I'm 68 years old and have never been bitten by a dog even though I will chase big dogs out of my yard. I've had them come at me barking and I go at them aggressively. They have always backed down. One of these days my alpha male façade is going to fail. I hope I have a 2x4 handy when that happens.
I have a stick that is about the size of the business end of a ball bat, and quite a bit longer. I use it as a walking stick.
Pointing it at the dogs and waving it while shouting seems to work, but isn’t it annoying to have a dog charging and snarling when you are in your own yard?
We used to walk around the block for exercise, but there’s so many dogs charging these days, you can’t really enjoy the walk. And if the owner’s happen to be outside, they all just say oh they wouldn’t hurt you or bite you.
Several of them took to chasing our grand daughter when she waiting for or getting off of the school bus. Hubby went over to the owner’s house, and told them they needed to keep them indoors when the buses were running, and if they didn’t quit bothering her, he was going to shoot them.
They were better for a while, but now we have some more newbies and their dogs are beginning to become an issue too.