Ok, I've never owned a dog .. so I know very close to zip about dog behaviour and what the hell I should be doing to establish control if that is even possible. And lets cover , also, posturing (on the dogs part) but also acknowledge where to draw the line for safety sake.
My only poor encounters with dogs were :
1 ) Cutting across an industrial parking lot after a movie as a teen. Suddenly a junk yard dog came barrelling at me out nowhere..barking, snapping...decisive that he was going for his pound of flesh I thought. I didn't crap my drawers for some unknown reason and managed to escape his chains reach by taking two succesive lunges backwards .. each preceeded with a hard whollop to his snout! All reflexive .. based on fear and self preservation.
2 ) I was walking with my Sister after enjoying a nice Thai meal out. As we went down the street the left to us opened up into a parking lot. It was later and the lot was empty. All except for a pit? or something damn close...the owner was pissing on the wall and he had ties the dog to a rail tie in the lot. When he saw us, he promptly ripped the rail from it's spikes and charged us .. in a holy s*** moment I turned and delivered a snap kick to his nose...he yelped and thank God was done for the nite. My Sister, upon turning around, was well and away across and up the street .. nice .. real nice
3 ) I was on a call. It was a low speed MVC. One of my patients that was to refuse service .. (no injuries) was seated in his car. A dog was in the back seat on the passenger side. The window being down halfway where the dog sat looking away was all the invitation I needed to reach thru and go for a quick pat. Well that is one of the only times I can remember being bitten .. fear from the light bump in the parking lot, followed by picking up on his iwners apprehension and maybe a protective mechanism. Lesson learned.
My medic partner likes to tease me because 'apparently' I growl and cats and dogs we see on calls. Today was no different .. had a call to a psych pt in her house .. and there were two sheppard-ish looking meanies sitting on the side porch, where we had been directed to access by our dispatch. My partner says theres no way shes going in with the dogs. I grin, jump out of the rig, and march directly up with a pissed off countenance and as I near I can't resist letting out a low growl. The backed up off the porch .. no biggie.
Thing is this is all bull**** on my part. Part stupidity, ignorance and bravado. One day some mutt going to ante up and kick my tight white ass back to the ambulance ..
So wise ones ... in a situation where I do not feel my safety is truly at risk, but need to project dominance over a mean looking dog that I don't want any trouble from when I go to 'handle' their owner, what can I do ??
TY
My only poor encounters with dogs were :
1 ) Cutting across an industrial parking lot after a movie as a teen. Suddenly a junk yard dog came barrelling at me out nowhere..barking, snapping...decisive that he was going for his pound of flesh I thought. I didn't crap my drawers for some unknown reason and managed to escape his chains reach by taking two succesive lunges backwards .. each preceeded with a hard whollop to his snout! All reflexive .. based on fear and self preservation.
2 ) I was walking with my Sister after enjoying a nice Thai meal out. As we went down the street the left to us opened up into a parking lot. It was later and the lot was empty. All except for a pit? or something damn close...the owner was pissing on the wall and he had ties the dog to a rail tie in the lot. When he saw us, he promptly ripped the rail from it's spikes and charged us .. in a holy s*** moment I turned and delivered a snap kick to his nose...he yelped and thank God was done for the nite. My Sister, upon turning around, was well and away across and up the street .. nice .. real nice
3 ) I was on a call. It was a low speed MVC. One of my patients that was to refuse service .. (no injuries) was seated in his car. A dog was in the back seat on the passenger side. The window being down halfway where the dog sat looking away was all the invitation I needed to reach thru and go for a quick pat. Well that is one of the only times I can remember being bitten .. fear from the light bump in the parking lot, followed by picking up on his iwners apprehension and maybe a protective mechanism. Lesson learned.
My medic partner likes to tease me because 'apparently' I growl and cats and dogs we see on calls. Today was no different .. had a call to a psych pt in her house .. and there were two sheppard-ish looking meanies sitting on the side porch, where we had been directed to access by our dispatch. My partner says theres no way shes going in with the dogs. I grin, jump out of the rig, and march directly up with a pissed off countenance and as I near I can't resist letting out a low growl. The backed up off the porch .. no biggie.
Thing is this is all bull**** on my part. Part stupidity, ignorance and bravado. One day some mutt going to ante up and kick my tight white ass back to the ambulance ..
So wise ones ... in a situation where I do not feel my safety is truly at risk, but need to project dominance over a mean looking dog that I don't want any trouble from when I go to 'handle' their owner, what can I do ??
TY