Dog attacks horse,how to deal with it??

[fernie_fox]

I am an animal lover,but this incident has scared me.

If I could shoot and had a gun on me I would have shot it there and then.

I’m pretty sure that would be illegal.

While riding in a state park last week,A pit bull type rushed us very agressively.I froze,I was petrified.

Two gals with me really yelled at it.

The owner was screaming at it,and it was hardly listening to her,but did eventually back off.

The dog ran into the park to get to us.They had no fence in their yard.

What is the best defense in this situation??

To be honest,if I could have killed the dog I would have.

I have had my horse attacked before,my horse reared and the dog[german shepherd]ripped out a piece of skin on his chest.That dog was definately going for the jugular.

This latest incident has me pretty shook up.

[citydog]

There are a number of threads on here about this already that you might find helpful.

[fernie_fox]

I just searced back on the trail riding thread through oct.dont see anything.

There is a thread about the poor old TB that was attacked,but I cant find anything on being attacked while out riding on the trail.

[yellow-horse]

i’ve had dogs on the trail issues occasionally and it really depends on the situation, if it’s just a friendly annoying dog i call it over and say good boy now go home, if it’s a dog chasing us because it’s a dog, then i turn the horse and ride towards it telling it to go home, if the dog appears to be ready to attack i ride as fast as possible away from it, at a full gallop if needed. i once had a woman turn her akita on me, i was not on her property, she deliberately sent the dog after us, my horse bolted and i thought that was a good idea so i kept my head down and let her go as far as she thought safe, luckily i was in woods and not a road or impossible trail situation
my thought is if i ride off my property i cannot control what we will meet, so i will try to keep me and my horse safe by whatever seems the best option at the time

[Dixon]

WATER

I haven’t read the other threads, but I’d keep a strong water gun within reach. Water is often effective at breaking up dog fights, so I would think a blast in the face would discourage a dog from coming at you and your horse. And water can’t really harm the dog, so you’re not subjecting yourself to a possible lawsuit the way you might be if you shoot at it with a real gun.

[Outyougo]

Dog Attacks

most dogs are nice–but dogs do have a border line personality!

Thought 1 get a hunt whip ( or bull whip) take a bit of time to learn to use it and get your horse used to the snap it makes. Then carry it on your rides. Go to the hunting forum

Thought 2 turn the tables and point your horse after the dog. Sounds a bit scary but my horses will go after a chasing dog. Especially if your horse has any “cow” in it the horse will go after the dog. Better the dog learns to fear the horses than the horse learns (from you) to fear dogs. A shod horse can inflict a lot of damage on the dog.

[redponyrider]

in school on dog safety we were told never ever ever run. Pretend to be a tree, stand quietly, do not stare or yell at dog, do not flail hands around-- basically the idea is to not act like a prey animal nor to act threateningly towards the dog (staring).

In the few scary dog encounters I’ve had on horseback, simply turning the horse and calmly walking towards the dog has been sufficient to send the dog scurrying off in panic.

[Underdog]

Ack

I was hand walking my then 2 yo mare on an abandoned farm to get her to see some sights.
A jogger out with his 3 loose dogs decided to go into attack mode and work as a pack and circled my mare.

She dragged me along her side like a ragdoll and trotted with that tail in the air running the same cirlce as they.

Then she went into attack mode.
Fight or flight, right?
She choose to fight, and then reared and smashed her front feet on the ground close to one of them and kept trying to pound them or kick at them if she had the opportunity.

Thats all it took.
I had to scrape my drawers after that…and she could have kicked me in mistake as I was being dragged along her hip…I didn’t want to let go of that lead rope. Nope.
She knew where I was at every moment and never tried to hurt me.

We had a real bond after that.

You looking at the 2 basic responses. fight or flight.

[Equibrit]

Load shotgun with rock salt and shoot the bugger; Buy a hound whip and learn to use it,
Or SSS!

[fernie_fox]

Actually after years of Whipping and hunting,I am pretty sharp with a hunt whip.

But I am told that would make the dog even more aggressive.

[matryoshka]

A salt gun might work, but I guess you’d have to train the horse to stand for shooting it.

I’ve had good success by chasing the dogs, but I have no idea if any of the ones I chased were truly viscious. They turned from snarling, brave dogs to potential carpets. Once my mare got the idea, she started to enjoy it. However, if there are more than one, I doubt chasing would be very helpful, especially if the dogs are feral.

I’m interested to see more thoughts on this issue. It could happen to any of us.

[x-rab]

Another thread

I think it was in another thread along this line that it was suggested getting a super shooter water gun and fill it with Skunk Oil. You blast the dog in the face or as close to it as you can get. Taking care of course not to get any on you. You can buy the skunk oil either on line or at a hunter store.

[citydog]

[QUOTE=fernie fox;2252091]
I just searced back on the trail riding thread through oct.dont see anything.

There is a thread about the poor old TB that was attacked,but I cant find anything on being attacked while out riding on the trail.[/QUOTE]

I think this was one of the more recent ones: http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=73419

Most strategies about dealing with dogs were raised. I think walking the dogs down (on horseback) was the general favorite.

[citydog]

[QUOTE=x-rab;2252900]
I think it was in another thread along this line that it was suggested getting a super shooter water gun and fill it with Skunk Oil. You blast the dog in the face or as close to it as you can get. Taking care of course not to get any on you. You can buy the skunk oil either on line or at a hunter store.[/QUOTE]

Plain water works well (and you don’t have to worry about “skunking” yourself (seriously, ever known a super soaker not to leak? Try getting that out of leather. Ick.)

[horses-n-hounds]

You would have to “practice” with the horse for control and aim, but a great solution would be Bear spray right in the eyes of the dog.
The nice thing about bear spray is that it has a pretty good “firing” range on it.
It doesn’t cause any permanent damage either.

[didgery]

Vinegar in a good squirt gun will temporarily hurt the dog’s eyes, be more effective than water . . . and probably be less dangerous to handle than skunk oil! Wouldn’t hurt you or your horse if you misfired, unless you somehow shot him in the eye (unlikely).

[Mozart]

I too have had success with turning horse toward the dog and trotting at it. Dogs are completely flummoxed that prey has turned predator. After they do it a couple of times the horses actually seem to get kind of a kick out of it too. But for all out vicious dog in full attack mode…not sure if it would work. Fortunately I have only come across the barky territorial type.

[matryoshka]

Caution about hurting the dog: you don’t want to make him more aggressive toward horses. Mention of the salt gun made me remember that our Irish Setter was shot with a salt gun by a mail carrier when she was a puppy. After that, she’d try to go after anybody in uniform, including police and crossing guards. This was a normally sweet dog who played with the neiborhood kids and was friendly with adults. She began chewing up the mail as soon as it was shoved through the mail slot. We mounted a mailbox to the side of the house so she wouldn’t chew the mail anymore.

When she was an adult, our Setter saw the mailman, jumped onto the screen door, managed to hit the latch, and ran out and bit him on the butt. We had to quarentine her for rabies and were lucky not to get sued.

So, hurting the dog with something like pepper spray or anything that stings could make matters worse for future encounters or other horses. Better stick to intimidating the dog without causing it any pain. Plus, in animal court, it would be your word against the owners’ about why you did something that hurt their dog. We are too sue happy in this country.

[Amchara]

Most dogs I have ran into are utterly flabbergasted that such a big creature is coming towards them covering more ground than they could dream of.

They scatter like chickadees on a winter day.

[Sabina]

First off, if the state park has a leash regulation, and the dog was off leash and out of control, go back or call the parks department and report the incident. Don’t be worried that you cannot id the dog, maybe this is not the first time it’s happened and somebody else saw something.

Second, carry a whip like a longer crop or dressage wand even, put a clip on it and clip it to the saddle if you don’t want to carry it. If the dog jumps up, you can nail it. But with pits or pit mixes, stay on the horse but move off out of the area as soon as possible, because their bites are so much more dangerous, they can clamp on.

Pepper spray works very well on dogs, but don’t hit the horse or yourself with it. I mean, it REALLY works if your aim is good, the dog should drop and run off.

If it’s a little yippy dog I verbally warn the owner the horse is going to kick it, and then watch them scramble to retrieve it. This is not really true, but it does motivate them. If it’s a little yippy dog by itself, I will trot at it, and it usually turns tail. I ride with my dogs at home all the time, so the horse is used to dogs running underfoot. If I’m leading the horse along and a dog comes running up, if the dog is being stupid I will threaten to crop whack it. Some dogs are actually friendly, so I just sort of go with what happens.

The important part is to control your physical reaction that your horse is reasured by what you feel like that you and he can get thru this obstacle without panicing. You can control your physical response even if you are are afraid, you can still sit quietly without butt-clutching, remember to breath, and look where you want to go and not directly at the dog.