How to behave if a dog attacks? What to do? Dog handler's advice

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Everyone knows the statement that a dog is a man's best friend. But there are situations when dogs attack people. In addition, sometimes they attack each other, both children and adults can become witnesses of such incidents. It seems to many that the dog attacks suddenly, for no apparent reason. However, as a rule, this is not true. If a dog attacks, what to do in this situation, how to respond to an attack, will prompt an understanding of the reasons for its behavior and taking the necessary measures.

Reason for attack

There are not so many reasons for an animal to attack. Causes of aggression in dogs can be as follows:

• Defending your own territory. As a rule, the territory is guarded and protected by attacking potential enemies, dogs. Female dogs rarely do this. Probably, many have noticed a situation in which an animal accompanies you to a certain place, then abruptly stops and goes back. This territory, which the dog passed behind the person, she considers her own possessions, and therefore protects it.
• Protection of your offspring. A dog will always protect its puppies, however, how it will do this depends on each individual, its breed, and so on. Some will simply growl, threaten with a grin, while others bark deafeningly and even try to attack passers-by.
• Inadequate, poorly educated, not trained in commands dog. There are also owners who believe that their pet should snap at other people, thereby showing that they are protecting their owner.

How to avoid a dog attack

Dog attacks on people are not uncommon. But it is best to do everything in the beginning to avoid this. To begin with, understand why the animal behaves this way, assess the situation, see if its offspring are nearby, if it is aggressive in itself. Maybe the dog feels threatened by his master or jealously guards the territory that he considers his own. In these situations, just walk around the dog, but never run away! The animal may chase you to intimidate.

So, how to behave when attacked by a dog:

• The main thing is not to panic. If a dog attacks, the first thing to do is to remain calm.
• In no case do not turn sideways to the dog, or even more so with your back, this is a direct call to attack for the animal. Turn your face and body towards him.
• Do not try to run away from the dog, they have a strong instinct to chase the escaping, and therefore freeze and stand onplace, do not move.
• Don't show that you are afraid. Animals feel fear, anger, so they will try to attack.
• If a dog is running at you, but the distance between you is still large, you can try to do this: jump forward sharply, right in her direction, this can be confusing and she will stop, or even leave.
• This action helps: bend down sharply and pretend to pick up a cobblestone from the ground and throw it. If pebbles, sticks are lying under your feet, take them and throw them at the dog advancing on you, even a handful of small stones is better. In this way, you let the animal know who is stronger, and they do not attack such, of course, if they are not infected with rabies.
• If there are no stones and other things under your feet, use a bag, an umbrella, keys, whatever is at hand.
• Another easy way is to yell loudly at the animal. The command "Fu" must be said in a loud, steady, confident voice.

Tips for cynologists

Specialists in working with dogs recommend that in a potentially dangerous situation with them, take the correct stance and pay attention to whether the animal is a stray or a pet. According to the advice of dog handlers, if a dog attacks, what is recommended to do:

• Try to keep your balance, it's very important. After all, the dog will rush at you with a force that can knock you down, you can fall, and then it will be much more difficult to fight him off, there will be a large area for biting, includingface.
• There is a possibility that you will have to kill an animal in order to protect your life. Therefore, you need to be mentally prepared for this.
• Take a body position in which one leg is forward - this is a fighting stance. When a dog rushes at you, sharply put your hand forward, this will be what it will rush to in the first place, that is, this is such a distracting maneuver. And immediately kick her on the head with your foot.
• Domestic dog, attacking, will try to bite the hands. But stray dogs attack from behind, mostly throw themselves on their feet, do it on the sly.

All of the above advice applies mainly to he althy individuals not infected with the rabies virus. In the case of rabid ones, shout as loudly as possible, try to attract the attention of others, fight back as you like. After all, it is almost impossible to avoid the bites of an animal infected with rabies, but you need to fight back so that the wounds are compatible with life.

What to do if you couldn't avoid being bitten

The most important thing to understand is that you should not hope that the dog that bit you is not contagious. If you hope for this and do not see a doctor in time, the consequences will be extremely serious. It is important to start the vaccine in time to avoid the development of rabies with subsequent possible death.

If you see direct indications that the dog is inadequate or infected with rabies, it drips with saliva, it violently throws itself at everything that it sees nearby, at everything moving, cannot control itself, be careful. In this situation, it is extremely importantallow a bite. The rabies virus is found in saliva. And if an animal bites you, the virus can enter the body through saliva.

The effectiveness of the vaccine administered depends on the timeliness of assistance. Therefore, immediately after the bite, contact a nearby medical center. If you are seriously injured or you are far from the settlement, immediately call an ambulance.

Methods of defense against an attacking dog

Caught in such a situation, many are lost, especially from fear of being bitten or from ignorance. If a dog attacks, what is the first thing to do in an attempt to minimize or avoid damage? Remember the following tips:

• When the animal rushes to the hand or face, at the moment when it approaches the attacked point, immediately do the following: if the dog has chosen the hand as the point of attack, abruptly leave the place where you were standing, quickly bend it at the elbow, press against your chest. If the target of the attack was a face, this way you will protect him from being bitten by hitting the dog with your elbow and protecting his face with your hand.
• A sharp departure from the place where you just stood will avoid the bite of the body, the animal can only catch the clothes, and itself will fly past.
• When the dog rushes to the foot, again abruptly leave the point of standing, and beat off the head with your hand. Leaving him several times will discourage him and he will just get tired of attacking you.
• On sale you might have noticed self-defense to scare away dogs: all sorts of sprays, cans, aerosols. But you should not use them, because in almost all cases of an attack, they only anger the animal even more, provoking further aggression.

How to protect yourself from a fighting dog

An attack by a stray dog or a domestic dog just guarding its owner is not so bad. Even an individual infected with rabies is sometimes less dangerous than an aggressive fighting breed. If a dog attacks, what to do is more or less clear from the tips above. The wounds will heal, if you immediately go to the hospital, the vaccine will not allow the virus to develop, and the person will recover.

But the attack of a fighting dog directly threatens life, it can easily cripple, leaving without a part of an arm or leg, or even kill. How then to behave if the attacking dog is a fighting breed? The most important thing is to find something that can protect you from being bitten: it can be a jacket, a bag, an umbrella, anything that will prevent you from reaching the body.

Also remember that the main target of a fighting dog's attack is the neck, that's where it will aim. And he will not leave you alone until he takes the prey. You can hit as hard as possible between the eyes to frighten her as much as possible and make her lose her bearings. If you succeed, stuff any object into her teeth so that she takes it for a trophy or prey, then she will stop attacking and leave.

Fall after dog attack

The worst thing is when a dog manages to knock a person down and knock him to the ground. In such a situation, it is very difficult to give anyor advice, and the means of self-defense will no longer help, because a person already begins to act instinctively, reflexively taking a pose in which he will receive the least amount of damage. The resulting shock does not allow to think and act constructively. Still, try to pull yourself together in such a situation. And remember, if a dog attacks, what to do after a fall:

• waving arms and legs, try to hit the dog in the nose;
• from the fighting guard and hide your neck;
• if the dog moves rather slowly, grab it by the ears, or better yet, throw it to the ground yourself and start choking;
• in the most extreme cases, both the victim and the police have the right to kill the animal.

The worst option is an attempted attack by a pack of dogs. But here it is important not to panic and drive away at least one of the pack, thereby showing the rest that you are stronger. And the attack will be avoided.

Cycist and dog attack

An animal can attack not only a pedestrian, but also a person on a bicycle. And this case is quite common. Surely, many, while taking a bike ride, noticed dogs that abruptly start running, trying to bite the pedaling legs.

The main thing is not to panic, not to show your fear. In no case should you sharply increase the speed of movement, because not only will this only provoke the animal, besides, the dog is quite capable of picking up speed more than yours much faster. If, nevertheless, she grabbed her leg,hit the brakes hard. Thanks to the inertia of the attacking dog, it will be thrown forward. After that, get off the bike, putting it between you and the animal as a shield.

Attack of other dogs on the owner of the dog

In addition to the fact that an animal can simply attack a walking person, there are also situations when, walking with your own pet, you can stumble upon aggression from other dogs, whether they are domestic dogs with an owner, or street, stray dogs.

If the attack has already been committed, do not stretch the grappled dogs, this will only aggravate the situation. It is better to throw a scarf, scarf, jacket, anything on the head of the attacking animal that will confuse it, stop seeing the target of the attack. Let your pet off the leash at this moment, he will either run away or fight back the attacker. If possible, pour water over grappling attackers.

If you are in a situation where an attack is only possible, but not yet committed, try to avoid it: give your dog the “sit” command, and drive away the one that tried to attack. This way you will let your pet know that you will handle the situation on your own, thus avoiding your pet grappling with the attacker.