Growing up, there was a house down the street that my older sister and I had to pass on the way to school. Underneath was Satan. A little white dog of some breed that would hide under the car and come out all fury and fangs. It would claw and bite at our ankles and the owner would refuse to put the dog in the morning and the afternoon when the kids were either going or coming from school. It didn't matter that kids would go to school with claw marks and bloody socks, at some point the school stopped making a fuss because it was just the same house causing a problem.
My sister got fed up with it one day and grabbed the dog, through it up and kicked it like a soccer ball. Now before you vilify my sister about abusing a 'precious' dog, no adult was dealing with this problem. The owner was refusing to do anything, our parents weren't calling the cops on the horrid monster (dog or owner, your pick), and the schools were ignoring it. At that point, is it wrong to deal with a dog in such a manner? The dog after that one incident stayed under the car when she walked by, and we didn't need a Tetanus shot every time we went to school. The child in me is grateful that my older sister found a solution because the dog used to scare me even though the adult me knows that she wouldn't get away with doing the same now despite how demonic the dog was.
So I was wondering if you've ever had to deal with a dangerous, tiny dog? Was it your dog or someone else's? How did you deal with the dog?
There are some dogs that are very vicious. Who knows what led each dog to become aggressive? There's a local dog (it's a medium to big dog), who's owned by some good-for-nothing drunkard, that attacks anyone who walks too close to him, not in a full frontal attack but stalking you and then bitting you from behind. It's not a playful bite or a tug, it's a vicious toothy bite. The moment you turn to face the dog, it pulls away and as you walk away if you break eye contact it'll stalk you again and try to attack you again.
It bites passing cars too.
One of those days someone's gonna flip and really mess that dog up.
My grandmother before she passed had a small dog that was a mix of some type. This dog was fine when you came in the house and was fairly friendly to everyone. The exception was when you went to leave. As soon as you went for the door, the dog would chase after you and go ballistic. It was so scary. Everyone would distract the dog and then run out of the house like lightning. Thinking back, it was kind of silly how scared we were of this tiny dog. Not exactly a great watchdog since he would let anyone in the house, but objected when anyone left.
One other solution is calling the pound or city dog catcher. Sometimes they can collect the little ferocious guys for you! However, being a child I'm not sure what else you could do without any help. If you sister went around kicking dogs for fun I would vilify her. That just isn't the case though. Was it possible to take a route around the dogs home? I've experienced overly aggressive dogs, but I generally expect the owner to deal with it. If they don't I definitely remove myself from the hostile situation.
My next door neighbors have an English Bulldog that loves to bite at people's toes and ankles. He even failed his obedience class. He just doesn't know when to stop. I love their other dogs, but when I have to go over there I make sure that he is under control before I lose a whole foot because he won't stop biting at them. I definitely understand because this dog runs at you full force and is quite large in width. Scary stuff.
Defending oneself is the first thing that comes to my mind! I don't think your sister is bad or anything, and she is just taking care of a prolong problem. I would have done the same and it doesn't matter if it is my dog or someone else's dog. Enough is enough!