travel and rhum

I was on a secluded day hike about an hour from Las Vegas that had nobody on the trail or trailhead when I began. This particular hike consisted of a big wash and a large slot canyon.

As I came back through the winding slot canyon, I began to hear some chatter and a young child appeared around the corner. Soon after a massive Belgian Malinois came around the corner and began barking at me aggressively. The owner ran to it and was holding it back as I walked past on this tight slot Canyon, maybe 5 feet wide. Once I exited the slot canyon, another unleashed malinois and it’s owner were walking along the wash towards me. As I got about 30 yards away, the dog sprinted at me, barking while the owner did nothing. The dog stopped about 15 feet away but I was terrified.

I’ve been attacked by dogs before in campgrounds so I distrust dog owners and their dogs, especially when it’s large territorial dogs.

I want to know what precautions you have taken when it comes to aggressive dogs and irresponsible owners. Personally I’ve had it. I need something that is going to protect me when 911 and other resources are out of reach.

This may be the wrong sub for this question, but my partner and I are both decently experienced walkers/hikers (him more experienced than me).

On the 24th we went to a new area to hike. A lot of quarries, mines etc and we got slightly lost due to foggy weather and (we personally think) insufficient signage. We had 0 signal and at one point I took a step forward and fell into a hole that came up to my hips. I wasn't hurt, but after that I felt really uncomfortable carrying on the same way, as it was 4.30pm, we weren't sure where the true path was and I'd say it was dark enough that I couldn't see 3ft ahead.

My boyfriend was annoyed (because he's much more experienced) but we turned back and went home that way. He said he will be going back to the same place within the week and sussing out the proper path. He felt like he hadn't accomplished much so has set off on a 20 mile hike alone today. He started at 10am, has barely any signal but managed to send a message 3 hours later to say he was halfway through. I got a message a few hours later to say it was really dark and his torch isn't working as well as usual.

It's now 6 hours since he was halfway through and I'm worried. None of my messages are being received but I think I'm panicking because of our experience a few days ago. When would you guys really start to worry? He's in the military and is a very experienced walker, and I'll admit I'm a worrier

Edit – it was 8pm when I wrote this (4 hours after I felt uncomfortable walking further)