How to navigate past packs of aggressive street dogs?
India has the largest population of street dogs in the world, and the highest incidence of rabies.
The problem is, people keep feeding them in inconvenient locations causing them to be territorial. Most are neither vaccinated or sterilised.
Their numbers have grown so large, where I live one can rarely go to a public place with their dog, without being accosted by street dogs.
Individual street dogs by themselves are rarely an issue - unless they have been injured in a fight. Street dogs tend to be more aggressive when in larger packs.
Packs of dogs that live in rural or forest areas, that are scavenging for their food, or not being fed by people, do not seem to be aggressive in our experience.When we are in forest areas, packs make their presence known, but have not descended upon us yet. They are mostly polite, and only seem to indicate to us they are present or maybe that it is their territory. There is no aggressive behavior.
But in urban areas, most packs tend to at the very least become very vocal, with many packs approaching us as close as 5feet away, growling, snarling and barking, baring teeth etc. The aggression is directed at my dog, not at me. If I raise my voice at them, it interrupts them and they will back off.
Usually, any dog entering what they perceive to be their territory is quickly descended upon, and they attempt to chase the dog away. Usually they succeed, because of their superior numbers. A pack of anywhere from 3+ dogs often has the courage to attempt to bully lone dogs, and usually lone street dogs run away.
Unless one wants to spend their lives indoors, travelling by motor vehicle, or living within a gated community, it is not possible to avoid packs of aggressive street dogs in India. Hence if I want to take my dog to a public place, it won’t be possible to avoid street dogs. We have encountered street dogs almost everyday since we started going out to public spaces, with varying levels of challenge depending on the situation.
At present, here is my general mode of operation, which varies depending on the situation:
- If a pack is quiet or ignores us, we ignore them and move on.
- If they are vocal but at a distance, and not approaching, we do whatever it is we are there to do.
- If we are descended upon, then I do the following:
l put my dog in a sit or a down, and I reward him, while keeping an eye on the members of the pack. Their barking and snarling usually carries on for a while, but we do not react. I adjust my position to be facing them, and I stand up straight. My dog sits or downs as instructed, and I instruct him not to bark. The street dogs eventually down, and one by one walk away. Usually there is a lone barker, who finds when his friends have left, either leaves himself, or lifts up a paw. At this point we continue on our way. If we are accosted again, we repeat the process. This method takes time, and it is a bit intense as I need to focus on all of them and my dog. Although it has worked every time so far, i am not an expert - just trying to apply what I understand from Turid Rugaas book (so I could be interpreting things incorrectly)
My reasoning is:
- Running may result in them chasing and attacking us.
- At times aggressive packs that have surrounded us have had 7-12 members. Although my 9 month old is larger than all of them individually, their large numbers may embolden them to attack.
- Mostly I believe they are bullies that do not wish to fight. Based on my limited understanding of Turid Rugaas “barking” book, by sitting or downing, or adjusting our posture we can send calming signals and defuse the situation, and after which we carry on our way.
- Although my puppy has a powerful bark, I would not like to use any aggressive behavior, for several reasons. For example, it may work on cowards, but i do not know enough to be concerned if it may escalate an experienced pack. Also, it may not be required.
- Finally, the reason these packs are aggressive in my opinion, is because of the persons feeding them. If my dog barks, or asserts himself, the human persons taking care of the pack may harass us. Despite the fact that my dog is vaccinated, trained, on leash, behaving properly, and their pack of several dogs is not, reason does not always work - as usually the kinds of persons caring for these dogs do so out of a misplaced sense of compassion, and lack of responsibility towards the general public. Hence by my puppy behaving in a calm attentive and polite manner, not only would it seem absurd for any human to harass us, but it prevents the packs from being in a situation where they feel they have to fight. We make it clear we are not a threat, by simply sitting quietly.
- I am ready to intervene, in case of attack, to protect my puppy, but would prefer to defuse or avoid things getting there. It is not so easy to leave such an area quickly as they may chase etc.
- Also, by not raising my voice or waving a stick, humans cannot harass us for anything. It becomes clear who the aggressor is, and that we are not at fault.
My question is:
- What is the best way to manage my dog, to protect him during such encounters?
- Is there a better way to defuse street dogs so they leave us alone. Our current method takes time and is a bit tense.
additional details :
Street dogs in India are protected by some absurd rules. They are supposed to be sterilised and vaccinated, but they largely are not. There is no real form of animal control like in developed countries, so the situation has been steadily worsening for some time. We do not have the option of complaining to any authority, as not only have they chosen not to do anything, but it will not help us if we are accosted in the middle of a walk.
At present my dog trusts me and I trust him. He is obedient and sits or downs as instructed and will not bark if I tell him to be quiet. We are accosted daily, and have been so ever since we started walking outside. So far this strategy has worked for us, but I thought it would be good to discuss and hear some suggestions.
On a couple of occasions where it made sense, I let my dog bark (he is loud), and the dogs in those occasions do not bother us anymore. They are quiet, and we are quiet as we pass by nowadays. But those are smaller groups (1-2 dogs), and we did not have to worry about any humans harassing us.
finally - my dog is calm and cool in all situations. When we are back in our neighbourhood he is cool with neighbourhood dogs. He is also fine playing offleash with other dogs. So he seems to understand the situation.
The reason for me asking this question now, after so much time, is because usually no human beings harass us. But in recent times the situation has started becoming absurd. The numbers are too high, and the persons taking care of them take no responsibility for their behavior, but are ready to harass others for walking in a public space. I am just asking, in case someone knows a better way to deal with this kind of thing.
Very few dog owners I know, take their dogs out because of this precise reason - they’re afraid of street dogs.
most persons who do, also carry a very visible stick, as that seems to act as a deterrent. but doing so means that some humans may harass us.
basically, we just want to go for quiet walks without being harassed by street dogs or their human feeders.
It is not uncommon for some packs of street dogs to harass small kids (and have killed some in the past), or older persons. It is hard to say how often these things happen. The only data we have is that more than 96-99% of rabies incidents in india seem to be from street dog bites. I doubt we can do anything if a rabid dog bites (the above information is just to give you a picture of how common a problem this is), but perhaps there is a better way for us to navigate past packs of aggressive street dogs. My dog is vaccinated.
edit: I am also vaccinated for rabies twice in the previous two years due to bats🦇
