Please, please don't think you can get a mad dog, whether sick or just doing what he was bred and trained to do, off a child, whether in a crowd or a barren field, with just a pocket knife - even a 5+ inch folding pocket sword. First, you'd have to get it off te first victim - then offer yourself up as the next victim. Then what, your one forearm crushed in it's jaw while you slash it's throat with a pocket knife? That pit bull, doberman, german shepherd, chow, etc, will try to use it's mass to take you down - and will likely do so. As in any lethal threat in most parts of our nation, you have the right to defend yourself - and, most places, with lethal force. That doesn't mean having Brutus the guard dog choke to death on your one arm, while you present your pocket knife with the other, nor does it mean you blast away with your 15+ rounds of 9 mm, hitting the dog non-lethally three times, either. Remember - you are liable for the entire flight plan of those errant rounds discharged, too. And - use enough caliber - bullet mass/size.
Most of three decades ago, my younger son was in a private residence for his piano lesson. I got out of my car to string a wire over a tree branch for my portable short wave radio when I saw a neighbor's german shepherd charge me. I nearly made it into the car - he got my left leg just above the ankle and, with a jerking motion, pulled the rest of me, all 5'10" and 245lb, out of the car. I kept from going down by righting myself with the open car door and then flailed my arms and screamed as menacingly as I could - the shepherd ran off yelping, it's tail between it's legs. The owner appeared and wanted to know what I had done to his dog - I replied I tried to feed him and held up my bloodied/ripped pants leg. He got to quaruntine his dog at a vet's for ten days and pay my medical bills. I can still feel that jaw on my leg. It took a while for the deep puncture wounds to heal.
That same son, a few years prior when he was five, had dressed early for Halloween and went to a friend's house to show him his indian costume. He crossed a yard with no fence - didn't see the shepherd on a long chain. According to witnesses, it got him by the waist and shook him like a rag doll, throwing him essentially out of his reach. It only took 14 stitches to close his wounds - I was amazed. The long lasting effect was simple - we both became cat people. He was that dog's second human victim, while at least five other four legged pets had been killed by it. The dog was put down - it's brain testing negatively for rabies. Like me several years later, his shots were for tetanus and antibiotics. When I walk my neighborhood nowadays, I do legally carry a 'loud' pocket protector... and a pocket knife. The latter is not for defense from attack dogs... it's just not a good idea.
Now, if you like knives... and just want a big folder, the phase of the moon is a great rationale for a knife purchase! Sorry for being long winded... Happy Easter!
Stainz
