Originally Posted by
bbbean
You messed up. When you saw you weren't getting anywhere, you should have cut your losses and left.
FWIW, there is a sheriff in every county. While they may not immediately dash out to secure justice for your cause, they will take a report, and if you get the right sheriff or deputy, they'll talk to teh dog's owner. But by reporting the dog, you also leave a record that will help you with an insurance claim or lawsuit, should you decide one is worthwhile.
Keep in mind that you're riding in isolated areas, and if you make yourself enough of a nuisance, some dog owners might opt to leave a little less than 3 feet of room when they pass. You don't want that.
I live and ride in a rural area, and have a couple of dog owners like that on some of my routes. I'm frankly more afraid of the owners than I am of the dogs, and I have to live here. So I pick my battles and maintain a good relationship with the sheriff. I'd encourage you to do the same. Getting into a verbal squabble with a p'd off redneck won't get you teh result you want. You have to be smarter.
BB
You're making it out to be WAY more than it is. I'm not a "nuisance". I went to talk to the owner to let her know her dogs came after me and to NICELY ask her to keep them out of the road because I ride by there all the time and don't want to get bit. Simple as that. I will continue riding there because it's my right.
SHE starting having a hissyfit with me, not caring that I was attacked by her dogs, so I gave her an earful back and left. The entire encounter lasted less than 2 minutes. Not everyone has the same personality, and it's not mine to drop my head and walk away with my tail between my legs when someone starts calling me names for no reason at all.
If I get bit by a dog that was illegally out on a public road I'm not going to lose a lawsuit. Especially when my best friend is friends with and works for the sheriff and judge. That's the way it is here. But no, a sheriff is not going to care about two dogs 25 miles away from his department building when he has almost daily drug shootings in town. I'm willing to bet my rural area is more rural than yours. Ever seen Deliverance? It's pretty close to that. I'm from DFW and that's like going from the USA to Uganda. But it's where life (and my daughter) took me. Good riding, though.