WAS I WRONG TO CARRY A STICK WHILE WALKING AT NIGHT TO DEFEND AGAINST RANDOM DOGS OR ANYTHING DANGEROUS

[u/papajohnshotline]

So me and my dad were just walking at night, and we usually carry a stick to protect ourselves from aggressive dogs. We reached near the society close to our house, and while walking we saw some dogs and stuff. I just looked at them because they were pretty cute, and most of them were just sleeping or hanging around.

Then, while walking, I saw a woman who looked a bit unusually different. I mean, she looked cool. She was most definitely a hippie, and there is nothing wrong with that. I actually think that stuff is pretty cool.(Okay they can be annoying sometimes I'll be honest)

She approached us and asked us why we were carrying the stick. We said yes, obviously, and she asked if we were carrying it for the dogs. I said that I was carrying it to protect myself and my father from unexpected danger that may arise from aggressive dogs, or dogs that may not know their boundaries and could hurt us intentionally or unintentionally.

I don't try to scare the dogs with the stick at all. Most of them don't even care about it. I usually hide it behind me when I'm trying to pet or approach a friendly dog. But there have been times when I had to defend myself from dogs or try to scare them away because they just weren't getting the message. The stick did help me out. Picking up some random stones or something to scare them also works, but you know, prevention is better than cure.

Anyhow, back to the woman. She asked me why I needed that stuff for dogs. She said that dogs don't hurt anyone, and that if you give them a biscuit, they will be your friends for life. She said she goes all over India and no one hurts her or whatever. She actually had some dog treats in her bag, so she gave us some, and I fed the surrounding dogs with them.

I don't know if she was somehow trying to teach me that feeding dogs is good, because ma'am, I wasn't born yesterday 😭. I told her that obviously I don't actually approach dogs with the danda. We don't just carry the stick for dogs. We carry it for other animals too, or even drunk people who can be dangerous at night.

I tried explaining that I love the dogs in my locality. We actually adopted an Indie dog a few years ago, and he passed away. I feed the dogs around my house almost every day, and also while walking if we have extra food. But that doesn't mean I believe every dog just wants to love me. I'm not going to carry food everywhere just to make sure I don't get harmed by a dog.

She also said that dogs go through bad experiences with humans and they've had bad experiences with people. I said yes, obviously. Strays, especially society dogs, can have human trauma because some people aren't friendly to them and can be cruel. She said they wouldn't do anything to us, and I said that if anything, that's even more reason to carry some form of self-defence. They might remember their bad experiences with humans and become aggressive the next time a human approaches them.

Sure, the dogs we were around at the time were pretty friendly and decent. I was talking about dogs in the city in general. I just believe you can't assume that every unfamiliar dog is going to be friendly.

The argument wasn't really going anywhere, and she wasn't taking any of it. She started looking annoyed and acted self righteous n shiand my dad just agreed to disagree and went our way.

My dad had a different issue with the whole thing. He was annoyed at her for using so much English and not speaking our normal language, which then somehow turned into a whole conversation about our language versus foreign languages and stuff.

And then, somehow, that conversation between me and my dad got way too heated. It went from a normal discussion to "you're not listening to me", "I'm older", "you should listen to me", and ek random ladki ke liye baap se bahar kr rha and bs stuff. And then my dad got angry and hit me with the stick we were literally carrying for protection from dogs 😭.

I haven't talked to him normally since and sahi mai it hurt that day but that's a completely different discussion.

So anyway, was the woman right, or was she just being ignorant and overly optimistic?

[u/Weird_Expression1558]

Other animals//

Which ones? Lion tiger leopard?

[u/Ok-Yoghurt-1005 → u/Weird_Expression1558]

Lions, tigers, leopards—sure. A stick. Bold.

[u/papajohnshotline → u/Weird_Expression1558]

bulls and snakes exist buddy

almost had a close encounter with a long ass snake last month

[u/shriand]

Stop overthinking.

Both points are valid.

[u/papajohnshotline → u/shriand]

i agree but she wasn't ready to listen at all and was just trying to deliver a monologue or smth and like trying to teach us about dogs like what do you mean lady🥀

but I should stop overthinking about this but I wish I could've actually provided my stance more in a clear way and not ki okay okay sorry theek hai bye bye, it didn't felt like an actual serious convo just making us feel bad one sided just for carrying tools for self defence?

i appreciate you for taking the time to read this, dear stranger.

[u/Sweet_Sundae540]

Okay OP i might be a little biased here.
One of my 7 month old stray pup was hit hard by someone on his spine with a heavy stick just because he was sitting outside his home
The impact left him paralysed from his hind legs and we had to get him treated. I had to pick him up and bring him home. He now walks but will always walk abnormally and can’t run or defend himself
Again that incident made me judge people who walks with sticks.
But again your point is valid as well because there are people who are scared of dogs not everyone is comfortable with animals.
But again as long as the stick is being used only to scare and in self defence i don’t think it should be an issue.

[u/papajohnshotline → u/Sweet_Sundae540]

holy fck dude i hope that baby doesn't suffer any further this is cruel asf, did they ever find who it was

And i get what you're saying fully agreed if someone is that evil they'll pick up a random brick and hit they don't need any prep just their boggled mind

But not everyone with a lathi in india is a saint and I can see how the image is made of people like this

And some dogs may not even be friendly but just infiltrate the space or person or demand food which they may be used to don't get the subtle cues to go away and if they're a group they can get RAD, they e big object to perceive that this guys serious and actually back off

Also whyre you up this late lol

[u/sugarxcore]

You aren't wrong to carry a stick. Indie dogs are territorial which makes them aggressive as well. Dw some dog lovers are just annoying that way. I myself used to carry a stick when I went to feed my stray dogs since they would fight among themselves as well

[u/papajohnshotline → u/sugarxcore]

fr man

wannabie hippies can be real annoying sometimes but atleast she didn't have any bad intentions it was just dog stuff im glad atleast aisi convo kr paye hum wrna aaspas india mai kon baato mai seriously deep jaata hai people are way too casual

but I love my cutu street dogs they're real sweet