I would always stop and slowly walk away. Too many riders have crashed from dogs running into their wheels. The dogs would just bark until I got out of their territory.

But last year, I saw a large and small dog running down their lawn toward me. I stopped, straddling the bike, yelling NO. But the two dogs immediately split up and lunged for a leg, and I got nipped on both calves. The dogs did back off then.

So, no dog methods always work. Things I've personally seen work: Squirting with a water bottle, Blowing a loud rescue whistle, Yelling, Sprinting. I haven't seen anybody grab and use their pepper spray, yet.

Actually, it's the exact opposite.

There are some tricks that generally work, but you always have to read the situation and figure out what will work for those particular circumstances. The only thing that works almost universally is that if you look for battle, you'll find it practically every time. May as well take the same attitude with hostile cars and blow those up when you can as it will be equally effective for purposes of keeping you out of trouble.

One thing I love about these threads is all these tough guys that wear road rash like a badge of honor regardless of how stupid the cause act like little girls if their skin gets broken (or even almost broken) due to anything involving a dog. It's the road equivalent of sharks. People worry about them all the time, but the danger and damage factors are amplified in peoples' minds compared to other threats they face.

Dogs are like any other hazard you face. If you live in an area where roads are steep and crappy, you need to learn to descend. If you ride in heavy traffic, you need to learn to deal with that. If you ride where there is ice/snow, you need to deal with that. If you ride where there are dogs, you need to figure out how to deal with them too. Getting excited and stiffening up increases the odds of a bad outcome in any emergency situation, and this is particularly true with dogs.

Dogs can be unpredictable, and I hate getting bitten. But you have a lot of influence over the outcome. Anyone who rides like they think they *should* be able to without doing what the situation calls for is going to get into trouble a lot more often with dogs (or cars, or anything else for that matter).

I may start carrying bacon treats for dogs. I'd rather have them divert the attention to the treat than to try to kick them. I'm a dog lover, so if a positive tactic works, I'd prefer it.

Reward aggressive behavior, that's going to work well.

Ones that are actually aggressive won't be deterred. It will reward chasing, but that's not the same as aggression.

Uh, yeah...that's pretty much the exact definition of domestication!

I kind of wish a dog would chase me so I can get my average speed up

im sure we can all agree it iant the dog but the owners. every dog i have ever owned was trained to leave bikes and joggers alone

I once had a St Bernard come out after me, scary *^%$#!!, I took my Silca pump with a Campagnolo head ( https://rayhosler.wordpress.com/2010/...lo-pump-heads/ ) and stuck the prongs in his nose and twisted, He yelped? (was years ago) ran behind his fence and barked like hell.
A medium sized dog chased me like he htought I wads gonna be lunch on one of my regular training loops, ( Spokane, Tum-Tum, Reardan, Medical Lake WA) in 1980 and I out sprinted hiim, while drawing it out a bit to make him work as I recall. He made me kinda mad so I went back and out sprinted hime a few more times till he decided, "aw the helll wiith it and walked home. I never saw him again

For those who want to try the pepper spray, make sure you point it in the right direction. Of course the dog may leave you alone when he sees you rolling on the ground. Or maim you. Cheers!

This doesn't seem to be a point of agreement. A lot of guys will go after the dog thinking it will somehow teach all dogs/owners a lesson.

Guys, if you really want to make an impression, it really is the owner. And I'll be the last one to notice if a baseball bat lands in the wrong place. I'm just not a detail orietnted type of guy.

Loud deep NO! works for the dogs on my route....so far.

I have been chased by dogs before and yes, a squirt of H2O usually works. I also have two dogs who chase bikers with a barking, growling noise of a pit bull........yet when they stop, their's Jaeger (my dog) on his back getting his belly rubbed, happy as a pig in poop.

I think we have to agree to disagree on this one. A hill is a hill. Each dog is unique, and unique on any given day, which is to say unpredictable. You can ride over rolling hills and know what to expect - not so with dogs.

Maybe I should just carry bacon with me >:-)

Before using actual offensive physical action against dogs ... like kicking, which might get you bitten and subsequently on the floor, I strongly advise to work on your barking and growling and your acting-tough-through-body-language techniques.
Dogs, in general, do not like nor want to actually get into a physical fight.
Why? Simple: because physical fights with dogs tend to bring injury to both fighters ... and injury -in a dog world without vets- means almost certain infection and often death.
This is, I believe, the main reason why dogs have a whole world of body language and growling intensities.
The next time a dog chases you ... try the approach of suddenly making a very loud growling sound while looking at the dog.
Make the sound in such a fashion that you call upon your inner caveman while making it and I assure you that 99.99% of dogs will be completely caught off guard and will stop whatever they were trying to do ... especially because they aren't used to humans making such wild sounds.

If you do have to fight one of those 0.01% of dogs that did not get frightened by your best growl ... I strongly advise you not to try and kick him.
Kicking is generally a bad idea when fighting dogs.

Have fun

Fair enough.

But some dog problems are avoidable -- from what I can tell, most of the collisions with them fall into this category. It's one thing if they suddenly charge out of the underbrush and you have no time to react. But anyone who continues riding normally or picks up the pace when *any* animal has the potential to get to the bike is asking for a crash. Even though they don't chase cyclists, squirrels seem particularly prone to suddenly darting in front and can be a serious threat.

Failure to adjust to an obvious threat is a boneheaded rider rather than a dog problem. It is every bit as dumb as blaming conditions after taking a wet corner too fast and wiping out.

There are other aspects of dealing with dogs that are less straightforward. It is fair to say that there is some skill involved in managing interactions and that this skill can be developed. That's why a dog trainer often achieves more success with an animal in minutes than the actual owner who's had years to figure things out.

+1. You might miss and fall, or the dog, that wouldn't have bitten you otherwise, might catch your foot and bring you down.

Hey, I've heard that before - first demagogy, when it fails, repression!

As someone else said, a loud deep "no." If that doesn't work I go for "sit" or "go home." Has worked on every dog I have ever encountered.

I almost ran over a squirrel today. He darted literally 1" in front of my front wheel. That would have been fun.

No doubt adding my two cents isn't necessary but then being on here isn't either so...

I have several dogs on a some regular routes and have also had some novel dogs pop up at unexpected times. If riding with others, the first thing to do, is of course, hold your line (my wife almost took me out by swerving and almost stopping in a group ride).

If dog is beside you and you're going at a decent clip, a stern "No" usually is enough for them to hesitate. Even poorly behaved dogs often understand that enough to resolve the situation. Thankfully, this even worked for an unfamiliar german shepherd charging me from my front right, looking like he was loaded for bear. He was pretty impressive, totally quiet and a total bullet. Just as he got to me, I shouted "No, bad dog!" and he slammed the brakes on totally confused. Still wanted a piece of me (I think) but by the time his tiny dog brain recovered, I was far enough past him that I wasn't worth the chase.

I've got one large black lab mix that totally works the angles, and plots a very good intercept course for me. He's mouthed my ankle a couple of times so i think he's not vicious but I did pepper spray him to hopefully keep him from running out into the road after me (and he's watched me a couple of time since but no chase). The problem with pepper spray is that you need to have it ready and that only works for expected dogs. For unexpected dogs, for me things happen to fast for me to be fumbling around in my jersey pocket and i'd probably just come up with a gel for him.

I think getting off sounds a wee bit crazy. You'll have to slow and clip out and if you're doing this because your worried about a dog, then it seems that you're a bit vulnerable. So far, I've always been able to ride through the trouble (knock on wood).

There's a great little terrier on one ride that always bolts out after me. First time it happened, I'm riding along and I keep hearing this clicking. I'm thinking "Damn, why on earth is my bike making this sound?". Only after about 15 seconds of trimming my gears and looking around do i realize that its this little dog just tearing after me, about 3 ft behind me, murder in his eyes. Now, I try to give him a good "get 'em!" and not go too fast so he can get in a good chase.

got chased by to tiny dogs....man they were quick and caught us on an ascent......I panicked and hammered only to see a larger dog off to the right....luckily he didn't give chase, it wouldve been lights out with that guy. Afterwards we talked about what to do in that situation...My friend said he hoped he could drop me lol...I was hoping the dog would see him first and take chase of him. Water bottles seem like they might just piss a big dog off.

Two hunters are walking in the woods and they stumble upon a bear with a cub. One hunter immediately pulls out some running shoes and quickly puts them on. As he's doing this, his companion says "You're nuts, you'll never outrun that bear" to which he replies "I don't have to outrun the bear, I have to outrun you." ba-dum-TSH...

Thank you ladies and germs, I'm here every evening, two shows on Sunday...