I have a dog that chases me on my ride home, a large pyrenees(sp). Police called, report made, animal control officer called x 3. Every time the animal control officer issues a citation ($25), the dog owner takes it to court. Several times the judge has thrown the case out because the animal control officer has not seen the dog loose with her own eyes. The animal control officer is on my side, but has been limited on what she can do. Other towns have picked up this dog too, it is also supposedly friendly. Help please.

Can of wasp spray, $4.29 at your friendly neighborhood Home Depot, is accurate to about 30 feet. A shot in the face will darn near guarantee it will stay away from bicyclists for the rest of its life.

First, it's not the dog's fault his owners are idiots. So using wasp spray to punish the dog is too much.

Got a digital camera? Film the dog running free.

Will it blind her? If she's a sweet dog, I would hate that.

Package of hot dogs, $1.79. Make friends with the dog and you'll be fine. It'll still run up to you when you pass by, but in a nice way.

Sounds like you need a friend to help and make a video of you passing the dog's territory and the predictable chase for legal evidence.

You might also carry along a big water bottle of ice cold water, or in this weather, very warm water and empty it into the dogs face so that the dog is surprised not only by the water but the change in temp.

You might also train the dog. Carry a treat for it. Throw the treat right at it the first time, and then farther and farther away from you in succeeding times, to a particular spot. Then the dog upon seeing you, will learn to run to that spot.

I've got a dog like that on my commute. There are other dogs in kennels (which pisses me off to no end) but apparently this one can run free, and does so often by running into the road and chasing me. The first few times it did this, I shot it with my water bottle - it doesn't do it anymore.

Start thinking of the dog as a sprint training aid.

Otherwise a firm commanding voice ordering it to Sit and Stay has worked for me on a surprising number of occasions. The water bottle squirt has worked also.

On second thought, if this is a dog you will regularly encounter and can get to know, perhaps the hot dog trick is a better way to go. I have no sympathy for the random dog that chases you on your bike having been run off the road by one and nearly killed when I was a kid. I do, however, know from first hand experience that it is a lot of fun to get an otherwise annoying dog to like you. We had a yappy, irritating chihuahua living next door that would bark incessantly when you went outside. Just wouldn't shut up. So, one day I went to the fence with some treats, and before long we got to be buddies. He would give me a quick yap to tell me he was at the fence whenever I went out, and I would give him a quick scratch behind the ears.

Much more enjoyable than gritting your teeth and wishing he would get scooped up by an owl.

I may try something in the water bottle. As to a sprint training aid, its at the end of a 17 mile ride and this dog is fast, for like 100 yards.

How agressive and tempermental is this dog? Does she allow you to touch or pet her? If this dog is actually more friendly than agressive, then try to get to know her better. If this is the case, then carry some doggie treat with you. The next time she chases you, pull along the curb and give her some treat to gain initial trust. After a few time of this, give her treat only if she willing to sit on your command. Eventually, you can commamd her to sit before she come chasing and you can approach her while she's waiting.

On the other hand, if she is tempermental, then this is beyond doggie treat. Water treatment, and Airzound blast may scare her off. After that, you gonna have to resort to chemical warfare with the wasp or pepper spray.

hmm...wasp spray eh? hmmmmm

Whatever you do, remember this is not the dog's fault. Don't hurt the dog. Spraying with water would be OK, or really, try to give it a treat, or scare off with AirZound but nothing harmful, unless the dog actually attacks you. I would gladly use a can of spray paint on the owner's face though.

Adam

I am fun!

I bet your a lot of fun at parties.

Grand Pyranees are BIG dogs, so I'm not sure sprinting it out will work all the time, let alone clubbing it to death, they easily out weigh a lot of cyclists! However I have yet to meet a mean one (my parents used to breed them), so my vote is for the "Make Friends" method.

Halt! is pretty effective and no long-term damage to doggie.

Try and make friends. It's just the dog's chase instincts kicking in. If it's agressive then let 'em have it with this (and not wasp spray).

Get an air horn. When I lived in dog country I got one at a boating place designed for small boats, it weighs less than a can of pepper spray, and then made a mount for it on the handle bar. It puts out 110 db. This will bring the dog to its knees a good fifty feet away - dogs have sensitive ears. My experience is that this is a much better alternative to sprays - stops the dog further away, doesn't harm the dog, you don't have the risk of it blowing back at you or crashing while you try to aim the spray.

Nope. Use Halt if you have to. Mace may be harmful for a dog. But an air horn should really be sufficient and best solution for this. Also, unless you stop, using any spray while riding may have unpleasant consequences as akohekohe pointed out.

Adam

By the way, contrary to what most people think, the big danger with dogs is not being bit, it is being knocked over (particularly at speed) and in this regard the friendly dogs are as big, or bigger, a danger as mean dogs. What will kill you is the toy poodle that runs under you front wheel and dumps you into an oncoming car.

I was at a Performannce Bike shop two last Monday and I saw they sell a spray for dogs. Not sure if it was pepper spray but does that tell us something?

Bear-spray works best, you can hit em from a distance before they get on you and start nipping and biting at tires. It isn't as harsh as mace either.

I've put on a lot of miles and have yet to encounter any dog that was dangerous to me.
Perhaps I've just been lucky, and I know many of you have stories to the contrary, but my advice is to keep the halt, mace, wasp spray, bear spray and anything else that will get you in trouble at home.
99% of the time the dog is protecting her territory by chasing you. When you stop, the dog stops. That's your sign that you are not being attacked. If they're persistent, a good squirt with a water bottle will send them home. If the dog is actually acting aggressive toward you, keep your bike between you and make a lot of noise.
A premature blast of mace that sends the dog squealing and writhing in the grass is not a pretty sight, and one that tends to get pet owners all riled up. i prefer to avoid that confrontation.
You say this dog is supposedly friendly. There's a difference between an "annoying chaser" and one that will hurt you. I would try to not overreact in these situations.

Pepper spray can be dangerous to the user. I worked with a guy who had some leak on his pants. He wound up with 2nd degree burns.

Yeah, if somebody is going to actually get pepper spray test it out first and follow the directions(always spray down-wind). Bear-spray in particular REALLY shoots quite far, wasp spray too i bet.