I would think that the cattle sorting stick would be your best option. Fiberglass, light, strong, handle like a golf club. Cheap. They are available in a long size and a shorter size.

Best to find a route where you do not need draconian weapons of mass destruction

BTW a cattle prod hits really really hard, but you do not want to get caught with your pants down with the wrong dog. Best defense is to avoid environments where walks are not fun but a survival game.

Faisal, I completely agree, but I wonder where that is in this area? In the winter we walk on our own land, but that is still a crap shoot since it borders on the properties where dogs run loose. I am pitbulled in either direction when I leave the house, and so far I haven't been to a park that I haven't at least once ran into a loose dog.

I think the country mentality where i live seems to be it is ok to let a dog be free. Don't get me wrong, I would never live anywhere but the country, but the loose dog thing, and AC that couldn't care less is frustrating at best. I never want to seriously hurt or kill a dog to protect me or my dog, and I know most dogs don't need the superhuman measures used against them,but some do and I would rather give it a shock that would make it pee itself rather than do it permanent harm.

Do you know that we even had a dog charge us at the vets office the other day, leaving through the prking lot, and the lady opened her door and out comes her dog and in literally two seconds was there. My dog stepped in front, again, and he just stood still while the other dog sniffed his neck and I got around him reach the other dog, while the owner came running over and oh I'm so sorry. And I was stupidly enough completely caught off guard.

That was when I realized I truly need to have a thought ahead plan and now what I am going to do in a situation when it arises. Not that I will have bear spray or a cattle prod at the vets office, but a plan, yes.

Julie, I think a plan and thinking about all possible scenarios is your best defense.

I’m often walking 3 dogs (two very powerful). The two young ones (2 and 3) don’t have dog aggression/reactiveness (the older one either but it’s truly my job to protect him, he stumbles on blades of grass). They’ve been socialized to ignore other dogs and walk calmly by my side.

When we encounter loose dogs I don’t allow any fixation and try to limit their eye contact on the approaching dog. I as well, will ignore and leave well enough alone unless the dog gets right up to us.

 Quote: Julie Sloan

it turns out the big dog is so scared, she will pee herself and lay down on the road if you pet her…. The other dog is still stand-offish and aggressive.

It takes two dogs to tangle regardless of who the aggressor is. Dogs displaying this type of behavior can often instigate an attack by a more confident dog, perhaps even the one at the end of our leash.

If they’re getting up close and personal (depending on the approach), I stop my dogs and put them in a stay as I step forward and loudly yell at the owners to “GET YOUR DOG UNDER CONTROL”. I also try not to focus on the dog and direct any assertiveness to the owners or house/direction they are coming from as I use my feet to keep the offending animal at bay.

 Quote: Julie Sloan

One tried to bite our leg once on the motorcycle.

Aggressively approaching dogs are often in a prey type mode. The motorcycle chase is not that unusual, but calm dogs under control of a confident leader generally don’t spark the same kind of attack, at least not in my experience.

 Quote: Julie Sloan

I am afraid of being able to pull that off successfully again….

It really makes me mad.

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.

I believe their natural instinct is to follow or react on ours. And you’re so right about not knowing what we are going to encounter. It may be these two dogs today and tomorrow may hold three different dogs, a bear, a cat, etc.

Often we hear that dogs being walked “off leash” don’t have the same aggressive approach to others they encounter. They’re allowed to act naturally without the influence of their “leader” who may be scared, mad, unsure, frustrated, etc, etc.

It was interesting, I actually got quite scared in a situation recently. The minute that adrenaline hit my stomach or whatever it does, Vince lit up and wanted to take care of the offender. In order to calm him down, I needed to calm myself first.

Turns out the bear, about 50 feet away, just wondered off. But when it stood on its hind legs (just to get a better read on us I’m sure) it did scare me. We see bears all the time and the boys ignore them and they ignore us, in fact, much like your big offending dog, they are actually more afraid of us than we of them (in most cases). Having heard about two recent bear attacks I’m sure was playing in the back of my mind.

And sure, there’s nothing like a weapon of some sort to instill a bit of confidence in us and give us an edge where our own defense may be limited. However, I do believe that true courage and control comes from within and that our dogs are, for the most part, reacting to fear, anger, insecurities, etc that we are projecting as we encounter the known or unknown on our walks.

I don’t think it’s unreasonable to ask our dogs to take the higher road and calmly deal these interactions but more importantly, we need to be good role models.

I now load the dogs in the car and take a 5 to 10 minutes ride to the village. That fixed of the free running dog chaseing issues. We also have one big/giant mutt that will get any dog that walk infront of its land, either side of the street.

CJ, lots of good insight there. I am nervous, even though I am trying to get over it. I have had run-ins with neighborhood dogs alone, and not with a dog. Now I have a dog who is soooo friendly with every dog he meets, LOVES them. inadvertantly taught him every dog is a game when we hauled him off to puppy classes. We have gotten him out of that mode mostly with people, but still he just wants to get to that other dog. We are working hard to get over that, and i see great improvement. it is friendly interest, thank goodness. But when the other dog is not friendly, and there are more than our share in our neighborhood, but with the young people who are in and out of jail and think that they need a pitbull to be tough, it is a sad situation for the dog.

But back to the point at hand. I am trying to build more confidence, and that is one reason for the cattle prod ?. I think as long as I know I cannot really protect him form an attackc by one of these dogs, then I will be nervous. it will be a process of the work we are doing, to teach him to override his instinct to protect me, and to stay in position I put him in no matter what. he is a confident dog right now, at 22 months he is happy go lucky, and he has not had a bad dog experience.

I feel very uneducated in dog dog interactions. And I don't want my unease to be picke dup by him, and for him to start thinking that other dogs are something to be suspicious of.

I can believe that the bear would have made a little bit of adrenaline happen. :-)

A half inch x 2.5 or 3 foot PVC pipe is an exceptional deterrent too and costs about a buck or so, definitely something to consider. You do not have to coordinate targeting a CP and hitting the button in the right combination. Although with a little practice a CP is a formidable weapon indeed (allows you to keep 2 feet of distance). This here is a lil gem too for up close and personal (if legal in your area).
http://www.stungunsupply.com/sf5000rb-small-fry-stun-gun.html

 Quote: Julie Sloan

I can believe that the bear would have made a little bit of adrenaline happen. :-)

Ahhh… trust me, it’s wasn’t “a little” adrenaline, it was actually a lot. Enough that the surge through me caused Vince to react from about 5 feet away.

And like I said, we spot bears all the time, (Interior of British Columbia) generally a very long way off though, grazing and eating berries. And we generally don’t head in their direction without making a heck of a lot of noise. This one was just right there.

The boys all got bells for their collars.

But you know Julie, I think posting here, and really thinking about and planning what you’re going to do and being prepared both physically and mentally (not to mention all the great gadgets recommended) will really help you to get that nervousness in check.

I know it’s one of the toughest things but couldn’t be truer and that is that although we need to act, we also need to remain calm in urgent and emergency type situations. It does no body any good to panic and can often make things worse.

Best of luck to you, it sounds like a scary neighborhood. I think I'd rather take my chances with the bears.

be careful with pepper spray. I cannot tell you how many people have shown up to Krav maga class telling stories of how they tried to use pepper spray against an attacker, only to have it backfire, or unphase them.

Jeffery is correct about pepper spray - it takes some practice to master it and I highly recommend getting additional inert units of the spray type that you carry to practice with several times.

Also, pepper "spray" has evolved, the best versions are now a pepper "foam", which are easier to use during wind, etc.

Cold Steel has several short training videos on the use of pepper foam, I'd recommend taking a gander at them:
http://www.coldsteel.com/pepper-spray.html