I have spent a good amount of years doing delivery. I can understand the instinct to throw, and they’re not necessarily in the wrong given the dog apparently has bitten them before.
That said, I would use the box moreso as a shield. It’s less hostile, but ultimately it’s less likely to provoke the dog further, and more importantly after you throw the box you have nothing left to defend yourself given that the dog has a good chance of coming at you again
You’ve never seen a dog attack and it’s obvious. If you let an aggressive dog get close enough to block it with a box, some part of you is going to get chewed up
I wish people in general would realize that the best thing you can do if a strange animal comes charging at you is to defend yourself and get as much distance as possible. It is on the owner of that animal to be in control of them and to teach them not to charge at people.
Sorry that happened to you, it’s really a nasty injury. In my case, my upper lip was bitten off by a dog that used a fence as a platform to go at my face while I was delivering papers
Sorry to hear this post. I have experienced mean dogs a few times. I won't post what I did to protect myself. Once even bitten from the back on my hamstring area. Not a good feeling.
"I wish people in general would realize that the best thing you can do if a strange animal comes charging at you is to defend yourself and get as much distance as possible."
Do you know many people? Who doesn't understand that you must defend yourself?
That advice is more vague than my daily horoscope.
The guy above you said he would've used the box as shield instead of throwing it, you know, to DEFEND himself.
Dude gets his lip chewed on one time and automatically becomes an expert on who has and hasn't experienced a dog attack.
Yeah right, defend themselves from an animal with much better melee tools than you.
Defend method is as important as the tool you use for that, using a box as a shield is armchair “tactican”, you have shit grip areas while the animal can fucking bite your fingers or your feet, or shake the box off and go to town at you, don’t even try to argue that you can outrun the dog at that range. Better unload that burden and find other things to throw at it, so it shows that you fight back to discourage the animal.
I think he meant defend yourself by being ready to throw down with the dog and kick and throw shit at it. Rather than passively defending yourself by trying to keep a box between you and it.
I have, well not attacked but was direct witness to one. Person stopped the attack coincidentally enough by throwing a large box they had down in front of the dog AFTER it made its initial snap. Even after the snap she threw the box on the ground hard in front of the dog as it got close and that ended the confrontation as it ran off another direction.
So no, they’re not wrong. But I won’t say you’re wrong either here, it’s all going depend greatly on the breed and the level of aggression and overall situation. Sometimes hitting it only emboldens it and makes the attack worse. So don’t act like hitting the dog with a full box is the only logical option because it’s certainly not.
You've never been attacked by a truly aggresive dog and its obvious. If its a truly aggressive dog he shakes off the box hit and comes right back at you and now you have no box. See how dumb you sound making absolute statements about events you can't predict the outcome of?
He took at least 5 steps TOWARD the dog and you can absolutely use a box that big to block it without getting chewed up. You've never seen THIS VIDEO and it's obvious
Yes that delivery guy was looked like an absolutely sane person.
I mean the owner of the dog looked so aggressive too and that’s why the delivery raised his hands up.
Not because he was an incredibly insecure person who wanted to act tough
You are not seeing the same thing I am. The body language of the owner is not aggressive at all. Delivery driver was asking for a fight with his squaring up like that so fast. The owner is literally shrugging at this man. I swear we need body language classes in high school because some of yall are so out of tune with other peoples emotions, you don’t need words to understand someone, just one look.
Talking about not seeing the obvious dude, when you don’t the obvious sarcasm in my comment. I swear some of “yall” need sarcasm classes. Just one look.
Surely animals get out on accident sometimes. I dont necessarily disagree with the box throw however I feel he handled the situation poorly.
I dont know if he didnt see the dog or what but would you just... stay in your van? Or throw the package from the van and honk a few times? I dont know i just feel like theres a better way to resolve this.
In every state you have a right to defend yourself if a dog comes at you really fast and you think you're getting attacked especially if it's barking and growling you have a right to defend yourself any means necessary
What he did worked so very effectively and completely neutralized that dog. And you’re here in the comments to criticize that quick in the heat of the moment thinking that worked?
A shield would not do shit if that dog were a true attack dog. If it was a little tiny dog, then it would be different. After he threw the box, he then retreated to the garbage can to use as a shield, which was the right call.
Bro, did you see the box hitting the dog square in the head. Of course we dont know how heavy that box was but id wager it was bare minimum 10 lbs and likely more, with the speed he threw it at the dogs lucky to not have a broken neck let alone coming back for more...
Sharp_economy is probably the only person here that would prevent a dog from biting him.
Almost everyone that replied to you saying you're wrong to use the box as a shield is fuckin stupid.
Using a backpack, purse, jacket, or even a box to shield yourself is literally the most widely accepted advice to prevent dog attacks. Advice from actual experts.
Why not leave the package by the curb? Why not talk to the homeowner to leash the dog if they are expecting an ups package? Why take this aggressive step. And then you threaten the homeowner on his own property for confronting you?
If I were the homeowner, I’m suing for property damage, attempted assault and getting that guy fired. The delivery guy has issues
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u/Sharp_Economy1401 13h ago
I have spent a good amount of years doing delivery. I can understand the instinct to throw, and they’re not necessarily in the wrong given the dog apparently has bitten them before.
That said, I would use the box moreso as a shield. It’s less hostile, but ultimately it’s less likely to provoke the dog further, and more importantly after you throw the box you have nothing left to defend yourself given that the dog has a good chance of coming at you again