Echo North said:
JohnRoberts said:
A good strategy, when approached by an aggressive dog... shush them... yell at them to shut up and be quiet... It confuses the hell out of them, because that is what their master always yells at them, so they are conditioned to reflexively react as if you might be the alpha dog. Doesn't always work but works more often than it doesn't.
As someone who has spent years in dog behavior and training environments I can tell you the best thing to do is ignore the dog completely.
Trust me, I only deal with the ones who do not ignore me back. I haven't been bitten by a dog, since I was kid (on my paper route), and that time I was trying to run away. I learned to channel my inner alpha dog and stand my ground when it comes to confrontation, but I don't look for a fight. I have better results in close encounters if I back away while facing the dog, rather than turning and running. I can't out run a dog, so just deal with them.
I guess I do not want to be responsible for more dead dogs in local roadside ditches. I have seen way too many. While it should not be an unexpected outcome for any owner who lets their dogs run loose, it makes the vehicle operator feel bad.
My personal observations of dog behavior WRT stranger encounters is limited to me jogging past "their" property, generally on the opposite side of the road to reduce any perceived threat or violation of their territory. Some dogs, like my old Dalmatian, that were cultivated as coach dogs to clear livestock off of roads, are natural chasers.
I find that dogs in groups will be more excitable than when alone, and young adult dogs are far more aggressive than older dogs. Very young dogs that are still in "everybody is a friend" mode, present a different problem. These puppies, will often try to follow me, to play with me I guess... I discourage them from following me so they don't end up miles away from their home.
Young adult dogs can get violently aggressive, but this is proportionate with proximity to their perceived property borders. I ignore them as long as they stay off the road surface... Often they will want to go out into the road surface after I pass, to bark at me in victory over my perceived retreat.. but while they do this they are not paying any attention to possible traffic coming from behind them. If there is traffic coming either way while I am jogging past I will stop running and cross over to their side of the road to keep them in their yard and out of danger. After traffic has passed, I can jog away and they generally stop following at their property line.
Most dogs figure out who I am after years of my regular running past and generally don't chase me, but if their owner is around and in the yard they will put on a special show to impress their owner. In many cases a young dog will stir up older dogs to get involved, against their better instincts.
I have one particular pair of little yippee dogs that I find very irritating (used to be three of them, but one got run over by the husband in the driveway,, not very smart even for dogs). The older woman who likes to work in her yard in a wheelchair lets the dogs run loose, and the smallest lap dog chases me the hardest, with the second dog along for the ride, because I always stop and walk back to the lady so she can pick up and hold the lap dog, which is his reward for chasing me. If I just kept running the dogs would follow me beyond the property line and cause distress for the owner who can't easily chase or control them. They don't seem to understand why their dogs always chase me, but the dogs are getting rewarded with love every time they chase me, duh. I could make them stop chasing me in the blink of an eye with small switch cut from a tree branch. My Dalmatian which could have been difficult, learned quickly to respond to just he sound of the switch branch whipping through the air. My parents had trouble with him running away, but I managed to walk him without a leash for years. I think he took off on me just one time when he saw another loose dog that was too much temptation for him, and figured once he was off the reservation he was going to get disciplined anyway, so he might as well make the most of it.
I perceive a huge difference between cats and dogs but don't want to offend cat lovers.
JR