Yes, defend yourself if you need to. I'm just stating that the law is pretty much on the dog's side, no matter what for the most part. Just something to be aware of. If the dog is truly threatening your safety, then you need to do what you need to do. But you will face scrutiny legally speaking, and the laws are pretty strong against any harm to dogs (or other animals, cats, etc.). My point is you need to be prepared to demonstrate the best you can that the dog posed serious personal harm to you or your family, etc. Not sure how you can really do that short of showing that the dog bit you. But I don't recommend letting a dog bite you either, it's not fun at all.
As for what to do about a threatening dog, ideally try to avoid it however you can. Once you are safe, call animal control. The more details you can give them the better. Problem is, they are underfunded and over worked. Unless you know where this dog can be found and it's not confined by it's owner, there is not much they can do. Even if they find the dog, they will most likely just fine the owner for not controlling his dog. First offense might just be a warning even. The problem is really with the owners, for not caring for and controlling their dogs. Unfortunately, the law doesn't give the rest of us much options to deal with the situation when the owners fall short. Again, you can thank the animal rights advocates for the way the laws are on this. Ultimately, it's not the dog's fault, so the laws are good in that respect. But owners need to be held to higher accountability, and that's really where the laws fall short.
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