KEEP YOUR DOG UNDER CONTROL!!!!!!

In reply to Jaxmadine:

As long as you aren't the type to ride past taunting dogs.......if they don't enter the roadway, they aren't a threat to you.

We've had one dog shot while 20yds off the road and some shiny happy people with an extendable baton shouting "Come get the stick" at our current pair of German shepherds......the latter was disarmed by me, and I still have his baton. He will also be beaten with it if he ever comes back past.

The fiancee found some stuff that is incredibly impressive for dissuading overzealous or mildly aggressive dogs: citronella spray. Comes in a pepper spray type canister, but it is just citronella. It does not hurt, so there is not the risk of it angering a dog, and no worry about what might happen if you hit the wrong target. It is just such a strong scent that something with a powerful nose like a dog gets overwhelmed and confused. No, it will not stop a truly aggressive, charging dog, but not much will effectively. (Yeah, you can argue your pistol will... if you trust your skill to stand your ground, draw, aim, and hit a small, charging target before it reaches you.) That is an ultra rare scenario anyway.

It stays with the dog leash and goes with us on walks and to dog parks. She has used it very effectively to break up scuffles at dog parks. Nothing deadly, but the sort of mess you don't want to stick your hand into to try to break up. Perfect thing for that overzealous yearling lab that is about to tackle your 6 year old because it wants to play.

You know, the wife and I say the same thing about out of control kids.... but we're not allowed to shoot them.

Bobzilla wrote: You know, the wife and I say the same thing about out of control kids.... but we're not allowed to shoot them.

Hahaha. Awesome.

I guarantee you we see more out of control children that SHOULD be on a leash than we do dogs. The kind with parents that can't be bothered to, you know, be a berkeleying parent while their darliong angel is creating a freaking E36 M3storm of chaos and destroying everything in sight.

As for ours, when they're not home they're on a leash. They know who is the alpha in the family (me). One has taken some time and even required me putting my butt in her face repeatedly. ..... yes I did that but it worked. When kids are coming over, the dogs are put in the bedroom and taken out one at a time to be slowly intoduced to them.

DrBoost wrote: What's with some people? Is it really soo hard to keep your dog under control? If it happens again, I'm not giving him a chance. I'll just shoot the dog, maybe him too.

I have an 85lb shepherd hat is very well behaved off a leash. We walk off leash outside the house. Once we leave my property, she is on the leash. When other dogs come near us, I already have my hand on my gun. I love dogs, and understand they will nip at each other an children when trying to play, but I have control of mine. Dogs who aren't under control are a danger.

If I feel a dog is trying to hurt me, or my baby girl (yes, my dog) I will not wait a second to dispatch the animal. Do what you have to do and stay armed for your own sake.

Bobzilla wrote: As for ours, when they're not home they're on a leash. They know who is the alpha in the family (me). One has taken some time and even required me putting my butt in her face repeatedly. ..... yes I did that but it worked. When kids are coming over, the dogs are put in the bedroom and taken out one at a time to be slowly intoduced to them.

I bit my dog. Works every time.

Bobzilla wrote: You know, the wife and I say the same thing about out of control kids.... but we're not allowed to shoot them.

That's what Tazers are for!

Just joining in on this lovely topic. Can I just say thank you for not automatically accusing it only because of it's breed? I never knew anything about Pits until some of our friends rescued one abandoned in the Toledo winter covered in bites and weighing 35#.

Last year we took her in when they didn't have time to care for her anymore. All I knew was breed-specific legislation and "all pits are vicious!" This dog (that had spent her adult life in misery and could have been really berkeleyed up mentally) came into my house, lowered herself at my feet and kind of said "can I be your new best friend?"

A year later I wouldn't give her up for anything in the world.

dave said: DILYSI Dave wrote: Your kid's over-reacting: "My daughter... sees it all going down and is freaking out. "

I am so sorry that your family suffered through that terrible event, I can not even begin to imagine how you must feel. After witnessing a rottweiler that I beleive was stalking my kids twice, I had to shoot it one day. I felt bad but not that bad. That animal was intent on attack. I was attacked by a dog when was 12, that dog tore the E36 M3 out of my butt and leg it happened so fast there was nothing anyone could have done to stop it. The pitbull in the picture weighs close to 100 lbs and was raised by my son who makes his living training all breeds of dogs. My little jack russell pesters this pit bull nips and bites at him playfully until he is bleeding and the pit does nothing. He loves to sit on the sofa with his head in you lap. He is a big lap dog. That being said he stays in our backyard behind a locked privicy fence and when he is taken anywhere he is on a 4' kong leash, he like any animal can sense fear in people and that makes him nervous. This type of dog requires a special owner I have been with this dog for ten years and he is fully trained.....BUT there are things that will set him off, if a MAN with a hat or suuglasses approaches him he must be warned off, the dog does not flip out and bark and jerk his leash, but he does go on alert and is prepaired to protect himself or his people. The dog has never had any attack or security training but there is something about him that seems to make him feel obligated to protect his people. He is a beautiful loving animal, but if you are not willing or cannot control him, like a shotgun or a wild animal you should not have one. In my opinion it's the dogs reputation, his need to protect his pack and the fear he senses that would make this dog a threat. I am only speaking about our animal not anybody else's. Again I am terribly sorry to hear about your baby girls injury and place the blame on the unresponsiable owners just as I would if the zoo keeper let out the lions. I hesitate to leave this post, but believe me I totally agree with you, your fears and actions if any animal including mine shows any aggression towards a child it should be delt with. My question to "dave" would be how many baby girls do you have if any, and how many times have they attacked?

DILYSI Dave wrote: Sounds like your over reactions are rubbing off on your kids. No need to saddle them with that.

No, I think his over-reaction is because something horrible happened to his kids, and that rubbed off on him.

I once saw a car hit a child. All cars should be destroyed because you can't trust them. I carry a gun now to dispach any car that comes near me in a threatening manner. Am I overreacting?

Chris_V wrote: I once saw a car hit a child. All cars should be destroyed because you can't trust them. I carry a gun now to dispach any car that comes near me in a threatening manner. Am I overreacting?

Absolutely not. (except for the bold spot)

wrote:

dave said: DILYSI Dave wrote: Your kid's over-reacting: "My daughter... sees it all going down and is freaking out. "

The dog has never had any attack or security training but there is something about him that seems to make him feel obligated to protect his people. He is a beautiful loving animal, but if you are not willing or cannot control him, like a shotgun or a wild animal you should not have one.

Pits were bred to protect children. If they are trained wrong, we see what happens.

I have never had to pull my weapon on any dogs at work, but I have been approached by many pits. Most of them want to be pet. Some that approached me were being used to breed fighting dogs. One ran up with a ten foot heavy chain around her back. I would prefer to find her owner an shoot him.

Thanks for overstating your analogy. Where exactly did anybody say all dogs - or even all dogs of a specific breed - should be destroyed?

What he said is that because of a legitimately bad experience, he's prepared to deal directly with further threat to his family. I'm having a hard time seeing that as an overreaction.

A buddy of mine used to raise pits and true to the stereotype lived by his own set of rules, not those put forth by society. Despite his frequent dealings with less than desirable individuals he never felt the need to own a firearm. His belief was that any well trained dog was like a gun that pulled it's own trigger.

A dog playing can hurt a human pretty easily. It's like Usain Bolt wanting to take you for a jog. Or Randy Couture wanting to wrestle around a bit. Or Sebastien Loeb going out for a Sunday cruise and driving beyond my 10/10 level. It's all relative.

If a dog comes into your yard and scares your kid I think you're justified in grabbing it, dragging it to it's owner and explaining the situation. If it happens again the dog gets tossed or kicked. I love animals but I love my family more.

N Sperlo wrote:

Bobzilla wrote: As for ours, when they're not home they're on a leash. They know who is the alpha in the family (me). One has taken some time and even required me putting my butt in her face repeatedly. ..... yes I did that but it worked. When kids are coming over, the dogs are put in the bedroom and taken out one at a time to be slowly intoduced to them.

I bit my dog. Works every time.

In this case, she is a 30lb dog trying to be a 100lb dog and would try and straddle you and stick her butt in your face to show her dominance. I got enough of it one afternoon while she was on the bed, held her down and shoved my butt in her face. I did that about 4 times and she hasn't tried to show her dominance to me since.

wrote: ...BUT there are things that will set him off, if a MAN with a hat or sunglasses approaches him he must be warned off, the dog does not flip out and bark and jerk his leash, but he does go on alert and is prepaired to protect himself or his people. The dog has never had any attack or security training but there is something about him that seems to make him feel obligated to protect his people.

Mine does the same thing, except she does bark and really puts on a good front that she's ferocious. I really, REALLY wish I could break her of this, but I know it's her nature to be the protector of her pack. The funny thing is when she does this and the person she's barking at just walks up to her, she sits or lays down in front of them. I know she'd never bite, but others don't, and that's why she's always leashed. I also know she looks scary when she's barking and her guarding instinct will one day get her maced or shot if she's not restrained.

At first I thought yelling "get the gun" may have been a bit of overreacting but seeing how many people responded by saying the keep a gun close at hand when they are near dogs I guess I should just be thankful that grew up in the relative safety of 1980s New York.

Duke wrote: What he said is that because of a legitimately bad experience, he's prepared to deal directly with further threat to his family. I'm having a hard time seeing that as an overreaction.

The over reaction is seeing a threat in every dog.

I grew up in rural Indiana where packs of wild dogs were not uncommon in the 80's. You'd see 10-30 dogs runningin a pack. It's interesting to watch them take down a deer. The bad thing with wild dogs is they do not fear the human scent like a coyote or wolf. Many of those in the packs were dumped by people who could no longer afford to keep them or they didn't like them or whatever.... so they were formerly domesticated.

When I was 5 I got to be the object of one pack's hunger. They chased me across the yard where I tripped and fell. Dad, who was at the other end, saw what was happening and hopped the fence and started yelling/screaming and waving his arms as he ran toward us. The lead dog stopped about 2 feet from my foot.... saw my 5'11" 285lb father running full tilt at him and turned tail.

I was never scared of dogs, even after that. I knew that when left in the wild they were not the same as the dogs we had as pets. But that was a different time. you known ,when it was OK to have common sense and stuff.

I wonder what kind of trouble I'd get into if I yelled at the wife "GET MY GUN!" the next time a neighbor kid walked onto the property?

Bobzilla wrote: I wonder what kind of trouble I'd get into if I yelled at the wife "GET MY GUN!" the next time a neighbor kid walked onto the property?

I'll try it next time one of the packs of small children roaming the neighborhood my shop is in just shows up and starts poking around.

I'll let you know the results.

"dave" said: The over reaction is seeing a threat in every dog.

wow, you seem to have all the answers, maybe you should start a blog or something............people could submit questions and you could charge like 5 bucks per answer, and how many baby girls did you say you have and how many times have they been brutally attacked?

I used to work with an animal rescue rehabbing abused dogs. We had a dog and plan on getting one for the kids in a few years. Love dogs, so that being said:

I was charged in my own backyard by a pack of dogs that belong to our neighbor. I beat feet into the house with them chasing me the whole way. Had to wait til they cleared out to get to my car. I drove to the offending neighbor's house and told him (and this whole family standing behind him) if I ever say a single one of his dogs on my property again I will shoot the dog. I had the local PD come out so I could make a statement about what happened, and I made sure the officer was clear when she instructed me to shoot the dog if I felt that myself or anyone in my family was in danger. Her words "you are allowed to defend yourself and your family".

DILYSI Dave wrote:

Duke wrote: What he said is that because of a legitimately bad experience, he's prepared to deal directly with further threat to his family. I'm having a hard time seeing that as an overreaction.

The over reaction is seeing a threat in every dog.

As Dad my job is to see everything as a threat until it is identified and categorized as otherwise. Dogs, cats, chipmunks, leaves, plants, other kids, cars, etc. I'm like the Terminator. When I've got my family with me my field of vision looks like this: That's my job.