Today I suffered a rather disturbing incident. Every day I take my dog for a 3.5 mile walk and did so today. At the conclusion of the walk I was starting up my driveway and had gotten about 10 yards when a small mangy looking mutt of less than 20 pounds appeared on the road and charged up my driveway biting my much larger dog (of about 55 pounds) in the neck. This happened very quickly. I immediately kicked the attacking dog in the side. As the two dogs were spinning in a circle I was not able to land a hard kick but the attacking dog did step back a couple of steps and stopped moving -- at which point (acting on instinct without thinking) I landed a brutal kick to the dogs head which landed with an audible thunk (I was wearing heavy hiking boots). Much to my surprise the dog did not demonstrate any visible injury but growled and ran off. At this point I noticed the dog was trailing a leash and had apparently gotten away from someone so I halfway expected a person to materialize which did not happen. After the dog ran off I examined my dog for injury. Oddly I could not find any bleeding but his fur was soaked in the other dogs saliva which was now on my hand. My thoughts regarding the incident.
1. I wonder if I did the right thing landing a full force kick on a small dog. I guess I did, since it resolved the incident -- but I don't feel good about what I did. I should mention that a week ago a friend advised me of a similar incident where a small dog bit her sister's Doberman and a week later the dog died from blood poisoning, so a little dog can do damage.
2. I didn't see any bleeding from my dog and can't find evidence of a bite wound although he was clearly bitten. I am not going to have to monitor the dog for an abscess. My last dog would sometimes develop abscessed wounds a few days after killing a Groundhog. Her Groundhog bites were never initially visible.
3. I should not have examined my dog without first putting on gloves. His neck was covered with saliva from the attacking dog which did get on my hands. I immediately washed my hands when I got in the house and did not have any cuts and scratches on my hands to I don't plan to get a rabies shot. Still, contacting the saliva of an overly aggressive animal is disturbing. I hope I don't come down with rabies.
4. My dog (although a mix of aggressive breeds including Pit Bull) is clearly not a fighter and this bothers me somewhat. His reaction to being attacked was to try to get away. However I did select this dog at the animal shelter because he was friendly, not aggressive as I have cats and grandchildren. My last dog was a 90 pound Chow mix with severe dog aggression. The animal shelter was going to put her down the day she was brought in due to aggressiveness. This dog proved to be OK around people once properly introduced, but constantly wanted to fight other dogs and would have quickly killed any smaller dog that attacked her. My current dog is a good watch dog and lets me know when someone approaches my house but I am disappointed that he is not a little more aggressive. That being said he is a very loyal and affectionate animal.
5. When I leave my house I always have my Glock 26 and also carry pepper spray. However, in today's dog attack I would not have had time to draw either weapon which would have been an issue if the attacking dog had been larger and more powerful. I once saw a Pit Bull shake off a 9mm shot from a Cop -- so trying to stop a dog like this with a kick would be rather problematic. I think most people who carry concealed firearms should spend less time shooting and more time practicing their draw and I am probably one of those people.
6. For whatever reason I find an aggressive attack from a very small dog against a medium dog to be disturbing as it seems contrary to the law of self preservation.
For me this (today's incident) was dog attack #4. Attack #1 occurred when I was around 14. I was attacked and bitten in the back (I was trying to get away) by a Great Dane. The attack was terminated when the dogs owner intervened. Attack #2 took place when I was in my thirties and walking my 5 month old German Shepherd. We were attacked by two large junk yard type dogs belonging to a neighbor. One attacking dog ended up rolling around on the ground with my dog and the other one attacked me receiving a kick in the face. This attack was also terminated when the dogs owner intervened. Attack #3 took place two years ago and I mentioned it on this forum. This attack was from a medium dog. I was walking my Chow mix and held her by the collar while blasting the attacking dog with pepper spray which terminated the attack. In this case the attacking dog followed me for about 100 yards showing signs of attack -- so I was prepared. And now I have attack #4 today. For some reason I don't think the attack today will be the last dog attack incidents. One complication regarding a dog attack I often think about is that defense against a dog could quickly ramp up to defense against an owner or precipitate a feud with a neighbor.
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