Quote:
Originally Posted by yorkietalkjilly  It's worked on several small, medium and large dogs over the years with me, all except two small neighbor dogs that excitedly tried to get around it to Tibbe on a rainy day. I'd already had it open over our heads when the little dogs rushed off their porch, across the street and tried to get to Tibbe. I quickly put it down in front of us and it held them off but they didn't get to see it unfurl in a starling whoosh and were little-dog thrilled to see another dog out walking and stayed in place until their owner got there. But it kept them from getting to Tibbe as I just lowered its edge to the sidewalk level and rolled it in whatever direction they tried.
I began using an auto-open umbrella during walks after a large, aggressive Dalmatian rushed from nowhere and grabbed my Yorkie, Jilly, up in its jaws. And it stalked us all the way down the block afterward as we headed home to the car and emergency vet, even though I repeatedly threatened it with a raised walking stick I'd taken with me for the first time that day and had used it to beat the dog off her to allow us to get away from it.
After that vicious attack, I realized I needed something to intimidate approaching dogs and my trusty auto-open umbrella has done the trick. Walking sticks are just that - thin sticks and not really too worrying to dogs unless they are close enough for you to threaten to hit them with it. Even then, a dog who has never been hit usually won't react to just a raised stick unless your very aggressive body attitude and eye stare can serve to warn him off. But a big, mysteriously enlarging umbrella a dog can't see through and assumes is a huge, solid object usually intimidates dogs that have an interest in approaching you.
Of course it can't prevent the highly dominant, aggressive dog interested only in attacking or the sudden, unseen dog coming from out of the bushes or from behind but those you can see coming are usually suddenly unsure about the rapidly whooshing open umbrella before you. And they can usually shield the dog from actually getting to whomever is behind them while you yell for help or get to safety during an actual attack attempt. Over time, dogs quickly learn you will always have it and whoosh it open if they approach you and oncoming dogs just tend to give you a wide berth or go the other way. |
To be honest this might be an alternative on that dog we're afraid of. I don't think the dog is to blame but his owner probably trained the dog to be vicious (a guard dog), because the dog used to be allowed to roam in the backyard(theirs) without any actual supervision over the dog.
The dog would be out during the day(sometimes even if it rains) and would bark all the time over anything...
According to my mom, the dog came up to her and was friendly one moment and then in an instant snapped. I wonder if it was the first time that's happened. (That he got into our yard).
When we called the cops (the cop did a half-butt attempt) the guy(or woman) claimed to not own any dog-- yet the dogs been seen in his/her yard almost daily at the time, and now we still see it there.
Of course we managed to record it this time.
But I wonder if the umbrella trick would work on him/her. I used to feel bad for pitbulls(as they're all not bad) but at the same time I just don't think we should continue to breed something that has the potential to be used as a "tool" for guarding, or better explained as a tool for attacking....
I don't particularly have anything against the owners(who own such breeds) but if the dog who was trained to be a guard dog managed to escape it could wreak havoc and cause major damage...
I don't think we should put them down either; I just think we should reduce them and make a law or something that would be aimed specifically at breeds that have the tendency to be used for that to be more highly monitored and regulated.. kind of like how they do with guns over here.
Over here if you own a gun the cops would probably know(maybe this is an error but it seems like there is a higher chance for them to know).
I think they should be made to keep record of who sold what to who and there should be special license just to buy a dog like that with someone coming to check the dog/home 2x a year(unannounced) to make sure no foul play is taking course.
I say this because while yes not everyone who owns a dog like that is a bad person or wants them for dubious reasons; it only takes one person to screw it up(accidentally or otherwise) for a potentially dangerous situation to occur.
As a child, a similar thing occurred. I lived at the time in a not so well off neighborhood and there were people who had these dogs lose in their front yards(fenced) or they were tied to a stake on the ground which had they gotten loose -- I or some other kid(at the time I was really small) could have gotten seriously hurt.
They're not generally bad dogs, just there are people out there who own them and use them for really bad reasons... some even purposely breed them.
But I am not 100% sure an umbrella would do much. I kind of wonder.