"Mac Cool" wrote in message
...
John Keeney:

Later in life I took to taking a step towards them, leaning
in, putting my arms out to the side like a muscle man
pose and growling back; damned funny watching a
German Shepherd swap ends as it's digging for traction
to run the other way.

As goofy as it sounds, this will usually work with untrained, healthy
dogs. Most grown men are at least twice as large an adult male dog and in
the animal world, size and confidence are great deterrents. I have also
been attacked twice by dogs that were not deterred by my confidence and
those I punched or kicked in the throat as hard as possible; in both
cases, the attack ended immediately. I don't imagine trained animals would
have given up so quickly. Jamming your hand into their throat would
probably work if you keep it there long enough to suffocate them.


Maybe so, but I wouldn't recommend trying it as a first thought. Dogs don't
open their mouths far enough to get your hand shoved in there. Watch a
barking dog - their mouth is not open very wide. Now look at an even more
dangerous dog - the one that is giving you those warning growls - his mouth
is not open at all. I'm not going to shove my hand past those teeth when
I'll have to break them off in order to get in there.
--

-Mike-