Dog likes to attack me, what to do?

Fire_Fox

KinderScout2019 wrote: »

Dog likes to bark at me and some even try to attack me. This happens always, and they are stranger dogs, never see them before.

It had been several incidents when I nearly attacked by dogs during walking. Everytime if I see untied dogs coming from opposite direction of the path, I will stop and stand aside to let them pass. Still, it had been several incidents where the dogs run towards me and almost jumped and attacked me. The owners were shouting so loudly, but the dogs ignored, keep wanting to attack me.

One time, I was with my friend, I noticed the dog barked and try to attack only me, but not my friend. This made me more curious and worries.

When I was 5-6 years old, I used to be attacked by a few street dogs. No injury though because luckily neighbour saw me and helped me. Since then, I am very cautious when come to dog. Probably it is true that the dog can sense fear.

Anyway, what could I do to fix this?
I used to have a cat when I was a child, I love animal, but I am cautious when come to dog due to that childhood dog attack memory.

Sorry to read that you had such negative experiences with feral/ street dogs as a child. Here in the UK we do not have feral dogs roaming the streets or let our domestic dogs out on the street to exercise themselves.

In the UK domestic dogs that are known to attack or bite humans are not usually off the leash in public places. Either their owner does not exercise the dog at all or keeps them on a lead and/ or muzzled when out and about.

Here dog owners (good and bad) know what can happen to either a poorly controlled or a dangerous dog. Dogs should even be under control in their own garden.

KinderScout2019 wrote: »

I am 100% certain they were not over friendly dogs running up to me, the dogs were barking fiercely and I was panic and froze on the ground. The owner was panic too, and shouted so loudly at their dogs. Though the owner said sorry to me, but it won't help if the dog bites me.

I wish you were there when the dogs jumped and attacked. I am certain I was in extreme danger those moments. I was panic and froze, the owner was panic too. The dogs didn't attack because I froze, I didn't know what more to do, I didn't run, didn't respond but stood still. If I spray the dogs with water, probably this would anger the dogs and gave them confirmation to attack me for real.

No offence, but they were extremely scary experiences.

Similar incidents happened several times. What is strange is I found the dog just barked on me, not on my friend. I probably did something really wrong, or they can sense my fear. So I am here seeking advice.

You are projecting your panic onto the owners. You cannot read the dog's mind or the human's mind. As others have suggested say speak to the owner (calm tone of voice). Say hello and ask if their dog is friendly.

Domestic dog barking =/= attack. Domestic dog jumping =/= attack. Domestic dog jumping and barking =/= over-friendly either. Their behaviour can be fear and bravado, or a warning to their pack/ family/ pack leader (humans or dogs) that you are behaving oddly, or telling you to stay away from their pack ....

Your behaviour and your body language are 'screaming' your fear and your panic. In the UK most people do not freeze, do not stand aside or give way to a domestic dog. No doubt this is partly because we do not have feral/ street dogs here.

Here a responsible owner will try to recall their dog if they see someone who is obviously uncomfortable around or very wary of their dog. Here a responsible owner will apologise for their dog barking and jumping. They will apologise because they can see your negative behaviour and body language.

Urgency in the owner's voice =/= panic that the dog is about to bite or attack.

Watch some episodes of It's Me or the Dog online and see how dog trainer Victoria Stilwell recommends we show 'naughty' domestic dogs who is the boss, how we stop them wanting to bark at and jump on us so they calm down.

HTH.

Robisere

Like prowla, dogs always seem to like me. I haven't had one of my own for a good few years, as I am disabled and elderly, but always had GSD's and never had a problem with any of them. Or any other dog, save one, which I will come to later*.

I took a course in keeping and training dogs many years ago and I learned many things about canine behaviour. Dogs are simple animals which sense fear in any other animal, including humans. Sensing fear in a human, who on two legs is so much larger than the largest dog, is very confusing for the dog. When a dog is confused, it tries to attack the source of confusion. If the dog is on a lead being walked by its owner, that produces an added complication of defending its owner from what the dog perceives as a threat. You yourself are actually causing the attack reaction in the dog, because as soon as you see it, your fear kicks in and the dog reacts. You have to break the cycle of fear, by getting to know a dog and realising, psychologically, that they are nothing to be afraid of. A good dog can be a wonderful companion, especially if you live alone.

*For 74 years of my life, no dog has ever taken exception to me. Then my neighbour's two lovely little Westies died within months of each other and she took to a rescue dog. When she needed to go away for a couple of days, the dog came to us and at first barked as soon as she saw me. My wife took her in and once in our home, the dog settled, even sat beside me on the sofa with her head on my lap. Back home, she began to bark at me and once tried to nip my hand. I set out to find why this was and traced the home she came from: for 5 years, according to neighbours there, the dog was never taken out. Never, not once in 5 years of its life. Then I saw the original owners: the husband was very much like me and spoke with a similar accent. That was the reason, the poor Westie had been abused by someone who resembled me in speech and looks. She was not to know that there is no way I would ever hurt her. So now I stay well away from the only dog I ever knew that does not like me. But the puzzle is that she can come into our house and sit on my knee, but only in the house! That is the kind of result that human cruelty can produce, when abusing an animal. It's more than physical damage, it is an attack upon the dog's psyche which never heals as well as physical damage.

tempus_fugit

rawhammered wrote: »

Stop being weak.

Oh, that's really helpful that is.

The world is made up of all sorts of people and many people are nervous about large animals running towards them. We need to allow for people's differences, not denigrate them because they are seen as "weak" by insensitive people like you.

tempus_fugit

hareng wrote: »

Dogs can sense from 100+ yards, so far i have yet to meet any dog i am afraid of, works both ways.


I do meet the odd person such as yourself, i wont give you a hard time. These people often do as you do and go in to panic mode stating there attacking when in fact they are greeting you wanting attention. If they sense your bad in any way they will not approach or bark off at you. Soon as back home its all over social media dog attacked me.


What i would honestly suggest is next time try not to panic have a word with dogs owner and bring yourself to stroke it. It may go a long way.

Some of us would like to go for a walk without having to greet other people's dogs though. I don't think it's too much to ask for people to understand this and take proper precautions to ensure that their dogs are not a nuisance (not the dog's fault I hasten to add).

[Deleted User]

There is clearly something wrong with the OP as dogs can sense when someone isn't ' right'. The only person my dog ever got narky with was an autistic person.


Dogs are sociable creatures and I think the OP is just reading them wrong and projecting their own fears onto a situation that really isn't there.

RelievedSheff

I agree with you here.

Our dog Sydney is a very friendly dog. He is happy to meet almost everybody and everything.

He does however have a tendancy to bark at anything which he sees as out of the ordinary. Your example of an autistic person is a good one, he would sense that and bark. Now his barking is not a sign that he is about to attack that person. Far from it, he is just confused by something he does not understand.

Perhaps the OP has some tendancy to confuse dogs with his behaviour. They are clearly not aiming to attack him or he would have been bitten by now.

I do also feel from this post and previous posts by the OP that he has a tendancy to play the victim in these situations. Perhaps it is time to get out of that mindset?

Norman_Castle

Dog likes to bark at me and some even try to attack me.

Dogs tend to growl rather than bark if they're being aggressive.

TripleH

My brother has a large dog, it is still quite young and playful. Last time I was at the house it came up to me to play with it, this is because i am daft and soppy enough to play with it and give fuss more than other members of my family, not that the dog doesn't try them for attention. In its playfulness my hand ended up in the dog's mouth where i felt light pressure on it but no damage or pain caused. The dog was merrly being over friendly.

I also have my youngest cat who will jump up at people and paw at their knees or if they moves their arms in the wrong manner, hevwill jump into them or on their back. Again he is only being friendly and no malice is intended.

To the Op, "in my limited experience", some animals can in their playfulness be too enthusiastic and assume everyone is their friend and want to play. If an animal (dog or cat) decides they want to hurt you they will. Most however are just (as said above) just being friendly.

Although i can understand if you are uncomfortable around certain animals , this can be hard to believe. The thing is that you cannot apply the sameblogic humans have to animals.