Reacting To Dogs

Here is some good advice about what to do when an unknown, even aggressive, dog approaches you. The emphasis in this short article is on how parents should teach their children “to be a tree”, i.e. stand very still and not look the dog in the eye, but I think this is good advice for everybody.

It can take a lot of nerve to stand still and look away when a dog comes at you but any other action is likely to make it more of a confrontation. Running will trigger a chase, staring will produce a confrontation, and being aggressive towards the dog, which may work if you are an adult, will make sure that any future encounter will also be hostile. Your reaction can also affect how that dog reacts to other people in the future. If you are antagonistic towards it then it is more likely to see unfamiliar people as a threat, which could actually make children even more vulnerable.

I read a lot of forum discussions about stray dogs and find it depressing how prevalent the idea is that the only way to deal with street dogs is to threaten them with sticks or baseball bats or throw stones at them. This just creates tension and worsens the problem. My advice, particularly with street dogs living in your neighbourhood, is to get to know them. Smell is so important to dogs that they will not “know” you properly until they have your scent, so let them sniff your leg as you look the other way. In this way with a little bit of effort you can usually eliminate the problem of aggressive encounters with local dogs, which otherwise can become a stressful, daily nuisance.

Learn more about the lives and issue of unowned dogs in my e-book ”A Stray View” available from Bangkok Books (readable as .pdf on any computer)