If you were to get attacked whilst walking your dog what do you think your dog would do ?

[summergone]

I walked my dog on a usual route yesterday thinking I would get to the end of the unlit off road bit before it got too dark but I didn't . I came across a man who spoke to me but he made me feel really uneasy and my heart was actual racing . This is not like me I'm not an anxious nervous person at all . As I walked away I was thinking if he had attacked me what would my dog do? I'd like to think she would know I was in danger and would pounce on him and protect me but it got me thinking . What do you think your dog would do ?

Knowing him he’d probably join in.

Mine would def bark and jump up at them and possibly bite. She hates violence or what she perceives as violence (play fights/wrestling/tickling) and always tries to get in between it to protect the perceived victim. She does sometimes put her mouth on the perpetrator but not bite as it's one of us but if it was a stranger actually attacking she may well bite?! She's only a spaniel though so not big or strong and doubt she'd do much damage just alert or warn.

When we've been walking in the woods alone before and seen men on their own a few times, she stands in front of me and growls and refuses to move until either they have gone another way or we go another direction so maybe she has a sense that we shouldn't walk past them! She's done similar when we were going to walk down a cut through alley and a drunk man in a hoody was down there smoking weed she growled and wouldn't walk down there so I went a different way.

Years ago I was walking DDog (big male GS) along a canal tow path. He was off chasing squirrels and I was approached by a man who looked like he'd been sleeping rough, who asked me for some change.

I said I didn't have any and tried to walk on but he stepped in my path and put his hand on my arm.

DDog appeared out of nowhere, sat by my right side and just growled. No barking, no snarling, he just sat and 'rumbled' in the back of his throat. Man let go of my arm. 😊

I have two labs black and huge - they are larger then average working dogs

they would fight to the death I think egging each other on and defending me

they don’t bark a lot (trained to bark at the door) but they are wary of strangers - their hackles rise until they judge the person is ok

years ago my dog was great with the postman although he often said they are fine if you are here but not if you aren’t but then one day I was in the back garden and he came to the gate and lent over and said hi got a package and the dogs went for him scared us both stupid. Then I put double gates on everything and warnings

@summergone oh yes if someone threw a ball I expect she'd run after the ball and leave me behind. Hmm scary thought that all an attacker needs to do is throw a ball!

I was attacked when a teen by another teenage boy , he grabbed me in a head lock and my dog gs / lab cross jumped up on him and nearly savaged him , only for he left me go. If anyone put physical hands on me he would go up on hind legs. I miss him

I have a couple of Rottweilers. Of the two, I think the female would be the more likely to attack, as she’s very protective of me. But the male is very protective of the female, so would inevitably attack to defend her. I’ve never felt remotely vulnerable or threatened when they’re around.

Want to know something ironic? Remember when there was a fashion for wolfdogs amongst people who thought it made them 'hard'? I know someone who actually had one, vet confirmed, through a rescue situation with a special license. She lived in the middle of nowhere and had an outdoor arrangement for him. He was generally friendly to humans but not particularly loyal. I asked her what she thought he'd do if she was attacked and she said 'Bolt. Absolutely, without a second thought. Wolves fear human aggression. He likes me but he wouldn't protect me.'

Mine (lab) would put her tail between her legs and run as fast as possible in the opposite direction mind you so would my husband luckily I'm built like a brick shit house and spent years doing karate so not unduly concerned!

People are always afraid of wolves but your chance of being attacked by wolves is incredibly low.

They are not aggressive to people and would rather flee than fight.

I have a dopey lab retriever - I would have said he’d just sit there looking cute and a bit bewildered. However last week a friend was over for coffee and he decided to demonstrate with karate skills on me (with my full permission)Dog immediately leapt up and got himself between us and placed his front paws squarely on karate friend Proper growl (never heard him growl before). We stopped straight away but dog then plonked himself on me and wouldn’t leave my side til friend had left.
I also fell over once on a dog walk and instead of him running off to chase squirrels, he sat on my lap and licked my face until I got up again.

I have a Staffordshire bull terrier and I know for a fact he would run away scared , he is the biggest wimp going.

@ThingsIhavelearnt and @MintJulia I think you 2 would be ok . Dogs often pick up on a bad vibe from a person don't they , my dog will take a dislike to about 1 in a 100 people and will bark and bark at them , none of the people have anything in common as far as I can tell , it's weird . Though the last bloke she barked at is a man who walks round our town holding hands with his 17 year old daughter , which is thought to be odd at her age . She did not like him one bit !

He just pinned him down and barked. My husband called him off, then held the man whilst I phoned the police. The dog didn’t hurt him at all, but the burglar was crying because he was so frightened of him!

I don't know what my Lab would do in all honesty, as when we are out he just loves it when anyone greets him, so I think he just trusts everyone tbh.

My other x breed, I reckon she would put herself between us and appear aggressive. She isn't at all but she has that presence about her which seems intimidating.

Many years ago my ds who was around 8 at the time was walking out old Lab. He would just plod along as he was old and arthritic. Out of nowhere a Rottweiler which had got loose ran over and went for my ds. My Lab threw himself on top of my ds and the Rottweiler mauled my Lab in his back end. I was actually out and my exdh was home and this happened around the corner from our house. Ex heard the screams and everyone came running out of their homes and one older lady beat the Rottweiler away with a broom. It was a horrific attack. The owners were not home and had left their gate slightly open. My ds was so badly traumatized and my Lab spent a week admitted with his injuries with drains etc. I made contact with the owner, and to put it mildy, he could not have given a shiny shit. I asked him to pay the vet bills and at was a struggle. Eventually he through an envelope of cash into my garden. He couldn't even face me. They moved shortly after. I reported them and the dog, actually the vet did as well but nothing came of it.

I know that my Lab saved my ds's life as if he had been bitten as much as DDog did, he woukd not have recovered as well (he was a tiny 8 year old).

We lost DDog about 18 months after this, we kept his ashes and we chat to him all the time, he was a very special boy.

My ds is in his 20s now and will not walk that same route with any of the dogs.

I'm loving reading these. Polka pup would either go nuts and protect me or if there were treats on offer, ignore me and sit nicely. I'm hoping not to have to test the theory.
He's taken a dislike to the odd person so I'm hoping he'd snarl and bark and snap them away.
Dogs are fabulous aren't they? Mine is fear reactive but not every dog and I love him to bits.

@Mistletow omg you poor thing how scary thank god your dog did that !

Roll over for her belly to be tickled. Lick up any blood.

Savage them. She's pretty small though so likely only their shins, but it would give us a few seconds to run away.

@isthismylifenow omg that's horrific but how faithful and heroic of your old dog

Physically, my dog would be useless. She’s 7kg with a slight underbite. She also looks cute.
But she’ll give it her best.
She does have a 6th sense though. I take her everywhere with me and she’ll always position herself between me and the door. Always.
And I’ve learnt to trust her when she thinks that person is not ok. She’ll bark and attack when she thinks that person is not a good egg. Never bite, just launch and bark.
I’m really sociable and my front door is always open wide. But if I don’t warn her : so and so is coming, go wait for so and so! if that person comes on the drive, she gets excited and happy. Up to the point that person tries to get inside the house. Mum didn’t say you can come in, therefore I’ll get all aggressive, bark and attack you. Take a step back, yup, that’s better, I’ll go tell her you’re here 😂.
If I say: so and so is coming, she sees them, runs into the house and brings them her favourite toy. Mum said you’re coming, can we play?
In all other respects, she’s properly thick.

Likewise. This mine would just bark and jump up a bit. If things got serious I think she'd get scared and back off.

It's actually what most domestic pet dogs would do. If they are not used to conflict / fighting etc then they get very scared.

Golden retriever here, the other day I was talking to a stranger (man) and he tried to jump at the man, 'cos who doesn't want a 30kg dog licking their face?
Anyway, it made me realise that his friendliness might actually be helpful for once!
As the man immediately took 2/3 steps back. Other dog has one blue eye and that always freaks people out

Goldie also has an extremely big bark and the best hackles. If he's unsure of something, which frankly isn't often, he puffs himself up and barks whilst backing up, erect tail etc.. could be scary!

My GSD is a big softie however is not a fan of men on their own (eg no kids or dogs etc) walking behind us - will stop dead and stare them down til they pass... so I would like to think she would at least make a lot of noise and intimidate a would be attacker.. but could equally just run off whimpering who knows 😅