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How would you defend your dog from a staff/pitbull attack

21K views 125 replies 53 participants last post by  DobeCountyforOldmen 
#1 ·
Hey everyone, im a proud doberman owner :) my boy is 13 months and is the sweetest and nicest dog, no aggression towards any dogs or people. My friend owns a 15 months old rotweiller which got attacked by a pitbull and ripped his ear off. Today i read in the newspaper that this poor guy was walking his jack russel when a staff came running towards his dog and instantly hooked onto his neck. Apparently this staff took ages to let go, and the jack russell just barely survived. The owner of the staff apparently shouted at the owner of the russel and said "dont you dare touch my dog" and “And keep your poof(gay) dog away from mine", I live in london,UK and theres alot of pricks who buy staffs and pits just for status. These dogs are beaten and not socialised so they become aggressive. my question is, lets say (god forbid!) a pitbull or staff hooked onto my boys neck, or anywhere else for that matter. How would you break up this fight? Or if it was very serious how would you kill the attacking dog? Ive been reading round and ive seen things like pepper spray the dog in the face/nose, Break the hind legs , squeeze the balls (if its male), choke it with its collar, or the worst ive heard which i dont believe is stick your finger or a stick up the attacking dogs ass. Dont get me wrong i love all dogs and i know lots of staffs and pits who wouldnt hurt a fly, however if my boy was ever attacked like that i wouldnt want to take any risk. So like i said how would you kill the dog or injure it heavily? obviously taking in mind that were just in the park with no weapons or anything? Please dont say immature or w.e, i honestly love my boy to bits and just want to know how to deal with this type of situation. Btw if you want to see the article its here
 
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#3 ·
If my dog was ever attacked, I'd probably beat the **** out of the attacker. No matter what breed it is, nothing would be attacking my dog for no reason. I would do everything I could to get the dog away. People should make some kind of prevent attack classes and know what to do if there was one.
 
#4 ·
If my dog was ever attacked, I'd probably beat the **** out of the attacker. No matter what breed it is, nothing would be attacking my dog for no reason. I would do everything I could to get the dog away. People should make some kind of prevent attack classes and know what to do if there was one.
thats a great idea! the reason i ask about the bully breeds is because ive read countless of times that beating them doesnt really work and infact just makes them grip on to the dog even harder. So i was just wondering is there a technique that more or less would deff work?
 
#5 ·
>Secure dogs so they cannot move their heads/whereever they're locked together
>Wait for rebite- IE when the offending dog lets go in order to get a better grip
>Pull away before rebite chomp
>DO NOT RIP THEM APART DURING A LOCK AS THAT WILL CAUSE BOTH THE DOGS TO WORSEN EACH OTHER'S INJURIES AND WILL PUT YOU AT RISK FOR REDIRECTION
>Invest in breakstick and pepper spray or whatever's legal on that side of the pong if you must.

Many responsible pit owners believe that a breakstick is an important tool to have to separate dogs IF something happens to keep both fingers and dogs as safe as possible. The absolute worst thing you can do is go into a frenzy as it will just rile the dogs up more. Stay calm and keep your head (easier said than done I know!) and look up ways to keep a dog from attacking prior to a fight happening. Remember that both pits/staffs and dobes are considered "dangerous dogs" by a vast majority of people and it may not matter WHO started the fight or who was worst injured.
 
#6 ·
Duke could definitely hold his own if a pibble or any other breed of dog came at him, I'd be more worried about Mila. Obviously she's just a pup now but everyone who's met her and knows jack about dog temperaments tells me that she's shaping up to be a very demure Doberman, reserved and sweet and without a truly aggressive bone in her whole body. I'm afraid she wouldn't know what to do if another dog ever attacked her. Big Brother Duke has been great at teaching her wrestling and play, but in a real life ordeal with an aggressive dog I'm sure I'd have to be the one to get it away from her (or maybe Duke would protect her, he's quite a guardian). In that scenario, I would probably find the nearest blunt object and go for the hind end; a crippled dog couldn't come back after Mila or I. (And this is all coming from a self-professed animal lover)


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#7 ·
The only way to humanely break the hold of a determined terrier that will not let go is a break stick.
Pit Bull Rescue Central

Otherwise, they will stop at nothing. I speak from experience and I did not have a gun or knife on me, otherwise I would have put the dog down as this was not someone's pet and it was killing my Doberman in front of my eyes.

I do not recommend choking the dog, the dog could easily turn on you if it lets go. Sticking the finger up the butt is likely not going to faze a truly determined dog set to kill. Same with the water hose. It's not a good idea to pick up the hind legs and pull because you are just going to cause more damage to your dog, the bite will tear more into your dog's flesh, the terrier is not going to let go. Pepper spray would just get your dog as well. Never scream or yell or slap/kick the dog, that will just amp them up more.

Do not be like these dumb-@sses...
LiveLeak.com - Couple Desperately Tries to Break Up a Brutal and Bloody Pitbull Fight


If you do not have a break stick..most people don't carry one on them...you can shove the end of a shovel, broom, or a pooper scooper(what i used) behind the dog's molars to act like a break stick and get the jaws to release. Most people don't carry those on walks either so in that event, do what is necessary to protect your dog's life. If you don't walk with a weapon, good luck.
 
#16 ·
I always walk with my hiking stick that I got in Yosemite, they sell them. We walk by a house that has an Akita that wants a piece of Eli. Eli would be no match for that Akita, nor a pit. I have my stick and hope it would be enough. I do have pocket knives and never thought of carrying one, good idea.

I had some bad ass german shepherds in my day and even Brando the largest and the strongest could not have survived a pit attack if the Pit went crazy bonkers and wanted to kill. At least I don't think he would have. Thankfully it was never something I had to learn!
 
#17 ·
Totally in a staring contest with Dukers right now, I think he feels his ears ringing lol...

On another note, I always have a good size folding knife on my person (complete with seat belt cutter & window-shattering tip, would probably be great for inflicting pain without leaving a stab wound) as well as a multi-tool that I could MacGyver in to a makeshift jaw jack if I was brave enough to get close to its mouth... I guess I've just felt for quite a while that Duke is all the protection I would really need, he hears & sees better than I and is an astounding judge of character when it comes to new people. If he's miffed about a passerby, there's probably a good reason and I should keep my guard up. I'm hoping he passes his good intuition on to Mila.


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#19 ·
If fights are so prevalent in your area, a walking stick and pepper spray are a great idea.Do you have a yard they can potty in and maybe drive elsewhere for long walks?

Always try to prevent a confrontation, if at all possible. I used to live in a part of the city where strays would pop up occasionally and managed to avoid them all by being alert and spotting them before they spotted us.

I have had a couple of encounters since then though. Ironically, both times in places where I felt hyper vigilance was unnecessary. (Maybe not so ironic.)

One was during a trip to the Caribbean with my GSD years ago. We were on one of our nightly walks when a bully type dog charged us. There were kids running behind him screaming for me to look out and that I was about to have a dead dog. I looked around for a fence to duck behind, but there was none. I had my dog sit and held him by the collar as I took his leash off and stood in front of him. When the dog was within striking distance, I yelled no in my scary voice and struck him with the leash across his face. It was, luckily, a chain leash and hurt enough to scare the dog away.

The other was quite recent. I live in an apartment building now and lots of the tenants have dogs. The one dog that makes me nervous is a large white APBT/Dogo looking boy that is very dog aggressive. The other night, I took my dog out much later than usual and as I pushed the door to exit the building, THIS particular dog came running towards us OFF LEASH! The entry door is slow-closing, with handles only on the street side. I had to use my body and a garbage bag I was carrying to block the opening and keep the dogs on either side of it. The dog was snarling and trying to go through my legs when the owner finally managed to grab it by the collar. Apparently, when the owner walks him at night (around 1am) she ALWAYS lets him run back "home" off leash. :confused: :confused:

I probably didn't do the smartest thing, but my instinct is always to protect my dog. Please don't let your guard down because you think your dog is "tough." If you think size is the only determining factor in a dog fight, please do more research.
 
#20 ·
Buddy was attacked by a pit bull type dog a couple of years ago Buddy walking by scooter Patches on scooter behind my legs we were the next street over from ours. The pit jumped over the front yard fence attacked Buddy I hit my air horn the pit stopped fighting Buddy came over in front of my scooter just looked right at the air horn ? it ran out of air some teen agers were trying to get their dog the pit. It attacked Buddy again finely the teenagers got it off of Buddy we left I went home the back pack Buddy wears was bitten but Buddy was not hurt.Got home checked Buddy out I was on the phone to AC the next day since everything happens on weekends. Then when we went out always took my cane which i would have used if it happened again.
 
#22 ·
I am so sorry you are living in such fear and whilst the suggestion you have received are all brilliant as we know in the UK you cannot carry mace, neither can you carry a weapon such as a knife or BB gun so whilst these would be of great use, they are not an option for you.

So...

You start walking with a stick, an ordinary stout walking stick.

If a dog comes at you, you have 2 options, one, use it to fend the dog away, using it as a keep away prod not a beating stick, (the latter would inflame a bully breed) two, use it as a bite stick.

If you simply carried a bite stick you may run foul of the police, they may think you are carrying a weapon, (in effect you are) but a walking stick is perfectly lethal and just a good (if it is stout enough) to be used to prevent a dog getting a hold.

If your dog is in the jaws of a bully I truly believe there is nothing you can do save wait for the repositioning of the bite before you can act.

It is truly a horrible experience to go through and I hope you never have to.
 
#23 ·
I carry pepper spray and a knife at all times. I don't live in a high crime area, but it is secluded, and that's asking for trouble.

I am not sure what I would do if a dog attacked my dogs. Bruno nearly killed a pitbull once, but the dog was not in red zone and I was able to get him off and in the house without much incident. (He put the dogs whole head in his mouth and was going for the kill... to this day I don't know why.)

I think I'll start carrying a stick to ward off dogs if needed.... so far in my experience most dogs steer clear of my pack but then again we've never encountered a red zone dog. I assumed a knife or pepper spray would be enough but I don't know, honestly, if I could use the knife on a dog. A stick in the jaws would be much better for everyone. Now I'm off to google exactly how to use a break stick.....
 
#24 ·
We've had numerous dogs run up and attempt to attack us. Just recently, two jack russels off leash attacked us, except when each one went to strike Zoeys leg, I was lucky enough to give them a hard boot. If they were to strike, my next move would've been to let Zoey have some early dinner, but this is just a JR.

A PB is a whole different world, in which case I carry a large hunting knife.
 
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#26 · (Edited)
When my husky was about a year old....I have just got her. I was in Dana Point, Ca at the harbor walking her (bob had the leash and he is 6'4) and a very large pitbull out of nowhere is trying to bit her! Bob pulls her up as far as possible....hanging her by her neck....to try to get her out of bite range....while we are kicking at the dog. It was a snap judgement and did not know what else to do. Finally a guy runs up and gets is dog. And he says "I don't know, sometimes he just attacks!" The dog is not on a leash....he is just out walking.....I wanted to kill the guy! Now if you have ever been to Dana Point in that area there are moms and kids out walking not to mentioned others dogs. Some people just can't handle having animals or children for that matter. I would do what ever to save my dog!

Now I have met some awesome pitbulls! They can be great animals....it's all about how they are raised/socialized. Now for some of the owners....they can be idiots. Anybody that lets there aggressive dog of any breed free in an area with other dogs and people....they should be neutered along with a harsh legal sentence if a person or animal is hurt. And I don't buy the whole "well he just got out" mine never have.
 
#28 ·
I'd kick the **** out of any dog that attacked my Lexi. Breaking their legs is actually quite easy all you have to do is grab each one and pull outward... I would then proceed to kick the **** out of the owner for allowing their aggressive dog to roam off leash, or without a muzzle.

Fortunately I've never had this issue. But if someone would tell me to keep my dog away from theirs when their dog is the one attacking...I would have choice words.

When I pass people on walks I will allow Lexi to calmly approach other dogs but I only let them touch noses at first to see if things remain calm. If they don't then I can quickly pull Lexi away without incident (hopefully).

A lot of people around my area own dogs that are clearly unsocialized, and it's a shame because I like stopping to talk and Lexi likes stopping to play. ^_^
 
#31 · (Edited)
What do they feel about bats and other striking implements? Seems shameful that it is not legal to properly defend one's self/one's family.

Just wondering...is Wasp/Hornet spray available/legal "across the pond"? Wasp spray is some VERY nasty stuff, and it WILL do damage to things other than wasps/hornets. The down side (both here and there) is most manufacturers list quite clearly that it "must/should not be used" other than as instructed.....possible lawsuit? I don't know much about laws/legal systems other than here, but I know that in the U.S. TOO MANY people are lawsuit happy. I would not recommend the wasp spray if you have any other options.
 
#33 ·
I've been on this forum a short time and it surprises me how often this topic keeps coming up in one theme or another. It's almost as if it should have a permanent home or something forum friendly.

I have been lucky and haven't encountered any off leash dogs where I live. I would be horrified as well as injured from breaking it up.

I don't know if I could shoot, or stab the other dog...their owner in a effin heartbeat. So I guess I would be injured and in jail.


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#34 ·
Glad I live in the USA!


Beating a dog is just going to amp it up more. Terriers are like no other dog. Watch the video I posted.

Calamity, when it comes to your pet's life on the line you would do what you needed to protect. It's that or watch your dog die in front of your eyes and live with that on your conscience. No one wants to hurt another animal, but you also don't want anything happening to your own pets.
 
#35 ·
I usually carry a Telescoping baton , It is a about 8'' long when retracted and conceals nicely in your pocket or hand. It will extend to about 26'' (some are shorter) with the flip of the wrist. It has a steel ball the size of a large marble on the end, and delivers a painful blow when struck by it. A good whack to a leg joint of a dog would be enough for most situations.
 
#44 ·
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