Jenn:
quote:"I don't want people to think I go around in a world full of happy dogs. I've met up with plenty of dogs like the one you mentioned. But MY POINT is that though it was exciting, and inappropriate behavior from the other dog, and the homeowners shouldn't have allowed the dog out, NO DAMAGE WAS DONE. By you on the oncoming dog, or it on you or your dog. And THAT is the kind of dog/dog meeting I am more familiar with. And why using a whip, gun, whatever is generally a bit more than needed for these circumstances" endquote
Jenn, you are giving out atrocious advice here. I'm happy for you that you have never met a dog driven enough to attack you or your (unleashed) pack by itself. That's good. I'm happy that you have such a perfect understanding of dogs that you never have and never will have a problem with other loose dogs. Good for you. And lucky for your dogs. However, for you to act like anyone who IS willing to accept the reality that it's possible to avoid problems with all loose dogs and for you to imply that anyone who does "hope for the best but prepare for the worst" by carrying a weapon of some sort to protect their dogs is some sort of pea brained scared to death idiot is just wrong. Not everyone walks more than one dog at a time and one dog is more likely to be attacked than an unleashed pack like yours.

Reading all these posts, it seems that nearly all of us have had some experiences with aggressive dogs. My friendly young male has been bitten on the nose by one dog, with no advanced warning that I saw, and he seemed surprised too. Another time, a small dog suddenly wernt for him, and afterwards, the owner appologized and said that her dog doesn't like shepherds! I politly pointed out that in that case, she should have leashed him when I approached, or at least warned me. Fortunately, my dog was never really injured, and he is still friendly, but I am becoming more conservative all the time about who I let him interact with. I know that some owners allow their dogs to run free, even after their dog has injured another dog. When I see those dogs I walk away. As the owner of one friendly and one aggressive dog, I have little sympathy for that kind of behavior.

"However, for you to act like anyone who IS willing to accept the reality that it's possible to avoid problems with all loose dogs "
Whoops, I meant "that it's not always possible to avoid problems with all loose dogs"

A while back I was walking my 4 month old pup in my neighborhood and I passed by a house with 4 unnuetered male boxer/bullmastiff mixes around 100 lbs each. They were behind a 5 foot chain link fence and when they saw him they got real nasty and started fighting with one another. I crossed the street and kept on walking - got about 150 yards away.

Before you know it one of them got over the fence and came barreling at us full speed in complete aggression. I pulled the pup behind me, wound up, and kicked him in the head as hard as I could. This stunned him for about a half a second and he stopped and was a few feet from us. I stood my ground and yelled NO at him continually.

He came again and I kicked him again as hard as I could. This caused him to stay a feet from me barking, snarling and foaming at the mouth. I continued to yell no at him. Finally, he headed back towards his house but when he got back his fellow dogs were barking crazily and this got him fired up again so he turned around and came running at us again. I continued with the "No's" until finally the owner came out, didn't say a word grabbed her dog and brought her back.

About a 1/2 hour after the adrenaline rush wore off I realized I broke my ankle on the dog's skull. Small fracture - chipped a little piece off. Called animal control but they are 30 minutes away on the highway and will only come if the dogs is loose when you call.

I have no doubt the dog would have done serious damage to my pup. I no longer walk anywhere near this house but I do drive by it and I have never once seen these dogs being walked. Also, the backyard where they are kept is tiny.

Your experience is exactly the kind of experience I know can eventually happen to me. I know for a fact I would have not been able to do the damage that you did with your kicks. I would have surely needed a weapon with this dog. Do you carry anything with you (seems you don't need to) BUT what if more than one dog got out. You and your poor dog were so lucky he was the only one that ran after you.

What kind of dog do you have?

I know all too well what you mean about the adrenaline rush covering up an injury. Having done martial arts for 5 years, I've gotten fingers broken and my shins or ankles badly bruished later but I didn't know it at the time during a very hard core sparring match. God help a truly psycho dog that goes after me or someone break into my house. I'd probably give them a swift kick to the head and then the ribs and then step back and let my dogs mop up. My husky/Rott especially is very scary looking when he's agitated (mods, please pardon the pic, but those husky blues in a wrestling match with my Malinois are something to see):



http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/5056/chase43qv.jpg