I have never used a cattle prod for anything, so I have no idea how hard they shock, etc. But I saw one at TSC the other day and wondered if it would be a good idea for keeping aggressive dogs away on a walk.

I have been unsure about walking on our road because of the amount of dogs allowed to run free, and some aggressive. I have nothing against any particular breeds, being a rottweiler owner I like to give the benefit of the doubt to the dog, since it is the owners fault. But we have pitbulls in both directions, neither kept up, one aggressive to everything, one aggressive to dogs. They are both let out without supervision or a fence.

Right now I don't feel like I have anything that would be really effective if a dog came after us. I mean how much can I really do with a big stick(which I carry) while trying to control my dog who weighs almost as much as me. And I have found it is his desire to step in front of me when he feels like there is danger even while I am trying to step in front of him to protect him. Could be comical I guess if not serious.

Today we drove to the park and took a great walk, lots of people and dogs on a nice path. As we were loading in the truck, two more dogs were getting out of vehicles. A woman with a gorgeous and BIG german sheperd that close to outweighed her got out and as soon as that big boy saw the dogs on the path, he raised his hair and was off dragging her along on his nice flat collar. I really would have liked to talk to her, but she was off down the path with the dog. I cringed at the thought of them on the path with all those people and dogs and her with no control.

What I thought about is what it would have been if we had not gotten finished when we did. That is when I got to thinking about the cattle prod that I had seen at the store. Is this an option for a safe and effective deterrent for an aggressive dog? it has some reach and is light to handle, and it could be reached across your dog if needed to get to the other dog. I prefer a way to stop a dog that is not going to cause it some permanent harm if possible.

I remember beating on a dog once that had me by the arm and it was doing NOTHING. And I am thinking how ineffective my stick would be with a big dog in my other hand. if nayone has experience here, I would love to hear it. I know Ed doesn't list cattle prods as good options for carrying on a walk. Maybe it is just enough to cause an aggressive dog to attack? That is why I am asking before giving it serious consideration.

I can't say how effective they would be on a dog, but I can tell you that cattle are pretty thick skinned and it takes a pretty good jolt from an electric fencer to make an impression on them.

Both prongs need to contact the critter to get a good shock. They need fresh batteries, if they get damp they don't spark well. The are about as reliable as an old flashlight. Some models you need to actually press against the subject, which pushes back on the stick part, to really get a good jolt.
For cows, I'd say the initial reaction is surprise, but anger is another reaction.
I can't imagine using one on a dog, but if you did, it would never come near you again. The shock is substantial if the batteries are fresh.

I don't know if they are legal where you live. But, along the same line of thought, have you considered a stun baton? They are not really expensive, some are rechargeable, and some models also make a really loud noise. If you get one with the noise feature, you would need to be sure your dog was acclimated to it. You can google it to find many options.

We have electric fence, but not weedburner. It will give a pretty good jolt, especially when you grab it with the fence pliers and you think you've unplugged it but haven't. It wouldn't hurt anything, but it will hurt.

I wonder if all cattle prods are that "particular"? I am cow illiterate. Hmmm...

I'll check that out too, Mary.

 Quote: julie sloan

We have electric fence, but not weedburner. It will give a pretty good jolt, especially when you grab it with the fence pliers and you think you've unplugged it but haven't. It wouldn't hurt anything, but it will hurt.

I accidentally cut my electric rope fence today, when I grabbed the ends to splice them I got a pretty good jolt, fortunately the fence was still grounded in a couple places (besides me), so it wasn't the "shock the piss out of you" hot that it could have been.

 Quote: julie sloan

I wonder if all cattle prods are that "particular"? I am cow illiterate. Hmmm...

But you are not an illiterate cow, so everything is just fine.

Cute.

I did see that in Ed's article on breaking up a dog fight, he recommends NOT using a cattle prod, that it will make a dog fight harder. To keep a dog away before he gets to the fight, ???

There used to be 4 dogs at one house that would run out at you, even on the motorcycle. One tried to bite our leg once on the motorcycle. One big, the other three smaller. This was before my dog. (we don't pass that house yet with him along) ANyway, I got Really tired of it, the owner couldn't care less. So I brought a long riding crop and I let the leader, a medium size dog get right on me, and I halued off and whacked him on the shoulder as hard as I could.

His eyes got big as saucers, and all of them went back in the drive. After that, they would come running, see it was me, and come to a stop at the road, after I passed they would come out and sniff. There is only two left now, it turns out the big dog is so scared, she will pee herself and lay down on the road if you pet her(long story of how that came to be). The other dog is still stand-offish and aggressive.

I am afraid of being able to pull that off successfully again with the big stick AND him in my hand. SO we don't walk that way. It really makes me mad. I still walk with the long riding crop, but against a really bad dog, I don't think it would do much. ANd as we walk further, it is a crap shoot as to what we will come up on.

I truly don't know if I can teach him to not step in front of me if he thinks there is danger, since that is his natural instinct. Thoughts on this?

The last time I was being followed and harassed by a shibu inu, I kept Jethro and Skipper's leashes in one hand and swung them behind me. I have trained Jethro to take treats from my hand down low to my side, so I kept him in position by firing a few treats in that position. He stayed behind me while I circled to keep facing the shibu inu. I didn't have anything in my free hand (the one feeding treats) to ward off the dog and it was a pain trying to get away from it. Throwing treats on the ground did not work, it ignored them.

I have read on here of people using bear spray. Luckily, we don't have this problem as a frequent occurrence here.

I need to call leerburg about their bear spray. I looked at our local store and it was a container about 14" tall. Holy cow! I would need a shoulder strap to lug it along. I heard a lot about sprays blowing back in your face while you are trying to use it. Bear spray may be very different being geared for bears instead of dog pepper spray.

What's the deal with mace and legal problems?