ADU            How to tackle a nasty dog

Story number One

Back in the 1950s when I lived in Anlaby Road Teddington, I happened to walk from number 8 where I lived towards Bushey Park.  The houses each had a small front garden with substantial brick pillars that, presumably, once carried a heavy gate.  Whether the gates disappeared during the war for scrap metal, as was common with a lot of railings, I know not.  But at the time I lived there there was no obstruction between the footpath and each front garden.

I walked along the pavement and a medium-sized dog nipped out of a front garden and nipped my ankle.  I took offence and chased the dog back into the garden ad went to give it a good clout.  But dogs are faster than humans and he went for my hand.  Most people would draw back, but I didn't and I let him have my hand with all my fingers down his throat..  He couldn't bite me because he was much too worried about drawing breath.  After a short time with the pooch getting more and more agitated and making strangled noises, I took my fist out of his mouth.  Fido has lost the will to fight and he made off as fast as his legs could carry him.  I never saw that dog again.  My knuckles hurt a tiny bit but I didn't lose any skin as far as I remember.

Story number two

My Uncle Sid was a powerful man.  He wasn't afraid of any animal outside of the African jungle.  He could do anything with a horse, and he did while farming in Canada in the 1920s.  Sid liked animals.  Some of the family say "better than humans".  But the animal had to be subordinate to Sid.  He married Dorothy Davies and initially moved in with his in-laws in Neasden.  The in-laws were the sort of fools that never said boo to their foul-tempered dog.  The dog ruled the house and was king of the castle.  That is until Sid arrived.  Sid hadn't been there long when the inevitable took place.  On an earlier occasion the dog had bitten the foot of the blind old man (Dorothy's father) and drew blood through a carpet slipper.

Sid was sitting in an armchair near the fire and the dog was on the mat.  What initiated the incident I never found out, but the dog nipped Sid.  Sid was a hairless gorilla and had the strength to match.  He grabbed the dog by the throat and throttled it into unconsciousness.  He then left the pooch to recover on the mat. Fido was a changed animal when it recovered.  It whimpered on it belly in front of Sid. and it got a derisory kick for its trouble.  From that day on, if Sid was in the house Fido was a terrified rat.

Story number three

It is not unknown for a riotous mob to be confronted by the police and their dogs.  It is also not unknown for the mob to have a few members who know how to confront a dog whose aim is to bite you.  Wear a good thick coat and offer the dog your arm when it goes for you.  In your pocket you have a heavy spanner and give Fido a hard blow across the snout.  It really hurts the dog and can break a bone.  Generally the police have to retire the animal because it loses the will to fight.

But it seems to me that most lawbreakers are afraid of a dog.  It may be something in the psyche of a lawbreaker to be frightened of a lawful presence.  I don't know!.