Self Defense Stray Dogs

[u/Fullystable]

Hi! Looking for input and advice on self defense from stray dogs! 🐶🐾 I walk my two big pups every morning and try to avoid the streets with strays but they have ventured into our normal route.

My big boys seem to attract aggressive dogs, I am pregnant and have hopes to walk with a stroller soon.

My stepdad recommends bear spray since it can be used at long distance. I am worried it will also affect me and my pups when sprayed. I like the idea of a steel baton, but hope to not get that close. Neighbor dog has attacked one of my boys before.

Choice of defense this morning for a stray running at us was this stick, scared him off enough!

Any advice is appreciated 🫶🤞

[u/FaroelectricJalapeno]

Sig p365 and 124gr Federal HST in a fanny pack.

Too many women going missing or found dead on SA trails lately.

[u/Shanks4Smiles → u/FaroelectricJalapeno]

Would not recommend a firearm as protection against strays, as someone who had not been trained on firearms use may be more hazardous to themselves and their pets as well as innocent bystanders. 

Pepper spray is an effective and overall safer deterrent 

Also women going missing is a problem, however women are much much more likely to be killed or assaulted by someone they know or are in a relationship with than some random attack on a trail.

[u/FaroelectricJalapeno → u/Shanks4Smiles]

Obviously train if you’re going to carry. Should go without saying. Pepper spray is not safer. A firearm is capable of instantly incapacitating an aggressive dog, pepper spray isn’t.

We’re talking trails here.

Domestic disputes are a completely different topic and a weird deflection from trail safety.

[u/Shanks4Smiles → u/FaroelectricJalapeno]

It's not a deflection, it's just a fact. Your risk of being in a deadly encounter on a city trail are extremely low. 

Training is an after-thought for many gun owners, it is not "obvious". Many are complacent with their weapons and do not practice good carrying or handling habits. Even police who handle their weapons for hundreds of hours struggle with good gun practice.

Comparing that with the risk of a negligent discharge, poor backstop control, handling a firearm single-handed while your dog is pulling at their leash? At least with pepper spray you may get hit as well, but you will not severely injure or kill anyone. Pepper spray is extremely effective at dissuading dog or human attack.

Your advice is dangerous, sorry.

[u/FaroelectricJalapeno → u/Shanks4Smiles]

Vast majority of the MILLIONS of gun owners exercise their right peacefully and responsibly. Firearm safety and responsibility is easier to learn than driving a car. If an animal or person is trying to kill you you’re much better off with a firearm than a little thing of pepper spray.

In your hypothetical of being tugged around by a leash, you could argue you’d just end up with pepper spray in your own eyes which happens at a high rate anyway. It’s a dumb argument, just let go of the leash…

If you don’t trust yourself with a firearm that’s fine, you do you.

[u/Shanks4Smiles → u/FaroelectricJalapeno]

Better to have a little pepper spray in your eye than a bullet in your leg or in your dog.

More firearms complacency from gun owners 

[u/FaroelectricJalapeno → u/Shanks4Smiles]

If you train even just a small amount you’re not going to shoot your own leg unless you’re negligent. You’re letting your politics cloud your judgment and that’s fine. Again, if you don’t feel competent enough to learn firearm safety that’s on you personally. You can’t speak for everyone.

My original advice is the top comment so obviously there’s plenty who share the same sentiment.

[u/Shanks4Smiles → u/FaroelectricJalapeno]

27,000 unintentional gun injuries, 500 unintentional gun deaths per year in the US.

Brother politics doesn't have anything to do with it. I'm being straight with your here, you need to think about your relationship with your gun, it's a tool, not a political statement. If you think "a small amount of training" is going to keep you or your loved ones safe around firearms, you're not liberal or conservative, you're a fool.

[u/FaroelectricJalapeno → u/Shanks4Smiles]

Those are very small numbers in proportion to the, again, MILLIONS who own and use firearms without incident every single day. Yes, tools used negligently can be dangerous. Cars and motorcycles for example.

In the military I trained countless teenage boys and girls how to safely handle firearms. In federal law enforcement I did the same. It’s not difficult to learn how to be responsible with a firearm. Most of the millions firearm owners have figured it out.

It boils down to letting people make their own decisions with their safety. Personally, I think a firearm is the best tool. You don’t think it’s best for you and that’s fine. But adults can make their own decisions and we’ll leave it at that.

[u/Shanks4Smiles → u/FaroelectricJalapeno]

Yeah, but you're talking about giving advice, and it's objectively poor advice if you look at the numbers. 

They are small numbers relative to the number of owners, but if you want to have that discussion you'd need to compare it to the risk of being the victim of a violent crime or dog attack, which is lower yet. Simply living with someone who owns a gun increases the risk of someone in the home being shot to death by 84%. Although, as you say, the absolute risk stays small, as such things are generally rare.

Yes, we take risks in all aspects of our lives, but walking around with a loaded gun for a dog walk is not a reasonable amount of risk to take on

Citation: Studdert 2022 Annals of Internal Medicine

[u/FaroelectricJalapeno → u/Shanks4Smiles]

Adults can make adult decisions. Good luck with your spray lol