I haven't had any bad dog encounters in a long time, but in my time working on cruise ships and venturing far off the tourist path in Mexico I'd come across dogs that "took an interest" in me while walking. I have no scientific evidence but found that coughing and clearing my throat put them at ease. Maybe the more similar gutteral sound helped? Don't know.

My dog would lick my face and be happy to see me.

My wife would be calling her lawyer.

Yep, I know who loves me the most.

I look at the genre, pedal it according to it, turn back the way I came or change my way. If the breed is a dog and looks and stops, I don't usually go that way. I'm looking for a stray dog, and I walk past him when he doesn't seem to attack. But when I'm in flock, I never prefer it unless I have to. Would it be useful if I put some food in the bag for the dogs to eat?

I don't trust any of them, even if on leash. I have had tiny, little harmless looking pooches nearly crash my bike by lunging psychotically at me through the air for zero reason. Happend to me just this afternoon, as a matter of fact. So, wide berth for all. Now, if the dog is clearly smiling, tongue out, happy and awesome and irrresistable in every possible way, well, then, I dismount immediatley and go pet him/her for as long as the master will let me. Priorities.

My dog is an adorable looking Jack Russell (3 years old) and she has terrible anxiety and is scared of everything. The problem is because she looks adorable I have had many people try to come to pet her and she responds aggressively. It can be a nightmare taking her for a walk because she is really bad with other dogs. I would never let her off a lead because of this. Sadly many dog owners are crap and will not give a toss and will let their dogs run wild regardless of their behaviour. I like to think that if a dog is off a lead it is because they are well behaved and have good recall, but this isn't the case. I always treat dogs with caution because you don't know what they have been through and you don't know how switched on their owners are.

These guys used to always come out and greet us on a water stop in Somis, CA. One of our club riders owned an avacado ranch out there, and installed a water fountain near the road for riders to use. When he sold and moved to town, the new owners kept the fountain going for us, and their two dogs always came out to greet us. The last several rides, the water is still working, but we haven't seen the dogs in a while. I kind of miss them. On the other side, I've been chased by everything from chihuahuas to pit bulls, but the worst was a cocker spaniel who wouldn't give it up for almost two blocks.

You are anthropomorphizing your animals. Dog don't love you they simply follow their innate behavioral program.

The more people I meet, the more I love our dogs.

Which should reveal more about you than those other people, since you are more like them than you are your dog.

Pretty sure love is our innate behavioral program, it just happens to be a really good one.

There's a whole body of scientific research that indicates that we as humans have been evolving as a species genetically programmed to socialize with other species, especially dogs.

I don't think I have to have dog-like powers to smell a really pointless and endless argument having nothing to do with bikes approaching.

Incorrect. Selfishness is innate. Love is something we learn how to do.Incorrect again. We socialize with each other. Dogs provide a service for humans.That's not surprising. You need to know a lot more about a subject to engage in any meaningful discourse. Listen more, and you might leave a lot smarter than when you came in.

Krane, drop it. The original topic is Dog Behavior While Riding, period.

Smiling in your imagination, at least...

Wait! Is that a Dogma you're riding?

You people so afraid of dogs need to HTFU. Seriously.

Thats a great point, which reminded me to go hug my dogs again. (It had been nearly 10 minutes since I last played with them!) Thanks for the reinforcement of my personal dogma.

In my experience (others’ may vary) dogs are exquisite judges of character. Of course, there are those who are relentless defenders of “home” and there are those that just love to race. When I encounter strange dogs that act like they want to chase me off I up my cadence, avoid eye contact, (unless I need to assert dominance) and leave their area in an effort to display my desire to just pass by. It has worked on several dogs along some of my regular 30+ mile loops, such that subsequent encounters were either pleasant or benign. People are more unpredictable than canines, by far.

I don't like to stereotype, but in my experience, all dogs are terrible drivers.

Hmmmphf. Antidoggite, eh? I know your type. It all starts with a little doggy joke, and then if called on it you'll ask, innocently, why the doggies are so sensitive ...