General Cycling Discussion - What happened to me while cycling?

So I'm bicycling along about a 15 mile rec. ride a dog follows me..I tell him many time to go home ,he doesn't listen...so the dog keeps following me and then when I come to a abandoned saw mill and a pack of dogs come tearing after me cause no doubt its the dog following me thats attracting them.So
you can imagine how I felt..I thought they were going to tear me to pieces...I never been so scared in all my life...now I know why some cyclist get to hate dogs:eek:

Squirt them with your water bottle, if you get them in the face they will get a snoot full and back off.
They are chasing you because that is what dogs do. Often if you stop they will also stop and then you can ride off easy or you can sprint away. Once you pass the territory boundary they will quit chasing you(Usually).

The pack might have chased after you even if the dog hadn't been tagging along. Halt is the cyclist best friend. I have an electronic dog repeller that works on most dogs but I grab for the pepper spray in an emergency situation...Except the other day a Rottweiler came up on me fast while I was recovering from a climb. I had a 3/4 full water bottle in my hand and before I had time to think, I threw that sucker as hard as I could and popped him in the face. He stopped dead in his tracks in disbelief:D

These wild dogs grow little by little more and more abandoned dogs end up in this friendly bunch of wild dogs...little do the little dogs know that they'll be dinner and supper when winter comes and food is scarce..for the bigger dogs...So when you see the last two big wild dogs coming into your town you know there hungry and all the rest of the pack is history[dinner]so they come straggling into town when the snow in the bush gets deep and there is nothing for them to eat

I can't stand dogs. I was riding the bike path today and two dumb @ssed goofballs were walking their rottweilers (sp?) and holding onto them by their collars. One of those dogs actually lunged at me, and the woman could barely hold the dog back. I cursed at them and kept going.

On the way back, they were walking in the opposite direction holding onto the dogs with leashes.

I'm thinking I'm going to start carrying a knife with me too. I had my mace, but I was too startled to use it. Next time, not only will I lunge back with the mace, I'll knife the mutts too.

Come oon guys dogs are pets not monsters. Just tell them to sit or as some one posted "GET OFF THE COUCH". I was a some ones house to pick up something - first time there. He had two nice red Dobermans. He was holding their collers they were barking lunging and looking mean. I squatted down put both hands out with my figers moving and said "LET 'EM GO" there I was with two happy Doberman's under my fingers getting their ears scratched. The look on the owner's face was priceless. Pet them or something they won't hurt you unless they catch you when they are chasing - its part of the game.

Joe

Guys.

Dogs are man's best friend. We found out early that feeding a dog and disciplining him made him submit loyally to us.

But when they "pack," or you are the "enemy," watch out!

Call the authorities to report any dog packs or aggressive dogs. The owners can pick them up for a small fee.

Here's my problem- all dogs on the path are supposed to be leashed at all times.

I do not have the inclination to wait and see once the dog lunges at me if the dog will simply lick my face or bite it off.

I'm for self-preservation. When someone or something comes at me, my instinct will be to save my butt, not evaluate the friendliness of the thing coming at me.

In Chicago and the surrounding suburbs, we seem to have a recent rash of dogs roaming around- some of them violent. We had some killings a few weeks back with some women in the woods by dogs that lived in the neighborhood that wandered into the woods. We've had a couple of children attacked too in recent weeks.

Regardless of whether dogs are man's best friend, for this woman, they aren't mine, so if I see one coming, I'm going to react first in a defensive manner and ask questions later. Paranoid? Probably, but at least I won't be the next victim in the paper.

The dogs could smell your sweat, seriously!!! In sweat is male/female hormons, so they know right away there is a male/female present. and seeing as how dogs are territorial animals(sorry about the bad spelling) they see/smell you as a threat.

Originally posted by Koffee Brown
I'm thinking I'm going to start carrying a knife with me too. I had my mace, but I was too startled to use it. Next time, not only will I lunge back with the mace, I'll knife the mutts too.

Imagine the headlines:

Local Cyclist Knifes Pooch
or
Cyclist Takes Shiv to Shepard

Dog bites me Monday............
Dog eats bullet Tuesday!!
Nuff said.

I've been in teh same situation man..One time I crested a hill and there was a pack of dogs.. All I could think was, "This is the end."

I've been chased by packs of dogs before. What you need is some ultra-sqeaky brakes. Forget about pepper spray, sub-machine guns or anything else, the noise from those things will scare them off completely. So much so, that one blast and they'll never chase you again!

I had an incident on my bike with a dog way back when I was 12. I was riding from a friends house after a day of duck hunting. As I passed this house that had a German Shepard that was always in the back yard. Well this particular day he was in the front yard loose. When I saw him he was almost on top of me. Now I was carrying a Mossberg 12 gauge shot gun on my shoulder at the time. So I was trying to stop, get my feet down and not drop my brand new gun. I was affraid that he was gonna knock me down as well as bite. Well he did bite me right on the right cheek of my butt and then ran back into his yard. Now he was deffinitely protecting what he perceived as his territory. But when I went back with my father to talk to the owner,I told her she was lucky that I didnt have any shells with me when it happened. Because if I had I deffinitely would of shot him dead right there. That is the only real problem that I have really had yet. I have always lived in the country, I even had a paperroute back then. I deliverd papers from 2 am to 4 am. And it was an all farming area, doesn't get more country then that. I guess I have just been lucky all these years. I did have a barn Owl chase me one time. Sorry for the long post

I generally use the Reverend's water bottle defense, with the following twist: hold the bottle high and aim downward at the dog, whose little brain will conclude that some huge animal is marking territory. If that doesn't work, then you have just discovered another advantage of full-size frame fit pumps over minis. If a dog is trying to bite me, I do not consider it unethical to give him a taste of France (Zefal).

Speaking of Dogs, a medium size poodle just lunged at me today. I was lucky the owner had a leash or I could have some nice bite marks on my leg. One time an owner had these two large Rotweillers off the leash and they came at me full speed. I thought this was it. I put on the power with everything I had and took off like a rocket. Maybe the owner stopped them in time or the dogs just gave up but for some reason, I just got away. By the way, these were guard dogs!

Originally posted by Dahon.Steve
One time an owner had these two large Rotweillers off the leash and they came at me full speed. I thought this was it. I put on the power with everything I had and took off like a rocket. Maybe the owner stopped them in time or the dogs just gave up but for some reason, I just got away.
If that happened to me, I'd seriously consider calling the law.

Let the judge decide if letting attack dogs run free is an inalienable right.

Well, I have had many run ins with dogs over the years. I have developed a number of techniques to deal with them.

1) If you are slow. Stop. Get off. Put your bike between you and the dog. Walk slowly away and speak sternly to the dog. Dogs generally protect "their" territory and usually that territory is not large.

What is not appreciated is each dog has its own "rules" about chasing cyclists. Many dogs will run after cyclists but will not get out of their yard. Other dogs will run along the shoulder. A few dogs will come out into the road. Something else is that once a dog has chased a group of cyclists, they seem to have to go back to home base and "tag up" before they will chase cyclists in another group. Knowing an individual dog's rules, can help if you ride that route frequently. Dogs also seem to have different motives for chasing. Some are trying to run you off, others seem to think of a fast moving object as potential prey and others are just running along with you (of course even friendly dogs can hurt you if they get under your front wheel).

2) Outrun the dog. Very few dogs can go over 20 mph. I got chased by a couple of dobermans who could do 25 mph and a german shepherd that did 27 mph. Usually, if you can do over 20 mph, you can outrun the dog. The german shepherd was an interesting case. I had a big tail wind and was cruising at 25mph. This big black sherpherd came out of his yard. I gfigured that there was no way he could catch me. I looked back and he was gaining (his teeth flashed in the sun as he inhaled at each stride). I cranked up to around 29 mph and held him off. The next day, I rode the same route. This time I had a head wind. But I had a feeling about that dog. I rode by the yard and there he was. He watched me go by and wagged his tail and gave me a few woofs. I think the day before he saw me go by and figured to himself "I bet I can catch that guy".

3) Squirt them with the water bottle. You don't have to hit the dog with the spray. Usually the water will startle the dog and it will stop and then you are out of his territory. I did get jumped by a dog near the top of a hill. I tried squirting him, but I was out of water and the dog was trying to bite my spinning calf. So I threw my water bottle into his face. The result was most impressive. It was like the dog had been shot out of a cannon (away from me) and I never saw him again.

4) You can swing one of those old fashioned frame pumps at them. You don't need to hit them. Most dogs will see the pump and stop. I have hit a couple of dogs with my pump - they were cocker spaniels too. Guess cockers are slow dodgers for some reason.

I've got a single speed bicycle convert so out running dogs is out?My water bottle is at the very bottom of my full suspension,so I'd have to get off the bicycle to get it but thats a great idea...Like you mentioned if you can just get beyond there territory you should be o.k.

One thing that works amazingly well it to bark back at them.

When my wife (then girlfriend) and I were doing a lot running, we came around a corner and two dobermans came out of an open driveway gate. I thought, "Uh oh, I could maybe handle one, but not two of them"
as they came towards us barking, I turned toward them and in as deep and loud voice I could muster I yelled back at them! I also started moving toward them to face them in stead of running away. Scared the dogs and my wife! We laughed about it after, but it worked.

L8R

Originally posted by Koffee Brown
I can't stand dogs. I was riding the bike path today and two dumb @ssed goofballs were walking their rottweilers (sp?) and holding onto them by their collars. One of those dogs actually lunged at me, and the woman could barely hold the dog back. I cursed at them and kept going.

On the way back, they were walking in the opposite direction holding onto the dogs with leashes.

I'm thinking I'm going to start carrying a knife with me too. I had my mace, but I was too startled to use it. Next time, not only will I lunge back with the mace, I'll knife the mutts too.

I hope you don't mean that last comment KB. It sounds like you don't like bad owners of badly trained dogs.

Feel free to complain about the owners, but I don't think there is such a thing as an innately bad dog.

couple of articles for you.

How can anything this good be bad?

http://www.expresshealthcaremgmt.com/20020415/hyderabad1.shtml

http://www.epilepsy.com.au/epilepsy/epilepsyadult.nsf/Content/FeatureStory2

Originally posted by Chris L
I've been chased by packs of dogs before. What you need is some ultra-sqeaky brakes. Forget about pepper spray, sub-machine guns or anything else, the noise from those things will scare them off completely. So much so, that one blast and they'll never chase you again! I knew there was a good reason I was not fixing that sqeek! Thanks!

Two big wild dogs came for me one winter when the snow was deep...they followed me home from the store,I just live a block away...so I threw up my arms tring to scare em they followed me ...It just seemed that the big German shepard type dog[all black]was protecting me from the slightly smaller dog...well just before I got home one tried to bite my leg...I was scared threw the whole thing.but afterwards I thought how all they were looking for was something to eat...If only I had something in my pocket I could of threw them to ate that would of side tracked them for awhile?

those pack of dog are dangerous, they can have you for breakfast, better report that to the authorities, let them deal with it. that is very seriuos