Aggressive dog Charges...What do you do ?? - Page 3

I have had many run ins with dogs coming towards me as if to atack.  Some in their own yards as I was in foot pursuit of criminals and some just during the normal course of life, like walking down an inner city sidewalk or strange dogs coming onto my property after one of my dogs in heat, in a kennel.  Most will stop in their tracks if you just do not retreat and face them.  However, where I used to live, my neighbors dog, a Blue Heeler, went after everyone near his property.  We lived on a dead end street and we did not have fences between our properties.  This dog would attack me almost on a daily basis and I knew he was coming and beat feet into my house before he got there.  He caught me once and nipped at my pants leg.  Funny thing was, my wife would yell at him to stop when he was going after her, and he would.  Never worked for me though.  Someone else in the neighborhood shot that dog in the neck, but he lived.  "Zeb" was a little more mellow after that.  He almost killed my chihuahua once.  I didnt want to start a mess with my neighbor, so I went to the dog pound and got a Mastiff x Boxer cross, and the Heeler stayed out of my yard after that.  That was years ago.

My opinion is that most dog bites are fear bites.  Many are bites gotten when trying to stop two dogs from fighting.  Due to the thousands of years that man has shared his home, food, property and life with canines, I believe that there is a special kinship between dogs and mankind, that does not exist between mankind and any other animal.  Even those animals that are supposedly "closer" to us genetically, such as chimpanzees, etc..   As in human conflict, there are many arguments (read: barking), and few actual fights (percentage wise), and it is comparable to dogs barking and charging, number wise.  I recently heard on the radio that the average couple argues approximately 182 times a year.  Very few spouses get hit (read: bit) often.  The number of dog "charges" is probably similiar to the human conflicts.  I don't know if I am explaing this well, but in short:  dog vs human conflict is comparable to human vs human conflict, percentage wise, if you relate a bite to a punch.  Having said that, I think that humans probably "lead" percentage wise.   IMO.

Let me clearify, we were on vacation, didn't know this dog lived there, didn't hear a dog or see one. My daughter was outside playing with her 4 yr old step brother and about 6-7 other kids. Baseball in the street. I was getting dressed and ready to take the kids to a baseball diamond. This is a mountain community, very narrow zig zagging streets. Everybody knows everybody. My mother in law had the keys to every house on her street. We stayed in one right next door to the people who owned the dog that bit my daughter. MInd...this was a 80+# dog. Had we known there was a dog my daughter wouldn't have gone near it. She was 11 at the time but a dog person non the less. She knows better and would have asked an adult. I believe these people knew the dog was this way (he had bit a friend of my mother in laws the day before on the knee, attacked 3 dogs, and just was a royal pain in everyones rear, growling and charging at people/pets.) Why this wasn't brought up before my kid got bit was beyond me. A dog like that should be behind a fence, but they were just renting (booh hoo) not even suppossed to have a dog, after speaking with the lanlord. I heard later they built a fence and still had the dog. If I lived closer I would have fought that one to the death!

I wouldn't have said anything to the owner because my daughter was on the dogs territory but when she came unglued and was screaming like her kid got attacked, I got a little in her face. She didn't say she was sorry or show concern for my daughter. Just ranted and raved, "nobody was going to take her dog or put it down". Nobody had even said anything like that, at that point. My husband at the time, went over to get the dogs paperwork, to confirm shot records and to see the dog. The woman wouldn't show him the dog or provide paperwork. She left me no choice but to call animal control. LOL They were closed on Thanksgiving. Sherrif came instead, told us if we saw the dog lose we could shoot it. Never saw the dog myself. I had to rely on my daughter and neighbors descriptions.

They let her keep the dog at home for quarintine, I guess she showed the LEO the dog had his rabies vac. We never went back to visit! So Cal is EVIL! LOL

I have had two bites, neither of which broke the skin. My aunt had a mixed breed Collie named Sailor that would get you from behind. This dog cornered me in the stable one day, and I slowly backed towards the ladder to the loft. As soon as I turned to climb the ladder, BANG! He nailed me. Just a bad bruise and the top layer of skin scraped raw. And I never went in the stable again unless his owners were with me.

The second one happened when I was jogging down our street. Our neighbour had let his Yorkie dog and bitch out while he was washing his car. I never saw the male until his teeth were fasten on my ankle. Gave me a good scare until I saw what it was... li'l ankle biter indeed! I don't blame him for protecting his turf, just the dumb owner for letting them off leash.

Echo--

Your description of how you deal with a charging dog shows you do not have much experience with very hard/dominant dogs. Many of the dogs I have worked with would hurt you very bad if you did this.

Can you please get off this?

GARD  that was kinda the point,  I do AC for the most part  NO I AM NOT AN ACTUAL ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICER,  But the work I do equates to it,  and the dogs I am dealing with are the dogs the LE's don't want to deal with but I don't have to shoot them,  they are "common dogs"  YOUR RIGHT GARD they are not dogs with any hardness, or training,  I would never be so dumb to approach a "trained" or even a confident dog with this type of mannerism.

But the point is that these LEO's are MOST often dealing with "common dogs" not dogs with alot of confidence or "hardness" about them,  I have yet to meet a street dog who has had the confidence to finish the charge they started when I meet them with the above description.  AND THAT WAS THE POINT.

GARD I am being polite and will ask if you care to not participate that's fine but why would ask me to "get off this"   if you dont' want to be part of it don't participate I won't get upset with you for it.

"But the point is that these LEO's are MOST often dealing with "common dogs" not dogs with alot of confidence or "hardness" about them.."

Dope dealers and other criminals don't usually keep yorkies and poodles guarding their property, Echo.  In fact, they like to keep dogs that are as mean and nasty as possible, that will bite anything and anyone who enters their territory.  Why?  Because fighting off a bad dog can deter someone at least long enough for the criminal to escape, dispose of evidence, or locate a weapon to use against whoever is trying to gain access.  That's the type of dog cops deal with on a daily basis in some areas, not your average pet dog.  I disagree with your statement except with respect to cops working in very low-crime areas.  That certainly isn't true for big city cops.

Diane,  Actually that's a good point and I agree TOTALLY !!  In Fact those types of dogs that would bite "anything" should be beng removed by ACO before the LEO ever gets to the point of a warrant,  "Dangerous Dog" Ordianances are in place in "MOST" big city's and areas of high crime rate,  So why are these dogs still on the property ???   That "TYPE" of dog should have been removed from the property,  

It's the common dogs we are discussing here for the most part the "Family" dog is the one being shot by LEO by "MISTAKE"  I'm not defendig the drug dealers Vicious pit bulls here 

 I'm defending the peeing one in the bathroom that was executed in a home filled with children the oldest was 14. 

 I'm defending the one that was tied up in the back yard,  and was executed over a "Minor" warrant (hense he served it alone), 

 I am defending the one who was shot by State Patrol when the dog exited the vehicle wagging it's tail,  while family was in handcuffs because Dad left his wallet on the hood and lost all his cash and they had "thought" they had robbed someone. 

 I'm defending the dog that was shot inside it's home in front of the 4 yr. old daughter because that idiot did not look at the #'s on the house RIGHT NEXT TO THE DOOR.

Although personally I'd rather see LE shoot the drug dealers,  Poor dog did not ask for his position there...

And this brings to mind the question of what would your dog do?  I believe there was a post similar to this some months back regarding if someone approached your vehicle while you and your dogs were there.

My question is, do you know if YOUR dogs would complete the charge with a bite or back down to someone standing their ground?  Interesting thought.  I'm not quite sure what mine would do but, I believe she would back down but be very perturbed.