posted 11-29-2003 05:07 PM         

Several times I have been walking and seen a dog that got loose from their yard. We have managed to avoid all of them until tonight. We were walking along, and it was very dark. Suddenly a mass of barking fur comes tearing out of the dark at us. Fortunately it was only a Beagle, but I have no desire to be bitten even by a Beagle.

I considered dropping the leash, but I was afraid they would take off after each other. I crossed the street, but the Beagle came with us. Nala was not being aggressive back. So I figured I am pack leader, and I put myself between Nala and the Beagle, stomped my feet and yelled at it, told it to go home, told it NO, told it whatever came to mind. It finally did decide to go back across the street, and we went a safe distance before crossing back.

What if it is something like a German Shepherd or a Rottweiler next time? What do I do?

posted 11-29-2003 07:37 PM         

Just some ideas.

Or you can use curry powder instead of chilli. Both work quite good.

posted 11-29-2003 11:20 PM         

quote:

---

carrying a small bat sounds like a good idea too

---

This is something I've been doing some checking into lately, since irresponsible owners and loose dogs abound here, and with 3 dog aggressive dogs (none walked together, but still), things can go bad pretty quickly when a stray dog wanders up and insists on harassing us.

So far, I haven't found any one thing that I like. I walk the four less dog aggressive dogs during the day (of the two dog aggressive ones there, one can be picked up, the other is only aggressive in certain situations, which I can usually avoid), but take Goo late at night (usually between 11pm and 3am), when there's less chance of running into people with their dogs out, etc. I walk a route that I know has few dogs that ever run loose, but there's always the unexpected. Last time I took Goo out, we ended up running a mile and 1/2 home after 3 loose dogs (lab x, GSD x, and a black dog I couldn't make out) started trotting towards us, hackles up, then stopped and stood about 20 ft away, growling. I shoo'ed them far enough away that we could get moving, but they continued to follow at about 100 yds distance, so we kept up a brisk pace. It infuriates me that my dog and I have to run home after being acosted by a pack of ranging dogs; that these people care so little for their dogs that they allow them to roam like that; and that I can't walk my leashed, UNDER CONTROL dog at 2:00 in the morning without having to act as referee in order to keep THEIR dogs safe.

They are by FAR not the only dogs in the neighborhood who are allowed to run loose or out of control... there is an older woman who has an old lab and a younger lab x, both of which she allows to run loose (she tags along, but has no control over where they go and what they do)... the lab x put on a pretty impressive "show" one day when she asked me if I could help her catch him, and I held out my hand and called him, he also hackles up and barks at kids waiting at school bus stops, and has gotten into a few fights during his wanderings. This same woman has also told me on numerous occasions that our APBTs are dangerous, and that she won't walk by our house anymore because we have them. Yet it's perfectly fine for her dogs to run amuck, and I'm supposed to feel GUILTY because she can no longer let them run past our house!?!?

Then there's the AB around the block from us, his owner walks him on a harness, and the dog LITERALLY drags him down the street. He let him loose one day while I had Haley in the field on a long lead, and I had to snatch her up to keep from having a fight. It took the owner (who was CARRYING a muzzle... if you feel have to carry one, I think it needs to be ON the dog!) at LEAST 3 minutes to finally get the dog's nose out of her crotch and pull him away, then he tied him with a tiny piece of cord, which the dog broke when we were halfway down the field, running back up to us again. Goo and I passed them once on our walk, the dog was scambling at the street, trying to pull the guy over to us, and the guy had to stop and wrap the lead around a mailbox pole to keep the dog from dragging him. Again, my dog and I had to yield to someone else and their out of control dog, we walked down an old driveway and waited until they passed. The dog has been in 3 or 4 fights in the 6 months they've lived here(all accidents), I don't want one of our dogs to be #5.

Then on the homefront, we have one neighbor that lets their GSD x out to go to the bathroom (and roam, and harass us) several times a week... another a bit down the street with an intact lab x who they let out to "go for a walk" and who growls at kids and other people he comes across, advancing on them threateningly (this, BTW, is the dog I mentioned who rolls over for belly rubs, then postures over people who kneel down when he's nearby).... another who lets their human/dog aggressive Shar-Pei and lab run loose, DESPITE my asking them numerous times to keep the dogs in their yard, for their own good. The shar-pei has backed me through the yard, growling on more than one occasion, the lab has snipped at others, and both have tried to or succeeded at attacking our dogs on numerous occasions. They've also wiped out the native waterfowl in surrounding yards, and their owner brags about how they've killed several peoples' cats.

Calls to AC have done nothing.. they say that unless an "incident' occurs, they can't do anything (yeah, nevermind the leash law...). Trying to talk to the people never gets far, no matter how we go about it. That leaves dealing with each dog as it comes, and trying to keep both our dogs and theirs safe.

Anyway, sorry for that little (yeah, right) rant, now to get back on topic. How I handle the situations depends on which dog I have with me, and what type/size dog is approaching us. If I have one of the small dogs, I usually just pick them up if I see any loose dog headed our way. If Haley (around 55 lbs, dog aggressive in some situations, ok in others, she also gives good warning before she "goes"), I'll usually let her stay on the ground, and just watch her and try to stay between her and the other dog. With Goo (55 lbs, dog aggressive in most situations outside, but she's also pretty well controlled), some dogs won't even try to approach, I guess the combination of her (she's pretty dominant around other dogs, and makes no secrets about it) and me (by then, mad about yet another loose dog) is enough to ward them off . If it's a small dog, bent on attacking her, I just pick her up, keeps her from getting snipped at, keeps them from getting hurt. If it's a small dog just trying to check her out, most can be "shoo'ed" away, if not, I pick her up. Big dogs, I just try to keep between her and them, and do my best to get them to go away, if not, keep Goo close and do whatever it takes to keep them out of range. I refuse to pick her up and let a large dog take pot shots at her legs and belly, and since I'm barely 5' tall, even lifting her over my shoulders wouldn't keep her out of many dogs' reach.

For scaring dogs away, I've been sampling various things, from those airhorns you keep on boats to signal with, to lemon juice and/or vinegar sprayed (Just in a cheap suirt bottle), but since I'm not testing on my own dogs, and haven't had any cases yet (hopefully it'll be a long while before we do) of a dog being determined to get to us, it's hard to say what's best in those situations. There's also a citronella foam spray on the market that's supposed to work well, I haven't tried it. And of course, if it's legal in your area, pepper spray will repel a good number of dogs, though it appears to only make some angry, and if it blows back on you or your dog, you'll be in trouble. Some people carry an umbrella, and open it if a loose dog approaches, hopefully the dog will be spooked enough that they'll stop their approach. I do feel bad about the idea of using these things on dogs, when it's not really the dogs' fault they're able to cause trouble, but better that than to get into a fight, and I can't have an aggressive dog attacking one of ours, because I was too "nice" to stop them.