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Fear- or anxiety-based weapon carry without the benefit of confidence and discrimination is a really bad idea (hopefully no one here on this board disagrees with that).

Not really interested in comparing past experiences around assault or personal feelings about weapons carry, etc. The basic right to be Chuck Norris on a dog walk is fine if that's your thing and if you are a cool cat like Chuck Norris. Or not. It's a mostly free country.

What I'm saying here re: to sound judgement is 100% correct and has nothing to do with what you do or don't do on your walks...I'm referring to the original poster's situations and the specific words he has used to convey his experiences and his feelings. Weapons should not be a substitute for basic head groundwork. They are a poor substitute for real confidence and an understanding of how one's mind works and how one responds, physically and mentally, to dramatic situations. My "advice" to him wasn't intended to be generalized...

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I I live in rual TN we have tons of loose dogs of every breed and mix. I walk my dogs and its not uncommon to come across pits, labs and gsd.

FWIW, I'd probably carry something in this type of situation. We had a few feral dog packs in rural Oklahoma where I grew up, I hear you. Lots of rouge Chows and bullys and everything else, it was quite dangerous to go on dog walk. Had a bull charge my little Shetland Sheepdog once. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Not sure what I would have done if it would have got through the fence.

Well, actually, I'm pretty sure I would have ran like hell and been in the market for a new dog. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

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Woody, Hayley is a woman.

I'd give the same unqualified advice if Hayley was an Olympic-caliber male wrestler.

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I point this out because that is a main reason for my position on weapons, both generally speaking and specifically to her and her situation.

Then you and I will have to agree to disagree on our unqualified perspectives and perhaps Hayley will correctly go to other sources before she does anything.

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Then you and I will have to agree to disagree on our unqualified perspectives and perhaps Hayley will correctly go to other sources before she does anything.

Well said!

<img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

That's a horrible experience you had with the AB and your fear is certainly justified. When I moved to the area I live now, I had never really seen any bull breeds, and when I finally did here, I was deathly afraid. I'd never even had a bad experience with them... How I overcame that was by getting one. Now I'm not afraid of them anymore. I'm not at all saying you should get one to overcome your fear, especially in light of the Florida tragedy, but maybe you can find someone who owns them that you could spend time with. Looking for someone normal with them is going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack though <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> To date, in real life, I still haven't seen more than maybe one half way normal person that owns them. Maybe it's just where I live, I don't know.

Now I'm deathly afraid of rottweilers and I can't picture myself overcoming that fear. When I see one or more I get the same adrenaline feeling as you described, and it's accompanied by light headedness. <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> Whenever I read that when a dog approaches you, you should step in front of your dog, I think that if it's a rottweiler I will be hiding behind my dog <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />

Every time I see a bully in my neighborhood, and I don't see many, the owners are a mix. Definately some young and some that appear to be well established and responsible. Appearances don't account for much though, it is all about knowing what kind of dog you own, training it and being prepared for what you can. Like I said the owner of the staff that attacked me seemed normal enough but her husband a small annoying man got that got a pit bull for all the wrong reasons. Don't get me wrong I work in a city right next to Philly and I see my share of young tough guys letting their pit bulls drag them all over...how that makes you look tough I am not sure, more like makes you look weak to me.

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.....Okay, sharks, but they don't count. They're not walking around.....Arm-chair psychologists welcome - ....

Man, I'm with you on the sharks, ever since the book (and then the movie really put a big exclamation point on it) "Jaws." That Peter Benchley...... I knew someone who was afraid of swimming pools for a while after that movie.

So............ my daughter works with Out of the Pits, and I have a friend (a trainer) who rehabs abandoned Pits who have (apparently) been involved in gang-related pit-fighting. Many have to be put down; some do not. All (IMO) were victims of a very skewed mentality about entertainment.

I'm with Woody here. Your horrendous experience would have damaged the psyche of anyone I know. Fear, even maybe unreasonable fear, is probably not misplaced here.

But you're suffering here. Terror is not a state you want to want to spend a lot of time in. I would absolutely see my primary and get therapy recommendations. Then I would discuss with the therapist whether desensitizing is appropriate. I would consider this to be vitally important. Arming my nervous (terrified) self with a deadly weapon would be something I'd *want* to do, but something I'd think twice and more times about until I could discuss the whole thing with a professional.

Until that appointment, I'd keep carrying the pepper spray and *especially* stay away from the dogs who trigger you (as you're doing).

All JMO. I feel very sympathetic, and I hope you can get the right help to face and deal with the scars from your awful experience.

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.................I'm with Woody here.............

And keep in mind that he's the one who refers to one of my dogs as a "dog-like animal." <img src="http://www.leerburg.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> So I don't say "I'm with Woody" all that often!