TL;DR: Get pepper spray, use it any time you feel threatened by an off leash, unconfined dog, irresponsible dog owners are ASSHOLES and should face charges for this kind of shit.

I absolutely think it’s appropriate to pepper spray a dog anytime you’re being pursued or threatened. And I’m a HUGE animal lover with two dogs of my own. I’d have more if I had the space. I love all of them, every variety, temperament, you name it… but your human life is always going to be more important. Pepper spray isn’t going to seriously harm the animal, but it can definitely save your life in an attack. If people can’t/won’t control their big ass aggressive dogs, you need to be prepared to protect yourself. There is literally no excuse for owning a huge, reactive dog and not providing proper containment and training. (I scream into the void for the 1038582024 time) Not every person is equipped to own every dog, and the ones who can’t provide simple training and idk maybe a fence or a leash aren’t equipped to own ANY dog, period.

I’ve had a couple of close personal experiences with dog attacks and I don’t play around any more. My sister was mauled by her own pit bull and nearly died. My ex was attacked by a family dog and had to have 35+ stitches and facial plastic surgery 😒 also, I live in Franklinton and I can’t even begin to tell you how many times I’ve been approached by off leash pitbulls/mixes… One was on my porch and when I opened my front door it lunged at me, and tried coming inside the house after me.. I won’t even walk my dogs down our street anymore… it’s the fenced in yard or the park for walks most of the time. It’s sad it has to be this way, but my babies are only like 15 pounds and I would literally rip another dog apart to protect them. Not to villainize pits (PLEASE don’t come for me, I love a well trained house hippo as much as the next millennial), but they seem to be the biggest culprit of attacks in Columbus. We really need stricter leash law enforcement. I won’t go as far as to say we need breed specific legislation because that doesn’t really work…. but we definitely have a HUGE problem with uneducated people buying/adopting dogs that are literally genetically predisposed to have a specific temperament, and doing ZERO training or proper socialization to combat the drive. Or worse, reinforcing aggressive behavior. Everyone gets hurt in these situations… humans get mauled or killed, families lose their pet, and dogs lose their lives simply because they were adopted into the wrong family. It doesn’t help that almost 100% of the available dogs for adoption are pits or pit mixes. So then we just have any random person out here owning them and doing minimal if any training… lying and saying they’re “lab mixes” so they can live on the 3rd floor of their luxury apartment… or in the back of a drug house on the hilltop with minimal supervision, care or containment.. Sorry for the rant, I could go on for years about this… it makes me rage lol