got chased by a pit bull last night
 

I was coming near the end of a hour and a half ride and was proud of myself because i finally conquered "the hill" near me which had defeated me on three previous occassions. "The hill" leads up to a ridge that is all farmland. "The hill" is about a half mile long in total and has 4 steep inclines with the rest a long gradual incline. Mind you, I had barely made it up the hill no more than 2 minutes ago and my lungs were still burning and sucking oxygen, when i here some snarling. As i look behind me I see a pit bull come running from a farm house, all snarly and and foaming at the mouth. The dog had that look in his eye like I was his dinner.

It is amazing what adrenaline can do for you. Seriously, before I saw the dog, I was moving at a snails pace, my legs burned burned burned like a ring of fire and I felt like i was suffocating. The dog is coming at me full bore and amazingly I am able to man-up and find that extra energy to get the hell out of there. At one point the dog was inches from my leg and I thought I was a goner.

I don't think I have ever sprinted that fast in my life.

If you are chased by a dog, with few exceptions the BEST thing to do is stop, get off your bike and hold your bike between you and the dog.

Eddie is a real son of a *****.

Or you can do a 360 degree skid so you are now chasing the dog. Proceed to jam your tumb into the pitbull's anus hole. That'll teachem'.

I've had good luck with the "get off your bike approach". But, in the last decade, I've seen a new sort of pitbull, both in Houston and San Antonio. This is a breed of pitbull raised purely to fight and attack. After one of these "insane" pitbulls launches an attack, either you die, or the dog dies.

These dogs are being bred in large numbers, both in inner-city ghetto neighborhoods, and out in rural wooded areas (where the cops are seldom around). They are not raises by "responsible" people, and often escape their pens and begin to hunt around the neighborhood for someone to tear apart. Last year, two people (a child and an elderly man) were killed in just a week by pitbull attacks.

So, for the new "insane" pitbull, you need to ride FAST. But, if he catches you, there is only one outcome. You must kill him. Or he will kill you.

(Someone will post to say: "My pitbull Muffie is sweet and gentle and she lets my baby pull on her ears"....these folks have never MET, SEEN, or RUN from the new breed of insane pitbulls being raised at every public housing project and every rural trailer park in south Texas).

It was probably just chasing you because you were moving. I'm glad you got away and all, but if you had stopped and put the bike between you and the dog and then just walked away it probably would have left you alone. Probably.
Also, my pitbull will bark at passers by but she just wants to play, not eat them as is a common misconception.

Just a little dramatic? Yes, some pits are being raised irresponsibly but the majority of them are great dogs with a bad rap.

it's an unfortunate reality when you ride in the suburbs. happens quite a bit, sucks a lot worse when it's a dog like a pit.

the vast majority of the time the dog is playing, trying to catch you not kill you. but you do what you gotta do to protect yourself.

if i'm being chased and i have water i'll squirt it in its face. that usually gives me enough of a gap to get away. if you don't think you can get away then do what re-cycle describes.

also if you can figure it out, tell the cops whose house it is. owners who let their dogs chase cyclists deserve to be castrated with a spork.

I think the dog just wanted a ride away from Michael Vick's house.



(crickets)




What? Still too soon?

I have raised 3 dogs---I know what a dog looks like when it wants to "play"

Playing dogs don't usually snarl, show their teeth and foam at the mouth

to be fair some pit bulls do show their teeth and snarl when they're playing. can't speak for the mouth foaming though. we have two shop dogs who are both pits and when they play fight it looks like they're trying to kill each other. it's very hard to tell that they're playing and not fighting, but neither one ever ends up with a scratch.

you have to err on the side of caution though. you have to assume the worst when you don't know the dog. glad you got away, and you should seriously consider telling the police what happened. you could be saving someone from serious injury and the dog from being put down due to its irresponsible owner.

If it's a frequent problem, you could use Halt! spray.

Getting chased is scary. I was chased for the first time a month ago by some smaller dogs, but they were so wimpy I was able to scare them off by screaming at them. This was at about 12:00 AM on a rural road though, so it scared the **** out of me.

haha yes!

I know a little bit about dogs, this goes double for Pitbulls.

"foaming at the mouth" isn't a determiner for attack behavior, it is a sign the the dog may be just a little over heated or excited. It is caused by drooling when slightly dehydrated, and bull breeds don't need an excuse to drool. It would also be hard to see from the distance you speak of. Unless it was copious, and then it would be a sign of rabies, which I can just about promise you wasn't the case.

I don't doubt that the dog was snarling or barking at you though. Did the dog leave its property to chase you, or was it just keeping watch over where it lived? If it left its property to chase you, then the owners are at fault, and you should absolutely alert your SPCA that there is a roaming dog, Pitbull or otherwise.

Let's not let this thread unravel into an anti-Pitbull thread though. This event could have happened with any breed of dog. Any breed can be raised wrong. Any breed can be breed wrong. Any large athletic breed can be a danger when this happens.

I think the most important thing to answer is if this dog left its property or not. If it did, there is a lot you can do to protect yourself, and the dog, from the dog's neglectful owners. Even a well intentioned and non-aggressive large dog can pose a threat to itself by playfully chasing down a stranger and getting hurt or killed by that stranger in the ensuing lack of communication. I'm not saying by any means that is what happened to you, but it does happen as a result of owner neglect sometimes. If it didn't leave its property, yet let out a scary warning, it sounds like the dog was well trained and behaved enough not to be an actual threat.

In general, and there are exceptions to every rule, I find the following to be most helpful to me in preventing a dog attack while cycling. But I am an alpha dog, so YMMV.
A) Try to calmly move away from the property line the dog may be protecting. And by no means step onto the property.
B) Calmly place the bicycle between you and the dog if the dog approaches, otherwise stay on the bike .
C) Look the dog directly into the eyes, if it has still not backed down and is intent on engaging you. CALMLY, yet firmly, say "No" and/or "Bad dog". Do this without fear and dominantly for best effect. Try not to raise your voice too high, as you may come off as too shrill or excited. The point is to show the dog that you are the alpha and must be listened to. If you believe that you are, or can fool the dog into thinking you believe you are, this may be all that you need to do.
D) Offer a treat to the dog if it has calmed down or isn't snapping at you. Offer some pepper spray to the dog if it is snapping at you. If you know how to use hackling or the difference between growling and play barking as a determiner, use this as a litmus test. If dog behavior isn't your forte, err on the side of caution. I also find a game of "fetch" with your pump or a power bar can fool a dog long enough for you to get out of dodge. This is especially true of terrier breeds (a breed group that Pitbulls are a member of), as they can be total slaves to stimuli.
E) When you are a safe distance away, call the SPCA right away, so they can catch the owners in the act (or not long after the act) of neglecting to control their dog.
F) If the owners come out to restrain their dog, act very clam and nice towards them, even if they are in the wrong, so as not to give their dog a reason to think it must protect its owner and escalate what now may be a more controlled situation.

Just my $00.02, but it has kept me out of trouble. Then again, I have a bit of experience working with big dominant dogs with high drive. In my avatar, you will see my current dog. His name is Cassius and he's a German Shepherd Dog. He's the one sitting nearest the camera. And yes, they are sitting on an airplane.

+1

Dude my mom is awesome, you don't even know her.

"Well I'll be a fig newton"

i wasnt on a bike when this happened, but theres this hill that i always bomb that leads to my house and i was skating down the hill. so i was just rollin pretty quick(glad it was downhill as i was on a skateboard) then all of a sudden i feel this tug on the back of my leg. i look back and theres this huge german shephard trying to get a piece of me biting my pant leg. luckily i was going fast enough, had enough momentum, and didnt eat **** from the dog pulling at my leg that i got away. the dog got away with a chunk of my jeans and i got home safely with a minor scratch on my leg. scared the **** outta me.

Yes the dog did leave the property and chased me quite a while down the road

wonder if he ate his shoe.

man up!

You can't typically out run a medium sized dog on a bicycle unless there is something wrong with it, or if you can hit 35ish and stay there for a few seconds. The intent is to scare you into thinking you just made it, and for you to stay away from his area. It works because you can't tell if it's a bluff, except that he didn't catch you. That does not mean that he won't bite your foot, in the process, but he can go very fast if he wants to catch you.
A sick old medium size dog can often go 32 plus. Lots of dogs can go much faster. If he was close to you, he probably let you go unless you were going way over 30. There are plenty of medium size dogs that can hit 35 or more. There are some that can hit 40. A few even faster.

so safe to say, its better to get off your bike and put in between you than just try to out ride the dog? how about kicking it in the face when/if it gets close? im being serious because this has never happened to me, minus little dogs.

... I don't think anyone is offended by Michael Vick jokes. And general rule of thumb, 2 weeks, and all bets are off.

There are so many different scenarios there is no one good answer. One can't really know what a dog is going to do. Many dogs will stop when you stop, just becasue they like to chase. But, you might find the one that really wants to hurt you. I make friends with most of them. Even one that bit my ankle. Then I had to stop and pat him. I held my bike for a shield with one until his owner came out and got him. At least that gives you time to think about what to do. Dogs react differently.