A few years back I had a serious problem with a pair of dogs that lived near one particular stretch of trail I frequented. I was confronted by them barking and growling from the edge of the trail multiple times. That’s uncomfortable but tolerable, but when they started coming on to the trail, following me, and actually started confronting me in stand off situations I got mad. The lab would come at me head on, and the blue healer mix would try to get around behind me. I found that simply extending the end of the stick into the face of the healer was enough to let it know I could reach it from where I was at, and it backed off. As folks know I mostly favor a root ball shillelagh type stick that is cane length. Something I have practiced quite a bit on the trail when walking alone is throwing the knob handle up while loosening my grip to let it thread through my hand, and then tightening my grip quickly so my grip is shifted to the bottom of the stick, essentially now holding it like a baseball bat with the ball end on the far end to add weight to the swing. Doing this I find I can swing it like a bat pretty fast one or two handed. It would certainly be enough to get a dog’s attention, and given the wonderful strength to weight ratio on blackthorn I suspect it may be a bone breaker if you hit the dog in the right spot.
While this is never a desired outcome, I find it preferable to shooting one. And while this is a far far cry from training, I hope and believe it would do the job. There’s a few other things I’ve practiced too to deal with head on lunges that involve swinging the stick up in a two handed grip to drive the middle of the stick into the mouth of a lunging dog, or driving the butt end forward to violently redirect a dog. They are the number one issue I encounter when hiking.
Hickory is an excellent material, but there are several wood types that offer great strength to weight ratio, many that have already been mentioned. In fact the best really have been mentioned already so I need not repeat. I’m a forester by trade, so I have opinions.
What I want to convey though is the importance of choosing a material that is light enough that you can get it in motion quickly but won’t buckle under an impact immediately. I refuse to carry aluminum for this reason, but it's possible I've only encounterd cheap thin stock treking poles and there are better options avaiable. This will vary from person to person quite a bit, based on strength and age.
Hickory is a wonderful material if you can find an appropriate piece.
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