A rib spreader is a surgical tool (officially). Maybe Howard is talking about several metal prong things on the end of the stick? Unless it's cop slang for some cool tool.

definitely check out the thread that was linked a few posts ago.

i bought a really nice collapsible aluminum baton from the officerastore.com and it works nicely. i have yet to run across that heeler again...maybe calling animal control get the owners to keep the dog in the back yard.

i would hate to break that dog in half with the baton, but i will if i have to...

Back in the day we were issued 3 foot long batons of about 1 1/4 inch diameter. On each end of the baton there is a steel ball about the size of a med size marble. The ball was meant to poke aggressive persons in the ribs. 9 times out of 10 it stopped them cold. One hard jab with that and a dog will run screaming.

I have an ASP baton like the one shown by by Sarah. They do pack quite a wallop and have somewhat of a rib spreader on the end. I can tell you from experience that if it is not aggressively deployed (set) before striking, it WILL collapse. I have fought many people with these and most of the time it works, but an animal has about the same type of pain tolerance as a guy on meth so you better swing for the fences.

Howard

I can see why it's called a rib spreader. I always wondered about the collapse potential on those batons, glad you explained to set it first.

What you said about an animal's tolerance to pain is what I suspected, and is why I don't carry a baton - not enough physical strength to use it effectively. I carry pepper foam and pepper spray.

One thing to cultivate is a deep loud growly yell. There aren't usually loose dogs around here, so I've only used it once. The dog was a 1/2 block away and it turned and ran back to its owner's house. My friend looked at me with a horrified expression and said "You sound like a man!" LOL.

It won't do diddly if you're surprised or there is more than 1 loose dog, but I'd like to avoid being in a situation where a loose dog is close enough to mine that I would want to use pepper spray.

I agree that sometimes a loud yell or other noise such as a growl might work in some situations but I have to say that the 3 times I yelled at an approaching dog, it only served to make my pup sense a threat and made him bark and lunge. So I stopped doing that. It didn't work on the loose dogs either. Unfortunately, it seems nothing much works with a determined dog so I carry pepper foam.

Fortuneatly none of the dogs were hurt, well, actually the one that got punched in the ribs might have been but we haven't heard anything from him about his dog. He's actually one of my neighbors down the street. I don't think he had his dogs out intentionally because he was telling his kid "Get them back in the yard!! Go, on get back there!!" I think the kid is the one that let the dogs out, probably opened the gate and they all rushed out and the poor kid couldn't control the situation. The whole time he was saying "I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry". Not doing anything to help the situation but still he said he was sorry. There is no doubt that he knows it was his fault and not ours. We were all leashed and we tried to warn him. My husband was mad and said "That's what they make leashes for!" Although, I really don't think the situation warranted leashes because I don't think they were supposed to be out. In the meantime, anytime Levi sees another dog he sounds off. Is this something I should be concerned about? Maybe I should be taking him to Petsmart more and reprimanding him when he barks at other dogs? I'm not sure if what he did was right and whether I should allow him to continue to sound off when he sees other dogs. Come to think of it, he sounded off this morning when we were playing ball when my neighbor came out of his house. Good thing I had a long lead on him or he would have bulleted right for the guy. Still, I took him over to the neighbor so he could meet him I don't need my neighbor getting bit in the morning. As soon as I took him over there and told him it was okay he acted like, okay, I don't care who you are or anything about you now, I just wanted to check you out. I'm starting to wonder what is acceptable behavior for a dog that I DO want people to be watchful of but don't want to be unneccessarily aggressive towards. I'd welcome any comments.

btw, I did put myself between the dogs and tried to run the dog off with a stern voice but with three of them there was just no way I could have done anything to disuade them. They acted like they didn't even see me or my husband, they only had eyes for the dogs. Honestly, I think the only thing that would have made any difference was pepper spray. I'm going to be carrying it from now on when we go on walks and if any dogs get close they are getting a good dose of it. I'll deal with the owners after that. We went camping and this one dog was lunging on his leash to try and get at Levi. The owner just kept saying.."oh that's just his way of saying Hi, he just wants to play.

Edited by RobbinMann (04/24/2007 02:30 PM)
Edit reason: more to say is all, lol

Get the retractable baton. My husband ordered one for me over the "net." After numerous encounters with loose dogs charging us, and their clueless, bozo owners, enough is enough.
Last time, I had to kick the #&*!! out of 2 large labs that aggressively charged us. The jerk owner was pissed that I cursed him!! He really missed the point.
The baton is easy and unobtrusive to carry, and expands/locks with the stong flick of the arm/wrist.

I find I really have to be proactive to avoid putting myself/my dog in dicy situations. But "you know what," still happens.

Good luck!

Linda

I have an idea... get a big ass pit bull. When the suckers come near he'll break 'em in half. End of story. (just kidding)

enrique

For those depending on Mace/pepper spray. Human mace does not work on dogs. They have different mucus membranes. The mace must be specially formulated to affect dogs. Just thought I'd clarify that for those that didn't know.

Howard