I'm sober for maybe twenty minutes, give or take, (in the morning) so it has saved my life, quiet literally, but it's always terribly impaired.
Edit: A little more interesting than my personal life is that I recall my cop friend telling me about how dogs can "sense" how long a night stick is or weapon in general I guess, so if you need to defend yourself from aggressive dog you hold your weapon in the middle and swing, and when the dog gets close enough you hold the weapon at the end, so you can hit the dog.
Or you could do what Ralph Gracie did and choke an attacking pit bull with your bare hands.