his dog attacked. He would still be washing pepper spray out of it's eyes....

LOL Sharky, you are a good sport. I somehow don't imagine too many people running home at lunch time and changing into their steel toes and grabbing their cattle prod for a quick walk with Sparky.

Chance and i get beset upon every once in a while by dogs who run at us full of spit and vinegar, hackles raised and teeth bared, i turn and walk double-time straight into them and Chance does the same, i don't say a word, and Chance doens't bark, but we glare as hard as we can. so far they've always changed their mind but i guess it helps if you're somewhat large, i'm a little over 6ft. and a smidge over 200 lbs. and Chance is 93 lbs. and somehow puffs up to look like he weighs 193 lbs. we can make quite a presence. i don't know if it would work out the same way if you are a smallish person with a small dog.

there's an older man that lives down the street from me who carries a golf club when he walks his boxer, that thing looks lethal.

Here's one for you. I'm 6' tall and about 250lbs and pretty strong from lifting weights regularly. I was playing with Gunnar in the yard, with a football. I went to kick the football, I was going to kick it as far as I could to the other side of the yard, so I gave it a mighty swipe. Gunnar jumped in front of me and took the full brunt of my kick right in the jaw. His tooth penetrated my shoe and made a nice bloody poke hole in my foot. It didn't phase him ONE bit. He chased after the ball and brought it back. I don't think he was even a year old when that happened. So, if a 250lb man can kick a German Shepherd puppy (he may have been 75-80lbs at the time) with a lot of force, and it doesn't cause the dog to even blink, I highly doubt a smaller woman would do any damage to a determined medium/large dog with a steel toed shoe.

Bobsk8 and Orion- maybe that woman was working on her short game with the iron? I've seen people walking with irons before, that would be a pretty good weapon against a lot of threats.

I don't take anything with me when I walk Gunnar. I'm thinking now that I should! One time a pair of English Bulldogs charged at me, Gunnar, and Bruzer. I put myself between the bulldogs and my guys, but it was pretty hectic with 4 dogs, 2 on leash. I should have dropped Gunnar's leash and picked up Bruzer but it happened pretty fast. Another time a couple poodles charged at Gunnar and I. They ran at him but stopped short when they realized how big he was and his bark was a little intimidating. I sorta lunged at them and yelled and by then the owner was trying to get them back, but they didn't listen. They followed us for a couple hundred feet, barking, but not coming too close after their initial rush. The only time I was really concerned was when a bully type dog saw us and came off it's porch and crossed the street to approach us. I wasn't familiar with the dog so I yelled "git" at him real loud and we kept moving. Luckily he didn't come any closer. When we returned from our walk he was still on the porch, he must have escaped and was waiting for his owner to come home and let him in. He was probably a good dog but I didn't want to trust a dog that could have potentially been dog aggressive.

I'd say that an important thing is to not shorten up the leash. When you shorten your leash though you may intend to do good by getting your dog out of the way it also means he cant move around to defend himself. 6ft is restriction enough, he doesnt need you to make that any shorter. Also its best to make a lot of noise and do what you can to get the dog off your dog.

I've been attacked *3* times in our new neighborhood, the worst time being by the 2 Sibes that worked as a team to distract me, than try to move in on my dogs.

At first,my reaction was unfortunately as Ren said not to, but shorten the leash, dog in each hand, yell a bit and flee. When that didn't work out, (all 4 dogs were nutz wild, Hades trying to protect, Roxy cowering into me unsure of what was going on, the other two loose dogs snapping and moving in one at a time) I decided to stop and make a stand....

Even though I had nothing to make a stand, I whipped them in the face with the leather leash, kicked one in the face, which put them at bay enough for me to get away and they decided to run off for a minute.

Now, we don't walk our dogs in our OWN neighborhood anymore. We drive 30 minutes to a conservation area where we rarely see anyone. Most of the people who take the time to go out there love their dogs, take care of them, and don't let them run around loose attacking other people.

But if, I hope it doesn't, but if it ever happens again, there's no way in hell I'm trying to leave first and allowing my dogs to get bit again. I'll punch, I'll kick, I'll do whatever I have to, to protect my dogs. If I have my bear mace with me, I'll mace them.

It sounds sad, but I would rather you think I'm a mean evil person with two safe, healthy dogs. Than I'm a nice person with two dogs torn to shreds.

You are not an evil person, you are just defending yourself and your dogs. I would do anything I could to protect myself and my dog and frankly I couldn't care less what happens to the attacking dog.

Yup you are so right Roxy, some people react with horror when someone even suggests the slight idea of kicking or fending off an attacking dog but why should I worry about someone else's dog's safety and health when they are clearing putting me and my own dog in danger???? I dont care who's dog it is or how much it is worth if it is clearly attacking and harming my dog I will jump in and do what I can. Now, if it is just a dog giving mine a stern correction because he messed up and deserved it? AND he may be screaming but is clearly not getting hurt my it (Nordic breeds are known for being drama queens) then no, I let dogs do their thing.