While on your usual walk you come across a dog coming towards you. The dog is scowling and its body is becoming taut. When it shows its teeth and flattens its ears, you understand that this dog doesn’t want a treat; it wants you.In the United States each year around 14,000 people are admitted to hospital with injuries caused by dog bites. During an attack you could have to deal with more than one or two dogs. The number of fatal attacks involving more than three dogs has increased by 164% since the late 1980s. In 2019 attacks with more than three dogs were responsible for 38% of all the deaths and pit bulls were involved in 78% of those attacks.You won’t have much chance of getting away if a dog attacks you. It is more than probable that you won’t be able to escape the dog, and fleeing might trigger the dog’s prey instinct so that it chases and catches you.The reason why certain dogs are most likely to harm people lies in their ancestry; these dogs were originally bred for hunting, for work, and for using as bait on large animals such as bulls. Humans encouraged the aggressive behaviour in them and selectively bred them for this aggression in order that they might carry out their duties more effectively. Centuries later, these characteristics still appear in the DNA of dogs, particularly in Dobermans, Rottweilers, pit bulls, pit bull mixes, and wolf hybrids.German Shepherds and Akitas are often featured in lists of dangerous dog breeds as well, and pit bulls are generally a matter of controversy. It is not widely known that pit bulls are not in fact a breed, the term ‘pit bull’ applying to American Staffordshire Terriers, American Pit Bull Terriers, Staffordshire Bull Terriers, and American Bully dogs.They come from the English bull-baiting dog, which was bred to bite and hold on to large animals such as bulls and bears. A pit bull attacks by biting its target and then shaking its head from side to side. Therefore, if you have a pit bull it is important to assess your dog, socialize it and keep on training it.What should you do if the dog is threatening you in order to survive the attack?The best method of preventing an attack is for the owner to train their dog so that it does not attack. The owner must always ensure that their dog is in the house, in a secure yard, or on a leash.You must also steer clear of dogs that have a bad record. According to data collected in 2019, 40% of the people who were killed by dogs were attacked by dogs which had a history of aggression towards people, 21% of the dogs that caused deaths had previously shown aggression towards other animals, and 13% of the dogs had bit or severely attacked the victim before. Therefore, if a dog bites or attacks you, you should avoid that dog in the future.When an aggressive dog approaches you, the most important thing is to remain calm. It’s natural to feel afraid or anxious, but don’t yield to those feelings. Also, don’t shout at the dog or begin kicking it.It is important to remain calm and confident; do not make direct eye contact with an aggressive dog. Rather, stand a little to the side since this also reduces the width of your target and keeps the dog in your side vision. Making eye contact could cause the dog to lunge at you.It may appear reasonable to stroke a stranger’s dog, but you can’t be certain about the dog’s temper. This point is particularly important when it comes to children.In 2020 a pit bull attacked a seven-year-old girl on the Upper West Side of New York City and her mother gave her a dollar so that she could go and give it to a homeless woman who had a dog.As the child came near, the pit bull bit her face and knocked her against the pavement. Neither the girl’s mother nor the dog’s owner could manage to get the animal off her. A further spectator then offered help and was eventually able to remove the dog from the child.The small girl was bleeding heavily and had to go to hospital. This situation proves that you should never suppose an unknown dog to be safe just because you want to help or because you don’t wish to frighten the dog.If you’ve never seen a dog, stay away from it; and if it suddenly rushes forward, defend your face, chest, and throat.