dstrong 

I was on an organized ride about 10 years ago (Rosedale ride for you austinites) and had some bubbas send their dog after me. I was on my MTB, by myself, on a 2 lane road. I caught movement out the corner of my eye and looked over to the left to see the dog flying towards me from about 50 yards. I stood up and started pushing as hard as I could. Luckily the dog had mis-judged the closing angle and fell in about 20 feet behind me. I still remember the sound of his nails on the pavement as he started to catch me. He was just about even with my rear wheel when I pulled my foot out of my toe clip, kicked at him and yelled "yah!". It surprised him enough that he gave up the chase. Didn't even think about my water bottle. In hindsight, I remember when I looked at the dog the first time, his owners were sittin' on the porch rootin' him on.

slim_77

I had a stare down contest on yesterday's ride...never really had a problem before, but this one made me think: "Ok, what the hell am I going to do..." best not to ask that question when you may not have time to think it through.

It is funny that this "dog problem" is perpetual. I am glad the solutions these days are more humane...

(it was developed in France and is called le velo-dog and can easily fit into a nice classic wool jersey.)

waterrockets 

I guess I've been lucky to not have any dogs that can keep up. There have been a couple frequent chasers that I've messed with though. I've found that if I downshift to the small ring, stop as quick as I can, turn and ride straight at the dog, screaming, that they'll leave me alone every time.

I guess I did have trouble once. One time a German Shepherd was after my wife (I'd slowed to give him easier bait, but he ran past me). I caught up and gave him a nice Look-head-thump. He was still laying on the road when we rounded the next bend. I'd rather have had some ammonia for that one

munkyv22

I'm always afraid to kick at a dog that I am just going to get my leg/foot bitten.

slim_77

serious question: was it a back to front swing, a heel down? I'm serious, I play soccer and have a good boot, but I can't figure the windup. Well, as long as the swing makes contact.

waterrockets 

Yeah, I'm pretty sure he timed a bite into my kick, but he was even with my rear brake when I nailed him, and I almost got my foot all the way to the ground. I stomped him out like a fire. I guess his mouth may have been clipped into my cleat, but there weren't any teeth stuck to it afterwards or anything.

wfrogge

Just another reason to carry a tire pump with you.

waterrockets 

No swing, this was just a stomp down, and back a little. Probably not really that fast, but it was down his throat, and not stopping until my leg was straight. No reason to do a place-kick on his head -- just imagine a 220 lb sprinter (that's what I weighed back then) using your face as a launch pad.

CharlieWoo

I just got back from riding and guess what? One of the dogs that I sprayed Saturday stayed on his porch and just watched me go by today. Post hoc ergo propter hoc, but I'm pretty sure I know why he stayed on the porch today. I didn't see the other dog.

ZeroPt99

If you watch dogs that are loose and off-leash interact, you'll notice that rarely do they need to fight. They just seem to know who's the alpha dog and settle into an immediate pecking order.

If you come across a dog trying to tell you that you're on his turf, you just have to know you're badder than the dog. You think a 75 lb aggressive male dog is scary... well you're 2 to 3 times that size, and smarter. You've got reach on him, and he doesn't know what to expect out of you. The advantage is yours.

I've been getting out of my car one night in my own driveway and heard a growl only to discover two large aggressive stray dogs standing 5 feet away, bristled up. I bellowed at them and lunged toward them prepared to kick the closest one under the head so hard he was going to be out of the fight for a few minutes. They both freaked out and stumbled backwards a few feet, tripping over themselves to get out of my way. They both stopped and looked at me, half growling now, unsure of whether or not they had the upper hand. I realized I couldn't reach my front door in time anyway, so I figured up a quick attack plan about how to take the closest one out first and then move immediately to the second, and I charged them again. I was in my yard, and I don't care how bad they thought they were, I was the alpha male there. I surprised them when I went straight at them, and I chased them halfway down the street with me in a dead sprint and them hauling butt as fast as their legs could go.

My neighbor came outside and told me she was fairly sure I was crazy, but I'll be damned if a dog is going to tell me what to do.

bac

Most seem to want to run under my front tire at speed.

... Brad

CharlieWoo

Yeah, just don't EVER let them get you on the ground b/c they will def go for the throat.

ZeroPt99

There was a segment of a martial arts seminar I attended once where the guy talked about how to handle the type of situation where you'd fallen or been knocked down and a dog was lunging in for the kill.

He said "You're a man - you have two arms and two legs to fight with. You have opposable thumbs on each arm and you can grasp, chop, or smash with those hands. Your feet can kick, push, and fend off the dog as well. The dog, well, he's only got a mouth. That's it. All his damage comes from one tool. So you have the advantage. You grab that dog by the skin on either side of his face. You get a good handful of loose skin with each hand, and then you twist your fists as if you were trying to turn a shirt inside out, taking up all the slack. That right there isn't comfortable for him, but more importantly, you've got him by the sides of the face, and you're controlling his mouth. You just took all the power out from his arsenal, and even if you can't stop him, you can hold him off like that until help arrives"

I found it interesting, but the reality is most people probably panic with fear and just scream and run. I know my mother's mastiff mix is 170 lbs of muscle, and thinking of him coming down on me with jaws open scares the crap out of me.

CharlieWoo

I've heard the muscle advantage for (lower) animals is something like 4:1 when compared to humans, i.e. a 50 lb chimp can do a number on a 200 lb man.

You think you won't react that way, but I've been in that situation; on my butt on the ground scampering backwards with a snarling, chomping pit bull coming at me, and let me tell you, it is an incredibly visceral/primordial situation. I had a 12 gauge leveled at me once but the situation with the dog was far scarier. I was lucky in that the owner got to the dog and pulled him off just as he got to me. I'm not sure how I would have reacted had the dog made contact.

MrCjolsen

Wait, you mean dogs can learn not to chase? I'm used to cats, which, as adorable as they might be, can't learn s**t.

CharlieWoo

Hit 'em in the face w/ ammonia and see if they start learning. What was it Hackman said about training horses in Crimson Tide? You can make a horse do amazing thing by sticking a cattle prod up its arse. It's a simple matter of voltage.

MisterMcCarty

Cats can learn. They just choose not to.....

CharlieWoo

Seems like cats just enjoy playing mind games with people. I think they are smarter than us and just laugh behind our backs.

ad6mj

Yes, with a single 75 lb. dog the advantage is with an adult human male. However, the human needs to have the proper survival mindset. He needs to accept the fact he will most likely be bitten, try to control what part of him gets bit, and be prepared to continue the fight when in pain.

slim_77

yeah, animals are animals. very simple to figure out...I have seed an old man do this to a bear in the Bounadry Waters national park...scared the **** out of me...and the bear!

now, if I can just figure out how not to be scared...

CharlieWoo

maybe you're scared because you are smart.

texascyclist

lol

ad6mj

I've taken a dose of Fox Labs OC. It is not pleasant, burns like nothing else I've ever felt, eyes and nose running profusely, but you can continue the fight if you are determined.

shumacher

Ugh. Dogs.

I'm not afraid of dogs. I have my share of irrational fears, so please don't think I'm a bragging badass wannabe. I simply have a hard time gaining even a rational fear of dogs.

That said, I was flanked by a pair of aggressive dogs about six months ago, and one of them put a hole in my favorite jeans, and gave me a minor scratch. This, at least, lent me some respect for dogs. Since that event, I've had to drop dogs on four occasions, and this makes me want to consider Halt, or some other such product. The very worst was my first half century, about four weeks ago. I parked my car at one end of the trail, rode out to a point then rode back. About two miles from the turnaround, a bridge on the trail was out. I hit the road and tried riding around. Unfortunately, I picked the wrong road. I was pretty tired when a pair of large dogs started chasing me down a fairly abandoned street, and it took all I had to put them behind me. The worst feeling in the world was about two minutes later, when I discovered that I was now at the end of a dead end street with two demon mutts between me and the road. I took the "ripping the band-aid off hurts less" philosophy and just did it, but hitting 25 wasn't in my game plan at the 24 mile mark, and my energy was off for the rest of what was a challenging (for me) ride. I've been thinking about calling animal control over the issue. In retrospect, I should have chilled around the corner from the dogs, in the dead end, and called animal control from there. It would have been a nice rest.

Next time they start growling and try flanking me, I might try the getting off and shouting strategy. The only problem is that while dogs don't scare me, dog owners do.

CharlieWoo

Dog Owners > Dogs > Cyclists