A girl was apparently mauled to death by dog. Quite shocking!
https://7news.com.au/news/accidents/baby-girl-mauled-to-deat…
The dog attacks are not uncommon in Australia. Not just within house, even if you are walking outside, you can be attacked by astray dog or the dog who managed to escape from the house or unleased itself. The situation could become alarming if you are walking with your kids.
What would you do here to stop the attack?
It amazes me how much of the general public here have dangerous dogs as pets. In England, it used to be just the drop outs, gangsters and drug dealers… But here seemingly affluent people have them. There's also little punishment for the owners when the dogs do attack.
It is really shocking. There's nothing you can do, once they latch on and start ripping off flesh and snapping bones, what can you do
I foster care labs and they are huge and strong even at 1 year old. We are taught to raise our knees so that the pointed knee discourage them to jump on you.
This is about my dog being attacked, not me, and how I handle it.
I live in Brimbank VIC (where Ayen's Law originated) and my dog (a lab) has been attacked regularly by other peoples' dogs that were roaming off the lead in open spaces against the law around here. An attacking dog would always spot us and make a beeline for us, and it became such a regular occurrence for a few years that it became routine and I had a good defence technique worked out. I would move my dog behind me to one side and time it so that I rotate her around to the front and other side, and during the moment the attacking dog is correcting it's attack I'd try and grab it by the collar and hold its head down, use my knee if I have to and use my weight to help hold it while the owner to come and get it. The owners are always recalling the dogs as they run over and the dogs rarely stop and go back.
Three attacks were by the same couple with the same two dogs who, despite the repeated attacks, kept letting their dogs roam off the lead. After the third time I was screaming at them about their stupidity and reported them to the council, who had no luck in finding them despite me telling them which street they are from and the name of the dog. I am completely unable to handle two dogs attacking my dog.
But it has improved hugely around here once Ayen's Law came in.
Dogs can sense fear. Don't panic (if possible). If the dog is threatening to attack, stand your ground, and stare it down. Most dogs will get it and fall back… If its already attacking, big kick to the underbelly will make the dog reconsider its life choices.
First statement, correct.
Good luck with staring it down. Dogs see that as aggressive behaviour. And a dog will laugh at kicks from humans, well, actually, it'll make it more aggressiv.
Well, I was speaking from my experience, it worked for me coupla times, once an off-leash beagle attacked my Labrador. The vicious fella was going at my Labs throat. In the heat of the moment, gave it a big kick to the underbelly and the dog backed off allowing the owner to restain it. I got into an argument with the annoyed owner though.
again, it worked for me, probably because the dog was small, doesn't necessarily mean it will work for everyone.
It doesn't, I booted a pit bull as hard as I could which was attacking my Kelpie the other day, didn't even flinch.
@SkMed: oh, was your pooch ok? how did you manage?. well, in my case, the offender was a much smaller dog. I didn't have a choice, its that or let my dog be mauled. Tried walking away, it didn't work.
How to stop a dog in seconds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FU8jBeomQk&t=177s
Not much help if its attacking you though.
And im in the camp of "no dogs are born bad", there are just bad owners!
When someone else's dog gets lockjaw and clamps down on either you or your dog then you only have two quick options for release. Either gouge its eyes out or stick a finger up its bum. Personally I'd go for the eye gouge
Or break it's thick muscular neck, easier said than done.
Stick a finger up its bum? Complete and utter bullshit. It doesn't do anything. Who puts such shit out in the world?
Any aggression makes the situation worse.
Any aggression makes the situation worse.
So you suggest a wine and steak dinner first? Care to bring any suggestion to your drivel? That's why I said go for the eye gouge. It's quick and when the dog does release hopefully it will be more distracted from just having its eyeballs ripped out
Pittbulls in particular have a high pain tolerance. There have been many cases of people going to extreme lengths to stop a pitbull attack and nothing short of killing it will stop it.
Breeds like pitbulls are bred for fighting and not to be timid. They're faster, stronger, have a higher endurance, higher pain tolerance, more aggressive.
Like this one for example. The guys first shot bounced off it's (profanity) skull. The bullet landed on the side walk.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkOqULyXhYs
These characteristics is what makes a pitbull attack so much worse than other breeds. But the worst thing is they're unstable.
"The dog attacks are not uncommon in Australia."
They are pretty uncommon in Australia to be fair. We're in one of the most regulated countries on earth. Of course any attack is an attack too many.
No such thing as an aggressive dog breed, just like there's no such thing as aggressive race of human.
I already know I'm going to cop a lot of heat for this, no I'm not racist.
would you kindly replace race of human with human nature, that wont hurt further
Not racist, just naive.
Dog attacks are actually uncommon in Australia.
That said, if any unknown dog approaches then you should pick up any small child and keep them out of bite range.
If a dog does get aggressive I would find high ground if possible (jump up on a car) or fend it off with kicks.
Maybe it depends where you live. We live in a nice part of Canberra, and our dog has been attacked on walks more times than I can count (in fact, more often than not), and we know a lot of people who have been attacked or had their dogs attacked by other dogs more than once. Most of the time it's been minor attacks, but sometimes not. In every case, our dog becomes more and more anxious (border collie trait, but not helped by aggressive mongrels attaching themselves to her neck!) and in every case WE have been the ones verbally abused by the owner when we dare to question why their tank of a dog wasn't on a lead in an on-lead area.
I was talking about dogs attacking people.
You are right in that dogs attack other dogs quite often.
I read water meters for a few years so came across 1000’s of different types of dogs. Got bitten a few times, although never really attacked to the point of being fearful of my life. Never reported.
To repel aggressive/ attacking dog, never let them get behind you, always face them, loud aggressive commands, BACK, DOWN, STOP. Dogs that have been trained may heed commands. Find a weapon, anything you can put between you. If you need to defend/ attack hit them hard on the point of their nose.
I remember reading about a bloke on the beach in Melb who stuck his thumb up a dogs clacker and it worked. Let’s just hope it was an aggressive dog.
Out of all the dogs I came across 99.9% friendly or just protective of their owners property. A lot just didn’t like hi vis, maybe associate me with the postie. The most aggressive dogs were Blue/ Red Heelers (by a mile), German Shepherds and Jack Russells.I see the earlier posts about staffy bites, but I found them one of the friendliest.
Staffies very often aren't good with other dogs. They usually love humans more than anything else.
keep a shotgun loaded and on hair-trigger leaning against your cocktail cabinet so you'll be ready to protect your baby from the pit bull with its jaws around your baby's face
that should totally work to keep you safe - am I right ?
(analogous to keeping pit bulls to protect you - sorry it killed your baby - it usually doesn't bite …)
Bite the ba$tard back, harder.
The one and only rule, do not run. Dogs of any size will outpace an average person and take you to the ground and then its game over.
• Stand side on to the dog in a fighting (boxers) stance
• Do not make eye contact (keep the animal in your peripheral vision).
• Keep your arms close to your chest;
• Do your best to ignore the dog and do not make any reactions except to maintain the side on submissive stance.
Maintain this for as long as the dog remains aggressive, only after the dog loses interest should you slowly leave the area.
For obvious reasons you want to keep your neck, groin, arms and legs out of the dog’s mouth. Large aggressive dogs that get any of these extremities into their mouths will do significant life-threatening damage to you. Should a dog manage to latch on to you the only option you have is to directly attack the dog - I won’t try to give any fancy action hero advice here other than like all animals the eyes your best point of attack.
<<<If you have a child with you>>
Physically put yourself between them and the dog and resist the urge to pick up the child up.
• You might need both hands to defend yourself and your child.
• Carrying a child will change your center of balance.
• if you're dragged down your child might be injured or crushed.
Hold your child by the scruff of the neck with your non-dominant hand, maintain this contact point to direct them left and right should the dog try to move around you. A child has zero survivability against dogs; The aim of the game is to shield and take the hits.
This is the first post here that has actual sensible advice.
This would work for most dogs except pitbulls. You would have lost a limb by step 2.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qAO6_EI4Ec
This guy's tactic was: Step 1 Get to high ground..
I think the common sense response to 'what would you do to stop an attack' is: Whatever it takes. Any form of action, no matter how extreme or violent it may be. No dog is worth more than a human's life.
Without any weapons, you have no chance against a reasonably sized dog. If you try anything extreme or violent, all you do is make it worse for you.
never run. just slowly walk away. dog can smell "fear" , for the lack of better word. it can sense if the target is scared. if it remains aggressive and getting close, find rocks, or thick branches and prepare to throw it or hit it. Growing up in Malaysia, i've got harassed by a lot of stray dogs as a kid, usually i would pick routes to avoid them (yes they usually hang out in groups, like hooligans…) even if it means detour. If I can't avoid them, I just walk away and pretend I didn't see them.
Punching or standing tall to threatened the dog might not work for a kid.
We always have our GSD with us, he's intervened a few times when some dogs have been going straight for the kids. No idea on dogs intentions but he makes it pretty clear to other dogs that approaching is going to end badly for them.
A baby girl was sadly mauled to death in the US and the number one discussion for days on OzB is how to defend yourself against dogs? Maybe don't leave your young children unsupervised with animals? And don't use a sad event like this to write sensationalist trash fantasies about doing weird martial arts on a dog or trying to justify carrying illegal weapons as if there's a viscous dog out to get you on every street corner? It's sick. RSPCA has 33 deaths due to dog attack since 1979 in Australia (as of last year - https://kb.rspca.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Preventin….). You're MUCH more likely to be struck by lightning (5-10 deaths a year) than die due to dog attack.
The link you've provided has little or no bearing on wha you're trying to argue. It's a reference paper from 2015 arguing against breed specific legislation. Look at state and local government figures for statistics on dog attacks, and consider injuries, not only deaths.
As per my reply yesterday:
Dog attacks are very common.
1216 attacks on humans and animals in 3 months in NSW alone (Oct > Dec 2019)
596 of those on adults.
118 on children 16 and under.
https://www.olg.nsw.gov.au/public/dogs-cats/responsible-pet-…
Staffies are also far more likely to attack you than any other breed. From the same quarter:
American Staffordshire Terrier 151 attacks
Bull Terrier (Staffordshire) 147 attacks
This is one state and one 3-month period.
Note also that while there are no deaths reported in this three month period, 156 attack victims required medical treatment and 48 people were hospitalised as a result of a dog attack.
The link you've provided has little or no bearing on wha you're trying to argue
OMG dude. What I provided was a citation of my source. Perhaps you're not use to people proving that they didn't just pull something out of their rear end!
Dog attacks are very common.
1216 attacks on humans and animals in 3 months in NSW alone (Oct > Dec 2019)
You realize how low the bar is for a "dog attack" under this definition? A kid poking an animal in the eye where it gives a warning nip and doesn't even try to bite would constitute a dog attack.
I'm not wasting another second on your nonsense. Hyping up the death of a child to discuss ridiculous extreme measures to prevent wild animals attacking you on the street is beyond disgusting and you should not feel proud.
"a warning nip" is literally a dog attack.
And approx. 45 of those attacks required hospitalisation.
"I'm not wasting another second on your nonsense. Hyping up the death of a child to discuss ridiculous extreme measures to prevent wild animals attacking you on the street is beyond disgusting and you should not feel proud."
Again, no. What I'm doing is providing a reasoned response to someone who clearly has no idea what they're talking about but feels the need to chime in anyway.
@chickentaste: 45 out of 1216. So less than 4%. Are you proving your point or mine!?!??!?
No one needs to run around with knives and pepper spray. We don't have that large a dog problem in this country. Many of those attacks would not have been strangers walking the streets, but rather friends and family of the owner.
No one needs to beat up this tragic story. DISGRACEFUL!
I live near a park where dogs are allowed off leash, in that park is a small playground for kids, where signage would say no dogs allowed within 10m of play area.
Near nice a week I would see a dog run 30m from the grass area to come “play” with a kid, many of whom are happy enough to see a dog(espiecally small cute looking ones) but occasionally big dogs with careless owners just let them do whatever.
Once I saw another parent yell at a owner of a large dog whom let run on to the play area and scare a child, the dog owner yelled back “it’s a f%@king dog park”.
People lot the idea of pets and company they provide etc, I can understand, but have no sense of responsibility.
If an aggressive dog ever tried to attack me and got very very close, I'd probably try and stick my finger up its ass, not even joking. It won't like that one bit and hopefully it would avoid coming at me again (and not make it more aggressive?). I'd rather a pooey finger than getting mauled, I mean I might have to take a couple bites in order to get that close though.
Try locating its (profanity) as it swings around you tearing off your flesh. Have you seen how quick dogs can move, try just catching one
What if it likes it?
I'd try break it's neck, I feel like a dog wouldn't be able to dodge a powerful drop kick to the throat if it was coming at me.
Uh huh. You gonna catch a bullet with your hands for an encore?
My Mum and I were chased by two dogs a while back. I'm not sure on the breed of the dogs, but one may have been a Staffy. We started running away, but they kept persuing and only stopped when we faced them and stared down and them. Then we backed away and got the hell out of there. Kept thinking that day could've gone a lot worse. Dogs can definitely be pretty scary. Agree on the breed having a lot to do with it, as some have mentioned. I mean some breeds may love you to death, but would never be aggressive.
Is there a definitive right way to approach this situation?
There have been comments to appear menacing to it, stare it down and yell at it until it backs down, and other comments to not look it in the eyes, turn side on to it to be more submissive and back away.
The latter sounds more likely to work for me, but which way is the right way?
There's no blanket approach - the dogs could be in multiple mental states (approaching out of curiosity, chasing out of prey drive, approaching out of friendliness, a reactive dog having the worst day ever, human-reactive dog etc). Try something, assess if it has worked, then try something else if appropriate.
The 'don't look it in the eyes' advice is the only advice that I would absolutely disregard as dangerous - dogs are INSANELY rarely reactive against people, and I've never seen a dog interpret human eye contact as agressive. By refusing to look at it, you're also depriving yourself of the ability to monitor the dog.
I have used Dog Dazer II Ultrasonic Dog Deterrent - it is marketed in Australia as an anti-barking device, but it works extremely well against the stray dog packs, inhabiting the post-USSR countries in masses.
It does not harm the dog - just makes it run away. I can confirm the thing works.
If a dog is friendly (or deaf) - then the dog will not run away. So I am unsure if it will work with Australian dogs which are mostly nice.
We had this, and it did nothing at all! The only time the device had an impact was when we resulted to throwing it at the attacking dog's head. A stick would have been more effective.
I have two dogs, one a huge 45kg pig dog rescue with intense dog reactivity (adopted from an accredited/respected pound with 'no issues' - he'd been mauled by another dog in their care). As a dog owner (particularly of a large extremely muscular dog with impulse control issues), I treat him as an absolute loaded gun - no walking on the street when there's any chance of other dogs around, insanely strong (and redundant, in case of breakage) ropes and harnesses. Head on a swivel keeping an eye out for other owners, if I spot a potential trigger (people walking their dogs) it's an instant turnaround and basically sprint off in the opposite direction. In the few cases where it's been people walking their dogs off leash and their dogs have charged mine, the only option I've seen has been just outright bear-hugging my dog up off the ground - the muscles can't really do anything if they don't have any leverage.
In terms of actually stopping or minimising the harm from a dog fight or insanely overstimulated dog having a go at vulnerable people (such as the young child in the article provided), I think it's important to first identify if you can quickly bail or isolate yourself/other vulnerable parties (as someone here said, placing child on top of car, hopping inside a building and closing the door etc) - if so, this is the safest and best option.
Kicking or striking a large dog that is attempting to maul would (I imagine) redirect the attention of the animal onto yourself. I do a fair amount of playfighting/wrestling with my dogs and have resultingly had my nose broken a few times (purely accidentally, big friendly boofhead cannonball head) in the wrestle; that's with an intensely bonded animal, puppy-style playfighting. I'd be more comfortable bear hugging and laying down a nutcase adult male human than a large dog going nuts (humans will be damaging you by striking/crush injury which we're fairly well evolved around, good chance you're going to have numerous crush/pierce/rip/tear injuries in a similar case with a dog - very easy to lose fingers/vulnerable other parts). If I absolutely had to shut one down, it'd be risking a non-essential body part to get within grabbing range, then basically bodyweight forcing the dog to the ground and controlling the head (note: I've had to stop multiple dog fights -never my own dogs- and am coated with random bite mark scars - you're not getting away clean). You'll be bitten doing this, but the dog will be down and controlled as long as you commit.
On a side note, 'pitbull' as a breed isn't really a thing standalone from Amstaff (despite the United Kennel Club and ADBA listing them for marketing purposes), - it's a phenotype that is bred for, with the characteristics being able to met by various breeds/combinations of breeds (American Staffordshire Bull Terriers, English Bull Terriers, British Staffordshire Bull Terriers, etc etc). Hop on Google Image Search and compare 'American Pitbull Terrier' and 'American Staffordshire Terrier', then consider the variety of phenotypes and cosmetic differences possible within even one single 'breed'.
Have a bigger and more ferocious dog.
I have seen awesome well behaved pitbull and rotties who have been through proper training. they are tamer than rabbits.
My friend's GSD is an absolute monster. she has a shortlist of people and animals she loves to death. Anyone/anything else, she isnt usually keen on. it takes a while to get on her list. When we go out, she is always on a leash.
When people start saying crap like Staffies are more prone to attack humans than other species etc, i realise aforementioned people have no clue whatsoever. After having 3 dogs and having done a lot of research on breeds in making my third choice for a dog (all from the pound). Staffies used to be called Nanny dogs because of their extreme loving nature and ability to take any form of annoying behaviour from kids and still look after the kids and not retaliate. AmStaff was one of the dogs i have had and i was amazed how loving she was but also how friendly she was with every human she came across.
But taking breeds away, do people realise the prevalence of dog attacks on humans vs human attacks on other humans…. As well as i would say a lot of the time the dog has had some reason for the attack as in being provoked or scared or annoyed. Doesnt make it right but i would say more than breeds, its the upbringing of the dog that matters. I am sure there are genetic factors at play too just like with humans but i dont think they have as much sway as upbringing when it comes to attacks. Of course the stronger the dog, the more damage they can do. The other thing people need to realise is some breeds are far more common than others especially i have noticed in the pounds, there seems to be a lot more staffies (RSPCA). I am not sure if a lot more of them are just around or if its a lot more of them need rescuing from owners that mistreat them or even try to get them into dog fighting sitations.
1) I wouldn't attend a 4th July party during a global pandemic.
2) I wouldn't bring my 17 month old toddler to a house with MULTIPLE pitbulls.
3) I wouldn't LEAVE my 17th month alone while I drank, in the house with the pittbulls.
I don't want to blame the victim here, but a lot of these dog attacks involve people being incredibly stupid.
The only good news is that those animals will be put death.
Elon has the answer to the old RSPCA policy of smashing car windows only to rescue dogs and let kids die. It is called dog sentry mode!
I work as a lawyer and have been engaged by multiple clients in relation to Council authorities trying to register the dogs restricted / menacing / dangerous merely due to 1 incident.
All I can say is local councils in Australia are very strict in my experience. They are often overly cautious, so much that I often feel really bad for many dogs who are not dangerous or menacing and who are labelled as such anyways, since my clients simply do not have enough money to fight it in court (Councils have "in-house" lawyers who are pathetically bad a their job and who are not always amicable to reaching an agreement out of court due to fear of liability).
I am speaking generally. Yes, there are some dogs that are dangerous / menacing that need to be muzzled, have higher fences, supervision by an adult not taking care of other dogs, etc, but it's very rare. It's more common for dogs who are not dangerous or menacing to be labelled as such since the owners simply can't fight council. There's an imbalance of power, especially now with COVID people are strapped for cash.
It is not uncommon for a dog to be pepper sprayed by a police officer and, from thereon in, display aggressive behaviour towards city council officers who approach the property. I've seen it happen. Dogs display aggressive behaviour if they feel threatened or scared in certain situations. They should not permanently be labelled as such.
The article referred to in this post involves some idiot American couple who were partying while this all happened. Who was supervising the child? If the dog had any previous aggressive characteristics (likely) , why was the dog let free to roam during a party? Honestly, it comes down to common sense.
I've had a 'dangerous' dog who met me for the first time, and was the sweetest dog in the world who just wanted to lick me to death. Nuff said.
Work in Council as a ranger/officer and this is true but in my opinion for the best reasons. Don't get me wrong, Councils are pretty inconsistent because the decision for a dog to be labeled as menacing/dangerous falls on the Council officer in charge of the case. Ultimately, the reason why Councils are probably so strict is because they want to keep the community safe. That's their angle, and they will do anything it takes to reduce risk or eliminate risk, which is why things are done in the way they are done.
Work in outback Australia so we don't even have an in-house lawyer but can vouch that my team are very empathetic and will always try to reach an amicable agreement, but again, we are working with the system of the law, and this is the nature of the beast.
The definition of an 'attack' as per the animal management (cats and dogs) act 2008 can be very dated when it comes to their definition of what constitutes an 'attack' and so literally anyone could come and claim that a dog attacked them when really, all it did was act aggressive (which is sufficient grounds for an officer to investigate). And people are (profanity), all the time. They don't care about the welfare of the dog, they just want to get the upper hand in a legal battle with another person.
Lastly mate, please don't call us Councils as (profanity) or pathetically bad at our jobs. Don't paint all of us with such a broad brush. We are working within a system that is imbalanced and flawed, and disregards people's emotions or feelings or subjectivity. It's a black and white system for a world that isn't so black and white. Take care.
If you elect me president for life I will treat an attack by a dog as if its owner did it and the owner will be punished with the same degree of severity as if he/she attacked someone.
Here is another story. It's not in Australia but still it's a shocking incident.
https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/boy-left-with-90-stitches-aft…
If a bite is imminent (charging with teeth grinning) fend off the initial bite with your weak hand and use the other hand to gouge the eye completely out.
Hey mate. I work in a local council of a regional town as a ranger where irresponsible ownership of dogs is a big, big problem. From my personal experience, these are my opinions. You can refute them if you want because what I have experienced is what I've experienced, both in the field and with customer complaints, etc.
These are the five main things I've picked up that affect rates of dog bites:
With the breed issue, it's a well-known fact that for hundreds of years, much of the world has bred fighting dogs for entertainment in the past. That's why under Commonwealth legislation, there are about 5 breeds of dog that are restricted. They're Japanese Tosa, fila Brasiliero, dogo Argentino, perrode presa Canario, and American Pit Bull Terrier. Importantly, this is a ban on importation and not a prohibition on ownership. In our Council, we've never had one of these dogs in our register, but if we did, I'd be out there at the owner's house to see if the fence and enclosure lines up with legislation, that the dog is muzzled when outside private property at all times, and that the house has a warning sign in front. There are a heap of other mandatory requirements like microchipping, desexing etc. as well. So that's my two cents on the fact that breed and genes do absolutely affect aggressive behaviours in dogs.
Early experiences, socialisation and training are a big one because mate, a dog's first 12 months can set up what he/she believes for the rest of the dog's life. Many owners here just assume that owning a dog doesn't take any time effort, or takes little time to train and socialise. If I was a responsible dog owner, I'd be taking long service leave for months and being with my pup full-time, training it so that it knows who to obey. In this way, many staffie/pitbull types can still be under effectively control, even off-leash. But the thought of taking time off work to raise a living pup (much like a baby child needing direction) is just non-existent to many people.
With health, same thing, put time, resources and effort into your pup. Taking them to the vet as soon as you get your first pup should be legal, I swear. People need to wake up and realise that a dog is a living being with a mind and emotions of its own. If you neglect a dog, it will be hurt. If you praise and encourage a dog, it will be happy. This is easier than maths and I hope people can realise this.
Victim behaviour is an interesting one. Because in my opinion, there is a lack of knowledge of what to do when being attacked by a dog (the point of this discussion). The way we teach it is:
If an off-leash dog or wandering dog comes up to you, stand completely still, look down or away from the dog with hands curled up on your side. If that dog jumps and attacks you, you basically need to go into a fetal position, tuck your elbows in towards your neck and lock your fingers and hands over your nape. The easiest way for an attacking dog to get you or a child is through the jugular. We are trying to get into schools now and hold sessions on dog safety for kids so that we can encourage young ones to grow up and remember the movements of what to do if a dog attacks.
That's my two cents. If you have any questions or anything to argue about or add I'm happy to talk. Cheers.
If an off-leash dog or wandering dog comes up to you
If a aggressive one I would look for a position out of reach prior to contact , eg climb a tree or fence .
Second any weapons such as large rocks or branches to keep the dog at bay .
Tough questions on how to defend yourself from a dog attack.
I would say the answer for is I would use a powerbank as a weapon, anything 10k mAh+ could hit as hard as a tile. If the battery punctures I be sure to aim ensuring jet of flames at the dog.
The trick will probably also work well with iPhones especially when they can bend easily.
Using a thong / flip flop as weapon can be a good choice.
I learnt that trick in thailand with the Soi dogs. Never had an issue after just showing them the thong.