General Cycling Discussion - How many dogs have you sprayed?

Just 2 here. I find an odd satisfaction of seeing Rover get a snootful.

None, but I have whacked a few snouts with my frame pump.

I lost count long ago. I got my sock torn, no skin, and my shoe bit because I felt sorry for the dog. I have had a dog charge the petals and rode over him without crashing, dog lived but limped for a long time. I take no chances now. When the dog gets close enough to lunge and bite, they get the spray. Most learn pretty quick.

The meth heads move out in the country to cook, get a big dog(s) to protect the place. Not the dogs fault, I wish I could spray the owner.

Rod

Never in my life have I been bothered by a dog whilst riding a bike. This comes as a complete surprise to me.

Never been bothered too much by dogs but I did have an encounter with a suicidal cat. Ran underneath my bike between the front and rear wheels. How he managed to avoid the spinning pedals and wheels I do not know. It was over before I even realized what was going on.

Of course it's the dog's owner that deserves to be sprayed or whacked in the nose.

I've actually never pepper sprayed a dog. So far I've gotten away with (1) avoidance, (2) squirting the dog with the water bottle, (3) shouting at the dog, and in one or two cases, (4) dismounting and facing the dog on foot.

Of course it's the dog's owner that deserves to be spayed or whacked in the nose.

I think it's better this way. :D :lol: :roflmao2:

Twice, and missed one other time. I'd probably have more notches if I always had Halt available.

There was a pack of five dogs in Kentucky that charged me. Four of them had had the treatment before, and they stayed 6" outside the distance I could spray. The curs let the young pup charge me, so he got sprayed, then they all slowly headed for the side of the road. I felt sorry for the pup.

Of course that was nowhere near as much fun as outrunning the pack of six dogs, from three houses, going downhill. :)

Twice, and missed one other time. I'd probably have more notches if I always had Halt available.

There was a pack of five dogs in Kentucky that charged me. Four of them had had the treatment before, and they stayed 6" outside the distance I could spray. The curs let the young pup charge me, so he got sprayed, then they all slowly headed for the side of the road. I felt sorry for the pup.

Of course that was nowhere near as much fun as outrunning the pack of six dogs, from three houses, going downhill. :)

Must be some sort of pack hazing :D

I've never been chased by a dog when on my bike.

Never.

I've only had 5 times when dogs got close enough for that to even be a consideration.

One was right at the start of a mountian bike ride, and the start was a nasty climb, steep and loose rocks. And I really mean start as in when I was getting out of my car. Walked past a whole pack of feral dogs with the bike between them and me.

One other time near ther on a climb where a dog in an unfenced yard took aff after me. The raod was above his yard so he had some elevation to make up. I sprinted a bit and he stopped pretty much at the end of his year. (Thinking about it I have amuch greater appreciation of just how hard it is to do what the pros do on the climbs.)

The other 3 were on the same route. The same dog twice. He was the only one that ever got close to getting me, and it was lunging out of high grass. No halt could have helped.

The last was about 2 miles farther up 3 big dogs. as in the smallest about the size of my Presa, about 120 Lbs. Coming at me and pretty much no way to aviod them. But tails up and wagging. I dismounted. I had visions of a broken collarbone from a friendly jump. Did no thappen, only issue was they kept wanting to be petted. I so wish that had been the same day as the lunge so I could have takne my new friends on a short excursion to solve my other problem.

I was riding in the Joe Weber Arky 100 rolling through a tiny town on my recumbent. I saw a pack of dogs of all sizes on one side of the road. I reached for my water bottle and took a mouthful. One dog came out, a terrier. As he got close, I gave him a mouthful of water and he backed off, rather surprised.

Lest you question that a mere terrier was a problem, as I mentioned, there were dogs of all sizes, he was the bold one. And having had a couple of JRTs myself, I've seen them chase away German Shepherds. Terriers don't frighten, but they do respect when they've been outsmarted. Of course, had I thought ahead and carried a tennis ball with me, he probably would have chased that when I tossed it instead of me.

Not ever

I've never been chased by a dog when on my bike.

I bet I get chased on 75% of my rides. Many times just by little "rat" dogs who will do no harm but many other times by larger dogs. I just speed up and try to outrun them.

I was chased by my first dog last Wednesday. I small rat of a dog. He came out of a yard as I was riding by resting (while riding) after a hill. Even at that slow pace, he was left behind. As I left the area, I heard a female voice yell "sorry".

Here the big thing is to move out in the country, buy a trailer or old farm house, get some dogs to protect the place and cook some meth. They often are not fed well, and seeing the vet is pretty rare. The dogs and the owners are dangerous. There is little way to tell the good dogs from the bad, and rabies shots are not fun. There is an ethnic group that likes to keep pit bulls. Of course they call them English Staffordshire Terriers to circumvent the law. Yes, they do have dog fights. They let them run loose to keep people away. Often you have a pack of 3 to 6 dogs. Yes, most of the people out here are good folks. It only takes a few bad apples.

On one ride route I commonly hear someone shooting a rifle on full automatic. I am sure the local cops are eager to catch that person (not). So is it a dealer or a survivalist? Does it matter? So pepper spray is essential, you can not take a chance. Not ever. I agree with the statement the owners need sprayed. Not going to do that, they have guns.

Then there was the flat I got, when the door opened on the trailer near by, and 2 GS and one Rot came out in the attack mode. Hair up, teeth showing, tails down. They got sprayed, the owner came out with a broom to scream at me, and I told her if she got to close I would spray her too. I am not taking a broom hit from an insane old lady who set her dogs on a broken down cyclist. She said if I did she would get her gun. At that point I called 911 and asked for a cop to come talk to her. I picked up the bike and wheel and walked away. Replaced the tube in a hurry, did not pump up enough and got a pinch flat about 1/2 mile away. I have never seen the dogs again, and that trailer is also on a route I ride once and a while. This is near a city of 70K, and many of my country roads are paved, so it is nice riding, except a minority of the residents. Lucky for us, we passed a 1/8 cent sales tax for a county animal control officer. We have a county wide ordnance against dogs running free and a dedicated animal control officer, so I know I am not the only one having issues. My tenant farmers have lost caves to feral dog packs, they have come out and spent the night on a stand with a rifle to thin the pack.

There are lower forms of life, that dump their pets in the country. Pepper spray is too good for these sub humans. I will turn in anyone I see dumping, sadly I never get the chance. I have to pay to drop their pet at the humane society. One really hurt me to take her in, she was such a nice dog. No collar, no tag, but you could see the collar mark still in her fur. I hope she found an owner. I could not keep her.

Rod

I think it's better this way. :D :lol: :roflmao2: Yep, a few of them do seem to over produce and have no visible means of support. Another minority to be sure, but they exist.

None. If you know dogs, they are easier to read than people. Most dogs aren't interested in me---it's all about the chase. Stop, and fun time's over for them. In the rare event of a really aggressive one, you have the bike as a barrier between you and the dog, and I have my mini-pump in a jersey pocket. I love dogs, and wouldn't ever hurt one needlessly, but if a vicious one wants a piece of me, it's going home with a cracked snout. I've only been bitten by a dog once in my life, when I was about 13.

Of course, I don't live in Meth Lab Heaven. ;)

In my opinion you are doing the dog a favor. Spray it and you might stop it from getting hit by a car because it now knows not to go out in the road.

So...it seems there are two types of people, the ones dogs attack and the ones dogs don't attack, I'm in the latter, it's an attitude...
Dogs smell fear:)

But Bulls, a bull (male cow with nuts) in a field in the US is illegal, tell that to the bull:)

I sprayed a dog a long time ago while out on a ride when I was a teenager.

I was riding through the countryside in Central Maine when all of a sudden out comes Fido from a house that I passed. I wasn't going very fast, so I tried to outrun this fairly small-sized dog by pedaling a little bit faster. Unfortunately, this didn't work. So I pulled out my quart-sized water bottle and sprayed him in the face with a good-sized squirt. Unfazed, the dog kept going. My second try was no different. My third attempt drained the bottle but brought more water into the dog's face with greater force. With a whimper, the dog gave up and turned back toward its home. I was thirsty during the rest of the ride but no other dogs decided to follow me that day.

Other dogs have chased me since that occaision. One I managed to outrun on a three-mile downhill chase.
At other times, I've scared them away with a loud blast of a whistle or air horn.

Here in Illinois you have to clear your route. First time through you will spray multiple dogs. After that only an occasional one.
I truely think spraying dogs is the best thing you can do. It teaches the dog not to chase bikes. All too often the owners are buttholes and think you are the problem.
I only spray the ones that get real close, but I make sure to get them good. I've sprayed Halt directly into a dog's mouth before.

Had to spray for the first time day before yesterday. Two dogs I had not seen before came from a house where I had not experienced problems in the past. I got off the bike and yelled "NO". Everytime I tried to mount the bike they moved closer. No one came out of the house to investigate the commotion so they got the spray. My aim was off so they did not get the direct stream but some of the mist as it went by. My guess is they will not remember it too well and I may have spray again next time I ride that route. I had always hesitated to buy spray for not wanting to hurt a dog but in the last two months I have been forced off the bike three times. I have been bitten before but it was several years back. Not inclined to have it happen again.

On one ride route I commonly hear someone shooting a rifle on full automatic. I am sure the local cops are eager to catch that person (not).

So, legal owners of Title 2 weapons with an ATF Form 4 are now profiled as criminals???

Why ask me? I'm not a vet.

Oh, wait...you said "sprayed."

Never mind.

I've only ever had one threatening dog encounter, and it happened so quickly there wasn't any time to pull out some sort of spray, waterbottle, or hand pump. I was riding out in the flat, flat farmland north of Delaware, OH, passed a driveway, and the dog ran out from behind a car parked in the driveway--didn't see it coming at all. I yelled at it, but it collided with my foot, got up, and retreated back to its driveway. Dumb dog.

Just this past week I had a person explaining to me that they think it's funny when their dog (jack russell) chases cyclists. I told them that most road riders have a carbon reinforced shoe that is easily capable of breaking their dog's bones. I then told her that I ride past her house on occasion and if she turns the little ankle biter loose on me I'll do my best to crush it although some others would just pepper spray it.

She didn't seem to think it was quite as funny after that...

Strangely, a few minutes after that I met one of the big truck drivers that I know I've seen harassing cyclists. This one that tends to hover 3' behind you.. then pass and while still only about 4' in front of you rev his big deisel engine so he lays out a thick cloud of deisel smoke. He was like, "You look really familiar." and I was like "You drive a big truck don't you?" he confirmed it. I told him I ride all the time, he was like "You need to stay on the sidewalk where you belong" and I then explained that it's both illegal in MD and dangerous to ride on the sidewalk because of the chance of killing kids/pedestrians. He said he didn't know that. We then relaxed having a good time watching our kids play together...

When It is Raining a lot, the problem never arises, here..

Wet Dog is a local Brew Pub-Cafe..

at least 10--although a couple of dogs more than once!!!!

once or twice with a water bottle, more to get them off the road than to stop them getting in my way .


I did have a close encounter with a Maltese on the way home last night, Ran out in to the bike path yapping at me. Which of course happened while there was parked cars on the left and heavy traffic on the right . The owner was about 3 steps behind the dog and very apologetic no harm done.


Side note ... breaks work well ... so does my heart :p

Just 2 here. I find an odd satisfaction of seeing Rover get a snootful.Train harder and outsprint them instead.

I live in Australia. Our laws prevent us from protecting ourselves in any way. The legally correct action is to give in and become a victim, accepting whatever serious injuries occur, then battle it out in the courts. The offender will typically get off with a slap on the wrist and the victim very likely affected for life. Oh it's a great system we have here!!!

I have squirted a few in the snoot with water and they stop. But depending on what bike I am on, I either try to outrun them, or stop and scold them and 'fight back' with words. My friend and I used to strategize about how to deal with the pack of mean-looking off-leash dogs on the Indian Reserve near my home town... on the way in to the reserve we had fresh legs and often slipped by so fast that sometimes some of the dogs didn't even bother to chase, but on the way home after climbing the mountain and exploring many kms of fire-roads and paths through the woods, we had to try something else... My friend trie to charge directly at the dogs once, and slipped on a patch of ice and fell right in front of the biggest, meanest looking one. Turns out the dog was perfectly friendly. Most dogs chase instinctively and wouldn't know what to do if they caught you... nip at your ankles or something... and the fact that most things that they chase - rabbits, cars, bikes - continue running away and this is very rewarding to them.

I don't recommend anyone else do this though - all the dogs that chase everyone else are vicious killers and will rip your throat out if you even slow down. But I am the Beastmaster of Ontario Canada so they don't F with me.

As for running away, on a road bike, most dogs will give up soon after you accelerate as it is obvious they aren't going to catch you, but the soft fat tires on a mountain bike make it harder and they will chase for longer.

I live in Australia. Our laws prevent us from protecting ourselves in any way. The legally correct action is to give in and become a victim, accepting whatever serious injuries occur, then battle it out in the courts. The offender will typically get off with a slap on the wrist and the victim very likely affected for life. Oh it's a great system we have here!!!


Bitter much ?

Dogs only chase me once.....If I think it's big enough to do me bodily harm,I'll make a jacket out of it.

Several. But I get no thrill when I do it. I spray them to hopefully break them from chasing bikes. Had a dog on one of my regular routes that would chase me, but didn't seem to threatening. Then one day he crossed traffic to chase me, and was hit and killed by a car. So now I make it my mission to stop their bad habit.