Commuting - dog attack

it was a pretty late night at studio last night, the last working night of the summer semester at my university. Around midnight I finished and put on my cygolite 20w light and blinkie to start the way home. I was about 2 minutes into the short 5 minute ride (i'm lucky i know) riding the same back-road i always have taken back for the past 3 years, when suddenly I hear a bark very close somewhere. I saw this shaggy brown dog's snarling white teeth and it was barking relentlesly at me whilst running along side.

Okay i commute to the store, sprawlmart, all over campus, and fast food joints, but I never take neighborhood roads like this one at all during my commute. The places i go to are all on campus or on very main roads with no houses and this has never happened before. I have to admit I just kind of rode on, stunned and not knowing what to do. It didn't even cross my mind that I could ever be attacked by a dog of all things.

So the dog is trying to bite my legs and all i hear is snarl. I tried to drift and slow and accelerate to try and shake him. Then i remembered the horrifying roadkill thread posted the other day and gruesome descriptions of animals being crushed by trucks and things. So I just kind of rode along swerving with this creature, trying to shake the urge to run him over. is that sick? i mean, I felt so threatened and had to run a stop sign with a car around because i was afraid to stop, and i was swerving around the pothole strewn road on the wrong side of the street! It had to end, so i decided i would try and flick my wheel or kick at it with my foot when I heard "LOUIS!" being called out a hundred times and some lady running after me. At that point the dog finally stopped and barked even more in the middle of the road. I didn't really know what just happened and I shouted, "TIE UP YOUR DOG, LADY!" I got home a minute or so later checking behind me to see if the dog had somehow followed. I am f'in pissed that this lady let her snarling dog out and that it chased me for a couple blocks.

should i knock on her door and tell her to tie it up or else? should i call animal control? i've heard some people use ammonia in a bottle or even water and spray it, but is buying a can of Halt! worth it? I was thinking it'd be pretty hard to swerve the dog, navigate traffic, and get out the can and spray, let alone hit the dog. If i was bitten, then what? Would I just accept the fact that some strange dog bit me because that what dogs do? what action against the owner should i take if I were wounded or in an accident as a result?

man, who knew stupid dogs came out of nowhere that you've never seen before at midnight and attack bicycles?

This would be classified as a "dangerous dog" by this definition:


* a dog that makes an unprovoked attack on a person that causes bodily injury and the attack occurs outside of the dog’s enclosure; or
* a dog that commits unprovoked attacks outside of its enclosure that cause a person to reasonably believe the dog will attack and cause bodily injury.


and...


A dangerous dog owner commits a criminal offense if the dog, when unprovoked, attacks a person outside the dog’s enclosure and causes bodily injury.

http://www.edgarsnyder.com/accidents/dogbite/dogbite-law/texas.html (granted, this info is from a personal-injury lawyer's website, but the law is the law)

And this is interesting too:

http://www.dogbitelaw.com/PAGES/Texas.htm

You know where the dog lives. If you believe that the dog meant you harm, call the cops. At least the owner was responsive, and the dog obeyed somewhat. It could have been a case of the dog just flipping out and being friendly, but it doesn't sound like that; and either way it would have violated the leash law.

That's MHO.

it was a pretty late night at studio last night, the last working night of the summer semester at my university. Around midnight I finished and put on my cygolite 20w light and blinkie to start the way home. I was about 2 minutes into the short 5 minute ride (i'm lucky i know) riding the same back-road i always have taken back for the past 3 years, when suddenly I hear a bark very close somewhere. I saw this shaggy brown dog's snarling white teeth and it was barking relentlesly at me whilst running along side.

Okay i commute to the store, sprawlmart, all over campus, and fast food joints, but I never take neighborhood roads like this one at all during my commute. The places i go to are all on campus or on very main roads with no houses and this has never happened before. I have to admit I just kind of rode on, stunned and not knowing what to do. It didn't even cross my mind that I could ever be attacked by a dog of all things.

So the dog is trying to bite my legs and all i hear is snarl. I tried to drift and slow and accelerate to try and shake him. Then i remembered the horrifying roadkill thread posted the other day and gruesome descriptions of animals being crushed by trucks and things. So I just kind of rode along swerving with this creature, trying to shake the urge to run him over. is that sick? i mean, I felt so threatened and had to run a stop sign with a car around because i was afraid to stop, and i was swerving around the pothole strewn road on the wrong side of the street! It had to end, so i decided i would try and flick my wheel or kick at it with my foot when I heard "LOUIS!" being called out a hundred times and some lady running after me. At that point the dog finally stopped and barked even more in the middle of the road. I didn't really know what just happened and I shouted, "TIE UP YOUR DOG, LADY!" I got home a minute or so later checking behind me to see if the dog had somehow followed. I am f'in pissed that this lady let her snarling dog out and that it chased me for a couple blocks.

should i knock on her door and tell her to tie it up or else? should i call animal control? i've heard some people use ammonia in a bottle or even water and spray it, but is buying a can of Halt! worth it? I was thinking it'd be pretty hard to swerve the dog, navigate traffic, and get out the can and spray, let alone hit the dog. If i was bitten, then what? Would I just accept the fact that some strange dog bit me because that what dogs do? what action against the owner should i take if I were wounded or in an accident as a result?

man, who knew stupid dogs came out of nowhere that you've never seen before at midnight and attack bicycles?


A little trick I heard an older generation cyclist use was as follows: (Based on the assumption of no traffic and is safe to do so) As the dog approaches from the right quarter (dogs love blindsiding) accelerate gradually and shift your lane position to the left. As the dog approaches your rear wheel accelerate into a full sprint and snap to the right and continue accelerating. The snap to the right forces the dog to pause and slow as you are reaching for maximum acceleration. Usually this is enough to shake any dog off you.
I have never had occasion to use it myself but apparently it is a very successful tactic.

If you cannot safely outrun a dog, it is best to bring your bike to a stop and keep the bike between you and the mutt. In the event of dealing with more than one dog, however, even this becomes a dodgy proposition. On my old cycling route there were a pair of pit bulls wandering around loose and one of the things was waiting for me in the middle of the road. I knew there was another one lurking about and I wasn't going to stop. I accelerated the old Bianchi and passed the dog at 55 km/h and he tried to lunge at me but only managed to launch himself about 5 feet behind my rear wheel. Rural law enforcement being what it is good luck getting the police to do anything. My friend's father had a more direct solution when these same dogs backed him against his tractor in his back field. He informed the owners that he would shoot the dogs if they placed one paw on his land. I once had a pair of Alsatians have a go at me on a rural road; it was not a lot of fun to try to outrun those things into a headwind. Thank God for the old fight or flight response.

Call animal control and get the rat hauled away. Also, get some dog repellent, or if you're feeling frisky, bear repellent.

I let a dog chase me once before I do anything.

If it happens again I take care of the problem.

I had a dog chase me a few times in a neighborhood that I have to go through to get to work. I tried yelling and water bottle spraying the first two times. The third time I had pepper spray. All it took was a split second of that, and I never saw the dog again. I equate my action to that of a skunk. It's just self-defense, so I don't feel bad about it.

Just got bit by a dog last week. I live in a rural area and loose dogs are common. I get chased about once a week. But this was the first dog to catch me. I have found that I can shake them at about 25 mph. Which considering that I am 90 lbs over weight and on a mountain bike, is no easy task. There were two dogs loose on this guy's farm. The one dog came out of nowhere and chased me, his teeth finally catching up with my ankle. He bit me on every downstroke. Needless to say, I sprinted like mad. I was about 7 miles from home at that point. When I got home I got in the car to talk to the owners and see if this mutt had a rabies shot. No body was home, but yes the dogs were roaming around. So I spent a night in the ER getting about ten rabies shots in my hip, thigh and directly into the wound. Fun stuff. The health department investigated the situation and the owner refused to give information as to the rabies status of the dog. In fact he said it wasn't his dog that bit me. Jerk! So now I have to get more rabies shots, on days 3, 7, 14, and 28. Should have carried mace. Now I will. I need to call the health department again to see what they are going to do about it. Hard to believe that the owner can just refuse to give this information. I wan't going to press any charges or push the issue criminally, but since this guy is being such a jerk, I really want him to get slammed with fines.

My friends dog was registered as an aggressive dog by his local spca. It was not bicycle related. They told him any dog can be deemed aggressive if it chases another animal, human or wildlife.

I wonder how effective an air horn would be. You know, the can of compressed air with the red horn on top that boaters often use. Given a dog's sensitive hearing, it might really stun or scare them enough for you to get away. The thing that I really like about this idea is that you merely have to point it in their general direction, not aim like water or pepper sprays, thereby increasing it's usefullness. I would think that a quick burst would do the trick.

I haven't run across a loose dog on my commute, but I almost always see them when mountain biking in one of the local parks. I hate owners who feel that they can simply disregard leash laws because they want to.

I wan't going to press any charges or push the issue criminally, but since this guy is being such a jerk, I really want him to get slammed with fines.

If you push the issue criminally, the dog will probably be put to sleep. No one can predict the future, but a dog that is violently aggressive like this could kill or horribly disfigure a kid. The owner has already proven that he is not willing to be a responsible pet owner, so ethically it would seem that the ball is in your court.

I keep the Halt II handy inside a cell phone holder on the strap of my backpack but have never used it while commuting.
When riding the tandem, we keep it clipped on the outside of the rack bag.... and the stokie had to fire it off once. We were riding through a neighborhood and i saw a large dog loose ahead on the right. I told her get ready for a dog on the right side and she fished up the spray. When the dog came chomping at our feet, she nailed him square in the face from about 3 feet. He froze for about one second, then ran away yelping. Last we saw he was rolling his face around in someones yard. The stuff works, but you have to be close enough to hit the target. It might be difficult to use while riding alone, but on the tandem the stoker has both hands free and can focus on the target.

I suspect the result would be the same on humans, which another reason I carry the stuff.

My mate had his knee cap torn and bitten into (left hanging off his leg in bits) by a dog when on his paper round many many years ago.

As a paperboy myself I had to cover him while he was in hospital. The police were yet to identify the dog owner, or capture the dog and so I had to do a round with this dog somewhere around the area. Sure enough as I went down a lane on my old Raleigh Activator (ahh my first front sus bike :D), the dog lept out of the hedges along the side and came after me.

But... I was packing. A small £3 bargain supersoaker that I kept in my paperbag during the summer to have some fun with the kids who tended to play on the street and get me with their pistols as I rode by, or delivered papers.

Squirted the dog in the face whilst dodging him. Soon lost interest. Police captured the dog a few days later as I understand it and I've not seen it since, according to my mate (he was the one the police were talking to all the time due to actually being injured by the dog) the dog was destroyed. Owners never came forward.

If you can pack a small supersoaker (not a little tiny water pistol.. it does naff all, but one of the cheapy pump up and squirt things) it does the job. Either that or just use your rackmount water bottle to squirt the thing.

I would report it to either the police or animal control so that there is a record of the incident and the owner will most likely be talked to. That way the owner knows that if it happens again they can lose their dog and/or be fined. The next person who gets chased by this dog may not be so lucky. I would be even more upset with myself if I found out someone got bit by a dog that I didn't report previously that could have kept it from happening.

Andy
www.myvemma.com/unbent

Blinding the dog with pepper spray will take the fight out of it.

Id call and let the authorities know.

One time I was riding along a street over by my apartment, and I see this pit bull sitting on someones porch.. unleashed. I was thinking, "Crap..." and slowly went by hoping it would ignore me. Nope... It started to sprint towards me (dang are those things fast) so I went into full power and pulled to the left of the road and somehow managed to outsprint it.

That was pretty frightening though.

Just got bit by a dog last week. I live in a rural area and loose dogs are common. I get chased about once a week. But this was the first dog to catch me. I have found that I can shake them at about 25 mph. Which considering that I am 90 lbs over weight and on a mountain bike, is no easy task. There were two dogs loose on this guy's farm. The one dog came out of nowhere and chased me, his teeth finally catching up with my ankle. He bit me on every downstroke. Needless to say, I sprinted like mad. I was about 7 miles from home at that point. When I got home I got in the car to talk to the owners and see if this mutt had a rabies shot. No body was home, but yes the dogs were roaming around. So I spent a night in the ER getting about ten rabies shots in my hip, thigh and directly into the wound. Fun stuff. The health department investigated the situation and the owner refused to give information as to the rabies status of the dog. In fact he said it wasn't his dog that bit me. Jerk! So now I have to get more rabies shots, on days 3, 7, 14, and 28. Should have carried mace. Now I will. I need to call the health department again to see what they are going to do about it. Hard to believe that the owner can just refuse to give this information. I wan't going to press any charges or push the issue criminally, but since this guy is being such a jerk, I really want him to get slammed with fines.

Good for you going after the owner and not the dog. I'm no dog-lover, but I'm not a hater either; I know the owner is usually the problem. It's hard to resist the temptation to have the owner wake up one day to a dead dog.