I would bet on a medium-sized to big, healthy dog against a velociraptor. Raptors were around the size of a turkey. Might not be an easy fight, though.

Velociraptors have two rows of teeth in addition to a 2.5" retractable middle claw theorized to be used for slashing or stabbing attacks. Many dogs would have a size advantage, but all would have fewer teeth and generally soft padded paws with no serious claws. Even with the smaller size, the Velociraptors seemingly have the advantage. The "Fighting Dinosaurs" fossils give some credence to the claw being used to pierce the neck of a prey animal: https://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/fighting-dinos/the-fighting...

Something like maybe a Rodesian Ridgeback (lion hunting dogs) might stand a good chance however.

Met my first Rodesian Ridgeback (god that's such a dragon name) about a year ago. He was youngish but still ~3 ft at the shoulder, tall enough that he had to lower his head to sniff my crotch (and I'm 6' tall), which he was very interested in (I'm male). Owner didn't discipline or train him at all. I think he was just supposed to guard the horses, and fuck anyone else who wandered onto the property. Pretty friendly right up until he decided he didn't like me any more.

First time I've been scared of a dog since I was three. When a pit gets mad at you, you can kind of convince yourself you can keep it down by kicking and pushing it. Your neck is out of its immediate range unless you fall down. The Rodey was big and heavy enough that I would have had basically zero time to react if he jumped up. Humans are just so squishy. If you can throw a good punch, you can knock out 99% of people with one good hit to the chin. A strong hit to the liver will incapacitate anyone and kill them without treatment. Unlucky hits to the face can kill people as well.

I was very acutely aware that no matter how hard I hit that dog, I wouldn't be able to knock it out and my only option was basically to let it chew on me while I tried to hurt it as much as possible. Just keep punching anything that looks soft until it decided I wasn't worth biting, and do my best to keep it away from my neck and nuts.

Punching a large dog wouldn't do much of anything to it, as you allude to. The largest muscle in your body is in your legs, your quadriceps in specific. A Tae Kwon Do (my primary martial art) front snap kick or Muay Thai style semi-circle round kick to the face or ribs (as they leap) could incapacitate them. If you are able to hit them before they have ahold of you, that initial crushing blow might prevent them from wrecking you. That said, I'd NEVER want to try even after 8+ years of martial arts. Much like a knife fight, the standard isn't whether you got stabbed or not, but if you lived. It would be rough regardless!

Those are huge dogs and aren't afraid to scrap. I'd still happily take on one of them for my life given the choice vs a velociraptor :)

Do wild turkeys have spurs like fighting cocks, and how do they fare against dogs, i would wonder.

We have wild turkeys near us. My chocolate lab went a couple rounds with a mother turkey this spring. First couple of encounters went to the mama turkey as she was defending her babies and my dog was just terrified of her. She would spread her wings (6-8 feet wide or so?) and then hover above him. He would freak out and back away, terrified. Eventually the dog got brave, chased her off and ate a couple of turkey babies. But based on that interaction, I definitely would NOT bet on a lab taking down a velociraptor. The raptor would have gone for the kill when the dog was still scared..

Yes, turkeys (wild or domestic) have spurs. Typically an inch or so in length, up to a bit more than two inches for the biggest, oldest birds. They also have interesting beards, which can be 10 inches long!

They'll bluster and charge to defend young against a curious city dog, but will flee up to roost if challenged by a pack of hunting dogs. If you find a cornered turkey, don't try to catch it or let your dog attack: you'll probably win from sheer mass and from having predatory weapons, but you will be badly bloodied.

what about titanoboa vs modern tiger ?

I don't know about velociraptors, but there probably is a Creodont species that was pushed to extinction by ancestors of dogs. I mean it is believed that Creodonts disappeared due to the concurrence of the Carnivora order.

The idea that more recent species are "more evolved" than ancient ones is not completely absurd.

To be pedantic dogs are pretty selectively bred by humans. Raptor vs Wolf might be more apt

Bacteria are pretty selectively bred by humans too :P

i think that would be like saying a stray dog would be better at surviving in today's world than a stray velociraptor.

Dinosaurs are now birds? Do Velociraptors climb trees?

You got it backwards, birds are now dinosaurs. The world just got that much cooler. If you're not convinced, look through YouTube for videos of my favorite dinosaur, the raven.

Care to elucidate on the choice of ravens? I would go with cassowaries and emus as examples of "oh yeah they totally are dinosaurs"...

Mainly just that ravens are awesome, and velociraptors are awesome, so Q.E.D. Not really a scientific argument.

I do wonder how many Cretaceous critters were intelligent to the degree of ravens or dogs or primates, if any. We know they weren't as good at terraforming as we are, or there'd be some evidence in the strata. But the Cretaceous was longer than the current period, so I wouldn't be shocked if something we could call intelligent evolved.

Hah, poor dumb kid. Velociraptors evolved into birds, birds are safe from grounded velociraptors... Read gp again, see it fits? Heard of Socrates?