Just a quick comment about the orginal version. When a dog is chasing you one thing the dog will more than likely try and do is get in front of your wheel ( perhaps a hurding technique ) but you don't want to be accelerating or giving it all you have when a dog runs in front of your wheel.

Whether you want to use some mace to protect yourself is up to you but, I also find that slowing down and saying stop in a clam voice works 90% of the time.

And secondly are people using the word "Fred" as a term of endearment for cyclist which don't follow or fall short of professional cycling trends and traditions or is it meant as a pejorative label?