From: John De Armond
Newsgroups: rec.outdoors.rv-travel
Subject: Re: dogs, was: A scary twist to begging, just outside the RV park
Date: Thu, 02 Feb 2006 14:26:24 -0500
Message-ID: <1hm4u1tfjnlfttbk12qd3g3ik4uavhfc5i@4ax.com>

On Thu, 02 Feb 2006 08:01:31 -0600, Bob Giddings <bobg@escapees.com>
wrote:


>>Most authorities recommend against looking a dog in the eye or any
>>animal.  This is a threatening move.  You have been lucky.  I wouldn't
>>try your method with a pit bull.  Good luck in the future!
>>
>>jw
>
>Well, what you gonna do?  Fall down and show them your belly?
>It's not like I'm out looking for dogs to confront.  I know I
>can't out run them on foot.  On a bike on an open road, maybe.
>

Submissiveness in dealing with aggressive dogs is the best ploy. Watch
how another dog signals submission.  Head turned, belly near the
ground, tail tucked.  About all you can do is look away while backing
up slowly.

>I know that running will bring them on in a hurry.  As I said,
>the best bet seems to be to act like you own them.  Most dogs are
>habitually subservient to some human, and depend on them, if only
>for food.  Try to make them think you are that guy, or his close
>relative, and act like you are in charge.
>
>Command is a matter of artful bluff.  People come with a rep.
>Dogs are used to being commanded by humans.  If you act like they
>are in charge, they'll just do what dogs do, and chew on you.

What you've been doing works with ordinary domestic dogs.  It does not
work for dogs bred for aggressiveness and fearlessness.  Dogs like pit
bulls, some german shepherds, mastiffs and so on.  Aggressiveness on
your part only invites an attack.

I have much experience with pit bulls, as my brother used to hunt wild
boar and bear with them.  Even he'd not go in the kennel without a
stick to whack the ones that got to aggressive.

The most effective weapon I've found against aggressive dogs is
concentrated ammonia water.  Not the grocery store stuff but
concentrated ammonium hydroxide.  Some dogs, like some humans, are not
responsive to pepper spray.  Others, particularly the aggressive
breeds, shake off the pain and keep coming.  A pit bull that can kill
a hog after being eviscerated by same, with his guts dragging the
ground behind him isn't going to be affected by burning stuff in the
eyes.  Ammonium hydroxide shuts down everything - breathing and
vision.  It's the next best thing to shooting.

Back before good leash laws when I was riding a motorcycle daily, I
carried a small steel bodied (no aluminum) fire extinguisher charged
with ammonium hydroxide.  One little blip of the valve would stop a
dog like it'd been shot.  Most recover but if one doesn't, too bad. It
shouldn't have been out.

One can dilute the stuff about half and half with water and put it in
a squirt gun.  At that concentration it won't burn the skin like the
concentrated stuff will but it'll still put the brakes on a dog.

You can order small quantities of ammonium hydroxide over the net from
places like Fisher Scientific, Strem Chemicals, etc.  It is quite
inexpensive.  If you're a farmer or know one, you can make your own by
bubbling anhydrous ammonia fertilizer in water until no more will
dissolve.

John

From: John De Armond
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: Re: Deer, how do you keep bambi where he belongs?
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2007 15:13:19 -0500
Message-ID: <m01kt21gttcmit57v3s9bdscf1c9ifob9l@4ax.com>

On Mon, 19 Feb 2007 12:40:31 -0500, Goedjn <prose@mail.uri.edu> wrote:


>Figuring out how to train a dog that chasing deer off
>your property is good, while chasing cows off someone else's
>property is bad, is a pretty good trick.

A good country dog knows where his property line is.  No idea how but
it does.  A bad country dog is shot and another one procured until one
gets a good one.

The appropriate breed doesn't have to be trained - the instinct is
bred in.  A Blue Healer, for instance, can be born and raised in the
city and still, the first time it sees some cows, it herds 'em.

As most anyone who's actually lived in the country for any length of
time knows, a good dog or two is the best solution to a wide variety
of varmint problems, 4 legged and two.

John

From: John De Armond
Newsgroups: rec.outdoors.rv-travel
Subject: Re: New Zealand
Date: Sun, 25 Nov 2007 19:25:32 -0500
Message-ID: <jd4kk3d630kmmqk2negpvbcirk3ckmfjif@4ax.com>

On Mon, 26 Nov 2007 01:05:13 GMT, nrmadden@yahoo.com (Neville MADDEN) wrote:


>Then you have the true Australian Cattle Dog, the Blue Heeler.  This is a
>cross between the Scottish Kelpie and the Dingo, the native dog.  The dingo is
>very smart, cunning and can go for days without a decent drink.

Echo that.  A buddy has a Blue Heeler.  Best damned cattle dog I've ever seen.  It
went to work on the day he got it.  It just knew what to do with his cattle.  Fastest
dog I've ever seen.  I've seen it time and time again bait a copper head into
striking.  She's fast enough to dodge the strike and snatch the snake behind the head
out of the air and nip it in two.  Amazing dogs.

John

From: John De Armond
Newsgroups: rec.outdoors.rv-travel
Subject: Re: Loose Dogs
Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2008 13:24:48 -0400
Message-ID: <77k1845pk2c1tt44h6b94174u3c1umvcf4@4ax.com>

On Fri, 18 Jul 2008 11:10:47 -0400, Steve Wolf <news@w8iz.com> wrote:

>I've painted a number of loose dogs with foaming, orange-dyed pepper
>spray.  Owners have come to complain.  I offer to allow them the use of
>my cell phone.  They can use it to call the local constabulary to
>complain on how as my dog was being attacked by their loose dog, I
>defended myself-almost being bit myself.  Sure.  Use my phone.
>
>Get the foaming, dyed stuff.  Google "foaming pepper spray with dye".

I like that stuff.  Be aware, however, that just like humans, there are a few
dogs that pepper spray doesn't affect.  My buddy the meter reader tells me
that the percentage is a lot higher than you'd think.  He carries a stun-baton
(big-assed stun gun built into club) along with the company-issued pepper
spray.

I like my solution better - a very small steel bodied fire extinguisher filled
with concentrated ammonium hydroxide solution.  The strongest ammonia-water
solution possible.  Almost as caustic as lye.  It makes 'em an offer literally
no dog can refuse.  I'd say that it makes 'em see the light but they probably
don't see anything anymore after a face full of that.

John