Why will a dog attack if you show fear?

Brian Capture

Picture this #1
You are a six foot male of athletic build.
You are walking down a dimly-lit alley.
Some distance ahead is a tiny old lady.
Every few seconds she looks over her shoulder at you and appears nervous.

She flinches as you walk past, obviously in fear of being attacked or mugged.

She smile at her as you pass, a sort of re-assurance that you are not going to harm her.

Picture this #2
You are the same person as in the first scenario.
You emerge from your house and find a small child in the garden with a football in its hand. He looks timid and apologetic.
'Please Mister, I was just getting my ball. I'm sorry that it went into your garden'.

You smile as he rushes past you, back to his friends.

Picture this #3
You approach the gate of a house to deliver a message to a work colleague.

All of a sudden a dog appears on the footpath, barking and snarling loudly.
You are naturally fearful and back off in retreat against the wall.

'Good dog.. Please don't...' you stutter in obvious terror as the creature circles you in an intimidating fashion.

Your pleas fall on deaf ears as the dog sinks its sharp teeth into your leg.

+++++++++++++++++

A dog is more likely to attack you if you show fear.
Why?

Surely it realises that you are not a threat and not likely to cause him/her or the property any harm?

Yet these heartless beasts make no allowances for such trepidation and continue with their unprovoked attacks.

As the first two scenarios show, if someone is obviously in fear of us, we are not going to hurt them. We will re-assure them, convince them that they have nothing to worry about.

Yet, dogs take an opposite view.

How can this horrifying and savage behaviour be justified?

Myrddin

Same reason they chase people on bikes, chase the wheels of cars - they are simply dumb animals relying on humans to make their way through life. Yeah i dont care much for dogs

peasant

Nothing horrifying or savage about it ...

Instinct, is all.

They smell your fear, literally. As you panic, your body produces hormones that the dogs can smell.

Unfortunately those hormones smell of "prey in full flight" and some dogs just go into "attack" mode. All the more, if you start running / reversing.(conveniently forgetting that a) you're not "prey" b) they're not supposed to hunt and c) they've just been fed )

Nothing personal ...just nature

In other words ...the dog doesn't "take a view", it is incapable of such rationalisation. It's millennia old survival instincts get triggered by your strong smell of "prey" and it goes for you without "thinking".

The safe way to approach a strange dog on its own territory is not to ...
If you get caught unawares, stay were you are, turn your silhouette towards the dog (ie. do not confront it, do not run away, do not try to stare it down). Look elswhere, past the dog and speak to it in a calm voice. Something stupid like ...well aren't you a lovely fella. That should (hopefully) diffuse the first aggression. After that you can either get friendly (if you dare) or a tad more assertive and tell it to go away, depending on the situation.

dan_y

also, it doesn't need to be justified. we decided to domesticate dogs. that makes them Our responsibilty. they can't help their own nature. they were getting along fine until we decided a thousand years of domestication and inbreeding might do them good. and the kind of guy who calls a dog a heartless beast is the kind of guy just waiting to get bitten.

stovelid

This thread wasn't enough obviously...

http://boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055049777

Did your folks love the family mutt more than you or something?

Cake Fiend

It's news to me that dogs are now expected to be as socially aware as humans.

Alfasudcrazy

Here we go again - do we really have to listen to this posters rantings about evil dogs again. :rolleyes:

Hellrazer

Brian Capture--To be honest Im getting tired of these threads.We all know you hate dogs--can you not leave it at that.
Ive already had one report about this thread and to be totally honest Im still deciding whether to lock it or not.

Watch this space!!!!

WindSock

I often wondered this myself. I encountered a couple of scary mangey dogs that were blocking my path in Thailand last year. A couple of pint sized kids came to my rescue with sticks. It was quite amusing, me a grown adult stopped dead in my tracks with fear and two not far from toddlers fighting them off for me On my way back down the road, the dogs came back to growl at me, but I took a leaf out of the kids book and picked up the nearest stick and 'went' for them, shouting. It did the trick, but I was afraid they would see me as a contender and retaliate. They didn't and I felt a big power trip come on after I heroically overpowered them. It seems the complete opposite with humans. If I did that to a person, I'd probably get a punch in the face.

Our man in Havana

Please do not feed the trolls. Thread closed. Brian Capture banned for a week.