What To Do When a Dog Attacks
by Mike McClanahan
CBS 42 News
2008-04-28 20:00:00.0
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Can you read the warning signs that a dog is in the red zone ready to bite? As recent attacks have shown, even trained dogs can react violently if they misread a person's actions.
Ralph Gibson has been dealing with undisciplined dogs for 30 years with temperaments ranging from disorderly to dangerous. But he says he has never been bitten.
How you ask? He knows how to read dogs accurately.
He told me what would prompt this Doberman, Rosebud, to bite, and then how to make Rosebud back off. Even with an arm protector, this was a tense situation.
“Upp...take him, take him, take him, eat him up, eat him up, eat him up, upp...down keep your eye on him...slide your sleeve off. Slide your sleeve off and drop it.”
That was not so bad, but then he wanted to show me how a dog that will bite on command can be called off at a moment's notice. For this experiment we ditched the arm protector.
In a blur of speed the Doberman covered the 10-12 feet between us building momentum for a powerful lunge. But the instant Gibson gave the cease command the dog put on the breaks, and I did not get so much as a scratch.
The Doberman went from calm to attack mode in a manner of seconds, then back to normal.
Moments later I was petting Rosebud as if we were long time companions. Although she can be intimidating, Ralph insists Rosebud is not an attack dog, just a disciplined animal with appropriate protective instincts.
Because Rosebud was raised in a balanced manner, she ceased the attack when I stopped acting like an attacker, according to Gibson. However he says many dogs are not raised in an orderly manner, and may act like juvenile delinquents.
Over-socialized animals may not bite a burglar, and under socialized animals may become violent with other dogs or people. The bottom line is that they can be unpredictable.
If you encounter a strange dog, there are some warning signs to watch out for.
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"If you see a dog with his mouth shut, its tail's not wagging, that's the first indicator right there," said Gibson.
At that point, Gibson says not to stare straight at the dog, but to watch it with peripheral vision. If you stand your ground with calm confidence the dog may move on. But if you try to scare the dog off, you may be provoking a fight.
Dominant dogs will call your bluff.
"The best response would not be the conditioned response that most people are into as far as freezing up, running, trying to threaten the dog. Because dogs are virtually like lie detectors, they will read you like a book," said Gibson.
Gibson recommends pepper spray as a dog deterrent, but in serious situations it doesn’t always work.
"Encounter an extremely high driven, tough, hard dog, no it's not going to work."
Your best bet is to avoid the encounter in the first place.
Gibson says that there is no such thing as a bad breed of dog, but there's no completely safe breed of dog either. He insists that individual temperament is more important than breed. Still, I'm glad I waited until after the "experiment" to ask him how hard a Doberman can bite.
“Doberman 1450 lbs per square inch, Shepard 1600 lbs, Rotweiler 1800 lbs of pressure per square inch, Pit Bull 2200 lbs of pressure per square inch. It takes 182 lbs of pressure to break a human bone," said Gibson.
But then again, as Gibson points out, even a Golden Retriever can generate between 1400 and 1600 pounds of pressure with its jaws, the same as a Labrador Retriever.
If all else fails, if a dog is latching on and will not let go and you are in fear for your life, Gibson offers this advice as a last resort- but only as a last resort.
“And I had no other recourses or choices, what I would do would be no different than what some people teach in martial arts. I would take my finger and I would stick it in the dog's eye until the dog starts to submit. Okay, if he doesn't submit then I would go the rest of the way. I will alter that drive."
The same technique has been used by survivors of alligator and shark attacks.
More safety tips:
For cyclists, a bicycle can be used as a protective barrier between you and a dog. For people on foot, avoid smiling at dogs, because this may be taken as a sign of aggression. When a dog bares its teeth, it’s threatening you. If you can see its gums, the animal is extremely agitated and may be dangerously close to biting. This means it’s in what Gibson calls “prey mode.” But don’t run! Dogs have a natural instinct to give chase.
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