Dog menace in free camp.

The best thing you did was to refrain from confronting the owner, as I would imagine him to be worse than the dog by your post.

Geoff.

I agree the dog should have been restrained and if you had spoken to the owner and informed him of you fear of dogs i would like to think he may have taken a stronger hand.

He obviously took your ignoring him and the dog as a personal insult and did not have the ability to consider that your response was out of fear. Hence my suggestion of speak to the guy and give him a chance to either prove he is an a hole or that you have also miss understood him.

Comunication is the key and most bullys when met head on back down when approched in a confindt non threating maner.

tm2cw

It was fairly obviousl who was the ignorant yob! How could you possibly reason with a fool like that with absolutely no social skills.. Not much you can do but hope you dont meet up again at the next camp!! Michael

shot it!

... and certainly do NOT run.

>So what should we have done?

What you did - you can't deal with people like that.

It' because of w@nkers like that I never camp in the sort of site you describe, only deep bush ones where I rarely see other people. Trying to deal with people such as he will, mostly, end up in conflict from which there will be no winners. Just move on and by the next day he and his dog are no more than a bad memory.

Mike Harding

A really effective solution to this problem is to carry a can of good fly spray.

It really turns the dogs off , has a range of a couple of meters and doesn't disturb others , and after even one or two goes the dog will recognize that you are carrying it and you don't even have to spray it.

It will give you wife confidence also Mike.

Im terrified of snarling darlings too. have been attacked twice and would have done the same kept on walking. When we travel with our barking croc he stays on a chain or lead when others are around . Those nasty people make the rest of us dog owners look bad.

mikee

simple solution-say hello to the dog=all problems solved
what is your problem?
if you have lived at all you know that life is about respecting others and is all about comprimise-sure in the middle of the bush you shouldnt have to put up with a dog running at you and barking etc-all the dog is doing is alerting the owner that someone is going past.why not try what the dogs owners suggested-problem we all have to deal with is that there are so many people who have no idea what dogs are about and fear them and they teach thier family's to fear them which is totally wrong.
you could have simply said hello to the dog and would ahve had a great weekend.
cheers
fozzy

might be a free camp but somebody must be responsible for the site ring them what if had been a child mal b

Dont just ignore it and keep walking you MUST always face the dog, the second you turn away they will charge up at you. My favourite way of dealing with them (and i had to often in kalgoorlie) was to kick rocks at them. I actually kicked rocks into 1 dXckheads new cruiser when his dog went me as he opened the door to open his gate-- he copped a good mouthfull as well as stones at his cruiser. no time for wankers with unsociable dogs

Gday,
Been in a simillar circumstance years ago with a big banana nose bully thing. I just stood still and told the owner if it grabs hold of me Ill cut its throat!

I always say...stand still!
Face the dog. Quite often they havent quite got the balls to take you on head on. You can also see them coming, but dont run! They will take it as a sign of fear and have a go!
Usually the dogs that are going to bite dont give you a warning.

Cheers

I would suggest that you stick to campsites which require that people keep their dogs restrained, or that doesnt allow dogs. If this was the case where you stayed and you felt that the dog was a danger to other people, you should have reported it to the council/ regulatory authourity.

I own a small dog that is no danger to anything but small wildlife but it is always restrained in any campsite, I will walk the dog elsewhere then let it off a leash if I feel its necessary to let it roam free. A chain and Sturdy tent peg are very affordable accessories to buy.... Also I think anyone whose had a dog at a campsite has had it escape from them at some point, so was glad to see you had the tolerance to see if theyd rectified the situation, accidents do happen.

Your wife must be made aware that anything that a dog senses fear from is potential quary so it is vital that she learn to steel herself in these situations even if thats thru carrying mace or something to hit the dog if it comes at her...... Dunno about the flyspray though who is liable for the vet bills? lol