Originally Posted by christie133

Aaak! I'm so sorry you were bitten like that. Glad it wasn't worse though (I learned the word hematoma when I was 9 and my mother was bitten by a pit bull). I think you handled it well--calling the sheriff, rather than whipping out a 12-guage double-barrelled Remington and shooting the thing because it's owners weren't controlling it.

I got bitten once, last year, but I was partly to blame. A woman was walking her dog (off leash, but lots of people do in that area, though technically they're not supposed to) on the side of the bike path and it was one of those big grey floppy-eared jobs--so cute, so loveable. When he came running up to me, my heart melted and I stopped to pet him, thus unwittingly encouraging the chasing behavior. He let me pet him, then as I tried to ride away, he chased me again and chomped my thigh. Didn't break the skin, but I had a really disturbing bruise.

I don't stop for dogs anymore. And I always make sure to keep mine on a leash or in my ample-sized fenced-in backyard.