What the hell are leash laws for?
 

I was mountain biking in a park yesterday. On a trail designated specifically for mountain biking. I come upon two people walking through the park on the MTB trail with a little white shaggy rat of a dog. The thing decides to come running up to me while I'm pedaling along and I barely avoid running the stupid animal over. It then proceeds to give chase. The owner of the dog is yelling for it to heel, but of course the dog is oblivious. The worst part is, the owner had a leash coiled up in her hand. WTF? Leash laws exist for a reason and this trail isn't designated for walking in the first place! Don't get me wrong, I love animals. I just get pissed at their stupid owners.

Thanks for letting me rant. I'm done now.

Something a lot like that happened to me. I stopped and complained to the owner. "Whats a matter? You afraid of a little doggie?" "No, but if I crash avoiding it I get hurt and you get a hairy fat lawsuit. So, a person is worth more then a dog, you have been warned, and I am not going to swerve the next time it chases me. This MTB can crush a dog that small. You may not care but think how your kids will feel." Those two little yap dogs were never seen out of their yards again.

In your specific case notify the park rangers and Animal Control each time it happens.

To me, this is probably the most effective argument. Owners of those little decorative dogs are way more worried about Fluffy getting mashed than they are about you or your bike getting scuffed up.

This argument probably won't work if Fluffy is a rottweiler, though....

that depends if the person CAN ride off after the crash... What if the bike is damaged or worse, the rider is badly hurt?

Yet another example for lack of respect of the rules,especially individuals who don't respect cyclists. I read a post yesterday regarding pedestrians walking on a bike path,being obstcles. Those of you that guess.. no big deal,fall, take it like an adult ....GUESS AGAIN: it's THAT mentality that supports jack-ass pedestrians and dog walkers in breaking the rules and making it crappy for cyclists.Hell yeah I'll ***** an' moan AND I'll make a big stink AND I'll sue(if they don't sue me for bustin' their jaw that is) SNEEFY I feel what you meen.I actually READ your post,including the all the details within your stated tex."wipe the blood off" ..wipe my ass! Let's stick together on these issues. You're either pro-cycling or not.

I'll bet somewhere on dogforums there's some dude saying "there was this crazy biker who almost ran over my dog . . ."

It's not lack of respect of the rules, it's a general lack of respect for the fact that other human beings exist.

Uhhh.... huh?

I had a similar thing happen to me last year. Only the dog was in the 70+ lb range. He was on an equally useless ratcheting lead. The women had the dog on about 20 ft of lead. He charged us and the lead rider hit his brakes. I clipped his rear wheel and went down. My helmet hit the pavement and split. Thank God for helmets.

Tim

Leash laws are to keep YOUR dog in control - haven't you heard? :)

keep the dog chasing you far enough that you can pick it up, take it home and then sell it back to the owner. :D


I still dont' know what you people do to these dogs, but down here they hardly even look at me, let alone bark or chase.

on the flip side, it's a dog. it's job is to chase moving things. if you just keep riding, that's all it will do in 90% of the cases.

Leash laws are there mostly so that if the dog does attack, the owner is immediately at fault as the dog was not leashed. That's why if you let your dogs run free, make sure they still have the leashs on.

That is exactly why they need to be kept on a leash in public areas!

Laws and rules only work for those who obey them, unfortunately, leash laws appear to be one of the few even the morally correct feel like they can ignore. Especially the owners of those damn football sized dogs.

I've carried my bike home 10 miles with a separated shoulder and a broken arm. Toughen up.

Seems to work out that way. People with little yappers have them off leash and think leash laws only apply to my large but not yapping dogs.

But it is fun to see them scramble when they figure out there little yappers are stupid enough to get close enough that mine can get a snack even on a leash.

A dog attack isn't always so benign. And why can't anybody just ride their bike in the public domain without fear of being assualted by a uncontrolled animal with sharp teeth? I know I can't.

My dog bite required an ER visit. Do you think that was free? Do you think it didn't hurt to get multiple injections of the rabies vaccine directly into the would? Do you think it didn't hurt and bleed as I had to finish the last TEN miles of my ride home with a mauled ankle? Do you think the follow up care was free and convenient? How about my lost time at work?

Who should pay for that, me or the irresponsible owner?

It isn't about being tough. I am plenty tough. What if your injuries were caused by some baseball bat wielding thugs? Should they get away with it too?

An accident is one thing, but being assualted and injured due to someone else's violation of the law is entirely different and should not go unpunished. Unless of course you enjoy being attacked.

In my instance, the dog was quite obviously not being hostile so I wasn't afraid of being hurt by it directly. I just didn't want to crush the little bugger. I just wish the owners of the dog weren't such idiots.

Now if it was a Great Dane chasing me down the path baring it's teeth, I would be a bit worried.

always with the scenarios.

I am a baseball bat weilding thug

go have another latte

I regularly frequent a trail close to my home on my mountain bike where there are signs posted indicating no bicycles allowed and the leash law. People sometimes tell me bike are not allowed, so I always point out their dogs must be on leashes. :D

So you are condoning the inactions of the dog owners and feel that being attacked by a dog is just a normal thing to be expected on a bike ride? How about the expenses? Who pays for that?

How about the next time I get attacked by a dog....and I will judging by the number of dogs that chase me in a week, I send you the bill? My last ER visit was $3,000. I hope you have been saving your pennies.

The more I read comments from people defending dog owners the more I hate them. Believe it or not, not everyone loves your stupid dog. Leash it or leave it at home!

That's what modern life boils down to at this point. I experience it as a cyclist, as a skateboarder and as a driver. Nobody cares about ANYTHING or ANYONE except what is in their little orb (i.e. them and their children--that's IT.)

I'm getting a lot less restrained when it comes to being vocal to offending parties. :mad:

Loose dogs on the bike path used to bug me quite a bit ... but now after riding in Kentucky, and seeing my friend
chased by 6 dogs at once (:eek: ), I can't complain.

:p

jw