jogging and street dogs

dan37_123

Hi,

I love jogging early in the morning (5.00 AM). My big concern is street dogs.

Has anybody encountered dogs chasing a jogger etc.,. Are there any precautions i can take??

thanks
dan

snowcrab

You might try walking your route a couple of times to let them get used to you. The neighborhood dogs identify who is resident pretty quick.

phantom

You can either give them some meat loafs sometimes or give them rat poison once for all !!! You either love them or hate them.. but you can't ignore them. (Coz that's the time when they will bite you )

tadka

My own thinking is that you might better ask this question on a doggy forum (and report back here) about animal behavior. (Though I'm all ears about the cultural differences between pups from India and elsewhere.)

My main thought is that many dogs (think greyhound) have a highly developed instinct to chase things which are running away. In the very least, I would tend to stop 'running away' from a pursuing canine. Once they're not thinking of you as escaping prey I don't have any advice, but that's my initial two cents....

Heh.

traceyam

I went jogging in the mornings in Delhi, although not quite that early. I didn't have any problems with the street dogs.

So many people throw things at them that usually if you just reach down as if you're reaching for a stone, they run off. It's very sad.

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dani

hey dan, if you really wanna go jogging, please make sure you got your rabies shot.
Because India is THE rabies country...

wish you and your family a wonderful journey

phantom

I thought the same. So when I was attacked by 3 street dogs, I was standing rock still and wishing they are not coming for me... but they were and in the end I had to run. So it doesnt work all the time. Better option is, while jogging u carry a big iron/steel rod in ur hand for protection

PRIYA

Phantom, I certainly hope you weren't serious about the rat poison

(traceyam "So many people throw things at them that usually if you just reach down as if you're reaching for a stone, they run off. It's very sad. ")

Couldn't agree more traceyam...........It's VERY sad!!!

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Dennis-M

This tip was actually used by myself and man does this one work:

When approached agressive by dogs in india , try the following :

pretend as if you are bending down to pick up something, this had dogs running from away some of them already screaming murder

The only explaination to this for me is that when Indians trow stones at the dogs it hurts , when they see you bend to pick up something , they know it's gonna hit them.

it was pretend huh

DD

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ColinT

Yes I agree with Dennis, the bending down to get a stone works really well. The dogs know what's coming.

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TimMakins

Its easy enough to buy an air pistol in the market. Bring a pocket full of pellets too.

Otherwise, a long stick works well. Or an umbrella.

Tim Makins.

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Nick-H

Give them space, give them a wide berth. Don't threaten them and they won't threaten you ---unless you'r Phantom, of course. I think Phantom was the one who posted about that atack in another thread? Sounded very nasty.

Is a heavy stick necessary? weight will do damage, but something light and springy will hurt. I do not condone violence towards any creature, but it might be a good idea to be prepared.

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snowcrab

I found them pretty intelligent. They don't belong to anyone, but small, three to five individual, packs will adopt a particular small neighbourhood, an apartment building, group of shops etc and patrol that small area challenging anyone who does something odd, like walk around at night. They act as guards and residents leave bits of leftover food out for them in return for this service.

They get used to regular delivery people and residents pretty quick. I just used usual dog diplomacy with them, particularly not staring at them intently-that gets predators upset and didn't let them push me around. Never had to threaten any but didn't accept being threatened myself, just kept moving smoothly when they came around to sniff my ankles. Just think "alpha dog" around them.

psycho_denver

sounds like u suffer from rabies, guess the dogs got u.

TimMakins

but its OK if they do violence to you?! Yes well I suppose somebody's 'Good Book' does mention turning the other cheek, but when it comes to savage dogs with possible rabies, I think the pacifist approach is going it a bit far.

As someone who frequently gets chased by dogs in India, I have been considering this in some depth for a number of years. Actually the air-pistol comment was a bit tounge-in-cheek - I would like to try this, but it might prove embarrassing in actual fact, or if the police search your bag....

I started off one year by buying a 4 foot long bamboo stick, a lathi. This worked very well against dogs, but attracted a lot of comment from Indians, wondering why I needed it, and *who* I was planning to use it against.

On my next trip, I bought a walking stick, with hooked handle, reasoning that the Indians would regard this as less confrontational, and might even get the sympathy vote, seats on buses, etc. In actual fact it was also regarded with suspicion - after all I look reasonably fit - who was I kidding ?! I took to walking with a limp for the rest of the visit.

On the next trip, I bought an umbrella. This works very effectively at warding off dogs, and also has the added practical benefit of operating against both rain and hot sun. The reaction from Indians is to regard me as an eccentic Englishman (which I probably am anway), and someone to be humoured and tolerated. It is thus a success - on future trips I always bring an umbrella from home, as I find them much more durable than the local ones.

Tim Makins, currently in Saharanpur, U.P.