Before my time as a publisher, there happened to be some sort of scary tattooed guy who threatened to shoot and kill every next witness that would visit him. He was on the do-not-call-list with exclamation marks and "extremely dangerous" written in bold letters.
From my own experience...
One householder had the ultimate answer...a pack of three or four barking dogs! My wife ran away and I was slowly walking backwards, trusting the angels and keeping my bag between me and the dogs until I was on the street. Had to walk some distance to my car but luckily the dogs didn't fellow. My wife never forgave me for doing that one more house around the corner in the outside area. Lol