Bad Day Yesterday--Dar Attacked Dog

[DemoDick]

...3. for walks, or for letting him out in the yard, buy a well-fitting italian basket muzzle (about $10 to $15 at amazon) and train him to LOVE it. Then, when you walk him, you never ever again have to worry about him hurting another dog. You still need to be a responsible pet owner and protect him from other dogs, but you won't have to worry about him hurting another dog.

Bad idea. Muzzles fail and using them in this manner creates a false sense of security for the owner. I wouldn't rely on a 10-15 dollar muzzle for anything. Good ones are over $100 bucks for a reason. Also, there is a very good chance that muzzling the dog will build frustration, which is the opposite of what Jody wants.

4. buy a few cans of sprayshield (the citronella spray) and always keep some easily accesible. Whenever you put the leash on your dog, carry the sprayshield AND treats. Sprayshield won't stop a dog who is determined to kill, but it will interrupt these tiffs before they really get going.

As someone who has used the real thing (i.e. pepper spray) in real world situations and personally witnessed well over 100 application in addition to my own, I can safely say that I would never rely on a chemical spray to prevent or break up a dog fight. Spraying any chemical irritant onto a pissed off dog is like throwing gas on a fire.

I agree with your other points.

Demo Dick

[jcoffey917]

How old is Cooper?

He's a little over 2. I'm going to be extra cautious now. There are really only 3 dogs he ever plays with, it was very unusual to have strange dog come into our yard. But now I know that he's done it before and might do it again.

[PetieMarie22]

As someone who has used the real thing (i.e. pepper spray) in real world situations and personally witnessed well over 100 application in addition to my own, I can safely say that I would never rely on a chemical spray to prevent or break up a dog fight. Spraying any chemical irritant onto a pissed off dog is like throwing gas on a fire.

What is a good thing to use? I walk Petie on a lot of nature trails where backyards butt right up to the trail. I carry pepper spray with me because we have encounter loose dogs and a huge coyote on these trails. I get nervous.

[mnp13]

As someone who has used the real thing (i.e. pepper spray) in real world situations and personally witnessed well over 100 application in addition to my own, I can safely say that I would never rely on a chemical spray to prevent or break up a dog fight. Spraying any chemical irritant onto a pissed off dog is like throwing gas on a fire.

What is a good thing to use? I walk Petie on a lot of nature trails where backyards butt right up to the trail. I carry pepper spray with me because we have encounter loose dogs and a huge coyote on these trails. I get nervous.

I wouldn’t rely on anything like that.

Here’s the problem – will it work for most dogs? Yes. absolutely. However, there is another problem in that the spray/irritant will also have the exact opposite effect in many cases. A lot of times you hear people argue against the use of prong collars for difficult behaviors because they “increase aggression” (due to mis-timing) but the prong collar correction stops… the pain from spray does NOT. Once you have sprayed the dogs, the irritant continues, and that angry dog may very well just get angrier. Some animals will work through that pain, and unlike people, you can’t explain to them that if they just calm down you will wash their eyes out… that dog is going to want to share that pain with you.

There are animal tazer videos on YouTube, in the vast majority of them, the animals collapse and when the shock stops they run away. However, there is one where they taze a bull, and when the shock stops a VERY angry bull charges the camera. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Px_N2WLE1yo

If you are relying on the spray for the “startle factor,” maybe a small air horn like what they use at soccer games? Sure, you’re going to be deaf too, but it should scare off the other dog, and you don’t have to worry about over spray or residual problems. Charles used to carry a small shovel with him to “fling poop” but it worked quite well for wacking the occasional stray dog as necessary as I recall.