Taser guns ?

Instead of a real gun with bullets , that is . For protection , in case the pit bulls down the street get out again and head my way when I'm out walking my little sweethearts . If they charge I will shoot, but I really don't want to hurt them , so I am wondering if a taser would be good (effective, and why wouldn't it be?) , and what's a good one to get (?) .

A friend in the city told his story of getting mauled in the park ; he was insisting I get a gun , "you're allowed to shoot them down there in 'Hooterville", and then I thought "taser ? " .

Dar

A taser is a poor choice because for a lot of reasons.

One, it isn't necessarily a non-lethal choice, especially considering you're talking about an animal that's much smaller than the one a taser is intended to stop. Two, it's basically a "one and you're done" proposition -- what if there's more than one dog?

A much better choice would be a cattle prod if you really feel there's a problem. Understand, though, that it's highly likely those dogs are going to link the unpleasant shock with you and your dogs and it's not going to improve the relationship.

Just how prey driven do they seem? Are they really coming out after your dogs aggressively or are they doing the "what are you doing here close to MY territory" bit? And where are the owners? Would a pocket of treats serve you better and maybe convince them that you and your dogs mean excellent things happen?

This, by the way, is an extremely Pitbull savvy and friendly forum. Many of us own Pitbull types and mixes (myself included, APBT, and a "hot" one). We know they can be very prey driven; we also know that they are (generally) extremely people-friendly. We also know that each individual dog is just that -- an individual and needs to be considered as such.

I agree.

I understand you wanting to take precautions, but I must ask, why do you think they may head your way? Are they known to be running loose? Have you had a previous encounter with them? Have they been in an altercation with someone else that you know of?

I really do understand precaution. We have a ton of loose dogs (some bully types, some not) who roam around town so I walk my dog with a walking stick.

Why not carry pepper spray. Non lethal and the dog has a choice to stop before it gets to the spray. I think tazering a dog is horiffic!

They have been loose on several occasions , and when I used to walk by their house , before I knew what they were, they came out into the road and asserted themselves , more in a curious than aggressive way. Later, after I stopped walking in front of their house, but still walked down the road in front of my yard, not all the way to theirs, they were in a more challenging mood, and followed me (us) when I walked back in my direction . Later still, after such an encounter, they had gone all the way 100 yards up the road and 100 in on our driveway into our front yard , right outside the front window. I went berserk and chased them home , and fortunately haven't seen them loose since.

Ok, two dogs, taser not good, but does pepper spray do the trick?. I already have that .
I know the owners are irresponsible people, so I assume they are also irresponsible dog owners , but they're still not mature dogs , so I don't know of any history. My plan is to avoid contact as the prime directive . I have been putting up fencing and once that's done I will stop walking them (mine) on the road . I can walk them out back by the river .

I don't know if they're prey driven and am not interested in talking to the owner at all ; my guess is that she (single mother , possible alcoholic , neglectful parent) is probably useless as far as providing any accurate, objective assesment of the dogs, from this perspective you folks brought up, so ... who knows. They did seem friendly at first, but staying away while I'm facing them , then following me home after I turned away seems agressive , but they were scared of me when I chased them home .

So, briefly again :

Plan A : avoid avoid avoid; keep them out of our yard ; don't walk in the road .
Question big : how effective is pepper spray ? .

DS

How 'bout trying to talk to the owners first and ask them to keep their dogs contained. Then if that doesn't work, try the authorities. Tell them you feel threatened, if you do. Are these dogs seeming dangerous to you? Or are they just checking you out? I would try to go the "training" (Renee's idea) route first if you feel safe enough...if they're not seeming aggressive. If they do seem like they're dangerous, well....no, it's not your job to train them and if it doesn't take effect right away, you or your dogs could be hurt or killed. So, I guess it's a judgement call as to what to do. I know if a dog came out and looked like he wanted to kill me or my dogs, I'd be calling the police or some kind of authority and maybe finding somewhere else to walk for the time being.

As the owner of small dogs, I pepper spray first, ask questions later. I won't run the risk.

That being said, I don't spray dogs that approach in a non threatening way.

I also carry Mace/pepper spray and have found it to be very effective (even if the owners are nearby...nobody wants their dog to get sprayed).

oh, now I'm moderated ? :rofl1:

Either option could be a poor choice. Depending where you live, the pepper content of mace may be regulated, and tasers carried by the general public may be illegal. It can be considered premeditation if you are picked up for going after a dog, or walkign down the street.

Using mace may not be as easy peasy as you would think. Wind, and poor aim may make it harder than you think to get enough spray in a charging dog's face. I've picked up people in poor form tasered by cops needing prong removal, and people who have oopsed with mace and gotten themselves. It can cause decent first degree burns to exposed human flesh. It also may not stop a charging animal or person. Some people and animals can continue through the burn.

Just extra to think about before arming yourself with a weapon while walking your dog.

We've been running into technical glitches lately, and from the appearance of how your post was moderated, it seems it may have gotten tangled in a batch of spam moderation. I am checking into it and we'll straighten it out ASAP. Sorry!

:thumbup: :thumbup:
oops! , I went to delete that as soon as I posted it but got sidetracked. I'm glad I had gone with the PG version :yikes:

I had made a long reply to address several things and questions people brought up. Well, the good thing is I know the people, while not the most
upstanding responsible sort, are not training their pooches to be mean . There's a 5-year old girl there, and a baby , and they sure don't seem like the kind of mean people that make killer pits , merely what appears to be the norm here in 'Hooterville', which is hands-off dog owning. Country dogs,
that don't get walked or trained to do cute tricks . I'm sure I turned a few heads when we moved , being somewhat scruffy and more or less fitting in out here, but walking two little longcoat chis down the road . So far it's only me that walks their dogs; all the others are yard dogs or 'farm' dogs. Our guys are little city slickers in their cute sweaters and while they actually look pretty tough in some of their winter gear ,they're not exactly intimidating . "Those are mean streets for a wiener dog in a cardigan "

(Norm McDonald )

If they are still young . . . make them your best buddies That will pay dividends later.

I'm going with PLAN A : Prime Directive : stay away from their yard . There's a whole wild area out back to walk them on , and it's not like they never get dirty , but yeah, a bag of treats instead of a gun is also on the list .

The Big Backyard

Mine would never come out of that backyard, lol.

The little guys are too tiny for much of the bosque right along the river (they have trouble in the ankle-high grass from the back door out to the
fence) but there are dirt roads that skirt the ditches that skirt the river , the Rio Grande . They do love it back there; lots of smells. Beaver, coyotes, raccoons , etc. . No wild hogs yet, but if and when THEY get this far north, I will be packing an elephant gun .

Dar

Oh, we've got lots of wild hogs here in East Tennessee. They're a real menace. Backintheday a bunch of titled assholes decided they needed to import Russian boars to make hunting more exciting.

Yah, my 3 would think they were in heaven, lol. And be determined to send as many varmints as they could catch on their way. They consider things like that "fast food." Not fast enough to escape though

Bear mace is widely available and super effective on 95% of dogs who don't get the hint of the evil eye GTF away face/posture. I don't recommend a taser or a cattleprod. While the taser would work, it's very expensive and you don't know which way the dog will react once its done with the shock. It might run... or it might decide to bite you. Cattleprods are not designed to work on dogs and require a pretty close contact compared to bear mace.

The other 5% that bear mace doesn't deter would benefit from the proper application of a walking stick/shillelagh. I highly recommend the cold steel blackthorn.

I have used pepper spray with great success. It does have its downfalls but I won't risk walking my 3 without it.

I did some poking around.... Cold Steel polypropylene blackthorn walking stick looks nifty !. Mace (brand) Bear Pepper Spray .... not so sure ... bear defense spray sounds less manipulative ... will poke around some more.

So, walking stick as a weapon ; striking , I'm assuming , but maybe strategic jabbing ? . I don't like the idea of cracking a pooch on the noggoin , but if it's them or us , it's us. I can hold two chis in one arm and wield my trusty staff with the other . I have had to snatch them both up quickly before but have never had something to use with a potential free hand . Any tips on technique?.

DS