Read SEAL Survival Guide Online
Authors: Cade Courtley
SEAL Survival Guide (21 page)
WHAT TO DO WHEN ATTACKED
Now that the dog has picked a fight, you will do everything you can to gain immediate control and subdue the animal. When a dog bites, it does not merely chomp down and go but rather digs in and grips, shaking its head and tearing flesh. You want to protect your face, throat, and chest. If it is going to bite, you want it to attack the thickest flesh of your outer legs, again protecting the more vulnerable areas of the groin and inner thighs. This will also give you an opportunity to attack the dog’s more vulnerable parts.
1. Try to limit dog bites to areas of your body that have thicker skin. Even better, if you have time, wrap a jacket or
extra layers of cloth around your arm and offer that to the attacking dog.
2. If the dog has you in its grip, turn on the animal and drop your full weight onto its body. Slam your knees, or crash down with your elbows, directly onto the dog’s body. Try to land on its ribs, which break easily, and strike at its head, especially at the back of the neck or at the base of the skull. While avoiding its teeth, wrap your forearm around its throat, thus controlling its ability to bite you more.
3. You can also reach for the dog’s hind legs and lift them off the ground. The dog will immediately lose its ability to maneuver and bite you further.
4. Use a towel, coat, or shirt to cover the dog’s head, which often subdues it quickly.
5. If available, a blast of cold water from a hose, or even a bucket of cold water thrown into its face, will disorient the dog enough to allow escape.
6. If you are attacked by multiple dogs, don’t try to subdue each dog with your body weight, as you would during an
attack from a single dog. Dogs work in packs, and this will make you more vulnerable. Instead, attempt to strike at each approaching dog’s nose or eyes, or grab one of their limbs. If the dog pack senses a more formidable adversary from the onset, the dog pack’s instinct will often make them back off and retreat.
A fight with a dog is much like a knife fight—he who bleeds least wins!
MUSCLE MEMORY
It takes many repetitions for any action to become “memorized” by the muscles. One exercise you might try in order to be better prepared for a dog attack is to practice the above maneuvers on your own dog, if you own a medium-size to large breed. Of course, you will not use the force applied to an attacking dog, but you can incorporate how to turn and move correctly during your normal playtime with your pet.
AFTER THE ATTACK
1. Once the dog stops its attempt to bite, back away slowly.
2. Call the police or the local animal control unit.
3. Find out who owns the dog. You need to get documents pertaining to the inoculations it has received, specifically against rabies.
4. Seek medical attention for your wounds. Dog bites tear the skin and often require stitches. In addition, a dog’s mouth, contrary to popular myth, has a lot of bacteria that can cause serious illness if a wound is unattended.
During mission planning, we had intelligence concerning dogs that might impede our goal and were part of the target’s contingencies. The exact method used to neutralize aggressive dogs in the field is classified information. However, Special Ops has some really incredible dogs. In fact, during the raid to kill Osama bin Laden, the highly trained men of SEAL Team Six had with them a uniquely trained dog as part of the mission. SEAL canines are not your standard bomb-sniffing dogs. The dog on the bin Laden mission was specially trained to jump from planes and rappel from helicopters while attached to its handler. The dog wore ballistic body armor, had a head-mounted infrared (night-vision) camera, and wore earpieces to take commands from the handler. The dog also had reinforced teeth, capped with titanium. I would not want to try the techniques this book recommends on this dog. Thank God he’s on our side.
Bear Attacks
There are approximately 550,000 North American black bears roaming the forests of the lower fifty states at the present time. The chance of encountering a bear is increasing. As their natural habitat shrinks and their population grows, bears are losing their fear of humans. They are also acquiring a taste for our foods and garbage. In general, bears will want to avoid a fight and will only attack when: