Does Pepper Spray Work on Dogs?

[Lothlorien]

One thing you may need to be concerned about is having your kids bring pepper spray to school. Is it considered a weapon? Will they be suspended or expelled from school? You need to call the principle and tell him that your kids need to do this and if needed, the teacher will give the pepper spray back to the kids before leaving school. They may not even want the pepper spray on the bus. This would be a problem here. Kids are not allowed to have pepper spray.

 

[HaoZi]

Ow Susie, I know those migraines. I can't always get medications for them, either. Most times I have to rely on a combination of OTCs and ice packs for my forehead and the back of my neck (a nurse taught me that it numbs some of the nerves to the scalp and neck and it helps) and then keeping everything quiet and moving as little as possible. And yes, there have been times when someone has asked me if they could get me something that would help, and my reply was a bullet. Sometimes aromatherapy helps, sometimes it makes it worse (I find the smell of orange blossom helps me more than the ones they recommend for pain, but that may be a personal preference thing). Ditto neck massagers. Sometimes it seems to depend on what triggered the migraine, because mine can start as a sinus or stress headache and suddenly explode into a full migraine. And sometimes there is no specific trigger that I can find.

 

[Fran]

Susie, as you know I am my dogs "mom" and the alpha. They are big and a handful if not trained properly. I walk them in the woods. The rules of the trails is that dogs are to be leashed. It's pretty remote and isolated. Of course, someone always thinks the rules are for other people. I don't have a problem if they are an arms lengthe from the owner and in control. I was walking all 3 when 3 large dogs were running through starting barking and coming at us. I thought, "what am I going to do in the middle of 6 big dogs?"
The kids came along and I gave them an earful. It was a few moments before the parents came along. Their dogs weren't aggressive but who knows that when they are running at my dogs.
I know I'm not going to intentionally hurt a dog. I ordered an air horn from amazon.com and I carry it in my jacket pocket. I figure it will startle them enough to scare them or their owners. No damage to the dogs and I feel a little less vulnerable.
You don't want to know what I think about people who allow their dogs to be roaming free where they can get hurt by a car or someone who was startled by the loose dog that they would shoot them or burn them with pepper spray.
I'm sorry for thank you. He shouldn't have to be made afraid to be outside.

 

[Marguerite]

What about a spud gun? These are toys, still legal here in Australia (I think legal for kids. Definitely legal for adults here with no licensing). These fire either caps (and cap guns here are legal for kids, sold at fairs) or you stick the end of the gun unto a fresh potato and then fire - it fires the potato pellet at a fairly high speed and can sting. We use it on cockatoos and have used it on dogs. I remember a boy at school firing one across the classroom when the teacher wasn't looking. Those spud pellets sting! Mind you, cockatoos are really smart - you point your finger at them and say Bang, and they fly off. A little way, at least, until you go back inside, then the cockies come back and settle once more to eating your house.

A thought for the police to be asked to consider - whatever method of managing they have advised you, it needs to be workable. Otherwise they have abandoned you, and the kids, to a potentially dangerous situation where a kid could get mauled or worse. Are the police prepared to accept the consequences for their lack of action? And what was their response when you rang them and said, "The dogs are back."?

Marg

 

[witzend]

We ARE concerned, and are sure if the dogs are taken away or "disappear" that they WILL get more, probably nastier ones. They have threatened others with this in the past. I wish the cops had made the decision, but they didn't. The dogs were off the property when the officers left, they came back a few minutes later.

Our humane society AND the police both say to give thank you pepper spray. I will test some ammonia in a spray bottle to see if they respond before I send it with him. I really do NOT like the idea of him using pepper spray, but being bitten and/or terrified by these dogs is not a good choice either.

This situation really stinks. Threats to my kids really make me think about buying a gun. I do NOT want one for several other reasons, but if it comes down to it I will do what I need to.

Well, I can see that you might want him to take pepper spray or even just amonia, but what will he do with it once he gets on the bus? They'll never let him on with it. He'll likely be expelled from school if he is caught with it there. If this is interfering with his ability to get on and off the school bus I would ask the school system to intervene.

 

[susiestar]

There is NOTHING that we will send to school with Tyler without asking the principal about first. We will also ask for a letter allowing him to carry the item to/from school and on the bus. If it is a problem after that, we will go to the head of transportation and/or the superintendent of schools. NONE of us want to harm the dogs in ANY way, but people's safety comes first. If thank you was the kind of kid to taunt or tease dogs, or to be mean to any animal, we would take a serious look at what he did to provoke the animal. I firmly believe that OFTEN animals attack because people mistreated them and/or provoked them. thank you just isn't that kind of kid. He does tend to lash out if he is scared of an animal but it is done to get the animal to stay away from him. If the animal starts to go away thank you stops immediately. It is just part of who he is. I would worry about pepper spray, ammonia spray or anything similar because it would be easy for other kids to take it and use it. I would actually prefer to have the spray or whatever kept in the office during the school day, as I am sure the school will also. I just worry about him forgetting to pick it up and then not have it when he needs it. So the air horn might be much better.

Fran, an air horn might be the perfect thing. I don't know if it would scare the dogs, but it would be a lot safer in the hands of a child than the other options we have looked at. The whistles that dogs can hear but people cannot are NOT something we will have. While thank you and I cannot "hear" them, they drive us crazy. Wiz got one as a "toy" when thank you was a year old. Every time it was used he would curl up in a ball in tears. If it kept going more than just a couple of seconds, thank you would get sick to his stomach and have a severe headache. Docs wouldn't call it a migraine, but it was a severe headache - but on both sides instead of just one. I get headaches from them also, and I get a strange shivery sort of ache in my bones from them. thank you reacted strong enough that we ended up at an audiologist to be sure it was the whistle and not something far more serious (next stop was an MRI but at his age it would mean anesthesia which we wanted to avoid). Luckily it was the whistle and not something else, though it does put limits on how to get the dogs to leave him alone now.

We live in a rural area, though we are in a small subdivision (roads are shaped like an E, no lot smaller than 3/4 acre, about 40 houses total, very few restrictions/covenants other than county ones). There is no leash law and it is not illegal to let your animal roam anywhere as long as it causes no damage to other's property. As a homeowner, it is fine to defend yourself and your home from ANY animal other than one that is leashed and under the control of its' owner. The animal's owner can TRY to sue you for the cost of the animal (and emotional damages, etc... have been tried), but if the animal isn't on your property you basically have no luck. Juries do NOT find for the owners of the animal.

The deputies will be doing regular drives down our road for a while and if we have to call them out again they will very likely take the dogs and insist that they are destroyed. The enxt time, if there is one, we need to have the deputies take swabs for DNA before we wash the wounds. Otherwise a lawyer can make it sound like we are making it up or some other dog was the biter.

I feel sorry for the dogs. I am pretty sure she has taken her anger out on them. A couple of years ago another neighbor called the cops because she was beating the daylights out of the dog they had then - and making her daughter do it also. Literally ordering the girl (about age 4 or so) to hit the dog harder and even holding the girl's hand and making her hit the dog (the way you would show someone how to hit a baseball, sort of).

We go back to school on Thursday (6th) and will probably take thank you to school and pick him up so that we can talk to the school about this and so he will be safe. Thanks for all the ideas and support. thank you is such a sweet, funny, smart kid. There is no way he provoked the dogs - it just isn't who he is (and I would be the first to call him out if he had provoked them - he would get NO sympathy of ANY kind from us!) and this has set him back a long ways on fear of dogs. He worked so hard to get over his fear of them. He really likes the 3 dogs who live up the street - the owners keep a rawhide or ball outside so he can play fetch with them before the bus comes and on hsi way home. Now he doesn't even want to do that.

Bad pet owners just HOOVER.

 

[donna723]

Fran, I never thought about using an air horn but that's a really good idea! I wouldn't hesitate to use it on the dogs' owners too! Maybe follow them home with it and honk it at them whenever they go out of the house so they can see what it feels like! Fair is fair.

I HATE irresponsible dog owners and I HATE people who think that the rules don't apply to them, and there are several of each in my neighborhood! I live right in the middle of town and don't have a fenced yard so mine have to be walked on a leash. But I don't feel safe taking them out of the yard on a leash because of all the neighbors dogs running around! I've never really felt threatened by these dogs but a couple of mine can get really squirrely when they're restrained by a leash and have a strange dog up in their faces - they can become "leash aggressive"! And since Bostons have no idea that they're that little and will take on a dog ten times their size, I have no intention of having to snatch them up and save their little rears from the neighbors' roaming mongrels! We don't really have animal control here either but if I ever had aggressive dogs keeping me from leaving my own house or had been bitten by one of those dogs, I wouldn't hesitate to call the police and let them deal with the owners.

 

[witzend]

I like the air horn idea. Too much opportunity for dangerous shenanigans if someone got a hold of one of the other options.

 

[susiestar]

husband went out tonight and got a pellet gun and the lightest pellets they had. 12 grain or some such size. He is brushing up on gun safety and the kids will work on that also. I have a hard time with the slide so I may look at other options at the store this week. As it is, we have something at home to use.

husband does NOT want to use pepper spray. The Sheriff told us that he has come across quite a few dogs who are unfazed by it - completely! The deputy said he actually had to throw a couple of cans away just this week because they expired - if he still had them he would have given them to us. They are apparently optional for our Sheriff's department because it often gets the sprayer as well as the target. That is also something I don't want to risk - having the pepper spray get thank you so that he cannot get away after he uses it.

We agree that an airhorn is a much better choice. thank you had a meltdown tonight. He feels he cannot even go outside to play anymore because the dogs make it unsafe. I am going to start calling the police every single time I see those dogs until they are GONE. thank you is once again very nervous about the other dogs on our street. Not fenced but usually just go to say Hi to him - very friendly up to now. We are leery that with the dogs next door being aggressive it may make the dogs at the other end of the street more aggressive.

This whole thing is just so WRONG. I HATE hearing my child cry because he was attacked in his OWN YARD by someone else's "pets". NO child should feel he needs to have his mom or dad sit there with a gun (of any kind) just so that he can play in his own dang yard!!!

Thank you for your ideas, support, and for letting me vent. It would NOT be healthy for my kids to hear what I want to do to these people!!!

 

[DammitJanet]

Well...the spray that an officer uses and what you as a citizen can buy are two totally different things. Totally. Jamie uses spray all the time but then he is trained. I dont know of many times that he has actually had to use his gun on a dog. He can usually subdue them and catch them.

I would not allow a child as young as thank you to have pepper spray myself. I cant imagine the school allowing it at all. I think there are things on the market that you may be able to buy to deter a dog from coming onto your property. I would try those. Actually, if you could get the dogs to allow you to put a shock collar on them you could keep the device at your house and just shock them when they came near you. That should train them.

 

[susiestar]

No way could we put a device on the dogs. Not legal and I am SURE that the hag that owns them would have a fit. Sending pepper spray with thank you to school was actually the Sheriff's idea. NOT the deputy, we had both a deputy and the Sheriff himself come out. Around here we can buy what the cops/sheriffs carry - in OK it is legal. But even that doesn't faze quite a few dogs. There are even owners here who spray their dogs with pepper spray until they are not bothered by it - it is something the drug dealers and meth cookers have been doing for a while. in my opinion it is terrible to do that to an animal, but drug dealers/cookers aren't as good as animals at least around here. They don't care who they hurt.

It would not have occurred to me to let thank you carry pepper spray except that the Sheriff suggested it. It isn't going to happen, regardless of whether it is allowed by school. Not when he is 11 anyway! I am looking for an air horn like Fran suggested.

 

[Marguerite]

A gadget we can get here is an anti-barking training device. It emits an ultrasonic sound when you press a button to activate it. Now that thank you is older, he may not be able to hear those frequencies any more.
A friend (actually, "person I know" would be more accurate) was being bothered by his neighbour's dogs barking loudly at all hours, so he bought this device and aimed the speaker at the neighbour's place. A small speaker, invisible on friend's property.
It could have worked well, with friend pressing the button every time the dogs barked, and eventually teaching the dogs to not bark. But no, this is why he is not really someone I feel friendly towards - he chose to ANNOY the dog with it and used it to set the dog up for failure. He kept triggering this to annoy the dog and make it bark. Eventually he got animal control to come because other neighbours complained about the dog's barking getting worse. Nobody ever worked out that this bloke was the reason. His main motivation was not to shut the dog up, it was to annoy people. He's THAt kind og guy.

But the device - it's cheap, you can have it discreetly on your property and you could (hopefully) train those dogs to stay off your property by using the ultrasonic pulse whenever they come round.

it's like an air horn, but inaudible to human ears. Yes, it is portable.

Marg

 

[DammitJanet]

Marg...they have them here too. You dont even have to be around to send off the alarm. They have some here that are solar powered and if an animal gets within so many feet of this box, then it emits the sound and the critter goes away. I wish we had known about them when we had all our chickens because they would have been great to make a barrier. They kinda look like solar lights.

 

[HaoZi]

For air horns, try any store that carries marine/boating supplies. Check the fishing/camping sections at Wal-Mart, too.

 

[susiestar]

Thanks. I have found that personal alarms are the same decibel as air horns, so I may look for one of those to try - they are smaller and "cooler", lol. The locksmith recommended a spray called "halt" that the post office uses. They SWORE it was NOT pepper spray - but it is. I am glad I looked up the website before we bought it!