This morning I got up early to do a morning run. My normal run expecting no interruptions. However, right near the end of it, two dogs appear out of nowhere and showing their teeth, approach me, barking!

What would you do in this situation? It’s possibly the scariest situation to be approached with…  In the dark, with no one around (everyone is asleep) and have two dogs look like they are going to attack you.

I have to admit, I was scared and after reading a few articles a fair while ago, decided the best thing to do was to stop and show no fear.

I didn’t really have anywhere to go, I was near the end of my run and near-exhausted, so I couldn’t outrun the dogs, nor could I back away, because from the time of me looking around to see where I could go, they were about a metre away from me.

So, my first thing was to stop and not to make eye contact. I allowed the dogs to stay near me, but not get too close. I slowly backed away yelling “Stay” to the more aggressive dog. This seemed to have some affect, as the dog did not come further to me and seemed to back off a little.

I started walking slowly away, ensuring I still noticed where these dogs were and yelling “Stay” a few more times, making sure the dogs remained at a distance from me.

I was able to get a little distance before a car reversed out between me and the dogs, and I started running away from them, only once they lost visible contact with me.

I’m sure many of us have experienced this before, and never know the right way to approach this type of experience. If we haven’t experienced this whilst running, it could happen at some time. With this in mind, I did a little research to find the best approach and found these articles:

• How to avoid a dog attack
• How to protect yourself during a dog attack
• How to handle a dog attack
• How to stay safe when a dog approaches you

Have you experienced something like this?  What did you do?  Have you got some great techniques? Post your comments below to share your experiences or advice!