Seems to work for charging dogs

[Lisa]

A few years ago my SIL told me about something she had heard about how to stop a dog that's charging at you, or your dog. You get between your dog and the other one, hold out your hand like a policeman and say "STOP!" . She tried it on a walk at the off-leash park soon after, and found that it worked, to her surprise. Now I have used this twice, and it worked for me, too.

The first time we were out walking in the neighbourhood and Simba was on leash, when this very excited dog came running up, full speed, wanting to greet. Simba was polite, but this dog was a bouncy, in your face type, and it kept running off and then running back in absolutely full speed. Simba got a bit nervous about this, who can blame him, and finally I had had enough, and when it came around again for another pass I planted myself in front of Simba, hand out, and said, "STOP!". Well, golly be, it worked. The dog pulled up, looked at me, circled around, tried it again, and I repeated. Again it worked. By that time the clueless owners had driven up and *tried* to grab the dog...that's another story.

Fast forward to today. We were walking home on our evening walk around the neighbourhood when I spot a big dog, off-leash, meandering on the other side of the road ahead of us. I soon realize that it is a very big dog, a Great Pyrenees type. Hmm. Well, it's on the other side of the road, so as long as it doesn't join us...hah. Faint hope. It turns and sees us and starts to wander over.

I'm pretty sure this was a friendly dog, that breed generally is, but it's huge. And Simba is on a leash, and if things get dicy I prefer to let the leash go and give him space to escape if he needs to. But we are next to a busy-sh road, and, there's a thunderstorm starting, which could make the dogs more edgy. So, I tried the STOP again. I stepped out in front, put my hand out, and firmly said "Go Away!" . The dog halted, looked me over, and started up again. I did it again. He stopped, looked me over once more, and then turned to go sniff some bushes up ahead of us.

Success! So...I don't come across off-leash dogs nearly as much as you guys do. But I am throwing this out there as a possible thing to use in those situations where you don't know what else to do. Let me know if you try it and it works! (or not!). I will add that Simba is not reactive towards other dogs, he just stood quietly by my side, watching the dog approach. (yay Simba).

 

[Charlie]

I had forgotten about this technique @Lisa a good reminder. I used it a few years ago when a flat coat attacked Hattie for the second time in as many weeks. Not quite the same but when I had dragged him off her it was getting ready for another go so I stood in front of Hattie and yelled very loudly "STOP" he backed off. Pitty I didn't remember that for my Charlie incident the other day I will give it a go should I need to. Thanks. x

 

[snowbunny]

I've used it and it works very effectively. I use "NO" as it's pretty common in all languages and so dogs tend to understand it - although it's probably the tone and body language that does it more than the word!

 

[pup-pup]

I’ve also found it to be highly successful on my own crazed, adolescent dog. Jubilee used to get over excited and charge at me and bite my arms . It was very upsetting and nothing worked until I used this technique. I was pleasantly shocked when it worked the first time. Now, it works for as an emergency stop.

 

[Lisa]

Good to hear it works for others, too! I agree, @snowbunny it's the tone and body language that likely does the trick. Firm and no nonsense. It's a good technique to have in your mind in these types of situations.

 

[Beanwood]

Whilst I think, the "NO" and "STOP" with raised hand are effective, personally I think we have to be a bit careful our body language is not translated as intimidation by the on-coming dog, and the excited, bouncy behaviour convert to more defensive and confused. My default with a genuinely "rude" young dog for example is to distract by scattering food in front of me.

 

[snowbunny]

Whilst I think, the "NO" and "STOP" with raised hand are effective, personally I think we have to be a bit careful our body language is not translated as intimidation by the on-coming dog, and the excited, bouncy behaviour convert to more defensive and confused. My default with a genuinely "rude" young dog for example is to distract by scattering food in front of me.

Hmm, I'm not training the oncoming dog, so I have very little concern about if it's confused, startled, frustrated or even scared by my actions. If it stops, that's all I'm after. If it doesn't, I try another tactic. When I have done this, It has given the dog pause at the very least, and never translated into aggressive behaviours; I don't think that's a likely scenario. What you can end up with is a bit of a staring contest once they've stopped, which isn't great, but then you can move on to your next step.

I've tried scattering food several times, and it has never worked for me. Not one single time. I know it wouldn't work for any of my dogs, either; the emotional state is too high. Shadow would be too concerned about the threat level of the other dog and trying to work that out. Eating would not be on his agenda. Squidge would be too keen to play. Willow and Ginny don't run up to other dogs, but if they did, they would have a reason for it, and - the key point - food isn't going to fulfil the function of the behaviour.

I don't use the stop hand as my initial line of defence; that is always the 180 about-turn and walk away when I can. This works most of the time for us, as we give very clear body language that we have no interest in the dog. If the dog is rushing towards us to scare us off because of anxiety/guarding etc, am I reinforcing the rushing behaviour? Of course. But, not my dog, not my problem.

 

[snowbunny]

I should add that the dogs I have tried the food scatter with are Spanish dogs who are left to roam. These dogs will not be used to eating food delivered by a human in that way. So maybe it would work for dogs who weren't in a heightened emotional state and were used to things such as a food scatter. But I can still say without question that it wouldn't work for any of mine, who are very used to food being scattered, just because it wouldn't fulfil the function of the running up behaviour, unless they were specifically running towards the dog expecting to get food. Which they wouldn't be, because that would be weird