Much has been written about dog attacks and dog bites in the United States. And it deserves all that attention because over 1,000 people every day are treated in hospital emergency rooms for dog bites. The cost to insurance companies to pay for claims for dog bites and dog attacks is in the hundreds of millions of dollars.
People who walk, jog or bicycle outdoors are particularly susceptible to dog attacks because there are so many dogs running around loose. We won’t get into that-the irresponsibility of the owners. That’s for another day. But if you see dogs approaching you, here are some ways that you can defend against dog attacks and prevent being bitten in the first place. You know how that old expression goes “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”
If you know where dogs are located, do your best to avoid those places. That is not always possible.
If you see a dog that is fenced in, don’t reach over the fence to pet it, don’t aggravate it, and be aware that most dogs can jump a 3 foot high fence.
Here’s something I never knew before. Don’t smile at a dog, especially one that’s growling at you. He may see this as a sign of retaliation and aggression on your part with the bearing teeth.
And don’t be so na�ve to think that you can out run a dog. You can’t! So never turn your back on a barking dog and never run away from one.
Learn to read the dog’s body language-a loping gait means the dog is checking you out. A steady, even run towards you means the dog has other intentions besides playing.
If a dog starts advancing towards you, look for anything that you can use as a block. You can use a shoe, a stick, a cane or anything that you can stick in the dog’s mouth to prevent his teeth from reaching you.
Most dogs are not professionally trained and so will consider objects attached to you to be part of you. So if the dog attacks, take off your shirt and let him bite your shirt or if you are carrying an umbrella or a cane, let him bite that instead of your arm or leg.
Try using elevated, sharp commands like “stop” or “go home”-they may just work at stopping an assault on you.
If you are walking in an area where you know you may run into a dog, make sure you have some kind of self-defense product with you. A pepper spray in the face of a dog will get him to stop no matter how aggressive he is.
The ultrasonic Dog Repeller makes a sound only dogs can hear and works up to 40 feet away.
The Mace Pepper Gun has a range of 25 feet which makes it an excellent self-defense tool against dog attacks.
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