Avoiding a Dog Attack | Cesar Millan

Dear Cesar,

I have a question regarding a face-to-face encounter with a dog you don't know, whether it be in a friend's or acquaintance's house or on a street, what is the best move to avoid an attack?

Sincerely,

Greg Matthews

Dear Greg,

This is the hardest lesson for me to teach anybody, but it’s an important one for people to learn.

The first thing I try to remember if a strange dog is acting aggressively toward me is to not take it personally. I don’t feed any fear in me, or anxiety; I get very calm. Believe it or not, what will be instrumental in blocking the animal from attacking you is for you to be calm and unafraid. An aggressive dog wants you under stress before it attacks. If you are calm and in control of yourself, it slows them down and throws them off.

Once I have asserted myself, I claim my own space. Often, I use a walking stick, an umbrella, or anything I happen to be carrying and place it out in front of me, so I make myself appear bigger and feel more in command of my space. What I am saying with my body language is, I don’t want the dog’s space; I don’t want that tree over there, I just want this space that I am standing in. Again, I am maintaining a very calm and assertive state. That energy creates a barrier that automatically demands his respect. I’m letting him know that I’m not afraid of him.

As you can see, this is a hard concept to teach. It’s best to be with someone who can do it to understand what it looks like and what it feels like. Most people can’t imagine that, in many situations, you can stop an aggressive dog by not moving and not being afraid, but I do it all the time with a whole pack of dogs. It can be taught to children more easily than it can be taught to adults, because when taught young, it becomes something ingrained in us. Once a person is an adult, the difficulty isn’t in training them – it’s in the process of un-training them.

I hope this helps a bit! Just keep in mind these four important words:

Stay calm and assertive,

Cesar Millan

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Mon, 2010-01-11 21:29 — gdurma

Extreme possesiveness, biting, nipping, has control of the house

Dear Cesar,
I own a 2 year old Siberian Husky, she's a female and she is not fixed. When she was a puppy, she was fine with others, and seemed to pass up leader of the pack to whomever demanded it. However, about a year ago, my dog encountered another, who attacked her after going after a toy. Since then, my Husky has been very aggresive, and possesive, whenever anyone approaches her toys, bones, or even food. When we so much as enter a room, she crouches low and defensively over a toy, and if we get closer to her, she will growl, and bares her teeth. Even worse, if we touch her, she nips and bites, sometimes hard. When eating, it is the same exact thing.
But, I can also say that my parents are not helping this either. My mother insists on feeding table scrabs during breakfast, lunch,and dinner. She will allow the dog to lay her head on her lap, and beg. Many other "babying" actions take place other than those, it just depends on the events throughout the day. My stepfather is no better. I have tried everything I could to point out the mistakes they continue to do. To no avail. My uncle, (his dog well trained) knows how to handle situations. Unfortunately, whenever my dog is challenged for dominance, she howls, and growls, and is aggressive.
Why i wrote you today, is because I had a friend over, and this friend has a dog of her own. She is in love with huskys. My husky recently obtained a new toy from my mother, and was gaurding it. My friend, only wanting to pet the dog reaches out, and was bitten. Not extremely hard, but hard enough to scare her. My uncle happened to be there, and with his affirmative command, immediately took action and the dog stopped biting, only to growl at this new authoritive figure.
Cesar, this brought about a "great awakening" in my household, as my parents are now worrying about our dog's worsening aggressiveness. I do not agree with the slow approach they are taking, so I decided to find answers myself. I also want to add that my dog pulls everyone on the leash while out on walks, and when introducing her to another dog, we have to physically push her down to keep her from biting. We have a huge problem, and all 5 people in this house(including myself) do not know what to do. Please help, we're at our whits end!
Sincerly,
Gwendolyn

Fri, 2010-01-01 10:51 — Kathi

How to handle the aggressive dog-next-door

I recently bought a small vacation home in the country. The dog next door, a german shepard, runs free and has been displaying aggressive behaviour to my 12 year-old autistic nephew. Recently the dog terrorized him when he was out for a walk with his grandmother. Now my nephew is afraid to go walking when we are there (he lives with me so we are there a lot). I read your answer to Greg and I have a couple of follow-up questions. You said "you can stop an aggressive dog by not moving and not being afraid." How long do you remain still and claim your space? Does the dog need to display submission first? We had hoped to befriend the dog, since we are a dog loving family without pets of our own, but I'm thinking that might not be possible. If that is the case, do you have suggestions on how to handle keeping him away from the property?

Mon, 2009-11-30 14:34 — sarabean

unknown dogs

When it comes to a unknown dog is it best to always avoid the eye contact even when putting my body language in a dominant position?