Is that Adrenalin Street, Avenue, Lane or Drive?

richbuff

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Nov 21, 2014
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Go for a walk in a nice single family residential neighborhood to relax, or to get a cheap adrenalin rush? It can't be both, because they are mutually exclusive.

Or to have plenty of my neighbors waiting in line to lecture me that if I thought about it first, I would realize that I should not feel instant spike of terror when their full size dogs charge me on the street?

I don't have to wonder why people let their working breed dogs charge joggers, runners, walkers on the street. They are glad to inform me as to why. They know it is ok for their large dogs to terrorize people on the street. Because it is my fault for feeling fear instantly, first, instead of firstly knowing that their dog will stop their charge just arms length from me and bark at me instead of maul me. If pedestrians would only think first, they would have no need for instant, primal, autonomic, instinctual sheer panic that comes from being charged by an off-leash German Shepard, due to erroneously feeling instead of thinking first.

After logging 4,000 miles in 20 months walking in my town, off-leash dog owners are convinced that I am the trouble maker.
 

KITROBASKIN

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I am so sorry for your situation. The response that their dog smells your fear and that it is fearful as to why you have fear makes the dog concerned, may be accurate but one of the worst justifications for an ill mannered dog. Have you truly received the full spectrum of excuses?
Are you near their property?
Is it late at night or early in the morning?
Are they 'training' their young dog to be off leash but under control? (Just not there yet)
Don't you already know that their particular dog is not a problem?
Their dog is protecting them from potential threats? If you are not a threat then you have nothing to be worried about?
 

richbuff

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Thank you for your kind reply. I walk in three different nice single family neighborhoods in my town. There are a few problematic hot spots in each neighborhood. I walk by day and by night. I walk on the sidewalk or down the side of the street. Most of the dogs are junk yard dogs that snarl at any passers-by from behind a fence. Most of the dogs are mostly contained, but are free to exit the property and make menaces of themselves occasionally. Most of the dogs are known, repeat offenders. Only few are just happy to run up to someone to get petted.

Size of dog, and instant recognition of the dogs menacing posture is trigger to instant terror, before any frontal grey cognitive process can begin to occur. This is where dog owners make their thinking error. Pedestrians are supposed to think and rationalize first, and realize that they should not be instantly fear-struck. The owners think that it is ok for the pedestrian to just keep walking, as if this scary encounter is ok to repeat over again. It is not. I have informed people that if a person has immediate fear of loss of limb, that the dog owner relinquishes any and all expectation of how the encounter will end, because the pedestrian can legally execute self defense mechanisms, if he feels immediate fear of loss of limb.

All of the dog owners think that the only solution is to have all pedestrians, joggers, etc, walk not in front of their house. Many homeowners just spend years simply not going for a walk in their neighborhood.
 

nbp

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I grew up with large dogs, and enjoy dogs, and yet still find it anxiety inducing if a large unknown dog charges at me. I cannot be sure of what the dog will or won't do. How do I know he's going to stop at the property line? If he doesn't I might be seriously injured. Many pet owners, while nice people, are not responsible pet owners. It is the dog owners responsibility to contain their animal and keep their neighbors safe, whether that is by means of a fence, a chain etc. Really, the dog shouldn't leave their property. Our dogs would escape and wander when I was young, and our neighbors liked them and pet them, gave them treats etc., but ultimately it was our job to keep track of them. The fact that we didn't always keep them contained led to one getting hit by a car and killed. Very sad, but no one's fault but ours. Had they been aggressive (they weren't) and bitten someone, that would have been our fault too. People need to recognize that as a pet owner they are responsible for preventing their animal from infringing on the rights of others fo feel safe and comfortable in their own neighborhoods.
 
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1.)Purchase a body worn video device and some bear spray.
2.)Protect yourself when dog threatens you on public property.
3.)Make sure to have enough spray for the dog's owner. :mecry:

~ Chance
 

bykfixer

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Carry a 3D maglite. Day or night.
Huge confidence booster.

Like nbp was saying, it's definitely intimidating when a dog charges in your direction. Your reaction can make a difference in how the dog perceives people entering their domain.

One thing my wife said is to avoid eye contact with the dog. She trains pet owners on proper ways to get dogs to behave and goes to schools in rough places to show little kids how to react to rogue pitbulls that tend to be pervasive in their neighborhoods.

Dogs are pack animals. In groups one is the leader and the rest submit. When they are alone they think they are the leader. And being instictively pack animals they think you are entering their pack. Like us, they have a 'fight or flight' instinct. Eye contact can cause them to think you want their throne as the pack leader.

Now when they've made the mistake of entering your 3 foot circle, it's on then. Hence the carry of an item like a 3D flashlight, a baton or similar lightweight item.
 
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blah9

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You definitely have my sympathies here. I didn't grow up with dogs, and I have been startled by them my whole life, often panicking for a few seconds before I start to calm down. At least these days I'm way taller than I was as a kid, but it still terrifies me when I go for a walk and a dog barks at me menacingly, let alone when one runs toward me with no leash. The invisible fences often really give me a rush, although at least they have (knock on wood) stopped the dogs I've encountered from running out of the yard so far.
 

richbuff

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Prescott Az
Just in time for the 500th view. 12 hours ago, I had to take it out, yet again for the fourth time in 22 months in the same single family residential neighborhood that I frequent daily.
The angry four legged threat that focused its attention on me stopped within inches of entering my innermost personal self defense space. That equated to a small fraction of a second away from being dispatched.
Local law enforcement does not care that I walk 1,000 miles every five and a half months. They do seem to be very concerned that I take mine out more often than the average pedestrian takes theirs out.
 

richbuff

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Nov 21, 2014
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Prescott Az
I always hate finding myself on Adrenalin Drive. No matter what brought me there. italics mine.

~ Chance
Stepping out my door onto the sidewalk directly adjacent to my residence brought me there again, eleven and a half months later, 2,100 miles later, 42,000 blocks later. Medium-large size dog full-bore charged me from residential property directly across the street, I stopped it 18 inches or less from my feet. Daytime, so Olight S2 baton stayed on my keychain.
 
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