Well, since you were able to post the picture, you lived to tell the tale.Took a shortcut through a neighborhood while on a walk near our site at a park in TX.
This guy, off-leash, comes out of a yard and stops in the middle of the road facing me:
He sent it to the cloud right before the dog ripped him up........Well, since you were able to post the picture, you lived to tell the tale.
So, what did you do?
By the OP I think it was in a neighborhood near the CG.If this happened in a CG, I would immediately go to the office and complain. Every CG I’ve been at have rules requiring dog owners to tie up their dogs or else.
Now if you’re in a development, I would contact the police. I believe there are leash laws nation wide. I could be wrong on that one. The police will know.
You should never have to end up in a situation where your life or your pets life is at jeopardy. Elevate the problem.
I did say “now if you are in a development “ meaning a housing project.By the OP I think it was in a neighborhood near the CG.
There is no best answer here - just a range of options that need to be considered and either employed or discarded as the situation changes. Perhaps rapidly. In general, avoid acting aggressively and disengage if you can, but stand your ground if that doesn't work. Sometimes you can talk an aggressive dog down, but sometimes it has no effect. Sometimes you get time to think, and sometimes it's just defend yourself as best you can.
That dog is a Rottweiler. But I've known a lot of Rottweilers and most of them were pretty friendly, too.Sorry for the delayed response...
In this case, when I this dog came out and stood there in front of me my reaction was based on a quick (very quick) assessment. First, he (I assumed) was not coming toward me, was not making any menacing noises, and wasn't dragging some kind of chain/leash which suggested he had not broken loose somehow.
There was some heightened concerned given the breed & size of this particular pooch although some of the most friendly, cuddly dogs I have known were Pitbulls.
Basically I stopped briefly when the dog came out, then kept walking moving to "my" side of the road and passed by. I think I may have voiced some pleasantries along the lines of "Hi there handsome doggie. Beautiful day, yes? As I passed I did turn around to glance in order to see if he might be waiting for me to get by so he could attack and rip my face off. Nope. Just stood there and watched me until I was out of site.
As others have pointed out, one never can be sure of the behavior of any one dog. I think to my benefit I basically am not afraid of dogs. They sense fear or someone acting afraid. I've seen this many times where a dog reacts to the one person who is afraid and ignores others.
On the other hand, I'm not naive and recognize that a dog like this, had it broken free of some kind of tether and was out to defend his territory... well, that's another situation entirely.