IT ALL STARTS AT SCHOOL...

As I was walking Cleo & Lucky this morning, we ran into a whole bunch of school kids who were doing some kind of cross country running thing.

So all three of us stopped and waited patiently at the junction for all the kids to go past... There were hundreds of them. Cleo and Lucky behaved exceptionally well and just stood there watching the kids. The school kids however, were not nearly as well behaved as my fur-kids.

Almost every single one of them started to - get this - BARK!!! - when they saw us. I was quite horrified at their behaviour and told many of them to stop doing the nonsense that they were doing

If they were faced with dogs that were not as well behaved or strays, they may have put themselves in danger of being bitten by the dogs. Thankfully, my kids didn't flinch in the slightest bit with all the ruckus.

But what irked me most this morning, was not the behaviour of the school kids, but the behaviour of some of the teachers that were chaperoning the kids. One of the teachers who rode past on a motorcycle actually turned around to the children and started shouting and waving like a lunatic!

He shouted: Anjing kat depan! Anjing kat depan! Tepi! Tepi! Tepi! Nanti kena gigit! Tepi! Tepi! Anjing kat depan! Nanti kena gigit! (Dogs up ahead! Dogs up ahead! Move! Move! Move! You'll get bitten!)

This ridiculous behaviour of the teacher got the kids into a right frenzy and they literally all started to run helter-skelter, and scream and shout hysterically as they passed us!

I nearly had a heart attack right there and glared at this stupid teacher! Seriously if my dogs were easily spooked or not as well trained, they would have most probably gotten very excited and may have actually bitten some of the kids.

I feel that as an adult the last thing that teacher should have done was to make the kids panic! He should have told them to walk by calmly and quietly instead of scaring them like he did. And the worst part of this fiasco, was that he rode away after shouting at the kids, instead of staying there to ensure that the kids were safe from my two "ferocious" dogs!

This is probably why so many kids react so badly when they see dogs or when a dog approaches them. Their reaction can cause them to be seriously hurt.

I hope that parents and teachers will actually teach their kids to react the correct way when faced with an unknown dog. Here are some tips on how to prevent being attacked or bitten by a dog!

Avoiding dog attacks

The following tips may help you avoid being attacked by a dog:

• Don't stare dogs in the eyes - dogs often feel as though you're challenging them when you make direct eye contact with them, so this should be avoided to reduce the risk of attack.
• STAND STILL - or maintain a constant slow pace while BACKING out of the dog's territory if you are withdrawing. Do not turn away from the dog.
• Never try to outrun a dog as this will provoke the dog to chase you and this can end in an attack.
• Start by slowly distancing yourself from the dog if it begins to approach you. Get something between yourself and it - for instance if you're on a bike, place the bike between you and the dog; if there is a tree post or bench, ensure they are between yourself and the dog. Once behind the object you can speak softly and gently to calm the dog.
• Do not use part of your body - e.g. an arm - to distance yourself from the dog as the dog may snap at you, causing injury.
• Keep a safe distance between yourself and dogs being walked on a lead, and always ask the owner's permission before approaching any dog.
• Be aware of areas that dogs frequent and change your route to avoid dogs which are not on leads. 

 

What to do if a dog attacks you

• Call 999 (or ask somebody else to) as soon as it is possible to do so. 
• Do not use part of your body - e.g. an arm - to distance yourself from the dog as the dog may snap at you, causing injury.
• If you are attacked or knocked to the ground, take measures to protect your face, neck and head by curling up in a ball and putting your hands on the back of your neck. Try to be still and do not wave your arms around.

 

ATTACKED!

Belle and Rascal in their Thundershirts which saved them from getting bitten

This morning, while I was walking Rascal and Belle, we were suddenly attacked by a huge, black German Shepherd!

I had stopped to let the kids have a sniff and was watching Belle (cause she has a tendency to pick up and eat rubbish) when I suddenly felt Rascal's lead stiffen! I turned to look and I saw a massive, black fur ball hurtling at us from across the road!

Playing with a German Shepherd puppy!

Before I could even react, the dog - a German Shepherd - was upon us! He basically charged us and was for some reason determined to grab Belle. He kept charging Belle and would not let up!

As you can imagine it was quite a situation. To their credit, Rascal and Belle held their own ground. In part, due to Rascal constantly trying to bite the GSD and Belle also fighting back, the GSD did not manage to really grab Belle.

And thankfully they both had their Thundershirts on this morning, so that also gave them an extra layer of protection (I normally don't put the Thundershirts on them on their walks but because they just had a bath yesterday, and it had rained heavily in the morning, I put it on them to prevent them from getting wet and dirty!). Can you imagine if they didn't have their Thundershirts on? The GSD's teeth would probably have sunk into them especially Rascal as he hardly has any fur!

So what did I do? I basically yelled at the dog to try and get him to back off. At the same time I tried to put myself between him and my kids (which of course may not seem like a very clever thing to do in hind sight) because as far as I was concerned they were my babies and I wasn't going to let them get hurt.

I knew that I had to do something more or we would have all been finished. So I decided that I had to kick him because I had my hands full - one lead in each hand - and I knew I couldn't drop the leads cause my kids may run onto the road and into on-coming traffic.

So I kept wedging myself between the kids and this GSD, and as soon as I could I yanked both kids back and landed a solid kick into his chest! That startled him and then I yelled at him to go away! And thankfully he did. He ran back across the road and disappeared!

I just hope that he didn't attack any other dogs or anyone else for that matter.

I took the kids home quickly and looked them over thoroughly. Thankfully they were not hurt at all although they were a few small tears in their Thundershirt.

Working with a Rottweiler

The reason I am sharing this story is because I feel that everyone should know what to do if something like this ever happened to them. In this case, I had to fight the dog (because he was attacking my dogs and I had no other alternative) although I normally would never advocate fighting or challenging a dog.

Additionally, should you ever decide to challenge a dog that is attacking you, you need to be very confident yourself. If you panic or show fear, the attacking dog will be even braver!

Note that probably one of the reasons why I was able to get the dog off my kids was because I did not panic and I was not afraid of him. I have dealt with many dogs in my lifetime and I have dealt with many breeds that are deemed dangerous, and therefore have an advantage over the situation where most people would not have.

Fun time with a German Shepherd cross

In my other blog, I have written a few articles on Aggressive dogs and How to Prevent Dog Bites etc. Please do share these articles with your friends to prevent any untoward incidents.

With a Bull Mastiff - another "dangerous breed"

However, what I would like to highlight here is that this German Shepherd behaved the way that he did because his owner has never been able to control him.

We have seen him on our walks every now and then, and it's a constant battle between him and his owner. Additionally his owner is quite strange and in my opinion encourages his dog's bad behaviour.

Every time the dog sees any other dog, he would bark incessantly and lunge madly. The owner never seems to be able to control the dog, and sometimes I see the owner doing really weird things like squatting down and banging his shoe on the ground when the dog is in that heightened state. It has always seemed to me that he was goading the dog on.

I have wanted to speak to the guy for some time now, but of course I have never been able to because his dog is always in a crazed state! And whenever I do see them, I always have at least 2 of my kids with me and therefore cannot risk approaching them.

Douglas and I drove around the neighbourhood this afternoon in an attempt to locate this dog and his owner, but unfortunately we were unable to find them. I will definitely talk to this guy the next time I see him though. I dread to think what would happen to the poor dog if he did attack a person and caused injury or worse, if he attacked a child!

With an Anatolian Shephered Cross - a very powerful dog

So I just want to re-emphasise to all of you, who may be quick to judge and state that all dogs are bad or that certain breeds are killer dogs and should be banned, to understand that a dog's behaviour is usually shaped by humans. In my book, dogs are not born bad. They become bad because we make them bad.