what to do during a dog attack

hit the dog when his jaws are on you.

 
I wouldn't advise that particular move. That would just drive the fangs in deeper. In Texas, we have a concealed carry permit. With proper training and clean background, a citizen may carry a firearm in a concealed position. But follow the sniper credo, one shot, one kill. This creates a lot of noise. Sometimes, there's not a lot you can do. There was a case in California involving a large dog of dubious breeding and training that killed a neighbor.
 
What you really want to protect is your neck. The dog will usually try to bite your legs or hands since they accessible. But a good bite to the neck and you will bleed out quickly. If you must defend yourself, be prepared to hurt the dog. That is, don't let your love of dogs prevent you from defending yourself.
 
If you can, carry something like DirectStop, mace, stun gun. If you have loose, vicious dogs in the neighborhood that might attack humans, the local police need to do their job and police the situation. Or, animal control, if there is any in your area. Lawsuits, including claims against homeowner's insurance. And sue the animal control or police if they refused to treat the threat as real and immediate.
 
Those are the legal remedies I can think of.

First attempt to avoid.  Position the body sideways from the dog.  Slow movement sidestepping way from the dog.  Use periferal vision to keep track of the dog.  Slowly shift so that your shoulder of your non preferred side is facing the dog. You also need to watch what comes out of your mouth.  Some dogs can be controled with voice, some cant.  Screams work against you in almost all situations. 
 
If the dog actually connects, try and make sure you take the bite on your non preferred arm.  Try and keep to your feet.  If you go down, curl up.

ORIGINAL: ron2

If you can, carry something like DirectStop, mace, stun gun.

if you use a stun gun on a dog that has you in  its grasp, wouldnt you get some of the electric jolt also? or are you saying to use it before the dog bites?

Interesting...  So, if you go down, curl up - and here I thought that was just for bears!  Okay, so let's say you're still on your feet and the dog has made contact with your arm.   Then what?  I don't know what my instincts would tell me to do in that situation.  It would be hard not to scream though.. 

Good question, labcrab. I wouldn't know what to do then either.
 

ORIGINAL: mrv
If you go down, curl up.

 
What happens if the dog doesn't stop attacking? I read in "How to Speak Dog" that a researcher was attacked by two wolves, but he began making whimpering/whining noises and submissive gestures (licking lips, etc.), and they stopped. Wondering if you would get the same result if attacked by dogs... Of course, different reasons for different attacks need different solutions I suppose.

A friend of my Mom had an epileptic GSD who was usually just fine, but somebody had overlooked his meds and he went off for no reason and came hurtling across the table at my Mom connecting with her forearm.  The biggest thing is to try not to pull away as that will cause more tearing damage and potentially more bleeding, try to go with the dog's movement. And as far as what to protect,....it is pretty much instinct in that situation as my Mom threw up her forearm unconsciously to protect the face and neck areas.  The wierdest part was that the dog never tore my Mom's jacket or the blouse underneath, but left some huge holes in her arm underneath the clothing. 

ORIGINAL: suefitz

A friend of my Mom had an epileptic GSD who was usually just fine, but somebody had overlooked his meds and he went off for no reason and came hurtling across the table at my Mom connecting with her forearm. The biggest thing is to try not to pull away as that will cause more tearing damage and potentially more bleeding, try to go with the dog's movement. And as far as what to protect,....it is pretty much instinct in that situation as my Mom threw up her forearm unconsciously to protect the face and neck areas. The wierdest part was that the dog never tore my Mom's jacket or the blouse underneath, but left some huge holes in her arm underneath the clothing.

Okay, I'm sorry for demanding specifics! It's just that when I think about myself in the situation, I'm not sure it makes sense. So, if the dog does have your arm - don't resist, but go with it? Until what? Until your arm comes off? Seriously, isn't there any sort of pressure point or something that you can strike or kick to disable the attack? You know, how you're meant to sock a shark in the nose, or rub an alligator on the belly? Your poor mother.. I hope she didn't suffer any long term affects from the attack.

check this out (from a police/law website):
 

If the dog runs towards you exhibiting aggressive behaviour (growling or barking), stand your ground without sudden movement. Brace yourself and command the dog as if you were its owner: "No!" "Down!" "Sit!" "Stay!" Do this repeatedly. Do not raise your hands in a fight stance prematurely as this may antagonize the dog and you might lose your one chance at stopping the attacking dog through commands.

If the dog is small and presents no danger for your neck area, you may want to try to kick it. A good blow to the nose or to the body will stop most small dogs.

If a large dog attacks, take a fight stance with one leg in front of the other to maximize balance and protect your inner body. If you are athletic, you may want to use your foot as a primary weapon. This response could mean jeopardizing your balance. Should you fall, you lose your height advantage to a dog.

Special note for pit bulls: these dogs can be unusually aggressive. Some experts recommend that the best response to an attacking pit bull is to fall to the ground, roll into a ball with your chin tucked in and cover your face, ears and backs of your neck with your hands. Keep your knees pulled up into your chest. The idea is to play dead and hope that the dog will give up the attack. {Editor's note: we have received many e-mails on this topic. Typical is the following: "When (pit bulls attack) a person or other animal, their first instinct is to grab ... and hold on. If laying down on the ground, there is a higher possibility of the dog biting in to a fatal spot. Standing upright is a much better strategy."}

A large dog may lunge for your throat. Protect this area of your body first and foremost with your arm tucked into your throat as far as you can without pulling back.

Punch the dog on the nose as hard as you can. Twist or pull the dog's ears. The dog's eyes are another soft spot which you should attack if required to defend yourself. Another stregy is to kick the dog in the rib cage. This will wind it and could stun it enough to ward off any more attacks. Yell for help.

If you frequently encounter stray or aggressive dogs, pepper spray or electronic whistles (adjusted at a frequency to cause dog's extreme discomfort) are inexpensive and excellent safeguards against dog attack.

IMO one of the best things to do is to yell "SIT" or "Leave it" as was mentioned in a previous post.  It's worth a shot since those may be commands that the dog knows.  If the dog keeps coming, turn away (avoiding eye contact or attempts at eye contact.)  If the dog keeps coming, fight the urge to run, instead try sidestepping.  If you have keys, try throwing them onto the ground to distract the dog.  Make every attempt to distract the animal as it closes ground.  If the dog makes contact, go for the eyes with your fingers, kick to the ribs, kick to the abdomen, punch the abdomen.  Remember at this particular moment the dog is a wild animal attacking you-you are fighting for your life.  If you can punch the trachea, do it, but don't try to choke the dog...his (statistically speaking) neck is more muscular than yours. 

If you do walk regularly in an area with uncontained dogs, I would suggest carrying direct stop.

Punch the dog on the nose as hard as you can. Twist or pull the dog's ears. The dog's eyes are another soft spot which you should attack if required to defend yourself. Another stregy is to kick the dog in the rib cage. This will wind it and could stun it enough to ward off any more attacks. Yell for help.

 
Yes!  That's what I'm talking about.  So, a good punch in the nose seems like the best one to know since it works for sharks and dogs.   I have yelled at a seemingly aggressive dog before and it TOTALLY worked.  I was visiting my sister in Fl. and an off leash dog charged us baring it's teeth and standing us down.  I stepped forward and said "NO" - "GO HOME".  I was a fearless teenager (many, many, many, many years ago) which probably helped. 

Can't say as I know officially what to do if I find myself in the midst of a dog attack (I have been bitten but it was due to being a moron and trying to break up a fight). But, in the dog-safe-kid literature our shelter distributes, here's what you're supposed to do if a dog starts to approach you aggressively:
 
Stand still like a tree. (remember, this is so kids will be able to understand!)
Fold your arms acorss your chest like a mummy.
Be quiet as a mouse.
Don't make eye contact.
 
I was in the situation once, probably the most simultaneously comical and terrifying animal-related situaiton of my life. My old dog, Ananda, an Akita-GSD mix, had taken it upon himself to bring home a chicken (still very much alive!) that he'd found out of it's coop somewhere on our peninsula. It still amazes me that he was able to pick up and carry a chicken for as far as he did without the chicken having a scratch on it! So, now I had this live chicken and I didn't really know where it came from since our immediate neighbors didn't keep chickens. So, I put Ananda back in the house, pick up the chicken and off I go to traipse around and try to find where it belongs. I thought it might come from this hobby farm a bit up the road, so off I go, walking down their long driveway, chicken in my arms, when two HUGE dogs appear by the house (no idea what they were, but they were big and scary) and start to approach me down the driveway, barking and growling. Could this possibly be a worse situation? Not only am I a stranger on their turf, but I also have a tasty appetizer in my arms.
 
So, I just stopped in my tracks. I didn't want to turn and run because they could definately out-run me. They kept coming. I backed very slowly away, back down the driveway towards the road. They stopped, but kept growling and barking at me the whole way. Eventually I did feel comfortable enough to turn my back and walk a bit more briskly back out onto the road. Needless to say, if it had indeed been their chicken, well, they would have just have to be minus one chicken and I guess we would have been plus one chicken because I wasn't going back there! Turns out, it was another house in the other direction. We returned the chicken to the coop and left a note apologizing for our dog being a bit too fastideous in his mission to keep things orderly and neat on our little bit of sand bar.

My little poodle and I were attacked by a Rott. and all you can do is try to survive and keep your dog alive. I held my little dog and yelled for help and thank Goodness the stupid owner heard me. He beat that dog off of us. We wouldn't have made it otherwise. The Rott. had my little dog in his mouth, trying to shake her to death. I held on to her. If I hadn't she would've died very quickly. She barely survived with some very serious emerg. surgery.
 
You can not know how to act for sure. All of the rules sound interesting, but when you or your dog is being mauled to death, you do what you can to live. If I had told him to "Stop" or "sit" that would be like saying that to a train. 

I don't think I would ever choose to curl up in a ball.  I think you would lose advantage being on the ground.  If you have a truly hateful dog, then that seems like you're just saying "go at it".  No defense with this method.  I would have to exhaust any defense options first before I would do that, in my personal opinion.
 
I've been attacked twice, and none of those things would have helped me in the situations.  I do agree that my frantic screaming the first time probably did make it worse.
 
I walk my two dogs - on leases and actually attatched to me.  The problem with having two dogs attatched to you is that they easily walk around you and, inveriably, they both go around and behind you and so in a split second you have your legs wrapped up in their leashes so that you can't move.  This is a big, huge problem!
 
Both times, the attacks were out-of-the-blue and happened so quickly as to have no time to prepare.  Their wasn't any warning.  I find that if dogs are going to attack, they can do it at warp speed and are on you before you know it's coming.
 
To be more clear, they weren't attacking me, but my boy dog.  But, to me, that's still an attack on me.  So, both times, different dogs went for his neck first.    So,  I'm doing my best to keep both dogs from being hurt.  That's hard to do since their are two of them, wrapped around my legs, and honestly, I don't think they understood this was an "attack".   However, after the second event (and a third time for my boy if you count an event at the dog park), my boy is now a bit more aggressive.  On this street are fenced in, big labs that used to always bark at him and would  scare him -- but now he tends to bark back and want to go into their yard to fight.  Yes, he's neutered.  But, the attackes really get to you.  And, it can make the dogs more nervous.  So, I have had to start teaching him not to bark at the labs and lunge toward them, or to run away quickly, but to walk calmly by them.  As for me, now I'm scared anytime I hear an unfamiliar bark.
 
The first time, I had the dog mace on me.  I was at my mailbox, and it took 1/2 the spray bottle to make it just across the road to my steps.  The dog, at first, ran off, but then he came up the driveway to attack again.  I used the rest of the spray bottle and made it in the door.  If I had been farther away, he could have attacked again.  Overall, the spray was a moderate success.  But, he was aggressive enough that the first spray was not enough.  He had a history of aggression. A couple of days later, he tore off a inexpensive screen door while trying to get inside my house to the dogs.
 
The second dog was an alluff, un-friendly dog which we walked by daily.  Many times I had tried to make friends with him to no avail.  He never tried to attack, though.  One day, another dog was visiting this dog. This visiting dog is friendly.  But, the unfriendly dog decided to be a "show-off" for this other dog.  So, he went after my boys neck.  It was triggered only by a need to show being a "top" dog.  Of course, he wasn't friendly to begin with, so it didn't take much for him to go over the edge.  I know other people who lived near him were frightened of him because he was clearly unfriendly.
 
So, what to do?  I can't kick another dog b/c I'm so busy trying to keep my dogs from wrapping around me and getting us all safe.  For a while, I used a walking stick, but it gets bothersome to always do that.  But I did have it with me in the second attack, and hit the dog a number of times.  It would go away, but them come back for more.  I made it up a hill, and went into another neighbors yard (looking for someone to be home and let me in their house!)  and onto a deck.  This dog had never went up to these people's yard before.  Thank the Lord that this deck only had a 3' wide opening.  So, I was able to get my dogs behind me, stand at that opening, and hit the dog as he was attacking.  He finally left, but I could see him "patrolling" the street up and down, and honestly, it seemed like he was holding his head extra high like he had really accomplished something.
 
So, yes the long stick was useful that I could reach the dog with it.  But, in both cases, the dogs continued to attack.  Once wasn't enough. 
 
Oh, and by the way, I live in a nice neighborhood on a dead end street.  This stuff can happen anywhere.

I sure agree. Dogs attack anywhere. I live in a gated community now, but have always been in very nice areas. Dogs get out and they attack. Just a fact.
 
I wish there was some rule that helped. Each attacking dog is different. It is a horrible nightmare you do not get over. My attack was horrible.