tcs

We had what appeared to be a Havanese run out into the street, barking its little head off at our group. The lady on the sidewalk laughed and laughed and shouted at us, "Oh, she wouldn't hurt any one!"

I stopped and politely explained to her that if her tiny dog ran out onto the public thoroughfare and hit a rider's front wheel, it could result in a nasty crash. Yes, her unrestrained dog really could hurt someone, and yes, in our part of the world she would be financially liable. Shockingly, she corralled her dog, listened attentively, said she'd never considered that, apologized, and thanked me.

The interaction restored my faith in humanity.

For a few minutes.

Miele Man

Kicking at a dog is NOT agood idea. It throws off your balance and makes it more likely that the dog can latch on to part of you. Far better to get off the bike with the frame between you and the dog and then slowly walk away from the dog and hope that once past what it considers his/her territory it'll return home. often, yelling GO HOME or NO will cause a dog to back off. You really do need to watch out for the ones that are not deterred by anything.

Cheers

Chris0516

There have been many threads about, how to react to dogs.

My personal reaction to an approaching dog. Is to befriend it.

Jarrett2

lol, thanks for tips

deapee

I live out in the country...

I can say that the recommendation is to dismount, and place the bike between you and the dog.

I can also say that I got chased by an angry Rottweiler. Luckily I saw him aiming to cut me off, and was able to turn around.
He probably was with me for a good half a mile.

There was absolutely no way I was dismounting and putting the bike between me and it.

Different situation maybe, but you've reminded me that I've been meaning to pick up some bear pepper spray.

I'm not spraying an angry Rott with something that will make it more angry, I can promise you that.

--

This dog meant business (having owned a boxer myself, and a great dane in our family as well, and my old neighbor had a Rott), I'm pretty experienced with dogs.
Dogs are insanely POWERFUL.

JanMM

I used ammonia long ago when I was in rural southern indiana and new to cycling. And didn't know better. The problem is that ammonia can be injurious to dogs. Pepper spray, like Halt!, generally is not.

bbbean 

1) My most authoritative voice saying a clear "NO!"
2) Squirt of water to the dog's face from my water bottle.
3) Stop and talk to owner.
4) Pepper spray.
5) Always ride with slower, weaker riders and outsprint them.

FWIW: I've had a CCW for over 15 yrs, am an experienced USPSA (i.e. running and shooting at moving/hidden/awkwardly placed targets) competitor, and have put 10s of thousands of rounds downrange in a year. I'm very good with a self defense weapon. That said, it is my considered opinion and experience that a handg*n is not the weapon of choice for dealing with dogs while riding a bicycle. The odds of hitting the target are exceptionally low, and the odds of hitting something else are unacceptably high.

On my regular routes, I've had good success actually talking to owners. As long as I'm not confrontational and simply approach it from a "I'd hate to see Fido get hit by a car while he's chasing me down the road", I find they're pretty receptive. I've also found that if you meet the dog while you're standing there talking to the owner, the dogs get a lot smaller and less scary than they are when your HR is at LT and all you can see are teeth and fur.

Good riding!

NYMXer

Here in NYS, it is illegal to discharge a firearm from a public roadway and also within 500 ft of a residence. I also can't understand why anyone would carry a pistol or revolver with them on a bike ride when pepper spray will more likely hit the target and weighs so much less.

For the owners that refuse to accept responsibility for their loose dog(s), I can show them my camera video and walk away saying "next time, I'll show the video to animal control".

I once had a Rottweiler try to bite me while I was walking my German Shepherd. The owner refused to call his dog back, even though I was on a public street. I videoed the loose dog with my phone, called the Police who came with animal control while my GSD protected me from harm. He got some stiff fines and to this day, that guy still thinks he was picked on. Maybe he is related to Goraman, lol

texaspandj

First I like dogs. I dislike irresponsible dog owners. However, I usually ride the same routes so I know where most of the loose dogs are. But I get my water bottle out and wait til they get close and blast them in their face. They usually stop dead in their tracks. But there was one dog that was half lab half chainsaw it didn't faze him. He started chomping at the water as I sprayed him. It was right at the top of a difficult climb. Luckily the owner called him back.
If the water doesn't work use them as a sprint training partner.

TimothyH

Look right at them and ride straight toward them if they are in front of me. Most back down.

Spray first, ask questions later.

I've filed complaints at the animal control office and filed a criminal complaint against an owner who commanded his train dog to attack.

canklecat

Since I resumed cycling last year after a 30-year break, I've paid a bit more attention to the dog thing. Especially because I see so many more of them now that most of my riding is along a rural route, where everybody has dogs, or the local MUP where about half the pedestrians have dogs.

The biggest risk? Getting tangled up and falling over friendly wandering dogs. Especially dogs on long retractable leashes wandering all over the MUP. Actually, the problem is the heedless owners. I've seen some clueless owners have a near miss or entanglement with a rider ahead of me, then repeat exactly the same mistake with me and every following rider.

Most of the dogs that "chase" me are actually giving me an escort. They either trot alongside or in front of me for 20-50 yards through their marked territory. Even if they bark it's more of a conversational thing, not threatening. I just say "Who's a good doggie? You are. Yup. Thanks for the escort."

I can remember only one somewhat threatening dog in the neighborhood, that was growling while trotting alongside me. He veered in front of me, and I ran over his backside but didn't crash. He yelped and ran away. Haven't seen him again.

Most of the pit bulls I encounter are lovable goofballs. And most of their owners are very cautious and keep them on short leashes or fenced in -- some with those electronic "invisible" fences, that do seem to work.

One ranch home along my rural route has at least half a dozen very excitable bird dogs. Hard to be sure whether it's five or six. They're a blur of frenetic motion, all white and black spots of twisting motion, like the Tasmanian Devil character from Bugs Bunny cartoons. Their owner uses an electronic fence, or else those dogs are incredibly well trained, because they never cross an invisible line even though they're not physically fenced in.

The little dogs are more unpredictable, especially the high strung breeds like chihuahuas. Next one I catch is gonna get zip-tied to my chain stay and I'll use his nose as a squeak toy while it flaps against the spoke.

Loose Chain

I am not intending to argue with either of you anti CCL opinions. First, the right to defend oneself trumps any other law concerning weapons discharge. Second, the idea is not to escalate but to avoid and then if cannot to place the bike between oneself and the attacker and then only as a last resort when being attacked is to use force to stop which I prefer the pepper spray. However, pepper spray will not stop all dogs and cannot be counted upon against large determined man killer breeds. Third, one does not ride down the road shooting at dogs as passing by. This is stupid and not what I would do or any other sane person and would obviously be illegal. But make no mistake, after seeing my femur bone jutting from my leg while fending off two pit bulls as I was laying on the ground with my helmet. I will do what I need to do and exercise my second amendment rights and defend myself as needed and as considered acceptable going back to the beginning of time, thank you.

Miele Man

Like "Eddie" in American Flyers?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8uP-dxllKQ

Cheers

Jim from Boston

how do you deter dogs who are chasing you?

I can’t recall any dog encounters here in Massachusetts in Metro Boston, including exurbia. When I cycled in the Midwest and cross-country my technique was to ride at a fast, constant, sub-maximal speed until the dog got very close. Then I would shout (scream) at the dog to startle it. It always stopped, and I accelerated away at a faster speed, and the dog always gave up the chase.

Besides, if riding with friends, you don’t have to outride the dog, just outride the friends.

Deal4Fuji

This winter I did more night riding by myself. Only the strong A's rode evenings year round, and they prefer the more busy but smother roads vs my preference for the country roads with little traffic but sometimes rougher surfaces. I was a little paranoid fearing bears, wild dog packs, coyotes, and/or wolves both 2 and 4 legged all of which we have in my area. I'd heard here about a cheap alternative - wasp spray. You can't beat the distance you can shoot a stream of spray vs those little pepper spray canisters. I'm not needing as much water, so I used one of my water bottle cages and added some width with a huggy taped to the spray can so it would fit snugly.
Coyotes becoming a nuisance in Eastern North Carolina - News - New Bern Sun Journal - New Bern, NC


I've yet to need it, but feel better knowing it's there.

ItsJustMe

I stop and yell at them. As soon as I transform from a weird car into a human, they stop. I'm sure there are dogs that will continue to attack, but I haven't met any yet. Mainly they want to chase and take down things that are moving fast. When I stop moving fast they just stop and bark at me.

Roadwanderer

I ignore them. If the dog is really aggressive, I jump off of the bike (keeping it between me than the dog), adopt a dominant stance and command the dog to go home. If that doesn't work, I chase the dog.

Note: I've only ever had to deal with lone dogs. A multiple dog scenario would be a lot more dangerous, I think.

Korina

DH and I occasionally take a rural ride, and right at the top of a gnarly hill, there are a couple of loose dogs; the big 50 lb. beast ambles out with a huge grin and just wants to say hi. The little 15 lb. monster comes roaring out and really wants to take our faces off, but will be satisfied with our ankles. I'm not sure of the practicality of keeping your bike between you and the monster when the monster can just run under or through the bike. I've tried the loud authoritative (NEVER aggressive), 'NO'. I've tried the calm authoritative 'Good dog, that's enough'. The big dog listens, the little monster is too frenzied to hear. We keep riding, and if he gets too close I kind of nudge him with my shoe. On the other hand, he's a good incentive to dig deep and find the energy to pedal faster. Nonetheless...

kuroba

Where I live there are lots of stray dogs so this is usual for us. Most dogs just want to play and follow us gleefully, though sometimes it's dangerous because they cross in front of our wheels without much notice, so we usually stop, and either give pet them for a while (sometimes that's all they want) or give them osmething to eat (then quickly take off before they notice)

For not so friendly dogs I pretend to throw a kick at them and yell a "Get off!! *insert misc. curse word*. So far that works for me. When I ride with the SO he just gives them a dirty look and the dogs move on. Only once we had to stop and put our bikes in between (it was a pack of strays), but seems like, to most dogs, once you get off the bike you stop being interesting to them so they quickly went away.

Tim_Iowa

Yes, clueless dog-walkers are definitely a threat. I use a nice loud bell on most of my bikes, and I ring it long ahead of time to warn the dog and its owner that I'm closing from behind. Most dog-walkers will move the leash to the outside hand, or even step off the path and wait for me to pass.

But even that isn't fool-proof. On this morning's commute, I rang my bell for a dog and its walker. The walker had headphones on (the big, old radio-included ones! didn't think anyone still used those!), so he never reacted to my bell. The dog, however, looked back at the ring and finally the walker noticed the dog's reaction.

Ratzinger

Talking to the owners or befriending a dog are good ideas, but not always possible. My bad experiences with dogs are all in rural New Brunswisk. No owner in sight, there would be a dog chillin on the front porch of a farm house, and when it would spy me it would start sprinting up the driveway. Sometimes they would stop at the road, sometimes continuing on the road. Hard to befriend when it's already running full force towards you.

I'm a bit scared of dogs so I just end up yelling and sprinting as fast as possible. So far it's worked for me.

Here in the city, there are tons of people walking dogs sans leash, but most owners are very cognizant of bikes and their dogs obey them. The one thing that concerns me most is, for example, twice on Saturday a dog very suddenly lunged at me barking- both times on a leash, and both times the owner was scrambling a bit to hold on. If the leash slips, I don't know what the dogs would have done.

Fargo Wolf

I can't recall the last time a dog actively chased me. At least aggressively. Only one "furent" told me that his dog "chased" bikes and, if said dog ever caught one, he (the dog) wouldn't know what to do with it. And yeas... the dog went out of it's way to look as idiotic as possible.... The only other dog I have to watch out for, is a wiener dog by the name of "Burrito". He tries to "catch" one of my tires, much to the exasperation of his owner. We both like going out on the dike by the airport because it's a really nice walk/ride so we encounter one another on a semi regular basis.

ItsJustMe

"It wasn't enough for him to scare the truck
He had to bite the tire"

CuttersRidge

I should go back and make sure the poster gets mentioned but the rolled up newspaper is one of the better suggestions I've ever heard. A good bulky newspaper rolled up would work with most dogs at that.

I've come out mainly with a strong "NO" to dogs. That's been my position.

One time, I was riding and no, the dog was not biting but out of nowhere, I felt him right up on my leg, it was a lab or something sniffing, not a comfortable feeling. The owner was nearby and called him.

My worse experience was probably with a doberman or two, I yelled "NO" at him and put the bike between me and them. They seemed to lose interest.

Last note, now, most people are using stainless steel water bottles, plastic squirts well but generally are not that popular anymore. That would be an idea to put one in my cycling jersey back pockets if that was the situation; many of us though are not sporting jerseys all the time.

Lastly, there was a pesky dog on my ride, I actually sprayed the ground with the pepper spray and he basically never bothered anyone after that, did not even spray the dog directly.

bbbean 

Really?