16 real-life tips for surviving a dog attack (2021 edition)

(Beth Clifton collage)

Could electroshock have stopped shocking attack on Queen Charlotte the carriage horse?

by Merritt & Beth Clifton

Shocked by video of an April 3,  2021 pit bull attack on a carriage horse named Queen Charlotte,  and vividly reminded of her own recent narrow escape from a pit bull attack while riding her horse Link,  “social media influencer” Raleigh Lilith,  also known as Haybitch,  on April 11,  2021 greeted Dog Bite Prevention Week with a 21-minute YouTube presentation,  Why I no longer support pit bull ownership.

Raleigh Lilith recounted how she has evolved––as a longtime animal shelter worker and volunteer––from pit bull advocacy to the view that pit bulls have no place in society.

The video detonating Raleigh Lilith,  which had already gone viral,  showed the concluding minutes of a much longer incident at Cane Creek Park in Waxhaw,  North Carolina,  in which the pit bull broke off the owner’s leash to inflict at least 14 bites on Queen Charlotte’s face,  chest,  and legs.

The attack on horse Queen Charlotte and driver Amanda Medlin Underwood.
(Beth Clifton collage)

Pit bull kept attacking even after suffering mortal injuries

Queen Charlotte reportedly trotted from 180 to 200 feet,  trying to escape the pit bull,  as onlookers including small children screamed and cried.  Yet Queen Charlotte did not bolt or panic,  avoiding injury to anyone else.

Handing the reins to her assistant,  carriage driver Amanda Medlin Underwood jumped down from her seat to tackle the pit bull with her bare hands,  trying to drag him out from under Queen Charlotte.  But every time Underwood managed to pull the pit bull away,  he broke loose to resume the attack.

Kicking at the pit bull with both front and back legs,  yet still not bolting into the gathering crowd,  dragging the carriage behind her,  blinded by her blinkers,  Queen Charlotte accidentally struck Underwood four times in the head,  sending her to the hospital,  before finally landing blows on the “dead game” pit bull which injured him so severely that he was euthanized soon afterward.

Even then,  Queen Charlotte allowed herself to be quickly calmed and be led away by the assistant driver.

Underwood “suffered serious injuries and will need to have surgery,”  reported Shaquira Speaks,  of Fox 46 television in Charlotte.

YouTube social media influencer Raleigh Lilith “Haybitch.”  (Beth Clifton collage)

Pit bull was rehomed from shelter

“The dog,”  Speaks learned,  “was a five-year-old white neutered American bulldog [among the most common pit bull types] and was adopted from Charlotte-Mecklinburg Police Department Animal Care & Control in 2019.

“A person who fostered the dog noted that he was ‘friendly with people and children, loves walks and car rides’ but ‘will pull after cats on his walk.'”

The most positive outcome from the episode may be in the final moments of Raleigh Lilith’s presentation,  in which she mentioned that she now carries a stun gun while riding––not a taser,  which is also often called a stun gun,  but a palm-sized device (see photos above and below) long used primarily as a cattle prod.

Showing Animals Respect & Kindness videotaped the use of a concealed hand-held cattle prod at the Tucson Rodeo in 2013. (https://sharkonline.org/index.php/hot-shots)

Will a cattle prod work against a pit bull?

Raleigh Lilith briefly demonstrated how it might be used to fend off a pit bull.

Within hours ANIMALS 24-7 began receiving inquiries about the possible efficacy of an electric cattle prod or stun gun as a carry-along defense against dog attacks,  especially pit bull attacks,  for walkers,  joggers,  and delivery personnel.

Inexpensive palm-sized cattle prods,  usually priced at under $60,  have been used on farms,  by livestock truckers,  in slaughterhouses,  and illegally to make bulls and horses buck at rodeos,  for circa 70 years.  Such devices are also widely offered––at somewhat higher prices––as personal protection devices.

Oddly,  though,  whether called a cattle prod or a stun gun,  such weapons appear to have practically no documented history of use to try to stop a charging pit bull.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Loud crackling noise

In general,  trying to use a cattle prod or stun gun against a charging pit bull would come with most of the same disadvantages as trying to use a knife,  the most ineffective of all weapons against a dog attack:  no deterrent value to a dog who is unfamiliar with the weapon and fails to recognize it as a threat,  while trying to use it would put the user in closer proximity to the dog.

The dog would have to be touched by both electronic contacts at the business end,  not just one,  to receive a shock.

But a cattle prod or stun gun might be more effective than most other weapons once the victim is already under attack.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Information wanted

A palm-sized shocking device would be no more difficult to carry than a cell phone,  emits a loud crackling noice that might have deterrent value against many dogs,  though not necessarily a pit bull in attack mode,  and would be much less likely to cause injury to anyone else nearby than a firearm.

Unfortunately,  cattle prods and stun guns have apparently not been used enough against attacking dogs in the past for us to have any empirical data as to how efficacious they are in comparison to firearms (80%) and fire extinguishers (70%),  or knives and blunt instruments,  both of which are more likely to lead to injury to the user than to provide effective protection.

ANIMALS 24-7 welcomes any and all specific reports detailing how,  when,  and where cattle prods and/or stun guns have been deployed by victims of dog attacks,  especially pit bull attacks,  with what outcomes

(Beth Clifton collage)

Useless tips

Meanwhile,  for Dog Bite Prevention Week 2021,  the American Humane Association,  American Veterinary Medical Association,  the Insurance Information Institute, State Farm Insurance, and the celebrity dog trainer Victoria Stilwell again shared essentially the same lists of tips for avoiding ordinary dog bites and minimizing the damage that Dog Bite Prevention Week sponsors have offered annually since the U.S. Postal Service initiated Dog Bite Prevention Week in 1956.

(See Dog Bite Prevention Week: payouts for dog attacks up 21% in three years.)

Yet for at least 7,500 of the almost 11,000 people who have suffered fatal or disfiguring dog attacks since 1982,  none of those tips would have helped.

These people were attacked by dogs,  often several dogs at once, who were hell-bent on mauling, maiming, and/or killing their victims.

Among these dogs were 7,500 pit bulls and pit mixes,  plus about 1,000 other dogs of closely related breeds,  including Rottweilers,  boxers,   and a variety of pit/mastiff crosses such as the Presa Canario,  Dogo Argentino,  and Cane Corso.

How fatal & disfiguring attacks occur

Many of the human victims were disfigured or killed while trying to protect their pets from dog attack.  The approximately 4.4 million pit bulls in the U.S. appear to be killing nearly 7,000 other dogs per year,  severely injuring more than 12,000,  and killing at least 1,300 cats.

(See Pit bulls killed 30 times more animals in 2018 than human crime.)

When a dog does not just bite, but attacks with intent to maul, maim, and kill, observing the usual rules for escaping injury no longer helps––especially if the attacking dog is of a breed selectively crossed for centuries to have low inhibitions against conflict and a high pain threshold, the better to injure and kill other animals in fighting and baiting.

(See The science of how behavior is inherited in aggressive dogs,  by Alexandra Semyonova.)

Pit bull attacks smaller dog. (YouTube)

Shedding light on the situation

Among the more naïve reader inquiries recently reaching ANIMALS 24-7 was, “Would a laser light protect oneself against a pit bull?”

No.  Pit bulls (and dogs generally) don’t tend to care about lights.

Dogs in general evolved to hunt and scavenge by night as well as day, and “see” mostly with their noses.

A pit bull or other dog of fighting and baiting lineage will kill you whether he can see you or not.  If he has to close his eyes to do it,  he will,  and not worry about it,  because his eyes are not how he is locating you.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Weapon success rates

We have been logging fatal and disfiguring dog attack data for nearly 39 years now.  Based on actual case data, a firearm has about an 80% success rate in stopping a charging pit bull,  but with a high rate of accidentally killing or injuring other people nearby,  as occurred on June 21,  2017 when a ricochet from a police round fired at a charging pit bull killed 17-year-old Armando Garcia,  who was reportedly 40 feet away and out of view of the officers who were trying to stop the attack.

A fire extinguisher has about a 70% success rate,  with no risk to bystanders.  A bite stick––meaning something a dog can be induced to bite instead of a human or animal victim––can usually be used safely by anyone who has an appropriate object to use as a bite stick and keeps his or her head.

Knives and blunt instruments have negative success rates,  meaning that the people using them are more likely to increase the severity of an attack than to help themselves or help others get away.

Blunt force usually fails

The most frequent mistake made by people trying to stop a dog attack, contributing to serious injuries almost every day now, is attempted use of blunt force, typically by swinging an object such as a baseball bat or a golf club at the dog.

Unless the swinger has major league bat speed, power,  and ability to make accurate contact with a rapidly and unpredictably moving target, the dog will easily dodge the attempted blow,  the person swinging the blunt object will be off balance,  and the dog may then pull the person down to inflict severe or fatal injury.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Use the blunt object as a bite stick

The correct way to use a bat or golf club, if one happens to have one, is as a bite stick,  held in such a manner as to keep the dog at maximum distance from oneself.  

A walking cane,  a broom stick,  a fence slat,  or any other long, sturdy object can do the same job.

It is also futile to pound on a dog’s head to try to make the dog let go of someone else.  Most animals, including humans, respond to a blow to the head by clenching their teeth. This is why prize fighters wear mouthpieces. Among pit bulls this tendency is even more pronounced.

To make a pit bull let go of something,  it is necessary to pry the dog’s jaws apart with a break stick,  meaning a relatively sturdy object such as a tent stake or a screwdriver — and to do this safely, the person doing the prying should be behind the dog,  with face out of reach of a quick snap.

Zorro

Knives are next to useless

Many people carry a knife, but a knife of any sort is next to useless against a charging dog, especially a pit bull.

One could hand Zorro himself a knife,  throw a pillow at him,  and he might be able to effectively stab the pillow maybe one time in 10.  Most people could not do that well, lacking the wrist strength to drive the knife through the pillow cover.

A charging dog is coming much faster than a pillow,  and the number of places where the dog can be stopped by slashing or stabbing are very few — and even if one happened to hit one of those vital spots,  momentum would carry the dog on forward.

A dog meeting a knife blade will already be no more than arm’s length away when the knife strikes,  so will be on the user,  probably slightly injured and even more infuriated,  in a split second.

(Beth Clifton collage)

Dogs don’t recognize knives

Merely showing a dog a knife, moreover, means nothing to the dog.  Dogs have no experience with knives,  and no understanding of what they are.  At best a dog may think a knife is a toy, and that the user is about to play “stick.”

This may prevent an attack, but only if one throws the knife over the dog’s head and the dog runs after it.  Taking that chance is obviously not recommended.

Cyberspace is,  to be sure,  full of stories about how people allegedly stabbed pit bulls and other dogs to break off attacks,  but close examination shows that in almost every case the dog was attacking someone else,  or some other animal,  and that because the dog was fixated on the original victim,  the person with the knife had the luxury of being able to stab from behind,  sometimes repeatedly,  as the knife struck bones and failed to penetrate deeply on the first effort.

Grab a fire extinguisher

ANIMALS 24-7 recommends fire extinguishers as the safest and most humane tools for interrupting a dog attack.

• Using a fire extinguisher does not require closely approaching the dog.
• A fire extinguisher does not have to be aimed very accurately to have a deterrent effect.
• A fire extinguisher does not quickly run out of ammunition.
• A fire extinguisher does not produce an erratic ricochet.
• And a fire extinguisher is normally non-lethal,  even if discharged directly into a lunging dog’s throat.

Demonstrating an inexpensive automotive fire extinguisher.
(Beth Clifton photo)

But if the fire extinguisher is exhausted while the dog attack continues,  the empty cylinder can be used as a shield,   a bite stick,  or even a club,  as appropriate.

Keep a fire extinguisher handy

Besides the deterrent effect of the fire extinguisher’s contents,  which tend to make animals quickly short of breath without lastingly harming them,  most animals, including most dogs,  retreat from the snake-like hiss of a discharging fire extinguisher.

Carrying a fire extinguisher while walking,  jogging, playing,  or working outdoors is awkward,  but there should be a fire extinguisher in every kitchen,  near every fireplace, in every car,  near the driver in any bus, truck,  or taxi,  and prominently and visibly located in every public building or place of business.

Other spray devices

Among the other popular non-lethal devices used to stop dog attacks, pepper spray and Mace must be relatively accurately directed,  and are typically carried in small containers meant for use at close range.

Bear spray,  pepper spray and Mace have about a 40% success rate in stopping pit bull attacks.

Pocket sprays such as Mace, pepper spray, ammonia sprayers, and similar devices try to replicate in miniature the fire extinguisher effect,  but in truth a spray can of almost anything would work about as well.

Part of what makes fire extinguishers effective is that the foam comes out under pressure and rapidly expands,  so that the volume actually helps to form an olfactory and visual barrier between the dog and victim(s).  Nothing in a small container can have a similar effect.

Humane Society of the U.S. representative Dave Pauli maintains this tranquilizer gun arsenal.  (Dave Pauli photo)

Tasers & tranquilizers

Tasers are often useless against fur-covered animals.  Tasers don’t deliver a shock unless the tasering device sticks to the target person or animal.  Contrary to makers’ claims, they work about as well on thickly furred animals as tossing a ping pong ball.

Tranquilizer darts must be placed very accurately to be effective, difficult to achieve when a dog or other animal is in attack mode, and then the tranquilizer can take several minutes to work,  during which time the animal can do significant damage.

Hair spray,  bug spray,  cigarette lighters,  jabs in the eyes, etc.,  among other ill-advised frequent recommendations,  all might work on a human attacker, but the odds are excellent that they will be worthless against a charging pit bull.

Dogfighter & pit bull breeder Earl Tudor, circa 1951.

Remember,  pain is not a deterrent to a pit bull.

Pain does not stop a pit bull

If you have seen pit bulls fighting,  you would know that they will fight on to the death even after losing ears,  legs, and having their guts trailing on the ground.

Forget about trying to inflict pain.

What you have to do to stop an attack by a pit bull is create a distraction compelling enough to jolt the pit bull out of the idiopathic rage syndrome — the kill-or-be-killed mindset of the fighting dog,  which pain only intensifies.

Humane Control of Wildlife in Cities & Towns, by Guy Hodge

Push instead of pull

Fire extinguishers work.  Sometimes a sudden unfamiliar noise works.  Even throwing a pan of cold water on the dog is more likely to work,  though,  than a cigarette lighter or a jab in the eye.

Once a person is bitten,  what can be done depends entirely on the severity of the bite.

Merritt learned from the late Humane Society of the U.S. investigator Guy Hodge many years ago to push against a bite,  instead of pulling away.  This forces most dogs to open their mouths,  and enables the victim to avoid the sort of ripping injuries that result from pulling away from a dog’s serrated teeth.

While Hodge’s advice has helped in many situations,  it may not be universally applicable to all dog bites––especially the gripping bites of pit bulls and other dogs of fighting ancestry.

(Beth Clifton collage)

The first bite disables

In fatal and disfiguring attacks,  quite often the first bite disables the victim to some extent,  and pulls the victim down.

The victim may then not be able to push against the bite,  or hunch up and protect his/her face,  or do any of the other things that are conventionally advised.

Most dogs bite defensively,  and will bite, let go,  and retreat,  but pit bulls and other “bully” breeds bite offensively,  and will not let go.  Instead,  they bite and shake.

This behavior produces the degloving injuries that are so frequent in pit bull and Rottweiler attacks,  in which skin and muscle are stripped from the bone.

The only effective defense against that attack mode is to prevent the attack from occurring in the first place.

Break sticks. (Daxton’s Friends)

Bite sticks & break sticks

One way to do this is to use any accessible object as a “bite stick,”  to thrust into the dog’s mouth.

While the dog is biting the “bite stick,”  the dog will not be biting anything else.

Be aware that a “bite stick” is not the same thing as a “break stick,”  the pointed instrument that dogfighters push between a pit bull’s teeth to make the pit bull release a bite,  or tent stake,  screwdriver,  etc. that you might use to free someone else or an animal from a pit bull’s grip.

Mr. Peabody

Your best weapon is your brain

Quick thinking is of premium value in any emergency situation,  along with having a bit of good luck.

In one instance in 2003,  ANIMALS 24-7 editor Merritt Clifton was driving home from playing softball when he saw two pit bulls pursuing a bicyclist,  then redirecting to a small female jogger.

Either pit bull probably weighed as much as the jogger did,  and her evident terror encouraged the dogs to leap at her.

The pit bulls tore her shirt,  and scratched her enough to draw blood,  but had not actually gotten their teeth into her flesh when Merritt stopped,  jumped out of his car,  handed his bat to the jogger (basically as a placebo),  stepped between her and the dogs,  and offered his fielder’s glove as a “bite stick,”  but then had the sudden inspiration to order “Sit!”

(Beth Clifton collage)

Lightning struck twice

Incredibly,  the two pit bulls broke off the attack and sat.  Merritt told the jogger to walk away slowly,  while he kept the dogs sitting,  but instead the jogger dropped the bat after a couple of steps and took off sprinting around a corner,  which meant Merritt was no longer between her and the pit bulls.

The pit bulls rocketed diagonally across the corner property to attack her again.  Merritt roared “Sit!” again,  having nothing else he could do.  The pit bulls skidded abruptly to a halt and sat just long enough to enable the jogger to escape.

Beth & Merritt Clifton

Obviously the “Sit!” command won’t always save the day, but it did that time.  Merritt called animal control at that point.

Both pit bulls were impounded and the owner was fined.