Afraid of dogs.

pennypitstop

What should I do If I am attacked by a dog?
I walk regularily wheeling a pram and encounter many dogs of varying sizes. One house I pass has a small but loud dog who charges to the gate (closed thankfully) and barks like mad.
I often wonder what would happen if it got out, what would it do and what should I do (obviously can't abandon the child in the pram).

Andromeda_111

I wouldn't worry too much, little dogs are just showing off, he knows that the gate is closed and there's no chance of contact with you so he pretends he's all brave and big. There's a very very slim chance of you ever getting attacked by a dog, however if by chance you do just give him a good root up the hole and he'll go screaming back into his house.

BTW I have a 9 1/2 stone dog who's the biggest wuss there is.

MyKeyG

OasisGirl wrote: »

I wouldn't worry too much, little dogs are just showing off, he knows that the gate is closed and there's no chance of contact with you so he pretends he's all brave and big. There's a very very slim chance of you ever getting attacked by a dog, however if by chance you do just give him a good route up the hole and he'll go screaming back into his house.

BTW I have a 9 1/2 stone dog who's the biggest wuss there is.

Very true. Dogs are extremely territorial and that more often than not explains the barking. My dogs go mental when people call to the door or at the students who go up our back lane to do whatever at lunch but whenever they're out for a walk or whatever they're grand. You know the old cliché about barks and bites is well known for a reason.

Delancey

IMO the risks posed by dogs are massively exagerrated by the media , sensationalist reporting sells papers but creates fear where there is no need.

Tabnabs

[mode note] perhaps a better forum to discuss this subject than survivalism

seamus

pennypitstop wrote: »

What should I do If I am attacked by a dog?
I walk regularily wheeling a pram and encounter many dogs of varying sizes. One house I pass has a small but loud dog who charges to the gate (closed thankfully) and barks like mad.
I often wonder what would happen if it got out, what would it do and what should I do (obviously can't abandon the child in the pram).

Savage attacks by dogs of any kind are extremely rare, and even biting incidents are relatively rare when the dog is unknown to the person who is bitten.

The vast majority of the time, the incident occurs with someone known to the dog's owner (i.e. someone who is on the owner's property).

When dogs are barking, they're just mouthing off. It's doesn't mean that they're angry or vicious. This dog that you talk about has learned that when it comes running out to the gate barking, people walk away, some people may even walk away quicker. So in the dog's mind, barking works, it gets people to go away, so it barks more and more. It doesn't mean that the dog will attack anyone coming near the property.

I make a distinction between "savage attacks" and biting incidents because these usually occur under very different conditions. A biting incident is obviously less severe; a single bite or a couple of small bites before the dog backs off. Whereas a savage attack is a sustained ongoing attack by a dog.

While a biting incident can of course cause injuries requiring stitches, they are rarely life-threatening or even disfiguring. They usually result from fear - the dog lashes out because it's afraid or because it thinks it's defending itself and it has no other option. They can also get over-excited and the usual inhibition which stops them from biting hard during play is forgotten and they accidentally give a hard nip.

But these are single, usually isolated incidents with clear causes. I don't consider these to be attacks, just accidents. It would be very rare for a dog to appear out of nowhere, bite you and run away. If the dog appears out of nowhere, it eithers wants to say hi or it wants you to go away without any fuss. It doesn't want a fight any more than you do.

An all-out attack is so rare as to not be worth worrying about IMO, unless you work with animals on a day-to-day basis. It requires a dog with severe emotional and/or behavioural issues, or who has been specifically trained to attack. Such dogs are rarely found living in someone's home or wandering free on the streets.

Although the British and US media make a lot of fuss about dog attacks, they are extremely rare. You take more of a risk crossing the road than you do passing by a dog.

borderlinemeath

OP ^^ exactly what Seamus says above. You are more likely to get knocked over crossing the street than be attacked by a dog.
If you walked past my gate you would hear my two dogs barking like mad - if I opened the gate and you came in or they went out there is zero chance that they would attack you or your child. They will simply look for affection and the chance to make a new friend. It is only dogs that are trained to attack or very badly socialised/injured animals that would bite.

Can I ask you where your fear stems from? Were you bitten by a dog or is a lifelong fear? I would implore you not to pass your fear on to your child as there are huge benefits to pet ownership for children.

ShaShaBear

My 48 pound collie will run to the gate barking if he gets the chance at anyone who walks by. It's unfortunate that so many people are terrified. He's an absolute brute size-wise, but it's hard to mistake that "arse in the air and pouncing left and right" that goes with the bark.

Justask

pennypitstop wrote: »

What should I do If I am attacked by a dog?
I walk regularily wheeling a pram and encounter many dogs of varying sizes. One house I pass has a small but loud dog who charges to the gate (closed thankfully) and barks like mad.
I often wonder what would happen if it got out, what would it do and what should I do (obviously can't abandon the child in the pram).

Have you ever thought about getting a puppy?
i know someone who was terified of dogs and got a puppy and now is the biggest doggie person I know, and it would be really good for your child, fears do get passed on to children and you dont want that,

pennypitstop

pennypitstop wrote: »

I often wonder what would happen if it got out, what would it do and what should I do.

Most likely, it would either run up to you and bark at you from about 1-2 feet away, or it would run up to you and sniff at you.

What you should do is keep your head down and keep walking. Personally I would stop to humour the dog but since you clearly don't feel confident to judge dogs you should probably just keep walking.

Barking really just means "look at me! I'm here! I'm here!" "are you on my road?" "this is my road, my road is nice and it's mine, look at me!" "I'm a big dog!".

A dog I walk growls at everything that passes his house. If you let him out he barks and barks, but when he gets up to you he nuzzles his nose into your hand because he wants to be petted. At first sight a lot of people are scared of him, but he's an absolute teddy bear, he couldn't hurt a fly. He even gets bullied by the cat he lives with!

Whispered

true-or-false wrote: »

Barking really just means "look at me! I'm here! I'm here!" "are you on my road?" "this is my road, my road is nice and it's mine, look at me!" "I'm a big dog!".

Made me smile.

pennypitstop

borderlinemeath wrote: »

Can I ask you where your fear stems from? Were you bitten by a dog or is a lifelong fear? I would implore you not to pass your fear on to your child as there are huge benefits to pet ownership for children.

Got knocked down by several greyhounds (all were muzzled) when I was 4 or 5 yrs old. They surrounded me on the ground panting and pawing. I saw lots of teeth!
Terrified ever since:( even of tiny dogs. As for the big ones-they may as well be lions!! lol

Long Road 8378

Hi OP

I agree with everyone else here. You probably don't need to worry too much. The little dog is most likely all bark and no bite. We have a black Labrador, he is 'big-boned' :rolleyes: and looks rather mean. He also has a rather scary bark on him. He barks like mad at anyone who walks past but truth be told he is actually a real coward and would run a mile if anyone tried to come in the gate! We noticed that our fella is actually LOOKING for attention and if a person speaks to him (in a friendly tone of course!:D) they get a big wag of the tail and a big happy labrador head in return!

ppink

pennypitstop wrote: »

Got knocked down by several greyhounds (all were muzzled) when I was 4 or 5 yrs old. They surrounded me on the ground panting and pawing. I saw lots of teeth!
Terrified ever since:( even of tiny dogs. As for the big ones-they may as well be lions!! lol

would you not consider trying to get some help to overcome your fear? It must be a terrible thing to live life afraid of dogs, they are kind of everywhere:). It can be hard to avoid them sometimes and it would make your life easier maybe?

getz

as a owner over the years of staffies and bulldogs,this is the way [as i see it] dogs bark for many reasons,different barks meen different things,there is the bark that says,;i am here,then there is the bark that says,i am not happy with you go away,then there is the more aggressive bark that says,come closer and i will bite you, if a dog gets out and goes for you,stand still,do not look and talk to it,most of the time it will just approach you have a sniff and go away, well thats my two pennies worth anyway.

borderlinemeath

pennypitstop wrote: »

Got knocked down by several greyhounds (all were muzzled) when I was 4 or 5 yrs old. They surrounded me on the ground panting and pawing. I saw lots of teeth!
Terrified ever since:( even of tiny dogs. As for the big ones-they may as well be lions!! lol

You really should try and overcome your fear of dogs, as ppink says, they are everywhere - your neighbours, friends, trips to the park etc.

While your fear is rational as you were knocked down - remember though you weren't attacked and bitten - which is where most rational fears of dogs stem from. Greyhounds (for the most part) are trained to run after a "lure" and probably because of your size they thought you were the lure.

It's not a normal occurance, it sounds like a freak incident where greyhounds were being walked and somehow escaped their owner. Dog attacks aren't a normal occurance either by the way so you have nothing to worry about in that regard.

Again - please try and not to pass your fear on to your children - my sister for example has a dread fear of water as she fell into the deep end of a swimming pool as a child. As a result she made sure that her kids went to swimming lessons so they wouldn't end up the same way she has.

Discodog

Apologies for resurrecting an old thread but I found this by accident & it may be of use to the OP.

There is an excellent list of downloadable leaflets here. The last one is Staying Safe with Dogs & has a lot of good information:

http://www.dogstrust.org.uk/az/factsheetsanddownloads/default.aspx

There is also a excellent resource for children, teachers & schools here:

http://www.learnwithdogs.ie/

are you serious

Hi, pennypitstop this might be a long shot but would you ever consider meeting people from boards who have friendly dogs? I'm sure anyone near you would oblige in helping with your fear.

Where abouts are you from, maybe you could even go to a dog show and looking at all these dogs who are friendly would from a distance help you and the fear that you have.. eventually letting you get close up to them?

doctor evil

borderlinemeath wrote: »

While your fear is rational as you were knocked down - remember though you weren't attacked and bitten - which is where most rational fears of dogs stem from. Greyhounds (for the most part) are trained to run after a "lure" and probably because of your size they thought you were the lure.

Some dogs will also use their claws as well as teeth. Entirely rational fear, but one that can be worked on.

guppy

I know this is an old thread, but I want to ask, do people with "big" dogs, or even loud, barky dogs understand why others might be afraid of them?

I'm allergic to dogs, so will never own one (plus the commitment to walking them, and an aversion to having them 'need' to be with me nearly all the time makes me an ideal cat person!), but I'm not generally afraid of small-medium sized dogs. My sister and mother have 3 kcc between them, and they're great dogs, really patient and kind (even though with my sister's two, they seem to be from puppy farms, but the kind that aren't obvious, the ones who dress it up with a sob story), and I've no issue with them, or dogs their size.

Bigger, louder dogs frighten me though. They frighten me because they seem more intelligent (wrongly, I'm sure) than smaller dogs, and I dont understand their body language or 'speech'. I also dont have a clue how to react to them. I do admit, media have probably played a huge part in my fears, but realistically, I'm probably never going to interact with big dogs enough to make me comfortable with them, I'll always be wary.

My son loves all dogs, and has no fear, mostly due to my mother, so I'm not passing any fears on to him, thank god.

I guess my point is that sometimes a big or loud dog may be the same to some people as a snake or lion is to another - an unknown quantity, with no shared body language or understanding. And sometimes we dont have the friends with well behaved big dogs, or the guts to intrude on a socialisation class to teach us otherwise. I just want to help people see why "we" might be afraid of your bark-is-louder-than-his-bite dog! Its not personal, but then again, "we're" not that easily convinced we're wrong either!

are you serious

Hi Guppy I think you may have been replying more to my last comment so I will from my side anyway give my answer in BOLD after all of your points and I'm also sure it now being the weekend you will get a good response to your comment. I'm open for correction on my opinions of what people view these big dogs as, I'm not saying I am right or you are wrong

guppy wrote: »

I know this is an old thread, but I want to ask, do people with "big" dogs, or even loud, barky dogs understand why others might be afraid of them?
I do understand why people might have this fear, for me I see it as a Fear of the unknown, and I'm guessing you are in the bracket in age 20 and over.... For me I'm getting close to 30 now I feel when I was growing up there was, and to a large extent actually still is a serious lack of education in relation to dogs never mind big dogs! This is not your fault whatsoever and if you also did not see many big or even boystrous medium sized dogs you are now as an adult seeing these big dogs and subconsciously without even thinking about it your mind thinks oh **** look at this thing I'm crossing the road get me away from it.. Would that be right? Barky dogs as someone has said in this post if you listen to different video's on youtube without watching them you will be able to tell the difference between the barks (honestly you will) and most of the dog barks when you are walking on streets with dogs in back gardens are just (as I call them) hello barks, the same tone of light bark, no aggression at all in them.

I'm allergic to dogs, so will never own one (plus the commitment to walking them, and an aversion to having them 'need' to be with me nearly all the time makes me an ideal cat person!), but I'm not generally afraid of small-medium sized dogs. My sister and mother have 3 kcc between them, and they're great dogs, really patient and kind (even though with my sister's two, they seem to be from puppy farms, but the kind that aren't obvious, the ones who dress it up with a sob story), and I've no issue with them, or dogs their size.
Small dogs I actually dont like!! I prefer being able to have a good wrestle with my dog. Believe it or not I actually do not trust small dogs, was nipped by a friends dog lots of times when I called to his house in my early teens.

Bigger, louder dogs frighten me though. They frighten me because they seem more intelligent (wrongly, I'm sure) than smaller dogs, and I dont understand their body language or 'speech'. I also dont have a clue how to react to them. I do admit, media have probably played a huge part in my fears, but realistically, I'm probably never going to interact with big dogs enough to make me comfortable with them, I'll always be wary.
In relation to barky loud dogs it is all about spending time and trying to understand why a dog might be barking. I know of one person most peoples dog will bark at no matter what time of day. I cant remember where I've seen it but there was a study done on why this is...
This is the story behind it.. Almost every day this guy(generally a male postman) comes to the door or he walks by the driveway... Every time he comes to the house he never gets in. Ok now after a while the dogs is thinking this guy obviously shouldnt be coming here because my owner never lets him in to the house. So the dog then begins to bark when he sees the postman as if to say hey you get out!! Generally this would be a growly bark, a short kind of growl with a really yappy bark, get out get out get out... (if that makes sense...??)
On a different day if you were to see one of these dogs on their front garden and a stranger is walking past the dog will do a bark almost the same as the postman bark just without the growl, it will be just a yap yap yap bark, no growl at all, this is just a hello look at me this is my garden, more like a who are you bark...
if you know how to react with these dogs who are growling, barking and who seem territorial on certain parts of gardnes/driveways or some times roads, as in their posture, then you have no issues. Take it from me almost everyone thinks **** I'm about to have the ankles bitten off me here! dog lover or not!!
As for the intelligence part, I sometimes think my dog needs to be checked out, then again some times I think has he been reading my mind, all dogs in my experience are like this, big or small.

My son loves all dogs, and has no fear, mostly due to my mother, so I'm not passing any fears on to him, thank god.Thats great!!

I guess my point is that sometimes a big or loud dog may be the same to some people as a snake or lion is to another - an unknown quantity, with no shared body language or understanding. And sometimes we dont have the friends with well behaved big dogs, or the guts to intrude on a socialisation class to teach us otherwise. I just want to help people see why "we" might be afraid of your bark-is-louder-than-his-bite dog! Its not personal, but then again, "we're" not that easily convinced we're wrong either!

If I could I would take a dog of every shape and size and introduce you to them all. No matter how well trained this selection are though you could go down the road and little Johny could have the same breed/size/colour dog who could be a little snappy yappy bold dog. On the main it is almost always the owner to blame for these dogs and not the dog.

When I talk to people about dogs I say it like this to put and try put a bit of normality to it...
Just like kids, you could have the best little kid in the world yet a boy in his class from a great home great parents trying hard and no matter what they do their little boy can could be a little fokker!! But on a whole most little kids are nice!

Really long message/reply hope this has made sense and has helped?