[masraum]

I never carried anything, but then I'm not afraid of dogs and have never had an experience that made that feel necessary, and most places that I've lived have not had pitbulls. It's actually interesting, I've seen very few PB in public, both in our old neighborhod and when we lived in town.

One night I was walking a dog and had a very calm, but super persistently curious PB want to approach and sniff my female dog (~35# and kind of skittish, if another dog "got fresh" she'd bark and snap, which often sets other dogs off). It was one of those super compact PB, probably several inches shorter than my dog, but 10-15# heavier, and looked like a linebacker. I was able to keep myself between the two dogs. I was able to stoop down and grab the collar of the PB and even pet it. My dog stayed behind me. I kept this up for what felt like 30 mins, but was probably 5-10 mins. Eventually, the other dog lost interest, and we were able to slowly walk away while watching the other dog.

Another time, we were walking both dogs, the 35# dog mentioned above and our 12# dachshund. There was a big golden retriever that loved people in a chainlink fence across the street. It was always super friendly and wanted attention, but this night, it squeezed between a gap in the gate and charged us. It seemed to be focus on the dachshund. Maybe in the dark it thought he was a cat. My wife was able to grab Sherlock (who pooped down her side), and I was eventually able to grab the GR. The barking (3 dogs), yelling (me), and screaming and yelling (the missus) got the attention of the owners who retrieved it. That was the only time we ever had an issue with that dog.