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USPS dog spray on Amazon. Non lethal alternative, works like a charm.

I love dogs. With the popularity of pit bulls and bad owners being a common theme I much prefer .45acp over pepper spray. Personal choice of course.

While I'd generally agree that training is the issue with a great percentage of dogs that chase / protect / attack people who are not home invaders, sometimes it is the person's fault (eg, kids pulling tails, grabbing faces, people approaching too fast and not reading canine body language, etc). And while many of that sort of incident could be easily avoided by human intervention or education, the act itself may not be a training issue for the animal.

ALSO, there are some dogs that are just "bad." Just like there are humans who are mentally unstable and may strike out for a variety of reasons (fear, confusion, etc). Sometimes, no amount of training can "fix" a certain animal's propensity toward aggression, whatever the root cause. These are few and far between, but they exist. (source: am a veterinarian)

AND regardless of the reason for a dog attack or bite, there are significant consequences to the human: disfigurement, infection (nasty puncture wound anaerobic abscess and cellulitis), infectious disease (do you know how many people fail to keep their dogs updated on the rabies vaccine?!?), and financial (ie, costs associated with the aforementioned). [If a dog bites you, the appropriate course of action is to contact the County Health Department and report the incident, BTW.]

That is all to say: anything a person can do to avoid a dog attack is warranted. I don't think shooting a dog is the best idea, but if if it comes to that... it's better than the alternative physical injuries. (source: have been bitten in the workplace several times over the years and it sucks really bad-- mostly the dogs are just scared and "protecting themselves" when they are in a strange place).

What I’ve gathered is you should start screaming, lashing out, and randomly shooting while spraying the air. Something resembling a well-armed seizure?

Jaren Watson wrote: Rather than carrying pepper spray and hoping you can successfully deter an aggressive dog, try not exuding the twin stenches of fear and frailty.

Perhaps Fido won’t be instinctively compelled to cull you from the herd.

I'm a "dog person" who is well aware of how body posture, behavior, and all that affect how a dog senses you and may or may not attack you, but it is utterly ridiculous from a legal or ethical standpoint to expect every person in the world to know how to carry themselves in front of aggressive dogs.  

I can chime in on this as I run in a park where dog owners tend to let their dogs run loose and think that it should be everyone else's problem to manage their dog for them.  I've been bit a couple of times, always by small dogs with a complex.  I carry pepper spray now and I've had to use it a couple of times.  First, I don't spray the dog unless it is actively a threat to me.  Second, I like to spray the ground right in front of me (between dog and me) as that tends to work well for communicating, "leave me alone."

I definitely have *wanted* to spray one dog owner who was laughing because I was trying to fend off the attacks from her little dog who didn't want to let me pass by in peace.  She thought it was hilarious that I was defending myself against her shitty dog.

Lastly, I am a dog person and love dogs.  I don't know *your* dog and so can't be sure that it will not try to attack me for whatever miscommunication happens (I'm running, not trying to engage...).

If a dog smells fear they are more likely to bite you. I've been around aggressive dogs for 13 years and never been bitten.  

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If u are worried about the dog use a stick to create distance between u and said dog.  Think in your head that you will kill said dog using a stick or rock.  That way u won't stink of fear.  And tell the owner to leash the dog.

abandon moderation wrote:

Owner was standing around. I was walking "kind of past" on an adjacent trail and the dog sprinted a few hundred yards to get to me.

But yeah, dog was not responsive to the owners calls. Usually in these aggressive dog scenarios the dog backs off as soon as the owner starts yelling, but this one was not so well trained. I left the area at the earliest opportunity but did see the dog on a leash later. From the volume of "BAD DOG" I could hear the owner yelling once the dog returned they seemed to understand the significance, though a little too late.

I assume this is "the first time that's ever happened" and the owners were clueless about how territorial dogs get when no one is around.

yeah...bad training.  Way to go dog owner yelling at the dog for returning...

If a dog charges you, pepper spray the owner......would probably teach them the lesson they need to be taught.  It is annoying to have a dog run up to me whether the dog is aggressive or not.

John B wrote: If a dog smells fear they are more likely to bite you. I've been around aggressive dogs for 13 years and never been bitten.  

Stop being a Pussy.

If u are worried about the dog use a stick to create distance between u and said dog.  Think in your head that you will kill said dog using a stick or rock.  That way u won't stink of fear.  And tell the owner to leash the dog. 

I've been around dogs (aggressive and non-aggressive) my entire life and I've been bitten a few times.  Pretending that dogs smell fear and that's why they attack is naive.

John Barritt wrote:

USPS dog spray on Amazon. Non lethal alternative, works like a charm.

^^^  This!  

I used to carry this when trail running or cycling in rural Harnett county around Ft Bragg NC, lots of unattended and unleashed dogs.  Had to use on a rottie that came charging at me while running on a trail.  stopped him in his tracks

Control your fucking dog! Seriously.  I am sick of this shit.  I inherited an aggressive dog (my girlfriend's) and love him to death, he is the sweetest dog around us.  Its been a huge eye opening experience how many uncontrolled (voice or whatever) off leash "friendly" dogs there are out there willing to fight.  

We will never bring him to the crag unless it is an unpopular crag where we are 99% unlikely to see anyone, and even then with a shock collar and a muzzle.  The owner who doesn't have control over their dog, whether it be voice or leash or whatever is a shitty owner and is at fault if something goes wrong.  

Pepper spray is totally justified, it is temporary and not going to cause a lasting injury.  Getting bit is a whole other story. Getting bit sucks for the person getting bit and leads to costly hospital bills.  Most importantly for the owner it puts fido one step closer to being put down, a fate far worse than being pepper sprayed.  Nobody deserves to be hurt by an aggressive dog off leash and not in control  by some stupid ass owner.   NO one is obligated to know how to act around dogs.  My three year old niece who comes to the crag sometimes doesn't know the intricacies of confidence and power around dogs.  The only obligation is 100% on the owner to control their fucking dog.

Edited to add a few more swearwords.

Sounds like you are responsible dog owner then Redyns!!  I hear privileged males don't do so well in jail.

Patrick Vernon wrote: Control your fucking dog! Seriously.  I am sick of this shit.  I inherited an aggressive dog (my girlfriend's) and love him to death, he is the sweetest dog around us.  Its been a huge eye opening experience how many uncontrolled (voice or whatever) off leash "friendly" dogs there are out there willing to fight.  

We will never bring him to the crag unless it is an unpopular crag where we are 99% unlikely to see anyone, and even then with a shock collar and a muzzle.  The owner who doesn't have control over their dog, whether it be voice or leash or whatever is a shitty owner and is at fault if something goes wrong.  

Thanks for being a responsible owner. I've met some really awesome crag dogs that will either chill and hang around at the staging area or just find a nice spot (not at the base of the route or on a crash pad, for example) and take a nap.

One of my climbing mentor has a dog that is like this and she will usually hang out for a little bit then go find a place where the it overhangs low on the cliff which kind of makes a tiny little cave. She'll nap there, protected from the sun, rain and falling climbers. She doesn't run around wildly, she doesn't rummage through people's packs, she doesn't bother you when you're belaying, she doesn't dig, and she definitely never acts aggressive. 

On the other hand, my dog is an amazing climber (she has TRed 5.2) but a horrible crag dog. She whines whenever I'm not on the ground, needs to be tied up to stay out of trouble, likes to dig, and is sometimes defensive around other dogs. I don't take her climbing anymore and may not ever do so in future unless she will mellow out. C'est la vie. It sucks sometimes, but be a responsible dog owner. 

PosiDave wrote:

If you pepper spray a dog, just hope it actually has attacked you (not ran toward you).  Or you will be up to your neck in legal fees.

There was a dog with a known aggression issue toward other dogs (attacked a climbers dog) that was punted by a mountain biker who thought he was going to be bitten when the dog ran up to him, that resulted in the dog needing surgery. The owner brought him to court and he had to shell out the cost of surgery. 

Gee, I wonder what the chances are that the dog was unleashed

Whether dogs are more likely to attack/bite when they "smell fear" or not I'm not sure; but it certainly is a old belief, and most of those have some truth to them.  I do know my partner, who is afraid of dogs because of an incident in her youth, is far, far more likely to have a dog we meet on a trail approach more closely and more agressively than that same dog did with me. (Often we are separated on the trial by 50-200 feet.)

After their children (and maybe their spouse), dogs are the next beloved thing to their owners. Just like their kids the dogs can do no harm and are "harmless".  So if you yell at the dog (or worse, the owner) expect the same reaction as yelling at their children!

Here in NH's & Maine's White Mtn Nat. Forest dogs must be "under control at all times".  This means on a leash, or the dog is fully capable of being controlled by voice command.  99% of the dog owners are unaware of this regulation, (and get VERY "defensive" when you try to tell them about it....remember " dog=child".) The owner of any dog that bites (or even appears to be about to attack) is prime-facie in violation, and this "adds" to your case and settlement.

Unfortunaely, NH is not a "stand your ground/ "castle" state", so if you do anything to "disuade" the dog while it appears to be about to attack you, be sure the first thing you say to ANYBODY (owner, police) is "I was in fear of my life".  

  I believe dogs are not allowed in most Nat. Parks.   

I would drop kick any animal that is charging me. A dog, a cat, a chinchilla, a turtle, a fuckin sea monkey, it doesn’t matter. People have the right to defend themselves from violent creatures. All these people trying to defend violent dogs by making excuses about the victims fear causing the aggression or the owners being bad owners are objectively wrong. I watched a teenage girl have half her cheek torn off by a Rottweiler. The dog’s owner is an amazing person and treated the dog very well. The dog had no issues with people it knew. The girl had zero inhibition and wasn’t scared or aggressive toward the dog. Try holding the tattered flesh of a teenage girls face together with your bare hands and telling her that it’s her fault and she “shouldn’t have been afraid”.

"Which makes Russ Keane a colossal moron."

Hi Eric, nice to meet you too.   I am never a 100% believer in any single version of an event; the truth is always more in the middle.   A person who is kind of sensitive to dog interaction is more likely to perceive every dog coming at him as coming threateningly.   Sometimes we create our own realities.

I'm so glad we're having another dog thread. It has probably been two months since our last one. It was way overdue.

Bear Spray..... no problem carrying it around, sold at better hunting and fishing supply stores.

And yea.... I love dogs, but if your dog growls or snarled at people.... they loose crag privilege.