Dog Walking With Weapons

[Yamaha_gurl]

Just curious....is it me, or does it seem like more male greyhounds are attacked?

[Moneypenny]

I do believe that if you see a dog approaching, you can do a big "alpha" move, scream, wave your arms, etc. It worked for me once, almost too well actually. I was walking my 3 greys and a medium sized mixed breed started running towards us....it didn't seem to be aggressive, but I wanted it to stop and go another way, I stopped, stomped my feet, yelled, waved my arms, etc. The dog turned around and trotted the other direction. Now, I had never seen this dog in the neighborhood, and I did feel bad that is was alone, so my plan was to get the girls home (we were only 1/2 a block away) then come back out and see if I could catch this dog and get it to it's home. I came back out only minutes later (without my dogs), the dog was still hanging around sniffing about a block from where I saw it the first time, I got down and tried to call it to me, and I guess he/she remembered my behavior from minutes before, because it would have nothing to do with me....if I tried to approach, it ran the other direction, I felt really bad, I never did catch up with him/her, and never saw the dog again. I can only assume it got home okay.

 

I will always try to discourage an approaching dog and look for an escape route, most of the houses in my neighborhood have chain link fenced yards, I know the habits and what dogs are outside at which houses of the houses on our route, and I would not hesitate to duck into someones yard if I felt threatened. All that being said, I have started to carry a big flashlight with me, and I did get some pepper spray. I will admit that Chevy's story scared the crap out of me, and it compelled me to be more prepared, as prepared as I can be, do the best I can for my girls and heck, say a little before walk prayer, then hope for the best.

[silverfish]

I do believe that if you see a dog approaching, you can do a big "alpha" move, scream, wave your arms, etc. It worked for me once, almost too well actually. I was walking my 3 greys and a medium sized mixed breed started running towards us....it didn't seem to be aggressive, but I wanted it to stop and go another way, I stopped, stomped my feet, yelled, waved my arms, etc. The dog turned around and trotted the other direction.

 

 

Works quite well with some dogs.

 

I did this one time when we were walking with our first greyhound who was a nervous soul. A collie appeared out of nowhere in a narrow lane, nobody else in sight, and began that low, stalking walk towards us, staring at us the whole time. I stiffened my posture, drew myself up to my full height, lowered my head a bit and spread my arms out away from my sides and just glared at him. He stopped as if he'd been shot. Stood for a second, then turned tail and RAN towards a house, leapt over the wall and scurried around the back and disappeared. We just fell about laughing. He was clearly a young dog and had - it seemed to him - got in over his head. Have to say, my DH was most impressed.

 

I think you do have to be careful. Challenging a dog, even with body language, might actually be counterproductive with a determined, genuinely aggresssive dog.

[Guest cwholsin]

Just curious....is it me, or does it seem like more male greyhounds are attacked?

We have two boys, have encountered lots of loose dogs and have never had a fight break out, some of them even intact males.

 

Keeping calm, and avoiding dogs who are obviously acting territorially is all we need to do. As for greyhounds being percieved as 'prey'? No. It's the insecure afraid owners who are creating that situation or the greys that have 'issues'. Our average greyhounds don't attract any more attention than other walking dogs in the neiborhoods we've lived in.

 

Our greyhounds may have thin skin, but they are just as capable of violence and defending themselves as any of the other dogs you hear about on here. Many greyhound owners on here have this perception that their dogs are made of glass. They've got big mouths with big teeth (and long scratchy claws too) and will use them when needed. If carrying a stick or something makes the owner feel calmer and safer, then they should. You walk around all keyed up and of course you and your dogs are going to get the attention of other neighborhood dogs!

 

There is no way to prevent our dogs from ever getting hurt other than not letting them do anything. If one of our dogs got off-leash and ran up to someone who tasered him/her or started beating him, I would be really pissed. And some of you may be calm enough to distinguish a curious/excited dog from an aggressive one, but I have heard a LOT of GTers say they consider any dog who approaches to be a threat. That is just too much. I have never seen this level of paranoia in other dog owners.. Probably because they never take their dogs anywhere for fear of what might happen.

 

I really feel for the dogs who have been attacked, and it may happen to one of mine someday. It sucks to see our beloved pets in pain. It's the lackof concern for another dog's life that bothers me. You guys talk about this topic as if your dogs aren't capable of attacking another dog if loose. How would you feel if your dog attacked spmeone else's dog and they killed your grey? Would you think the force was justified? I couldn't live with myself for seriously hurting another dog over a what's likely a minor fight. Maybe you guys live in rabies town, because I have never come across a dog who was actively trying to kill other dogs-- mine or someone else's-- and we walk every day and visit parks several times a week. Dog attacks are seriously scary for the people (they're almost always worse for us than the dogs) and greyhounds are more likely to get injured than some other breeds, but most fights are not deadly serious. Nobody has tried to hit my dog for getting into an argument with other dogs, and I'm gonna give other dogs the same courtesy unless I have absolutely no other choice rather than the 'hit first, see if it's actually aggressive later' attitude I've seen in other threads.

 

I hope Chevy is healing up well and won't have more troubles with dogs in the future. It's unfortunate that this happens at all, but not all dog owners are responsible, and dogs sometimes get in fights.

 

Y'all are welcome to your opinions on the subject, but the seemingly casual tossing around pf shooting, zapping, stabbing, etc. of other animals is kind pf insane to me. Living in a bad neighhborhood is more of a reason to carry around a stick than loose dogs-- weirdos have always been more of a problem to me and my dogs than other people's dogs.