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 ?

Your poor son, and what a brave, brave dog.

Reading that actually made me a bit tearful. Dogs, man. They're just the best.

I'm pretty sure my dog would be aggressive might not attack but certainly make enough noise to frighten them off or attract attention. My DH normally does the night time walks but he was away so I walked the dog about 10pm in the dark. A man was walking the opposite way on the other side of the road but crossed to our side then started walking the same way as us behind us and put his hood up. I was nervous and wether the dog sensed this or was nervous of the man himself I dont know but he turned and growled and snarled and barked at the man and it honestly sounded so viscious I've never heard him do that before. The man crossed the road again and went back to walking away from us.

I feel safe with my dog, he's a Border Collie and always intervenes if anyone play fights at home. I think he'd take it very seriously.

Mine has form for trying to protect me, though I've never been attacked.

Walking down a rather rough street at 10pm at night and a man comes up behind me trying to ask something. I never did get to find out what he was asking for (probably money) as DDog had starting barking at him and I couldn't hear.

He also woke me up to tell me we had a burglar in the back garden at 2am once. It was a communal back garden and he'd never once been worried about people out there until that night.

He's very intuitive so if I start feeling worried about something or someone there's a good chance he'll bark to make it go away.

Unfortunately he's also barked at plenty of people who I didn't think posed any threat whatsoever, so swings and roundabouts!

He's only little and 8kg but he has a big bark and is easily enough to make attacking me seem like more trouble than its worth.

It would very much depend on his mood. I have a cockapoo (judge me, I care not) and if he’s in one of his laid back, happy, sniffy moods he’d probably be too busy rooting about in the undergrowth to notice. If he’s a bit more wound up then he’d bark and growl - doubt he’d bite, but he’d make his small presence known.

I remember once when i was mych younger, walking my dog in the middle of the night as i often did, and a strange bloke came down the path, and my dog who was friendly to everyone and a conplete sap, was growling at him and I was so surprised, as i never expected her to be protective.

I think, because of that, if it came to it a dog would know to protect its pack.

My spaniel absolutely hates strangers so whilst i think she would bark/growl go for the person I don't necessarily think it would be to defend me ~despite her living a life of luxury and me doing absolutely everything for her~

Probably have a pee and go off for a sniff and a snooze elsewhere.

I have very serious looking very intimidating working black labs (the spaniels provided
the comedy value). I have no doubt they’d attack anyone that tried to hurt me or my children. I am sure of it.

Ddog2, I'd be picking up bits of attacker afterwards. He is very protective of me at the best of times, has an acute bad vibes detection, and has appointed himself a sniffer dog (I can only assume that bad people smell of these substances, so he needs to check out other sources). One time a runner came bursting out of a side trail in the woods and just surprised me a bit and they got the whole down, teeth, barking and full body hackles show while ddog2 put himself between us and the poor bloke nearly wet himself (but did apologise as he hadn't looked at all as to where he was going)
Ddog1, I'm not sure entirely. He is protective of ds, but is slow on the uptake. If ddog2 was busy, I imagine he'd get involved

Mine would be terrified and bolt

If a man, my boy would def go for him...he already barks at a few guys who he doesn't like. I wouldn't like to be the attacker, as he's 55kg of muscle. I have never ever felt threatened whilst walking him.

Mine would have already been barking at him, he's reactive and I walk him far from busy places, he's a v large breed and I'd hate to think what he'd do to someone who attacked me.

I'm sure it wouldn't end well and he'd be PTS, god I dread to think how the man would fair.

I have a rescue GSD and she used to hide behind me if a dog ran at us, or a person got too close. Over the past few months she’s really gotten more confident and happy. I was talking to a man who gestured suddenly with his arm, and she walked in between us and growled softly at him. I was delighted lol …. She’s confident enough to protect me now.
i like to think she’d jump in, but it’s impossible to know unless it happens.

My little dog would do fuck all which is fine as she's 12 and I would hate for her to get hurt. My big dog would go mental and most likely bite a man if they came near me in a threatening manner. She was a rescue and suspicious of men anyway. I always feel very safe walking her on my own or being in the house on my own because I know she would protect me.

They made me laugh 🤣

I'm pretty confident there would be growling and barking from ddog1. She has a really loud, scary bark and looks really aggressive when people come into the garden or house. I think she possibly would bite clothing if I was being held or was down on the floor. She would certainly make a loud noise.
Ddog2 I think might try and protect me, and if so would be pretty terrifying. Though equally she might just put her tail between her legs and run home.

I often wonder (and worry) what would happen afterwards? Would the dog be seized for being aggressive or biting? I think they would, so in that respect I would prefer them just to bark and not get their teeth out.

Mine would be off for a new life with my attacker while I lay there awaiting help, most disloyal dog I've ever known

I actually think mine would try and fight the attacker because he gets his cue from me.

He is the biggest softie in the world but the reason I think he would react is that once a large dog came over and was really aggressive to him and he did the usual cowering behind me. But as soon as I started shouting and waving me arms at the dog to get him to go back to their owner he found his bravery and started barking at the dog himself to back off.

I saw a TV programme where they staged home invasion attacks so that dog owners might see how their dogs responded. All the large/medium dogs were shockingly useless and many just fled out the open door the invader had burst in. It was the smaller dogs, chihuahuas and terriers, that stood their ground and went berserk.
Small sample obviously, but I think many overestimate their medium/large breeds.

Yep. I have a beagle and he'd be straight out the front door

If I was attacked by another dog he's ninja kick it off and pin it to the ground (happened once before to my utter shock and admiration) attacked by a human he'd bark and run away (not happened but seems most likely based on what happens when anyone comes to the door).

I've got a greyster who is loyal to a fault. 90 pounds and faster than anyone can ever dream of running.

I don't doubt for a second that she'd attack an assailant. I wouldn't want to be on the end of her bite that's for sure!!!

I think our current dog (toy breed) would react with frenzied barking and possibly attempt to bite ankles.

I have twice been defended by previous dogs. First one was a rescue GSD who had the best radar for nefarious types of any dog I’ve ever owned. If I grabbed her collar from behind she would rear up and go bonkers, although we never trained her to. She would also put herself between me and anyone she didn’t trust and watch them obsessively for any sign of them doing something she felt was threatening. She went after a man who approached aggressively and tried to grab me in a dark park while I was walking her. She chased him to the perimeter of the park where he ran off up the road and she came back to me.

Second time was my GSD x Boxer rescue lad. He was fear aggressive anyway, but had been intensively rehabilitated and trained to ignore people. I was walking him, when a man threatened me and tried to grab him off me (police later told me there was a known dog fighting ring actively locally) and there was no way he was getting anywhere near us. He was a big, powerful dog and he was up on his back legs warning him off, looking every inch like Cujo! The guy soon realised he didn’t stand a chance and ran off. Our house was later broken into when they tried again to get him. That time neighbours/witnesses saw him chasing two big men down the road. He had run over broken glass to get to them and had shredded every single pad on his feet. Our other dog got out too, but she was tiny and apparently ran in the opposite direction. When he’d seen them off he took himself back home and waited in the kitchen for me to come home. It was a horrible scene to find, as there was blood everywhere (we assume from his feet, but there is a chance he got one of them I suppose). Our other dog was missing 24 hours, then reappeared on the doorstep. We moved away shortly afterwards, thank goodness!

I have to admit, I don’t feel as safe walking my current dog as I did when I had big dogs, even though several of my big dogs in the intervening years would probably have been hopeless against an attacker.

Difficult to say. We had the softest lovely giant labradoodle who once squared up to some young lads who were having a go at my exh. He was very surprised and they ran away!