Wow. I'm so sorry this happened to you! Kudos to the gentlemen who helped. All the strays congregate in our area. When we first had rabbits, we kept them in dog cages while we built their cages. These are large dog cages that were sitting 4' above grade on a heavy wooden table. They pulled the cages down and dragged them across the yard. What happened to the bunnies was indescribable. One managed to escape. He came limping home the next day. He died shortly after and we were able to get some closure. We live in a CITY, too. Before that we had goslings which were also mutilated by these strays.

The local police officers stated bullets as the only real remedy and for this pack, they recommended we do just that. They gave us permission, but we didn't need to. They found their way to the pound and did not find a home. I'm still sore about what they did.. especially the goslings. They were very attached to me and would follow me everywhere. I really feel like I let them down.

At that time we didn't have dogs. Now we do and no problems. I can add that having dogs helps.

It turned around nicely. I could not afford to replace the rabbits. Instead, I placed an ad on craigslist to take in unwanted rabbits. Wasn't long before the cages were full!

Sammy, I am sorry for your attack. You are much nicer than I am, when it comes to choosing between my safety or blinding a dog, the dog will lose every time.

I cant lift my rifle to my shoulder any more and I plan on getting a hand gun.

Larry

I wonder if they are strays or dogs that people don't responsibly contain?

Chicken coupe, I am so sorry about what happened to your animals. Larry, thanks. i am looking into bear spray. I was so scared, and had difficulty controlling my own dog who weighs 75 pounds (I am female at 5'2.) I could not have controlled a weapon at that time. Now I would always plan in advance knowing that later my emotional state would run the risk of huring others.

My dog was on a 6 foot leash. Even though he was not that far away because of the grip I had on the leash, any spray could have come back to either of us.

I think the bear spray is safer though more toxic.

The owner allowed the dogs in his yard while he was gone. They were probably good dogs, but the one wanted to sniff my dog, and my dog was scared. The dog towered over him. That made my dog prey.

The owner stopped by that evening and apologized. He paid for the vet bills, and told animal control to put the dog down.

So many people anymore are afraid, and think their dogs will bring them safety. They don't understand animals. They think if the dog will do tricks for them, that they have control. it simply does not work that way.

dbarron, they were not strays. Animal control has been pretty good about strays. People simply are irresponsible about the leash laws.

Sammy

Sammy, I'm so sorry you went through this. From your description, it sounds to me like the dog that towered over yours was trying to establish dominance and... things got out of control. The dog owner made a mistake. But at least he was responsible (really responsible) and not only paid your expenses, but also put the dog down.

I do not know about bear spray. But I do believe that wasp spray should work. It shoots a jet of spray and doesn't really bounce back. The only concern, in my mind, would be if your dog and another are already going at it. Then, there would be danger of getting your own dog. But that would be a problem with any remedy. A cool head would be necessary.

Kudos to your police department. Sounds like they are practically minded.

Larry, might I make a recommendation? The Springfield XD is a really nice handgun. Because of its design it has less recoil than many others of the same caliber. It also has multiple safety measures, built into it, so that it won't go off accidentally and indicators to show when there is a round in the chamber.

George
Tahlequah, OK

I'm a runner in south Choctaw OK. i've got a loose viscious pit bull in my area. i've called the cops many times and the pound many times. i've been told to go get my conceal carry; so i did just that. That is not very pleasant seeing a pit bull mad at a full run towards you.

Bear mace works, i've blown $100.00 on it for myself and my wife have one. its the one that goes 30 ft. i spray the dogs with it and they leave me alone after that. Also I wear a leather belt and have beat one off one time with that.

Sammy, I am so sorry to hear that this happened to you and to your dogs, and am so grateful those gentlemen came to your assistance.

We were attacked by a dog in the 1980s and have had several slightly less scary encounters here in OK in more recent years. I finally quit walking my dogs a couple of years ago after regularly walking them here for about a decade because it got to where there were too many dogs running loose in our unincorporated part of the county, where there are no leash laws. Even in towns with leash laws, I am astonished by how many dogs run loose...until either the cops or the animal control officer catch them and haul them to the pound.I am not talking about livestock guardian dogs, either, who are well-trained and stay with the animals they are there to protect. I'm talking about either pets whose owners let them roam, or packs of wild dogs that once were pets but then were dumped "in the country" by their people. We often are overrun by those sorts of poor, abandoned pets here in our rural area.

When I walked our dogs, I usually carried pepper spray and most of the time carried a 3 or 4' long steel fence post or length of rebar as well. When not carrying a metal baton-like instrument, I have resorting to picking up a deadfall tree limb out of a bar ditch and beating an aggressive dog in the head (especially the nose area) with it to keep it off of me and/or my dogs. On our own property, I carry a firearm almost all the time. Do I like doing that? No, but after being menaced by various forms of wildlife and by roaming dogs, it became a necessity. We have had our chickens and guineas killed several times by roaming dogs (mostly about a decade ago, including by dogs that dug under the chicken run fence in order to get in there and kill the chickens) and if we have to shoot a dog to protect the chickens, we do.

Nowadays, if I were to walk our dogs off our property, I'd carry bear spray and a metal pole or something similar. You cannot count on any sort of mace, pepper spray or even the strong formulations of bear spray, to deter an attacking animal 100% of the time. They are very useful with animals that are mean and aggressive, but sometimes a dog that is already in an attack mode/frenzy will be unaffected by them. (The same is true with humans under the influence of certain substances.)

You have to be prepared to protect yourself against any attacker, whether it is a dog or a human or whatever. To me, it seems like dog attacks are occurring more frequently than before....or maybe it is just that with the 24-hour news cycle we hear about them more.

Remember that even when a law enforcement officer uses lethal force to stop a dog attacking a human, it often takes several shots to make the animal stop. One shot often is not enough to do the job. That tells you how persistently strong their urge to attack is and shows it is not easy to stop an animal in that sort of frenzy.

I love dogs, but I am always going to do whatever I have to do to protect our animals and ourselves from an attacking animal.

Our problem neighbor who once had about 20 dogs that were allowed to freely roam our neighborhood as they pleased finally moved away several years ago. Nobody here misses them one bit, and we all celebrated when they left. Most of our neighbors, especially those whose homes are close to ours, are wonderful neighbors and don't let their dogs run wild like that, but all it takes is one unattentive pet owner, or some sorry scum who dumps their dogs or cats in rural areas, and you can have real animal problems develop very quickly.

Pease be careful and stay safe!

Dawn

Sharp pitchfork at the ready should work