Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site peora.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!lll-crg!dual!qantel!ihnp4!drutx!mtuxo!mtunh!mtung!mtunf!ariel!vax135!petsd!peora!jer From: jer@peora.UUCP (J. Eric Roskos) Newsgroups: net.singles Subject: Dogs for defense against attackers Message-ID: <1453@peora.UUCP> Date: Thu, 8-Aug-85 10:05:49 EDT Article-I.D.: peora.1453 Posted: Thu Aug 8 10:05:49 1985 Date-Received: Tue, 13-Aug-85 01:06:09 EDT References: <597@wdl1.UUCP> Organization: Perkin-Elmer SDC, Orlando, Fl. Lines: 63 > I learned how to do this late in life, when training an enormous > black horse (a Percheron) as a riding animal. This monster had a strong > personality and bucked off several riders, but by refusing to back down when > he challenged me and being more stubborn than he was, I was able to make him > obey me. Since facing down that sixteen hundred pound beast, people just > don't seem intimidating any more. This story reminds me of something that used to bother me a great deal, and of an anecdote related to it; while it has nothing to do with the current discussions, I can see that it might well provoke some new discussion, eventhough I am not entirely sure of the point of the story. Before I came to Orlando, I lived in a downtown, very urban area of Nashville, TN. This area had many single college students living in it, including many single women. There was also a fairly high crime rate (I eventually moved from there due to that, in fact). Many of these women, in order to defend themselves from potential attackers, would bring very large dogs with them whenever they would go out anywhere. Now, this in itself is no problem; it seems like a good idea to me. However, I observed that some of these women would NOT keep their dogs on a leash, and some would even seem to take great satisfaction in the fact that they would go rushing up barking at any solitary male person who happened to have the audacity to walk on the same sidewalk as them. This always annoyed me, since I have always felt bad to observe that the state of society exists in which I cannot go walking alone without women acting like I am a criminal, crossing the street to avoid me, acting nervous, etc., especially since I tend to be very reserved, and thus don't often even speak to people if I am thinking about something else, thus not appearing as much of a threat to any observant person at all. And because I don't like people letting their dogs loose to bark at me. However, I discovered rather quickly (having lived with very large dogs most of my life until I went away to college) that these big dogs, like most dogs I had known, were basically afraid of strangers! You could point your finger at them, and yell "you keep quiet!", and they would cringe and hide behind the person they were supposed to be protecting! I only did this once or twice, with particularly threatening dogs, but it was interesting to observe the reaction of the dog's owner, since they both seemed to feel that the dog was serving a useful purpose by barking at me in that way, and that it had revealed some major shortcoming by hiding when pointed at. (Note: you have to beware, when confronted by a hostile dog, since some dogs will bite you if you point at them; it depends on the personality of the dog. Also, dogs frightened in this manner tend to want to get back at you if you turn your back on them. Thus, I don't recommend doing such a thing, unless you are in a confrontational situation with a hostile dog.) I am not sure what the moral of this story is; it just seems to involve a lot of complex, interesting, and in some ways worrisome issues. The most superficial point, I guess, is that I think it is not good to let dogs run around loose to defend you; it works just as well to keep them on a leash (if an attacker gets close to you he will obviously have to get in range of the leash, and also you can let go of it). But another point is that, considering the nature of dogs, I wonder if it is good to rely on them that much. (I do think, though, that a loyal dog will defend the person who cares for him/her if that person is actually being attacked.) -- Shyy-Anzr: J. Eric Roskos UUCP: ..!{decvax,ucbvax,ihnp4}!vax135!petsd!peora!jer US Mail: MS 795; Perkin-Elmer SDC; 2486 Sand Lake Road, Orlando, FL 32809-7642