wanders

it looks like he could stand to have his nails trimmed up a bit.

bratton

Guys, don't fret. North Korea is going to blow you all up sometime soon. There'll be nothing left to worry about.

roadrider63

I've slowed for dogs to let them know I'm just friendly...works sometimes...I've been "paced" by dogs in the ditch. I've also had to stop and felt I had to defend myself with my bike between me and the dog..scary situation. I've fallen because of a dog and when I approached the owner a bit disturbed, she called me "rude" and told me the dog was defending it's territory. I explained the road is not her territory and that should it happen again, law enforcement would be involved. It seems to have stopped.

My wife works for an attorney who runs...and carries pepper spray. He said should anything like that happen to me again that I should call the law immediately to get it on record at least. Then, should something bad happened, I'd almost guarantee the dog owner is gonna be out some money.

I love dogs. The Great Dane is beautiful. I own an English Mastiff myself, but it is inside, on a chain or leash at all times....unless it breaks off. It is the dog owners responsibility to keep their dog restrained in one way or another.

antiguru

this thread reads like youtube comments

Cfd

The spray DOES work, but it takes practice, a bit of luck and a favorable wind.
Mine is velcroed to my top tube; not a perfect system, but it has served me well.

Randallissimo

Not all dogs react the same way to pepper spray. Some remember you and are pissed and try even harder to bite you next time. Most letter carriers will tell you this.

khatfull

Simple fact: Your animal puts me in danger I will use any and all, reasonable or unreasonable, means to protect myself and my property if I am on the public thoroughfare. No questions, no feeling sorry for the poor animal, no hesitation, no phone call to PETA to ask for permission or absolution. Nothing.

I own 5 cats....I've owned three dogs which we unfortunately lost all in the space of a couple of years. I love my animals and I love pretty much all animals. It is incumbent on the owner to ensure that the animal is not a danger to the public. Period. End of story. Had one of my dogs gotten out of the house or chain linked yard and threatened someone on the street or sidewalk I would expect that person to defend themselves however they saw fit. Would I be happy? Of course not, but I would understand.

No matter how much we love them, they're animals and aren't even close to being as important as the health or safety of a human. Period.

banerjek

I have decided to extend that policy to vehicles as well. I may even apply it to the weather if I find it threatening....

botto 

khatfull

Hmmm, now that I hadn't thought of... (how'd you find the Harry pic so quick? )

DrPete 

There's really nothing that says "spirit of cycling" like killing everything in sight.

banerjek

There's this web site called "Google".....

Spreggy

Sigh. Such self importance. I'll try to answer some of the hand-wringing posts and some of the good ones too.

The dog will bark at anything that goes by when she is outside, which is when we're outside. Pull in the driveway in your car, and she will greet you with a few good barks, and tail wagging. This is what dogs do.
She is behind a fence when out alone. What do you think we're doing out here for pete's sake, leaving loose dogs laying around the yard, and feeding them joggers? Damn, folks.


See that? Even the crazy ass OP sounds like a reasonable person after a little explanation. I know it goes against BF etiquette, but maybe we can try giving others the benefit of the doubt before getting on our high horse or large dog, myself included.

So Romans, I officially apologize for thinking you are mad as the hatter, I take back any names I called you, and I salute your multilevel approach to the problem, though I think you got it wrong on the last lap. If you see a black great dane charging you, just yell "Hey Cody puppy cutie pooty wooty!" and she'll jog along nice nice with you. Don't spray her with battery acid, ok?

Are we done here?

Romans8:28

Apology accepted.......

I now understand that I should have explained the situation better......

I suppose I was more interested in providing everyone here having a good laugh at my expense, then realizing I was starting a dog debate by accident.

If you laughed at my episode, then my mission was accomplished

banerjek

I must admit that I found it funny -- ingesting the wrong stuff always is when there is no permanent damage.

The best example of this principle I've ever seen was when a friend accidentally mixed up a beer glass and a tobacco spit cup when I was in college. That happened more than 20 years ago, and thinking about it still just about makes me puke...

Cfd

I haven't found such a dog thus far, but I'll keep keep that in mind.

ZXiMan

In my experience, pepper spray is much more effective and it's MUCH harder to use it against yourself... lol

ZXiMan

This would be a mute point *if* dog owners didn't let their dogs run wild. Here it is ILLEGAL to allow your dogs to run out onto public roads or let them run around unkept, much less attack pedestrians or cyclists. If the dog attacks and harms a person OR causes an injury accident, the OWNER of the dog is and can be held liable. Dog owners get cited all the time for letting their dogs out without being fenced in.

There are several dogs that I get chased by sometimes on a daily basis. I finally bought some pepper spray and had to use it a few weeks ago. It was very effective.

Tulex

I am supposed to care about the dog that the owner didn't care enough about to keep it safe?
I don't think so. I have my own pets, I don't need other people's pets. If they don't want them harmed, they can keep them out of harms way. I totally agree with khatfull. I'm not going out looking for dogs to hurt, but if a dog comes after me, I have no interest in protecting the dog. That's the owners job.

On a side note, it's quite selfish of pet owners to let their pets run wild. I have seen how it messes people up when they hit and kill someone's pet with their car. If owners would pull their heads out of their butts, it would save a lot of people a lot of grief.

ok_commuter

i'm not sure i know anyone who *hasn't* been around dogs their whole life, and i would wager that most people think they deal particularly well with them compared to others.

i had a close friend and she rescued a dog that turned out to be very difficult with strangers. she knew dogs very well and earned the dog's trust, but she had to keep the dog away from most other people and dogs and was very, very slowly (over years) introducing more new experiences to the poor animal.

this other guy we know came over one night and kept insisting that he wanted to go commune with the dog or something. he said, "i've been around dogs my whole life, i tend to be able to deal with them quite well." my friend tried very hard to dissuade him, but he went over to introduce himself to the dog anyway. he bent down to say hello and got bit in the face. it wasn't pretty, but he didn't have to go to the hospital, and he didn't complain considering it was his own damn fault.

this is a good idea and the correct theory. the problem with it is, hope is not a plan. you need to know what you are going to do if a confident, powerful NO doesn't do the trick.

i was surprised about 2 weeks ago by a fast rottweiler only two blocks from my house. i was still sleepy and ride by that spot every day for a few years now, so i still have no idea where this dog came from or who he belonged to.

he was coming from my right at an angle toward me. my first thought was that he was going to just pace the property lines, but he charged right into the street and damn near caught me. i of course droped the hamer and dropped the dog.

a moment later i realized that i sprinted right through a 2-way stop sign at a sometimes busy intersection. there are worse things than getting bitten by a dog - both crashing at high speed and running a stop sign into cross traffic qualify.

of course i should have shouted NO or OFF (my stop word for my dog). of course i should have stopped my bike, got the frame between him and me, taken out my water bottle and casually squirted him in the nose. used halt. whatever. the point is, adrenaline kicked in immediately and i rode really hard to avoid being eaten by the 100 lb dog (who probably would have never bitten me).

as i remember it, the whole experience lasted maybe 6 seconds. i can't even imagine where i would have found the time to pull a water bottle from a cage and squirt it at the dog. i kicked in to sprint mode WAY too hard to be grabbing at water bottles or anything else.

the experience has me thinking: i should figure out what i'm going to do next time, even practice it maybe. that would be strange for me, because i don't spend time thinking about bad things that might happen to me or baddies that are out to get me. but really, if i don't want to do something stupid, and i'm going to be too jacked up and scared to come up with anything smart or even OK on the spot, then i should have a smart plan and let that kick in when the dog gives chase.

i have a 90 pound dog myself and am not scared of many dogs. in fact, had anybody asked me what i would do if i got chased by a big scary dog while riding, i would have given one of the intelligent, thoughtful answers that have been so generously forthcoming on this here internet discussion. when it came to the moment of truth - the surprise, the barking and gnarling, the speed and power coming at me - very scary.

Tulex

Sorry, but muggers are putting themselves in danger by choice. I don't really care what people toss at them, or if the mugger walks away from it.

thenomad

+1

Breadpudding

That's what I thought too. I honestly expected a much funnier story. Work on that next time OP.


And just for the record, that ^ is freakin AWESOME.

botto 

you need to take some irony supplements.

Tulex

I do, I read BF in doses.