Ambushed while walking the dog

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ddanatzko

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Need some advice. A friend of mine's girlfriend was walking her dog (Mastiff) the other day in her neighborhood (which isn't reputable at all). While she was walking past a small wooded area she noticed 3 or 4 guys just inside the woodline. She thought nothing of it and continued walking when suddenly one of them realized that she was there. He approached her from behind and grabbed her by her throat attempting to choke her, all the while asking, "WHAT DID YOU SEE?!?!" Once the dog realized what was going on he was none too happy and proceeded to let the guy know, since he was a short leash, she got a hold of him before the dog could get to the guy, but he was none to happy about how the dog was acting toward him and threatened to "get control of her dog for her if she couldn't" As if this wasn't enough, he then proceeded to ask her where she lived in case she remembered seeing something. She didn't tell him so he followed her home. Since they live in a townhouse community that backs up to the woods, and she didn't have a cell phone, she just walked home. So, now said BG knows where she lives, even though she didn't see anything. As it was approaching twilight, she didn't get a real good look at the guy's face or features (very dark skin). So, if she were to meet up with him again, she would have no idea and he knows where she lives. Her boyfriend lives with her, but works nights and only her cousin (another female) and the dog are there most nights. He had no form of home protection (up until I lent him one of my pistols so he wouldn't be completely unarmed) and lives in a rather bad neighborhood. Any advice I can give him/her to prevent any escalation to this situation or further frustration? We did convice her to talk to the cops, but like I said before, she didn't get a real good look at him in the 1st place, so that doesn't help her situation.

Thanks,

Dave
 
Welcome Dave ..... :)

Probably not a lot to be done - except ... awareness ..... lots of it. Plus I think more armament is prudent. This way .. regardless of apparent difficulty in recognition of BG .. ANY suspicious acts by anyone will grab the attention ..... add to that a means of defence and ... about all they can do.

Oh and .. when out and about (armed I hope) they should behave assertive and confident .... not whimpy and looking all victimlike. Carriage of self with confidence is an amazing deterrant ... made easier by packing.

Be interesting to know just WHAT these guys WERE up to ...... drug business I'll wager!
 
That's exactly what I was thinking, otherwise, there would have been more of a commotion going on. She's kind of a timid girl too, that doesn't help. I'm going to recommend her to take some self defense classes (Chin Na) and maybe look into getting some Pepper Spray. She's not likely to start carrying but I'm working on that too.
 
Let's keep it simple. Here are a couple of good things you've mentioned.

1. ) the guy grabbed her. In Texas this is assault. That is a crime. Apparantly she made a terrible witness.

2. ) He is very concerned about what she saw. She most likely walked upon a drug deal. Believe it or not, this has happened to me. He didn't like my answer.:evil:

So I suggest she do the following and it cost nothing.

1.) Be aware of your surroundings.

2.) Do not go out after dark alone.

3.) Keep that dog in good health. Mastiffs are HUGE and excellent bad guy repellant.

4.) Tell your friend to get his OWN gun. He needs to take initiative to buy it, learn it and use it if need be. Don't take ownership of vicarious liability. You may loose your gun at best.

5.) Get the girl in the habit of describing things. She can practice to herself. When she sees somthing, anything, she can try to describe it back to herself.

6.) Since she has called the Police before, make sure to have a non emergency number nearby to report EVERYTHING that looks suspicious.

7.) Always leave front and back porch lights on.

8.) Avoid patterns, such as jogging the same route at the same time everyday.

9.) Lookup some counter surviellance techniques. That's a fancy way of saying "know when you're being watched" which women tend to be VERY good at. Trust me.

10.) Trust the short hairs on the back of your neck.

11.) Consider starting a neighborhood watch...they really do work. Contact the police for information.

Good job on loaning your friend the gun, but please encourage OWNERSHIP to him. Maybe sell him one.
 
Your friend needs to work on awarness,it is free.She just got lucky that more did not happen to her.She should have a cellphone and pepper spray,both readily accessible.I would suggest one hand on the leash and pepper spray in the other.Chin na or any other MA takes allot of training to be useful.Awareness is the first thing you can work on with her.You need to impress upon her how allowing someone to approach from behind could have easily ended in rape and or death.It happens everyday.
 
She rang the bell and it can't be unrung. Anything happens to these guys, it will come back to hurt her.

She has to move.
 
Not to pass judgement, but that dog would not have needed his dinner if it would have been me. Those dogs get BIG:what:
 
The guy grabbed her by the throat but she kept the dog off of him? I think she needs a big attitude adjustment.

Hopefully (and probably) this will all blow over but she needs to be hyper aware for the short term. If firearms aren't an option, the boyfriend or any other friends should accompany her when she goes out and she should alter her own habits for a week or so.

Long term, get her into a good self-defense class and try to get her to the range.
 
The guy grabbed her by the throat but she kept the dog off of him? I think she needs a big attitude adjustment.
Click to expand...
This was my first thought on reading the original post.

The question is . . . .why would she hold back a big dog from feeding on the guy choking her? :confused:

Something just doesn't ring true about this story . . .
 
She sounds like another citim just waiting for a crime to me. Either she needs to get realistic about life or she might not be around to grace us with her presence.

Sad but true.
 
there's a couple of things in the original post that are hard to swallow.

a) he grabbed her by the throat and she pulled the dog off. (like others mentioned)

b) she actually went home with him following her, instead of a public place to get help.

c) twilight or not, how could she not get a good description when he followed her all the way home.

i would suggest she adopt a more realistic attitude about her situation. pepper spray maybe, but if she actually stopped the dog from backing this guy down, i'm not sure she would be aggressive enough for even pepper spray. i would say carrying is out of the question for now. unless she gets some decent training and quite a bit of experience first, (and i hate to say this...) she may be a candidate for having any weapon she chooses being used against her.

proper attitude is first and foremost. situational awareness is also in order. hypothetically, if she talked to the police, and they decide to patrol the area in question, and this guy picks up on it...she quite possibly will get a follow up visit.

IMHO


-Ruin and recovery are both from within-
 
Everyone walking in a bad neighborhood should at a very minimum carry a cellphone. You don't even have to have a cellphone account. Just get someone's old phone that they don't need anymore after they bought a new one. 911 works even if you don't have an active account.
 
She should have let the mastiff lose and started screaming hysterically to get the dog really worked up. A timid girl with no firearms training or exposure is probably better off with a large dog for protection that a firearm she doesn't really know how to deploy. Juts my 2 cents for what its worth.
 
I hope this woke her up.

lucky for her druggies are stupid,he may have forgotten where she lives.
The next time tell her to let the dog chew for awhile! It's something Mastiffs can be good at. Then she can have the cops check local hospitals for dog bite victims.

get her a kubotan key ring for 2 or 3 dollars for a good one,she doesn't have to be some kind of MA expert to poke a junkie in the eye
 
The mastiff LET SOMEONE SNEAK UP AND MANHANDLE IT'S OWNER? And then let said female owner get hold of him to stop him from being unhappy with the assailant??
There is no way in Hades I could stop my female Rottie from taking someone's throat out if they'd have done that while I have her on leash, and she's a well trained and behaved Rottweiler whom I outweigh by 60 lbs.
She had the tool on leash for protection. They both need serious training in awareness and if in fact their neighborhood is that bad, owner and dog should not go diddybopping gaily about with their collective heads in the clouds, rather they should be in Condition Yellow when they leave their door.
Bad neighborhoods can be survivable. Attitude is everything. Training a must. Why loan someone a gun if they don't feel the need to get one and some training on their own? Drug deals happen everyday and if she wasn't aware of it or victimized because of it, she certainly was when someone approached her and began laying on of hands, or stalked when homeward bound. She should file a report with the popo on the assault and subsequent stalk.
All good advice in the previous posts Dave, and I don't mean to flame away here, but loaning a person with a victim mindset one of your firearms when they already have a four legged equivilent and don't have the know-how to utilize it before it's too late... just doesn't make sense to me. (Unless the mastiff is a young pup) Situational awareness and training, be it dog or gun or evading criminal dipsticks... that's really what your friends G/F should get ASAP.
Hope all goes well with friend's situation and everyone learns from it.
I just can't imagine a mastiff letting someone approach and actually touch their owner without getting all dog-like real fast.
 
I hate to be an armchair quarterback but:

If the guy grabbed her:
She should have dropped the leash and screamed like she was hurt, dog, especially a big dog will take care of problem.


I haven't seen too any dogs that won't go into attack mode if their companion is being hurt, no matter what the breed or size of the dog.
 
This is what J frame 38's are for. I doubt they could take it from her if she had the dog with her.

The first rule of gunfighting: "Have a Gun"

99% of the time just having one is enough. Even skill and training is way back in second place. (She should practice though.)

I'm not quite sure how a cellphone, pepper spray or kubotan would help a lone female against four guys.:confused:

She 'sposed to dance hand to hand with them? :rolleyes:

She needs a gun.
 
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