Dog Attacks

[Nezzy]

has anyone dealt with a dog coming after you on horseback? What did you do that was good or bad? I am considering getting a can of Bear Pepper spray, b/c of a recent encounter in a state park where a bicycler was letting her border collie run loose, and it attacked my friends horse, who did nothing but take a step backwards. I yelled at the woman, b/c all dogs are supposed to be leashed in the park. But she did not even apologize to my friend, she thought she was in the right. Of course very FEW dogs in the park are ever on leash. I know some horses will go after a dog, but some will try to run and get bit. I thought about a BB gun, but i doubt a bb would get a dog away. The bear spray shoots up to 35 ft away. but it’s not cheap.

What are your ideas?

[AdAblurr02]

I’ve been fortunate to have horses who were bold enough to run down the offending dog! My elder stallion had ZERO sense of humor about marauding canines, and would happily go for them with teeth bared.

Given a timid horse, though, a squirt gun or squirt BOTTLE - the big strong ones sold in feed stores - for fly spray and the like - they shoot a stream 15-20 feet if tuned right. Fill it with a mix of half water and half household ammonia and aim for the face. I guarantee this will turn ANY dog, regardless of what it’s chasing - horses, cars, bikes, whatever. Practice your aim until you are accurate enough to shoot from horseback, and NEVER shoot past your horse’s head with this.

[cloudyandcallie]

I get off of the horse and stand between him and the dog. I’d rather the dog attack me than my horse. Ditto when I walk my dogs outside the yard. If I walked with one dog, I picked him/her up. If I walked with 3 dogs, I put them behind me and stood in front of the attacking dog.
If your horse gets attacked, you have trouble collecting from the dog owner’s home insurance company. If you get bitten, they will pay up.
Insurance companies and property owners of loose dogs don’t care about your animals, but they sure do care about you suing them for bites to you.
Based upon my own experiences with animal control and insurance companies.

[ChocoMare]

I’ve spun my big honkin’ mare around and I growled, snarled, barked at the dogs while legging the mare forward to charge them.

I wouldn’t use any kind of spray since it could get in your and your horse’s noses/eyes, etc.

[Nezzy]

it’s not really convenient to carry a big spray bottle around, and i’m not sure the squirt gun won’t leak, but that is an option i guess. IF it shoots far enough.

I just don’t want to face down a dog who WILL attack my horse, b/c that would probably make that kind of dog angrier.

[coloredhorse]

Unfortunately, my only experience of being attacked by dogs ended with my very green mare kicking and killing one of the offenders and becoming rather dog-aggressive in the aftermath. These dogs came from behind and off to the side with no warning barks or anything … it was pretty scary. My mare had a small bite on one hind; my friend’s equally green gelding was in front and so not directly attacked, but was very badly frightened.

Most of my experience before and since has been with “attacks” that consist of barking and plenty of warning. With my elderly mare, who was raised with foxhounds and beagles underfoot, I just “charge” the dogs; they almost always fall back. If they try to follow, we do an about-face and charge again. I back up her body language with very stern voice commands like “NO!” “sit,” or “down.” “Go on, GIT!” sometimes helps, too. :winkgrin: Repeat as needed. This, of course, only works with a horse who is very dog-broke. I can do this with my other mare (the one who was attacked) now … many years later … but I have to be absolutely certain that I have her fully in-hand. I have no doubt that she would still take teeth and hooves to a barking dog with no hesitation. (Now, if I were reading true “I’m gonna get you, sucka” aggression from the dog, I might give her free rein and let her stomp the critter into a little puppy puddle. But most dogs, I’ve found, are not really all that serious.)

I’m simply not coordinated enough to use spray bottles or pepper spray, etc. I have had some success using a dressage whip or spare lead line to discourage dogs from being annoying, but I don’t always have either of those items when I am hacking.

[JollyBadger]

I board my horse adjacent to a state park, and there are private properties bordering the park as well. So, between the other riders, campers, hikers and property owners, there are occasionally run-ins with their off-leash dogs. There are also “dog training” areas set aside for hunters, so occasionally I’ve run into packs of Beagle pups. . .major cuteness overload!

My own horse is not at all afraid of dogs (actually, he likes them and will nuzzle and lick them if given the chance). Most of the “aggressive” ones I’ve encountered are all bark and no bite, anyway. They run up to a horse and get about ten feet away before realizing that horses are MUCH bigger up-close, and they quickly lose interest.:lol:

The only really aggressive dog I’ve encountered was a large mix (looked somewhat like an Akita) that belonged to a property owner across the street from the trail. The dog would sit in the owner’s front yard and wait for horses to pass on the trail, then take off after them and nip at their heels. While my horse wasn’t bothered by it, I was worried that the dog would either get hit by a car while crossing the road, or spook someone else’s horse and hurt someone.

So, when I passed that house and saw the dog start to run towards me, I turned my horse and cantered right at him, yelling “GIIIIT! GIIIIT! GO HOME!” The dog stopped in its tracks, and I kept coming. . .chased him all the way back to the road.

I don’t carry any kind of a whip or crop with me while I ride, but right now I use 7’6" split leather reins, which I suppose could be used as a kind of “whip” for a dog that was coming at my horse’s front legs. If the dog was coming from behind and going for the heels, I would back my horse into the dog and semi-hope the dog would get stepped on, kicked, or knocked down in the process.

[ShotenStar]

I’ve used a long dressage whip across the face of one dog that was right under the horse. And I’ve been dumped when another dog charged the horse without warning. She let fly with both hing legs to kick him and then lunged forward. I was caught completely off guard, since this was a neighborhood dog we knew and it had not been a problem previously.

star

[Beverley]

I go after the offending animal with my horse, and/or tell the owner gee, can’t be sure my horse won’t kill the dog, best put it on leash now. If I were to have a chronic dog problem I would carry my hunting whip and not hesitate to whack them with it.

Bear spray- bad idea. Unless you can be certain that the wind is right when you need to spray, you and/or your horse will be blinded and that could end up far worse than a dog bite.

[jlrcoats]

I carry waterbottles off both sides of my saddle. When I was having a problem passing through this one area(public riding area, loose dog, no owner) I made sure I carried my special RED water bottle. It squirted well and I had watered down bleach in it. Didn’t have the bulk of carrying a spray bottle and fit nicely into my water holder. It took one squirt and never had a problem with this dog again. Just make sure you don’t accidently grab it and take a swig!

[WaningMoon]

[QUOTE=Beverley;4289461]
I go after the offending animal with my horse, and/or tell the owner gee, can’t be sure my horse won’t kill the dog, best put it on leash now. If I were to have a chronic dog problem I would carry my hunting whip and not hesitate to whack them with it.

Bear spray- bad idea. Unless you can be certain that the wind is right when you need to spray, you and/or your horse will be blinded and that could end up far worse than a dog bite.[/QUOTE]

I completely agree the bear spray doesn’t sound like too good an idea. But I’m thinking can’t be you’ve ever been too badly bitten either because I would take the spray over being attacked and bitten again any day. Not familiar with the contents of bear spray but know the pepper spray is pretty bad, but I’d take even worse over the bites.

[katarine]

Bear spray shuts down your breathing for a bit and blinds you, too, temporarily. Not an ideal combo if you’re on a horse that’s actually being attacked or threatened. Think about it- anything stout enough to stop/divert most Grizzly bears, 1000+ lbs of mad bear momma…is going to absolutely shatter you, man LOL

I’ve never had a ‘serious’ dog incident - and I’ve been road and trail riding, alone or in 2-3s for years and years…but imagine I’d get after that dog with my horse, barking and growling my own self. A good, heads up, stout GET OUTTA HERE GIT while trotting hard and sure IN their direction before they get up the gumption to attack- handles it.

[wendy]

instead of yelling about leashes etc. at the owner yell about how the dog is going to get trampled/kicked/killed if not controlled ASAP.

[Equibrit]

Hunting whip and learn how to use it.

[Nezzy]

i think some of you are not considering that a dog rushes at you very quickly. if a dog is rushing my horse, do you think i’m going to try to face my horse at him and let the dog grab my horse by the nose? I’m not talking about Benji. I’m talking dogs who attack. I know my dressage whip does not reach a dog in front of me until the dog is already right there.

With many of the pepper sprays you can choose the fogger type or the stream type. the stream type you have to hit the target, b/c the inhalant is not very good in those. But they do shoot out 15 ft or more.Bear spray shoots about 25 ft. i do think i would prefer a few hours of discomfort over a dog attack any day.

[PalominoMorgan]

Last time this thread came up someone suggested wasp spray. Comes in a big can with a good spray distance, cheap, and handy if you get attacked by wasps, dogs, people, etc.

[katarine]

Nezzy you should plan for and do what you are comfortable doing, if its bear or pepper spray, go for it…me, I’m not carrying pepper or other spray on every ride off my property. I’m just concerned that one might goof the spray in the rush to use it, end up disabled, blinded, horseback, with a dog still coming after you. Talk about a bad deal .

We don’t HAVE to agree as a group, it’s just a discussion kicking things around.

[marta]

bull whip sounds like a good idea.
or any whip that’s long enough.

[Nezzy]

i’m just trying to get ideas that work for me. Of course you can do what is best for you. Where i ride there is more chance to encounter a dog off leash Even tho it goes against park rules.

[Risk-Averse_Rider]

I second the hunting whip idea (plus, if you get the kind with a bent handle, it’s good for opening gates :D)

I’ve told this story before here. Used to be a dog near where we boarded that would hide in the bushes and jump out barking when trail riders came by. Prozac Pony and I were out once with a friend & her mare.

Dog appeared.

I cracked the whip, growled a very loud “GIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!” and trotted PP forward.

Dog turned tail and afterwards started sitting close to the house (way off the road) to bark at the horses.

PP, feeling mas macho about this whole thing, thought he should march down on any dog we saw for a while - even the ones on leashes. But he got over that.

You MUST, however, make sure that your horse is accustomed to having that whip cracked off his/her back - I spent a couple months at least acclimated my guys to the whip before I ever actually used it.