Is it right to hit a dog to protect yourself while on a run?

If It's on public property "sidewalk/street" then yes it is. It's the owners responsibility to have their dog leashed. Morally, that depends on if the dog is a small dog that couldn't do any real damage besides irritate your running. I'd contact your homeowners association if you have one or your local shelter to know the specific leash laws in your city. If the dog just runs up and down the property lines then it shouldn't be an issue. But if you seriously feel at any point that your life is in danger and can prove that it was, then your well within your rights to protect yourself by any means.

Legally, you have every right to "protect" yourself from the dog. Now, if you are in no immediate danger from this dog, then I would say no you can't harm the dog. What I mean by this is, if the dog is just barking at you and you go out of your way to hit it then you are in the wrong. If the dog is say a Yorkie, and it charges you and you hit it, you are not in immediate danger being that the dog couldn't possibly harm a grown adult. What you need to do is 1.) Talk to the owners about leashing their dog or 2.) notifying the proper authorities about an aggressive dog being unleashed.

Morally, you need to ask yourself whether or not you feel physically threatened by the dog. In my view, if the dog is a really small dog, you have no business hitting it. It's one thing to protect yourself against a Rottweiler, Doberman, Pit Bull, Mastiff, etc. It's a whole different thing to protect youself against a Yorkie, Rat Terrier, Cocker Spaniel, etc.

Call your local animal welfare organization: Humane Society, SPCA, whatever, and ask them what your legal rights are. I doubt that you can smack somebody else's animal, especially if it is not large and menacing or genuinely threatening or endangering you in some way. However, if there are leash laws (and the dog should have been confined with fencing or else on a leash) you may have some legal rights. You should know what they are.

There are little canisters of pepper spray available for about $10 or less. They fit on a keychain, and would be a wise thing to carry with you as you jog. You could actually carry one in your hand as you run, and they can offer you protection against dogs both 4- and 2-legged. The pepper spray in them is nowhere near as strong as what the police carry, but they can buy you a few seconds or discourage a harrassing pooch or a menacing dog. But check with your local animal rights organizations, as they can tell you how much leeway you have in the matter.

I would say yes, you are fully within your right to protect yourself. But only if the dog is coming at you with what could be argued as intent, not just barking. The responsibility should lie with the dog owner to ensure that it doesn't run out and attack passers buy.

Also it depends to what extent you hit the dog, obviously you are ok if what you are doing is minimal in order to get it to go away, however being excessively heavy handed could be questionable, and could lead to prosecution. At the end of the day it is an animal acting within its nature.

Edit: Someone mentioned pepper spray !!!! Absolutely not! There are far more humane ways to get the dog to back down without causing as much physical pain as that. You can get high frequency devices which will send out an electronic signal that is not audible to the human ear, but will annoy the dog and make it go away.

If anything, if you use such a device you could be then in more of a position to justify hitting the dog if it tries to attack you, as you are trying to use less violent methods first.

Two incidents while I was jogging:

A dog ran at me, teeth bared. When it got close enough, I kicked it. It yelped and ran back into its yard. Being an animal lover at heart, I felt bad almost immediately. It still bothers me, almost 20 years later.

On another occasion, a German Shepperd charged me. Not wanting to repeat what I had done a couple years earlier, I turned, stared right into his eyes, got a mean look on my face, growled a bit and then proceeded to run at him full bore. That dog did a 180 and ran as fast as he could back onto his own property and never bothered me again.

I guess to defend yourself, as a last resort a good kick is warrented. But I've used the second method a few other times and it always worked.

If you are on a sidewalk or on the street, and not in that person's yard, and the dog comes close enough that you feel threatened, you can defend yourself in various ways including hitting the dog. Morally, I think it depends on the dog in question. If it is a large dog I would say go for it, but if we're talking about a punting a yapping chihuahua then I wouldn't see a need.

If the dog is attacking you, it is morally and legally okay for you to fight back. However, if it is just running after you, then no, I would not hit it. You should probably have a chat with the owner next time it happens, the dog should be on a leash!

The better answer would be to run up and smack the owner. Stupid people who let their dogs attack (yes, letting your dog bark at my heals is an attack) need to be slapped with a wet newspaper.

Seriously, I had the same problem one night while out on a run. Two dogs were coming at me like bullets. I stopped, faced them, flung my arm at them and yelled "NO!!" in a loud strong voice. They both put on the brakes like they had hit a brick wall then turned around and headed in the other direction.

I've used it several other times with the same results. I doubt it will always work but it's better than trying to give it a kick.

Did it attack you? Did it even TOUCH you? Why would you feel the need to defend yourself because a little dog ran after you? Are you that delicate? I mean, if any dog was latched on to my leg with it's teeth I'd beat it's *** until it let go. But the way you make this incident sound is that you felt you should PREEMPTIVELY strike the dog because you thought he MIGHT attack you. No, that isn't how it works. It isn't self defense until your self needs defending. If you punched my dog because it ran after you, I would return the favor, trust me. And to all the people talking about leashes: Since the guy asking the question didn't mention a leash, did you ever think that maybe the dog was in its own yard?

If the dog seems vicious I think you have a right to hit it. But I would just kind of nudge it or slightly hit it just to see if it goes away. If it's a small dog that seems friendly and wants to play I would just ignore it.