When walking my parents' dog for them ~ several times dogs that are loose in yards run and attack my parents' dog. And my parents' dog is the most loving, friendly dog; she wants to play with the approaching dogs. And these other dogs run toward us fast, growling and barking. I just start yelling loudly at the neighborhood, "Hey!! We need help!!" And I kick the dogs and/or hit the dogs low to the ground while trying to protect 'my' dog.
One time was funny - - it was a little dog with a lot of spirit that ran right at her and tried to bite. I did my usual yelling with some not-so-strong kicking, and, a credit to the owner, she was there in a couple of seconds and the episode was over when she quickly contained her dog. It was a hot day and the owner was sitting on her enclosed porch with her dog with a high window open - - she said the dog literally jumped from the floor and out of the window and went after my dog. I had to laugh. Later on, the dogs were rather friendly with each other. :)
But those other big dogs? Scary stuff. Fortunately all have stayed injury-free. I have no idea if how I've handled the situations is the correct way.
Once. According to the owner the dogs brain had outgrown it's skull. One of those curly haired breeds. Didn't bite me but might have. Oh there was another time when I held out a treat to a dog, he went for it and got a little close to my hand. He wasn't trying to bite me and didn't he was attempting to get the treat......real fast. hahahaha
When I was a kid I would ride my bike to my aunt and uncle's house. About a block from there house was a dog that the owners had never taught social skills. It would go after anyone on a bike. I would build up speed so I could fly by before he could reach he road. One day he was already by the road, and was going for my ankle. I had to jump off the other side of my bike and use the bike as a shield. After a few minutes of yelling the owners finally came out and called it back. I told them they needed to chain the dog.
The dog had already bitten a few people I knew. In today's society, at least in the US, the county would have taken the dog and euthanized it. This was in the mid-70s. I think the dog bit one person too many. If I remember correctly, it bit someone younger than me. I was 10 or 12 at the time. The father of the boy that was bitten, showed up and shot the dog. I think the owners called the police, but all the neighbors backed the father.
While we were out cycling, Mrs Didge was badly bitten by a Labrador owned by a local cop. If he'd offered any assistance we'd have forgotten about it but he was so bloody arrogant I told him I was going to report it. "It won't do you any good," he said. "I'm a police sergeant." And, sure enough, by the time we got to the police station he had already telephoned. So we sued him. It turned out that we weren't the first and it cost him a packet. All he had to do was say, "Sorry," and run her to the hospital.
It makes me mad that people would let their dogs run loose after it has already bitten people. My neighbors did the same thing, they let their dogs run loose knowing that the dogs were destroying property (like clawing up cars trying to get to animals on top) and killing neighborhood pets and livestock. One day the dogs got loose and mauled my brother after they knocked him off his bike but thankfully the weird neckbeard of the neighborhood heard the commotion and went running out and beat the dogs off of him. My poor bother had to go to the hospital as he went into shock. At that point the county finally decided to put the dogs down then my neighbors threatened to kill my dogs because we "killed" their vicious dogs, which they claimed were just trying to play. Yeah, just trying to play, tell that to all the dead animals and the horribly injured child.
Only a skunk.. he was mad, but fortunately he sprayed my dog rather than me. True, it took a few hours with industrial strength dog shampoo to get the smell off him. (Don't let your pet rub the sprayed part, as it just causes the smell to penetrate the pores, and gets harder to get off)
I'm lucky. We don't got no skunks in Oz. A couple of times, though, she's chased a kangaroo. Fortunately for her she couldn't catch them. You've got no idea how fast those things can move through the trees.
One day, my father decides to rent horses for the family to go riding. The stable was busy that day and by the time the owners picked a horse for me to ride, they had run out of the normally used horses. They told me that this one is a little spirited, but you should be okay. None of my family had ridden before. They told us the rules ... stay on the trail, etc., etc, and don't let the horses eat the grass alongside the trail.
We're about twenty minutes into the ride and my horse stops and starts eating the grass. So I jerk up on the reins, to stop him, and he reared up like he's Silver and I'm the Lone Ranger ... comes back down and takes-off in a full gallop. Well, I didn't fall off, so I'm thinking ... this is pretty cool! So I give him his head and we are moving! A couple of minutes pass and I look up and see the stable .... coming closer. People are running around, waving their arms and yelling! Then I notice that the stable door is open, but too low to enter at a full gallop! Oh boy! One of the stable hands grabbed the reins and stopped the horse before he got to the door. Then they told me he wasn't "stable-broke" yet.
I have a feeling that we got a discount that day, but I never did ask.
I remember fter my step-dad accidentally ran over our cat, Puddy, poor old Puddy was rightfully angry. I'm surprised she survived a van crushing half her body. I tried to pick her up as gently as humanly possible to put her in a crate so we can take her to be put out of her misery, but she was hurting and upset and bit me several times in the process. I felt so bad for the poor old lady.
It's a lousy thing to happen and I know just how you felt. Same thing happened to our dog when I was a kid. Well, it wasn't our car, but it sure did a job on him. Nice dog, too.
WelbyQuentin 