3 Tips For A Safe Encounter With Loose Dogs

Let me begin by presenting you with a fact: There are no leash laws here in our county in rural NC, resulting in many loose dogs who are bound to cross your path at some point while you’re out for a walk, with or without dogs – just like the other day when I was out walking with Missy:

Dog Walking Hack from Yours Truly: If you come across a loose dog when walking your leashed dog, remain calm. That calm energy can defuse a potentially dangerous situation. Also have something on you to help defend yourself and your dog in case of an out-of-control dog. I always wear a storm whistle around my neck (distract approaching dog & call for help) & carry a spray bottle filled with vinegar (spray at approaching dog – they will very likely stop in their tracks). As of now, I am also carrying pepper spray.

A video posted by K9s Over Coffee (@k9sovercoffee) on Sep 9, 2016 at 4:03pm PDT

As a result, many people carry large sticks on their walks for self defense purposes. I wasn’t entirely sure what they were meant for until I asked a lady I see walking in my neighborhood on a daily basis.

She confirmed that her stick served the purpose of defending herself against a potential K9 aggressor. She added that she wouldn’t want to harm any dog with her stick, but that she would only use it to keep the dog away from her.

Now, her plan sounds good enough in theory, but I don’t believe that it’ll be effective in real life. UNLESS you are incredibly strong AND skilled in handling sticks or clubs in self defense, I don’t think that a stick is the right tool to keep a medium to large size dog at bay who is truly out of control, especially when walking your own dog(s) who are likely to react to the strange dog.

How do I know that a stick won’t work? Because I experienced it myself. I tried to break up a dog fight using sticks from a fire pit several months ago, without much success. The dogs got in a quarrel over a toy in one of my clients’ yards and started biting at each other’s heads and necks.

I neither had pepper spray on me nor my praised vinegar spray bottle, and I had forgotten my whistle in the car. Talk about a stressful situation! All I had available was my body and some longer sticks that were sitting in the fire pit close by. I grabbed a forked one and attempted to separate the two dogs with it – in vain.

I finally did what one is NEVER supposed to do because it can seriously backfire – grabbed a collar with both hands, pulled up on it and maneuvered my body in between the two. Thankfully my approach ended up working because the dog whose collar I didn’t grab lost interest in the scene and walked away. Talk about a serious adrenaline rush!

Luckily neither of the pups were seriously injured but only had minor flesh wounds I was able to wash out and treat with an antibiotic ointment from my pet first aid kit I have in my car at all times (Neosporin).

By the way – the pups were totally fine with each other several minutes after the incident. Goes to show again that dogs do live in the moment and don’t hold grudges!

Either way, the one lesson I learned was to always have some kind of tool on me that would efficiently break up a dog fight or stop a lunging dog in his or her tracks.

When I say “on me” I literally mean on my body, within easy reach, and not sitting in my car or at the bottom of my cross body purse.

Now here are my top 3 tips to keep encounters with loose dogs safe:

1. Stay Calm & Breathe

I believe that staying calm and taking a deep breath can defuse a potentially dangerous situation. 

Our energy can be a powerful ally in how dogs respond to us – since they tend to mirror our energy, they are much more likely to be friendly and respect our space when we emit calm energy, as opposed to excited, nervous, or fearful energy. 

Take below video, for example. It shows an encounter with a loose Husky in our old neighborhood which went very well. See how calm all 3 of us are? This was the first time I ever saw him, just about 4 or 5 weeks after we moved to the NC countryside. I believe that this initial encounter could have had a different dynamic had I been stressed out about seeing him approach.

What helped me stay as calm as I was at that particular moment was the fact that I observed his body language as he approached us and saw no sign of tenseness on the dog – no raised hackles, no bared teeth, no growling. He was actually quite the opposite – his movements were very mellow and he had something goofy about him!

As I later came to find out, he was known as a neighborhood nuisance of sorts because he would dig out under his fence and roam people’s front yards and the streets on a regular basis, several times per week.

In the walk recorded below, he had been walking with us for about 5 minutes at which point I knew that I could safely pull out my cellphone and record our little pack walk.

It ended up being an interesting, fun encounter!

Now, I know from experience that staying calm is easier said than done in a situation where a loose/stray dog comes running your way and you’re not quite sure what to expect, especially when you can’t interpret the dog’s body language from a distance.

For those instances, I found that having tools on me I can rely on to stop an approaching dog in his or her tracks eases my mind and therefore helps me be a lot calmer than I might be without those tools.

2. Carry A Whistle or Air Horn

My first approach would always be to make some noise by blowing into my whistle. As you can see in below picture, I carry mine on a lanyard around my neck and can easily reach for and use it.

I’ve also heard good things about using air horns – I personally prefer the whistle because it’s less cumbersome and can be worn around the neck, but if you’re willing to carry it on you somehow, I say go for it! 

I have used my storm whistle many times over the course of the past 3 years, and was able to at least distract an approaching dog every time I did use it.

Some dogs would actually stop dead in their tracks, look our way, and then decide to turn around and disappear. Others were more persistent and, after having stopped briefly, continued towards us.

3. Carry Vinegar- And/Or Pepper Spray

It is at that point that I would pull out the vinegar spray bottle from my cross body bag and start spraying them. It has a decent reach and has worked every.single.time. Dogs do not like the smell of vinegar at all, let alone getting showered in it. 

The beauty about this tool is that it’s SO EASY to diy. All you need is white vinegar and a medium size spray bottle with a somewhat decent reach you can bring along on your walks. That’s it!

I buy the cheapest white vinegar I can find at the local grocery store and then fill my spray bottle with it. I used to dilute it with water, but no longer do that because I want the maximum effect. I found the green spray bottle at a Dollar General store for 2 bucks – you can’t beat that!

Now, I will say that I have been lucky so far in that I’ve never been approached by a truly aggressive dog. I am realistic enough to doubt that my vinegar spray would work in that case. That’s why I recently added another tool to my deterrent collection – a compact size of pepper spray that clips onto my clothes.

I purchased my .75 ounce pepper spray on Amazon for $6.99 (free shipping because of my Prime membership). I decided on this size as opposed to a larger bottle because I still want to enjoy my walks and not have to schlepp along a ton of stuff. As mentioned above, the pepper spray clips onto my shorts which makes it convenient to carry along and easily accessible in case I’d have to use it.

I took a few moments to familiarize myself with the pepper spray because I had never used one before – learned how to work the safety mechanism and also gave it a few test shots in our yard!

Extra Tip: Carry A Flashlight/Taser Combo

I will eventually take it up one more notch and get my hands on a flashlight/taser combo. It came recommended by a good friend who works in the personal security industry, so I trust his advice.

I was initially thinking about my own security when walking smaller client dogs at nighttime or super early in the mornings, but have come to the conclusion that a taser would also knock out a K9 aggressor without having to use lethal force. The kind I’m thinking about buying is the Taser Bolt C2 LED Laser Gold Kit, which I found on Amazon for $369.95.

While I do hope that I’ll never have to use it, I know that it will provide maximum peace of mind when I’m walking dogs in the dark and/or faced with a threat. I’ll keep you posted once I’ll own one.

Bottom Line

An encounter with a loose dog does not necessarily have to represent a threat. It is quite possible that the approaching dog is a curious, playful, goofy pup who just happened to be bored in their yard and dug out from under their fence, going on a little adventure stroll – much like Mr. Husky in above video.

Since we can’t, however, accurately predict the dynamics of such an encounter, I like to be prepared for a worst-case scenario and will always carry

1) my storm whistle

2) my vinegar spray

3) my pepper spray

in order to be able to defend myself and the dog(s) I’m walking.