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A few times in the past couple weeks there has been this guy, I assume he's probably homeless, with a dog sitting right next to a sidewalk. I have to walk along this side walk to get to work, but every time he is there his dog will lunge at me barking aggressively. To make matters worse the guy will start swearing at me as if I'm somehow in the wrong by walking on a side walk. Should I contact the police the next time this happens?
Not unless he actually does something. If a homeless guy is swearing at you no cop will do anything because many of them do this and people ignore it and go about their day.
It's not the homeless guy, it's the dog I'm worried about if this dude can't keep control of it.
Bring pepper spray with you and have your hand in your pocket with it ready to go when you walk past him. If the dog tries to attack you spray the dog.
I wouldnt do that. Homeless people are crazy. If they have a dog they probably LOVE that dog.
Dogs earn you more money for sympathy for the dog reasons.
Dogs can kill you. I go jogging with pepper spray for this reason. If she gets put in the ICU from that dog she can not sue, because he's homeless. You arent gonna spray the dog obviously unless you're getting attacked. And if the dog is killing you a angry homeless person is the least of your worries.
Obviously, you should be free to walk wherever you want without fear of being attacked by a dog, but I have to question whether you might be setting up this confrontation. Are you seriously saying that the guy and his dog are occupying some two-metre-wide alley that you just have to use in order to get to your place of work? Do you live and work in a Brazilian favela or something?
In most places, streets have sidewalks on both sides of the road, and it's generally possible - although often inconvenient to some degree - to cross to the other side if you see something ahead that you want to avoid. If you taking a few extra steps on your journey to work is much more traumatic and stressful for you than being barked at by a dog and sworn at by some homeless guy, then maybe you should get the cops to come out and get the guy to move on.
However, something you might want to consider is that eye contact is an important aspect of canine behaviour. When two dogs which are strangers to each other lock eyes, that's the start of a dominance-establishing routine. If neither gives a sign of submission by looking away, the confrontation can escalate to aggressive barking, threat displays and sometimes violence. Dogs react to people they don't know staring at them in the same way. If you've been staring at this dog as you approach it, the dog will have seen this as a challenge and threat, and it's not surprising that it has reacted by aggressive barking and lunging. You might try obviously swerving to the far side of the sidewalk well in advance of the dog so it's clear that you're not going to be passing close to it, then keeping your gaze fixed on the pavement in front of you and avoiding ever looking directly at the dog. Unless you have some medical condition which means you have very restricted peripheral vision, you'll still be able to be aware of what the dog is doing as you get close to it.
When ever I see shady charicters on a route that I take I just take the other side of the street. Takes longer but I decrease my chance into getting into a situation.
The other side doesn't have a side walk and is an on ramp to a freeway so don't really feel comfortable walking over there. I do my best to give the dog space and avoid direct eye contact with the dog, I have a dog myself and understand that. Even the first time this happened I didn't even notice the dog was there before it started barking.
I think you’ll have better luck with animal control since he hasn’t actually committed a crime.