See Spot Run – After Me

Aug 9, 2012 by Greg Fowler

Back in the late ’70’s, my grandfather had the hair brained idea to breed a rottweiler and a chow.  Most of the offspring turned out looking like smaller rottweilers with the short reddish coat from the chow.  They also had the chow’s bluish tongue, which I thought was pretty cool.  Like any normal kids, my brother and I bugged the fool out of my parents to let us have one of the puppies.  They finally caved, and we ended up with ‘Ginger’.

Ginger grew up to be a very powerful dog, and she hated other dogs and the trash men.  Back then, the trash men would come to the back of our house, near her pen, and roll the trash can out to their truck and back.  Ginger would go nuts, and then she’d bite down on the chain link fence, bending the thick steel wires.  I just prayed she’d never get out after those guys.  Eventually, we gave her away to someone “in the country”, but the bent fence always reminded me of Ginger and her strength.

These days,  I live “in the country”, and there’s a chow on one of my regular run routes.  The dog is unfenced and unchained.  The first time I came across this dog, I immediately thought of Ginger, and hoped this dog  didn’t think I was a trash man.  I stopped to see what she would do and walked slowly passed her.  She just watched me and never made a sound.  Another time, she was in the middle of the road.  Again, I slowed to a walk and went slowly passed her, each of us keeping an eye on the other.

In almost four years of running, I’ve been very fortunate.  Only one time has a loose dog chased me.  It was a neighbor’s yippy schnauzer, and a squirt from my water bottle thwarted him.  That’s about the extent of my dealing with dogs, so to give you some tips on dealing with loose canines, I had to “borrow” a few ideas from other sources.

Here is the summary of some tips I found at  SecretsofSurvival.com.

1. Have a weapon.  The most practical for a runner is probably pepper spray.  You can buy a small canisters and have it in a running belt pouch.  Other weapons could include a stick or even a gun.  I do have a friend who has tried running with a small pistol.  He has been chased by pit bulls.  The bed of a nearby pickup truck saved him that day.

2. Try to avoid a confrontation.  Don’t stare down a dog, they take this as a threat.  (Oops, I’ve done this!).  Try giving a command to the dog like ‘Sit’.  Also, try not to make any sudden movements.

3.  If attacked, use your pepper spray, trying to hit the eyes.  If you don’t have a weapon, try to hit the dog in the eyes or throat.

One final tip I would add is try to scope out any new routes in a car or bike first.

 For some additional instruction click here: http://www.wikihow.com/Handle-a-Dog-Attack.

POFIFOTO!

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