Regarding multiple dog confrontations... this is based on years of working around many dogs, as a dog owner and working for veterinarians.
A reliable way to distract them is to hurt one of the dogs badly enough that it yelps in fear and darts away. This often triggers a primitive shark-brain instinct in the other dogs and they're likely to turn and attack the injured dog. It works best if the injured dog bleeds a little. I know it sounds cruel but we're talking about a scenario in which you are at risk of serious injury or death.
It's an odd thing to witness but I've seen it many times. Dogs will viciously attack their own siblings and packmates if one of them is injured, especially enough to draw blood. I've seen it with my own basset hounds years ago -- the female nearly killed her brother after he was injured slightly by a barbed wire fence drawing a little blood. After that attack she kept repeatedly attacking her sibling and I finally had to split up the pair.
And I saw the same thing with a relative's pair of bird dogs. One of them caught a birdshot pellet in the paw while hunting. We're certain the dogs were well off to the side but my best guess is some of the birdshot ricocheted off a rock in the field and nicked the dog's paw -- it was just barely under the skin. But these formerly loving and gentle dogs turned vicious in an instant and the other nearly killed the injured dog.
Again, it may seem like a cruel tactic to deliberately hurt one dog enough to draw blood, but when confronted with two or more dogs it may save your life.