How to Fight a Dog and a Shark

In the animal kingdom, attacking the attacker is the ultimate survival method. It is fang versus fang, claw versus claw. It is the highest law of the wilderness. Running is a penultimate option if preys know they cannot outrun their natural predators. Escaping is a not-so-viable survival technique when there is really not much space to run to. Fighting head on is indeed an effective way to survive—that is, if you have claws, horns, and sharp teeth to boast about.

For men, however, fighting animals that are on full attack mode can be the ultimate survival method. Although this method may still cause some injuries, it is still less grave when faced with an unrelenting foe. Here are some animals on prowl and the right ways to attack them.

1. Dog

A rabid dog on attack mode

When caught by a snarling dog with not much space to run to, the last thing you want to happen is to get bitten behind by trying to outrun a practically faster species. You cannot run any faster than a dog (normally, that is), but you can easily push it away by kicking its nose—its ultimate weak spot.

The danger of this is that you are placing your foot and leg closer to its canines (as in teeth), but with one sure hit, the dog will be on its way back to its house.

2. Shark

Nothing is deadlier in the water than a mad shark trying to satisfy its insatiable appetite for flesh and blood. There are two dangerous yet practically effective ways to survive such attack.

First, fight it eye-to-eye by trying to stab its nose tip or eyes with any sharp object you can get hold off. Some species of shark, like hammerheads and thresher sharks, do not pursue a kill once hurt. Just pray that what you encounter is not a great white or mako, the most ferocious species of shark.

Second, should you have no capacity to fight it off in any way, the best thing to do is to have one of your limbs bitten deliberately. In some cases, a shark attacks not because it is hungry (which in reality, rarely happens to humans), but because it smells danger or threat. If this is your situation, having it bite you will make it leave afterwards—severely injured, but alive.

Surviving doesn’t always mean happy ending. Sometimes, the ultimate survival method means sacrificing a piece of you in exchange for your life.