Guest Post From Steve Minshall, CSP, CIH
300 yards and closing. The deep baritone bark of two large dogs has my attention as I make my way on foot down a country road to where my pickup truck is parked. The barking never stops; I'm intruding on their territory and they're letting me know. 100 yards now. I'm paying close attention and wondering what I'll do if they get too close . . . there's no barrier, no cover. 30 yards and I'm more than a little concerned. Cars drive past, some slow but none are stopping to offer assistance. I have an option that I'm not willing to use . . . not yet anyway. The WOOF, WOOF, WOOF and bared teeth are grim. I raise my arms to make me look bigger and step toward the dogs while shouting loudly, "NO! NO! STOP!" No effect, at least not what I hoped. They didn't retreat but at least they have stopped their approach.This was a real, and terrifying experience. I believed I was about to be mauled. Turns out, I did some things right but it was providence that delivered me to safety that day.
Because of this experience, I took great interest in Session #739 at Safety 2012. The session was delivered by Mitzi Robinson, president and founder of Bulli Ray Enterprises, the premier dog bite safety training company in the U.S.
I arrived early to the session; two or three other people were in the room besides the moderator and the two ladies from Bulli Ray. A toy stuffed Doberman Pinscher sat on the floor, a stout chain wrapped around its neck. I thought, "Is this the 'dog' that would be part of the demonstration today?" A hint of disappointment crept in.
The moderator loudly proclaimed to the few of us in the room to move forward and sit close together to make room for the large crowd that was expected. I looked around the nearly empty room and thought, "Yeah, right. Pretty optimistic fella."
I couldn't have been more wrong. The room filled quickly and I was glad I'd secured a seat on the front row, sure to have a great view of whatever was to come. The room filled to standing room only.
The show started and Mitzi proved to be a superb showperson of commanding presence. She asked for willing volunteers to suit up with a protective apron and arm bite-shield. Fools, I thought. Mitzi had already shown some video clips of dogs attacking people with the bite-shields on. It didn't exactly look like fun. Still, volunteers were plentiful.
From a side door a handler, dressed in tactical pants and a T-shirt (emblazoned on the back was "You can't run. You can't hide.") brought in the real dog; Stinger was his name (an apt moniker). Stinger, the police-trained German Shepherd, rated by Mitzi as a 6/7 in aggressiveness (on a 1 to 10 scale), barked loudly with bared fangs at the sight of the protectively clad volunteers. Mitzi instructed each volunteer to brace and hold the bite-shield in front and close (initially Mitzi stood behind the first volunteer for additional bracing and control). When Stinger bit the bite-shield, the instructions were to release their grip on the internal handle and let Stinger take the shield off the proffered arm. Nothing to it; any demented safety professional could do it. Truly, my hat was off to these intrepid, fearless folks.
Mitzi mentioned that the dog she had for demonstration last year was easily a 10 on the aggressiveness scale. She opted to not have any volunteers hold the bite-shield in front of them. Smart lady.
It was impressive to watch Stinger lunge (secured by a leash, still held by his handler) for the shield and rip it from the volunteer's arm. Once removed, Stinger viciously shook the shield a few times, but when completely satisfied that he'd done his job, he became immediately docile.
And, remember the stuffed Doberman? It had to be hidden behind the first row of spectators, out of sight. Turns out dogs like Stinger doesn't take well to stuffed critters. I'm just glad I wasn't holding it when Stinger entered the room.
Completing those demonstrations, Mitzi got down to the business of telling us the things we needed to know to protect ourselves. Here's a list of some of them:
- Step toward, not away from, a dog that is approaching you. Backing away is a sign of weakness and may induce an attack. That's one of the things I did; it didn't scare the dogs off, but they did stop advancing on me.
- Make yourself as big as you can, arms up, and loudly shout "NO!" and "STOP!" over and over; use your most commanding voice. I also did that; again, it didn't scare the dogs off but they didn't close the final distance.
- Don't depend on the dog's owner to help you if you're being attacked. In fact, in the dog's way of thinking, the presence of the owner means backup has arrived and it's time to get busy...
- Not all dogs adhere to a hierarchy (i.e. dominant to submissive) and that includes Pit Bulls. What this means is that if you act submissive in order to avoid attack, it may do you no good.
- Put something between you and the dog if it attacks. Mitzi says that's better than shooting a dog. She described a police officer who mortally shot an attacking dog four times but in the 45 seconds it took the dog to die, it managed to emasculate the officer. Use a tarp, trash can lid, leaf rake, etc. - whatever is handy. If you put out your hand or arm, that's what the dog is going to bite.
- If you're bitten by a dog, get it treated. Mitzi described a case where a man bitten by a Dachshund (yes, a weenie dog) died the same day from a rapidly progressing bacterial infection. He hadn't sought treatment until much later in the day.
- The most dangerous dog in America is a) Pit Bull; b) Rottweiler; c) Argentine Dogo; or d) Presa Canario. Pit Bulls get all the publicity but the Presa Canario is the most dangerous.
- A well-trained police dog can control 40 people! An aggressive dog can go from standing still to full speed rapidly and can cover 30 yards or so in 1.2 seconds. How good are your reflexes?
- Police dogs have to be able to withstand 10% capsaicin pepper spray; some dogs have a very high pain threshold. Civilians typically only carry 1% capsaicin pepper spray. The message: pepper spray might not do you any good (though it is effective on 70% of dogs). Mitzi's company has an alternative (SprayShield - check it out on the Bulli Ray website www.bulliray.com).
- Don't put your hand or arm or any other appendage you don't want to get bitten over a dog's line of vision.
- Striking a dog across the top of the head with a stick or baton, after it's already bitten into your other arm, only serves to drive the dog's canines deeper into your flesh and bone. Striking the dog on its sides (flanks) may yield a yelp but a second attempt at a blow may only offer the dog a new bite target - giving you two injured arms. If it's a male, should you go for its genitals? No, it doesn't have the same effect as on a human male and is likely to get you bitten more.
- Dogs have three weaknesses: 1) throat (you can twist the scruff around their neck and choke them out - beware, though, when they come to, they are automatically back in attack mode - no grogginess; 2) feet - lots of blood vessels and nerve endings; and 3) forearm.
- What should you offer a dog to bite (if you have no other alternative, like escape)? Not your arm, your back - you will suffer the least amount of injury and you get to keep your arms/hands for fighting if you need them.
- Bulli Ray has a nifty device called the Dog Stick. It's a plastic stick with a colored tennis ball on the end. Put it between you and an attacking dog and the dog bites the tennis ball instead of you. With it in the dog's mouth, you can even direct the dog around until you can get to safety.
- Popping an umbrella at an attacking dog is amazingly effective in stopping attacks. Here's what you do (assuming you have an umbrella in hand): open it once quickly, aimed at the dog. Observe the reaction; if it stops or cowers that may be all you need to do. If it's still coming, open and close it rapidly. If the dog doesn't react to any of this, you have a problem and you need to get out of there.
- If a dog goes from panting to closed-mouth, it's telling you it's ready to attack.
- Multiple dogs are a problem, of course. They have a predictable pattern - at least one of them will be behind you and it is likely to provide a distraction (bump into you very hard) so that the other dogs in front of you can attack. If you can, get your back against a wall or fence and fold your arms across your chest so that your hands are on your shoulders. In the loudest, most commanding voice you have, shout "NO!" and keep shouting NO! at each dog as it approaches you. You have to keep this up and be quick about it to keep the dogs at bay - this will occupy all your attention and you might find it hard to move toward an exit. If there's any chance that you can injure a dog enough to make it yelp, try it. The other dogs will attack the dog that yelped, giving you a chance to escape.
You may be wondering what saved me the day the two dogs were menacing me. Finally, a passing motorist stopped and I quickly explained my predicament. He let me in and drove me safely to my truck. That Good Samaritan may well have saved me from a mauling.
