Rounded up by Romanian Sheepdogs!
Who let the dogs out?
It’s hard to stay focused when three very large and very aggressive dogs are coming at you from all sides, snarling, lunging and snapping. Whirling about and keeping my hiking poles between their teeth and my legs while walking slowly backwards was my limit!
We had been walking for several hours through the Romanian countryside in drizzling rain and mist – not ideal hiking weather. We had oversized ponchos that covered our backpacks, with hoods over our heads, and looked like hunchbacked aliens – Vogons from Hitckhikers Guide to the Galaxy! Or maybe like deformed bears..
Who knows what the dogs thought we were when they burst onto the track barking madly, but the lead dog quickly decided I was a threat that needed to be neutralised. Maybe because I was the tallest, or because I was lagging behind – either way I was the target.
Romanian Sheepdogs are not pets, and are not to be trifled with. Officially they are Livestock Guardian Dogs (LGD), and are needed because the Romanian sheepfolds share the Carpathian Mountains country with wolves, bears, and the Eurasian Lynx, all of which have a taste for lamb.
The largest of these dogs can weigh up to 90kg, or 45kg for the Carpathian Sheepdogs I was facing, and will take on any animal they perceive might be a treat to the flock. They are fiercely territorial and protective, and a mere human cannot expect to intimidate them, in fact any attempt to do so may be taken as proof that this intruder is a threat that must be attacked and driven away.
So how did I live to tell this tale? Was it luck, were the dogs all bark and no bite (tooth marks in my hiking poles suggest otherwise), or was it following the hiking company suggestions of:
- maintaining eye contact while walking away slowly backwards,
- do not run (the guide helpfully pointed out: “they can run faster”),
- not using your hiking poles as weapons,
- not turning your back on the dogs,
- talking to them – I was mainly shouting “NU” (Romanian for “no”) at every fanged lunge for my legs.
Regardless, none of the bared teeth buried themselves in any part of my body, just a hiking pole. The hiking guide info said that “not many” people get bitten, but if you do and cannot identify the dog concerned you need a course of half a dozen Rabies and Tetanus inoculations. Very reassuring..
After maybe five minutes of attacking the dogs backed off, for a while.. But they followed for a kilometre or two, charging back in attack formation two or three more times. Each time I was the target and it was the same shout and dance routine. Needless to say, I was overdosing on adrenaline that had me buzzing well into the evening!
Note that in addition to the handy hints, the Hiking Adventure company provided a “dog device” on request. This was a battery-powered ultrasonic repeller intended to drive away dogs and cats. One other hiker reported using theirs and the dogs concerned turned tail and ran away, while another said their “device” had no effect.
I actually had a dog device in my pocket, ready for action, but these dogs burst onto the track so close that they were within a metre before it was out of my pocket, and the brief press of the button I managed did not seem to do anything except perhaps annoy the very large lead dog. This was not reassuring, and I didn’t try it again!