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by awatkins from fox-26

Last Post 13 days, 14 hours Ago


i think i'll need mace to protect myself and the pups
Apr 19, 2008 | 8:21 AM
Category: News
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yes, the next time i walk pickles and rocket i think i'm going to have a can of mace. yesterday we had an ugly run in with a stray dog.  i have to say it could have been worse but it was scary enough.

i was walking the dogs and escorting my son to a friend's house within the neighborhood. an unleashed dog approached us, of the junkyard variety... possibly chow and australian shepherd mix... maybe about 50 pounds.

pickles and rocket barked at the dog as we approached, but like they always do they stopped barking when they got up to the dog. they wagged their tails, let themselves be sniffed... all's good right? after a brief pause to hopefully establish that this dog wasn't going to be a problem, i started walking with them again, only to have the dog growl and start to attack them. i scooped up pickles and rocket as fast as i could (a bit awkward with 25 pounds of squirming flesh in my arms) and the dog made a couple attempts to jump up on me, growling of course, and then he stood there continuing to growl at me. i started walking very slowly down the sidewalk, pete was walking behind me at this time, and the dog continued to follow us... angry and bouncing around like he was going to jump up again any second.

i yelled out of course. there were a couple young kids around, about 10 years old... and they told me it wasn't their dog and kept going. i also yelled as loudly as i could "who's dog is this!???" hoping a homeowner would surface and get the dog. no dice. then there were two lawn mowing crews within a couple houses from us on either side, but none of those guys came to help. i ended up using my cell phone to call my husband who was at home luckily, telling him in a panick to come get us.   i'm glad i brought my cell phone, because sometimes i don't.

severo's truck scared off the dog and i think i saw what back yard he belonged in... but i'm spending my morning looking up dog repellents. there's a product out there called "mace muzzle" that seems like it would help in that situation. anyone have experience with this problem or this product?
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redtractortom read my blog
Apr 19, 2008 | 8:37 PM

You were very lucky. Usually a dog such as you spoke of will attack people more so than other dogs. Mainly because the dog can run away faster.

I don't know anything about the product you speak about. I was at one time, when I was young, a Meter Reader. We had a certain subdivision we called dog alley. Dogs in every yard. Some not in yards. You don't seem the type to hurt anything but I learned which dogs were friendly very quickly. The unfriendly ones learned rather quickly I wasn't scared no matter how big. I carried a childs baseball bat in my back pocket and only used it when being attacked. There was no such thing as estimating a meter back then so the dogs knew we were coming in like it or not. I killed a couple in a really sleezy part of town because they were running loose and in packs. I even had people turn dogs loose on me then threaten me if I hit them. Needless to say I didn't take threats either.
awatkins read my blog view my photos
Apr 20, 2008 | 11:11 AM

wow. what a rough day at work that must have been! good for you for coming up with a way to protect yourself. actually a bat was the first thing i thought of after this incident, but i knew i wouldn't enjoy toting it around. we ended up finding a can of mace at a bike shop. different brand than mace muzzle. this is called "halt!" but it's the same thing. shoots up to 12 feet.

i tried to find something at petsmart first though. they didn't have anything like that. i asked the store manager too. when i told her why i was looking for it she said she'd had more than a few people coming in looking for stuff like that to protect their small dogs. i wonder why that wasn't enough to convince them to put it on the shelf.

interesting to hear of your experience. i guess i was pretty lucky. i walked yesterday with it hooked on my belt and felt very confident. i just hope i don't have to use it.
redtractortom read my blog
Apr 20, 2008 | 1:12 PM

Hopefully you won't need it but it's always good to know you can use it if need be. Could use it on other things also, if you know what I mean?

I think the Halt was designed for use on bears so even a big dog should get your message.
Writing_With_Power read my blog view my photos
Apr 21, 2008 | 6:49 AM

Sadly, this may NOT work on dogs. In the field I have incountered a few ROUGH dogs and once I called animal control cause the dog bit two kids before I got there. The dog chased me and I'm not one to hurt dogs or run like that but this time I did. I took out my can of pepper spray and it only made matters worse.
The Sheriff department showed up instead of animal control and the Deputy was laughing at me, until the dog charged. I jumped on his hood and the Deputy could not get out of hs car. Being in Montogemery County, he had some stuff that was wild animals and sprayed the dog with it and again, it only mad the dog more vicicious.
When animal control came out the man told us that while dogs have a highly sensitive nose, spraying them is like strapping a strap to a bull at the rodeo, you are only going to make it mad until the pain goes away.
Mace, Halt, or even pepper spray is good for humans, and I would recommend you carry it for that but if you spray a dog get ready to pick up your babies and run like the wind. I learned that lesson the hard way.
Writing_With_Power read my blog view my photos
Apr 21, 2008 | 6:51 AM

Dont get me wrong, I love dogs, even though I have been attacked by more than one dog in my life I still love dogs. I, like you, dont want to see them get beat, so no sticks of any kind, besides, you start swinging a stick and they might think FETCH ;)
awatkins read my blog view my photos
Apr 21, 2008 | 7:04 AM

thanks wwp... i was just looking on line and you are right that it's said to be not always effective. i'd like to read more real experiences with people who used it on an attacking dog. don't have time to scour the web more right now, but i will have to consider a plan b. and yes redtractortom, i know what you mean... great idea.
Writing_With_Power read my blog view my photos
Apr 21, 2008 | 7:20 AM

You are going to laugh but when I was younger I use to carry around some link sausage in a zip lock bag. When a mean looking dog came around i would take out the bag, open it and then throw it at the dog, while the ate the food i make my way out, stage left.
My mother and Grandmother would carry a stick but I seen a dog beaten once, and while it was me at age five the dog was attacking, seeing my father beat the dog made my little heart sink. I would never want to see that again.
stormchaser06 read my blog view my photos
Apr 21, 2008 | 1:16 PM

I'm surprised that nobody offered to help you! You're being followed by this growling dog and you have your two small dogs and your son with you. I would have at least tried to scare the dog off and ask if everyone was alright.

As far as my experiences, when I walk my dogs, I carry a big stick with me. Not to beat a dog or anything, I wouldn't do that unless my life, my dogs' lives, or someone else's life was in danger. I carry it so that if a dog decides to attack, then I can hold it out and hopefully the dog will chew on that first rather than me.

Thankfully I've never had an ugly run-in with another dog, just a skunk once while I was out at night. It was walking towards me, I didnt notice it until it was maybe 15 feet away. The dogs were going nuts trying to get at it, and I was able to smack the sidewalk a few times with the stick and scare it off the other way, without getting sprayed...
redtractortom read my blog
Apr 21, 2008 | 2:32 PM

stormchaser06, not a good thing to see a skunk during the daylight hours. Usually only Rabid skunks come out during that time. That is what I was always told and I'm surely not going to check to see. Supposedly they are blind in the full stages of rabies so it could be right.

But the big stick idea or an umbrella popped open in their face works really well however I would want one with a point to jab it if needed.
PBMom read my blog view my photos
Apr 21, 2008 | 6:12 PM

Sounds like a run-in I had with a dog when I took my foster brother and sister to a local pond to ice skate as a kid.

Walking with a walking stick is a good idea.

We've had a problem with people letting their dogs out in the neighborhoods around us. Maddie is now terrified of other dogs and as soon as she sees a dog she digs her heels in and tries to get free of her collar, which she has done a few times. It's a shame people aren't responsible for their dogs. Maddie ran out accidentally when I was unloading groceries and she saw a little boy on a bike and he wanted to peddle faster and I yelled to him to stop, she wasn't going to hurt him, and if he peddled faster, she was going to chase him. I grabbed her, got her back in the house, and made sure I went down to that family's house to be sure Maddie didn't traumatize the kid. He said, "Oh no, he said he was scared at first but then she came up and licked his hand." I said I was so glad but being a big dog, she is scary to people, and I would be more careful, but was grateful to hear it didn't scare him to death.

How did your son do with the incident?
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awatkins

i love reporting the news... and the bright side of reporting before the sun comes up is that i can keep my cool! no melting in the houston heat at that hour. if you're up and about and tuning in, e-mail me a comment on the story i'm doing. we love to get your input. watkins@fox26.com

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