Dog attack when unarmed!

[mnchopper]

When I was a teenager my brother and I were walking up to the convience store about 4 blocks away two  med size dogs came out of nowhere at us as if they were going to attack, my brother turned and ran without thinking of running I took one step toward the dogs with my left foot and kicked as hard as I could with my right foot the dog flipped over and flopped on the ground and died not sure if I hit it in the neck or the chest the other dog turned and ran I remember shaking all the way home.

[Fort Knox]

I try for the 'don't be unarmerd' option.  If I'm walking my dog I'm locked and loaded.  We have some bad owners around here.  I have checked, it's legal to defend yourself against a dog.  I'm not gonna just shoot someone's dog, but it's an option.

Kyle

[OtisDriftwood]

+1 kick 'em

My grandparents used to have a neighbor who practically lived in a junk yard.  His enormous german shepherd mix, Bud, used to bite kids who walked by all the time.  One day he made the mistake of charging at me. Kicked him right in the throat like I was playing kickball.  He did a backflip, landed on his neck and died instantly.  I was the neighborhood hero.

I'd venture to say this is a better way than shooting, especially if you see them charging at you from a reasonable distance.

[soldier615]

As an owner of 2 dogs that go 42 and 50 plus pounds (and still growing), I think the best pieces of advice are as Ranger said, be armed, and as Heimdal said, push it off balance, and then do what ever else you need to do.  Dogs have a hunter/predator instinct and will chase if you run.  If a dog bites and grabs you, they will instinctively seek to take you down, usually by twisting their heads while using the leverage of their 4 legs and pulling with their hind legs.  Dogs have extremely hard heads and some breeds have very high pain tolerances.  Your going to have to cause it to believe that it will be seriously hurt or killed for it to back down.  Even a 40 lb dog is very strong if it is mad enough to attack.  Even with a gun, if the dog charges you, you may get only one shot off before it's on you, then you need to hope you can keep your composure enough to hang on to your weapon and shoot it at point blank range.  When I was in the MP's, I once was a training dummy for the working dogs.  Believe me, when that dog grabbed me, I was down and thought it was going to break my arms and legs when it was biting me, even though I was wearing protective padding.  Sad that many owners don't properly supervise or train their dogs and they become a problem.

[Fort Knox]

I have an update on this scenario.  I had previously mentioned that I carry my pistol when I walk the dog.  I was armed with my 1911 the other day out walking my old black lab.  She's 10 and her vision and other faculties definitely show their age lately.  Anyways, armed, alert, and paying attention to my surroundings as I usually do.

We were walking down an alleyway minding our business.  In Spokane a lot of the neighborhoods are built on the older design of a common alleyway and that is where everyone's garages are.  So I don't mean a narrow between buildings alley but rather a nice open space bordered on both sides by back yard fences.  This was a neighborhood not far from my own but not on my usual route.

All of a sudden a dog came bursting out from under a fence about 30 feet in front of us.  It was some kind of mix, definitely not the much maligned Pit Bull of everyone's nightmares, but some sort of large shepardish mix.  Very tall and very powerful.  He popped out from under the fence and came at us!  No BS here, he didn't even hesitate he just came right for me.

My lab stood her ground but backed up until she was up against my shins.  I never even had time to think about my sidearm, that dog was so fast.  I sidestepped my dog, so I wasn't behind her.  Lucky for me this dog chose the bull rush approach and didn't make any tricky moves.  I watched him in, like a baseball to a bat only in this case a dogs nose to my boot heel.

When he got close my lab hunkered her front legs down and braced for impact.  This dog had her by 40 pounds and she was still ready to rumble!  The combination of this and the fact that the dog was not coming at her, he wasn't charging the dog he was charging me, gave me the proper alignment and spacing to deliver a perfect boot to nose kick on the dog.  He went down hard, didn't knock him out but it definitely stopped him and left him wondering what just happened.

My dog was all over him once he hit the ground.  I used her leash to pull her away as I backed away from the dog.  About 20 feet back I stopped, wrapped my dog's leash around my hand until she was tight against my hip, and put my other hand on my pistol.  I didn't draw because the dog was still on the ground and not making any more moves towards us.  I didn't want a repeat of the attack and I wasn't gonna be at risk of injury.  If he got up and continued his attack he would have been met by .45 slugs and the afterlife.

Lucky for me the dog got up, shook his head, and slunk back into his yard.  He didn't even look back at us.  We got lucky I think, it could have gone a lot worse.  I really didn't want to shoot someones dog, in town, and have to deal with all the headache it would have caused.  I was ready to but luckily the dog wasn't overly committed to his attack.

So there you have it, attacked by a dog while armed and I ended up using my boot to solve the problem.  I learned a few things:

1. That dog was damn fast, I flat did not have the time to draw and fire.  I think that some people could have, but not me I'm not a pistolero.

2. I'm glad my dog reacted how she did but her instinct to be in front of me would have blocked my ability to kick if I had not stepped to the side.  This was the only reason I was able to deliver a solid blow.

3.  I didn't kick him like a football, uppercut style.  I kicked more like a jab with my heel the impact not only knocked hell out of him but it also halted his forward momentum.

Anyways, i remembered this thread and I thought I would offer my experience for others to learn from.

Kyle