Ex-GF used to work at plastic surgeon office that specialized in reconstructive surgery on children...about 1/2 their cases involved dog bites/attack. The common thread in all these incidences is the owners of the dogs always explained: my dog never this, never that,...and in some implicit way would communicate that it was not their dogs fault...

Dilute Ammonia from a Squirt flask (gun shaped or not) in the eyes, can be quite painful ... and distracting from the Chase.

a Person would promptly wash it out of their eyes, with More clear water.

Here is my experience with dogs riding in rural Illinois.

First, realize that most dogs mean no harm. They see a bike and their chase/protective instinct kicks in. While that can be terrifying, you can use that to your advantage. If you see a dog coming at you, the first thing to do is to yell and tell it to go away, in a very loud, authoritative voice. The dog most likely has an owner that it obeys, and so it will respond the same to you. Establish that you are the alpha dog, and you'll be fine most of the time. In my experience, this has worked with about 95% of dog encounters for me.

Sometimes, a dog will come out and be very close. Don't try to pedal away - it will catch you and this could lead to an accident. I get off my bike and yell at the dog, yelling at it go away. Hold something in your hand like your going to hit it (air pump). This will also give the dog something to bite in case it attacks. Gradually and slowly walk away. The dog(s) will continue to bark and come at you, but keep yelling as you walk and eventually they will give up. And NEVER let the dog get between you and the bike.

In the event of a real aggressive dog, or a group, extraordinary measures will need to be employed. I have never been in this situation, but based on my research, here is what I would do. Use your bike as a weapon and keep it between you and the dog. A real aggressive dog at this point may not respond to yelling and asserting your authority (although yelling may alert the owner or help). Gradually walk away, keeping the bike between you and the dog. Never let it get behind you. Use whatever you can find -- pepper spray, water bottle in the face, hit it with rocks, poke it in the eyes, etc. The best strategy I've heard is that if you are getting bitten is to shove your hand down the dogs throat. They hate that. If none of this works, the best you can do is curl up in a ball and hope for the best. A terrifying, but fortunately extremely rare, scenario.

Curl up in a ball. Yeah right. This old man will definitely NOT be going down without a fight.

I wonder if the homebrewed dog zapper described in this PDF could be minaturized and updated with modern technology: https://www.grc.com/sn/sn-281.pdf

I've been bitten have a pack of dogs that ran into the road. I did as someone mentioned, stopped. Apparently yelling at a pack does not work as it might with only one dog.

Here there is a leash law. About a month ago I had two incidents. In both cases I reported the incidents to the authorities by using Google Maps to locate the property and house from where the dogs came. I also included the breed in the report. If I encounter the dogs again I will report another time and state this is the second incident in the report.

I do carry mace. My concern is not so much being bitten, but having the dog cause me to fall. I do agree a loud commanding voice can work. I do find that people who own dogs and do not keep them controlled seem to be oblivious . Telling me "he won't bite" is the most common phrase I hear. I once had a owner get insulted because I shielded my child when the dog approached which obviously I demonstrated I could care less what they felt and totally ignored them.

Thinking about one of these, https://www.cabelas.com/product/Tauru...ers/706579.uts Just kidding.

I ride in farm country. Never had a problem with dogs. I can outsprint them. They make good training companions. Remember Eddy from American Flyers.

That's pretty scary. I know Juliana Buhring had an inncident with wild dogs chasing her in Turkey during her race across the world. Fortunately some good samaritan chased away the dogs in their car. I'd say mace works just fine in that instance. I had a casenwith a bear and there was no hill. I pulled out my mace, but the bear didn't give a crap and just lumped away into the other side of the street and went about his business. I think dogs are worse in this as they need reasonable cause to change their direction to attack whereas dogs will attack for fun and not eat you.
Keep your mace around as I do. I don't know if the mace has some level of intensity between bear mace or regular defensive mace, but I make sure I get the most projectile stuff I can and as a small bottle. Designing a mock sonic screwdriver handy tool that has a defensive siren, because I'm a geek who watches Doctor Who. And, bears don't like such sounds. Dogs, I don't know. I wouldn't want to be in the situation again. And the same goes for when I'm on a tour, camping and cooking somewhere very far appart and doing so with a hammock set up/ tube tent. Sure, my tent looks like a log, same colours in my paint job, but I can easily go "squish" if a bear steps on me or persistent feral dogs have nothing better to do. Macing something in a sleeping bag doesn't feel like a safe option and it may look like a log even to a human being, but there is that "squish".

They use Flash-Bang Grenades, Pepper Spray and Tear Gas Projectiles on People.

This past spring I got nailed again. Third time in 5 years, though the first two were of no real consequence, it does seem I'll be baring the scars of this last one for a while. Rural IL and IN along with western KY are some of the worst areas I've had to deal with. I've gone back to carrying a can of Sabre pepper spray mounted on my top tube and rarely ride without it anymore for my local rural rides. Anyway, I know and have used all the standard "tricks" and they always work......until they don't.

Air Zounds air horn works wonders.

I have a hard time seeing outrunning a dog as a viable strategy while loaded. How fast can you accelerate to 25-30 mph with panniers? That only works if you start with a 20 mph head start going downhill.


A good hunting pack knows how to get behind their prey (aka the cyclist). One goes left, one goes right, the rest stand in front and bark while you get bitten from behind.


Been there, done that, bought Halt!

Ride with your Lawyer+ a witness, And phone videos, and You might win their House in the court settlement for Injuries caused by their Off leash Dog.

halt works ok. I've recently used a gel type pepper spray. It's a little heavier stream and easier to aim. Threads like this you always have someone say "oh dogs don't want to hurt you they just want to chase." Think what you are saying. You can actually read a dogs mind? Or the mind of any other animal for that matter? Absurd. FWIW, bear spray may have a lower concentration of hot stuff than some other sprays. The can I brought back from Glacier did, anyway. I emptied it out on a pack of three that regularly chased me. It got their attention but they didn't roll over and die, unfortunately.

I see a lot of advice to outrun, outsprint, use the bike as a weapon, etc. - but this is the Touring group and when I think of touring, I think of a bike laden with panniers and all sorts of gear. After I've been up and down hills all day long and I'm on mile 73 and almost to the campsite, I can't see myself sprinting or holding 20mph for ANY length oftime, much less an extended length of time, no matter how much adrenaline is flowing. And picking up by bike and wielding it around as a barrier doesn’t seem plausible in that scenario, either. To that end, I always carry a pepper spray which is designed for cyclists. The spray canister has Velcro on it and is mated to another Velcro strap which is affixed to the top tube, near the head tube/stem. I also have a frame pump attached parallel with the top tube, if things devolve into hand-to-hand combat (probably more for the two-legged creatures, than the four-legged ones). I have had many dogs give chase and I usually just "sweet talk" them, as others have said, "look at that pretty puppy" and so forth, but I don't slow down. I don't speed up, either.


The one time I thought I was in for an inevitable physical confrontation, I was having a particularly bad day on a week-long, fully-loaded tour. My patience was so thin that day, that you could read a book through it. I was relieved to finally be on a beautiful section of rail trail for a few miles, when shooting out from someone's back yard comes a medium-sized dog, running hard and ready for action. Well, that was the final straw for me. I was hating life and welcoming death at that moment and feeling like I had nothing to lose, so I just slammed on the brakes, looked him square in the eyes and screamed at the top of my lungs: "Come on you son of a b****! You want some of me? I'll eat you raw and spit you out, you little f*****!!!" And just like flipping a switch, that dog stopped dead in its tracks, cocked its head to the side, as if to say: "Dude...chill...I was just doing dog stuff...it's all good." Then he turned and walked back home. I ended up feeling bad for the dog for a long time afterwards. I'm pretty sure that I scared him waaaay more than he scared me, hahaha!

There are times that outrunning a dog even if you're on your lightweight road bike is impossible (unless maybe you're Mark Cavendish) because if they're up ahead of you when they take off to meet you, they've got the angle on you and 25 mph won't cut it.

I don't find dogs to be much of an issue while on tour. In ~13K miles I only remember being in fear twice and they both occurred on my tour this summer in South Dakota. One dog stopped when he reached the end of his fence (even though he was outside of it) and the other stopped when my yelling alerted its owner who came outside and gained control of the dog. If I'm passing a house where I suspect aggressive dogs might be and I can see there's no traffic in either direction I'll cross the road and ride as far away as I can.

I did use bear spray on a dog on a local ride once. Bet he never did it again

One of many reasons I enjoy touring in Central Texas is the extensive hunting leases. The deer have significant economic value and country folks don't let their dogs run.

How the French did it during cycling's golden age:

velodog.jpg

I wonder what will happen in Missouri with the new carry without permit law. If I were to shoot a dog I'ld be very worried about the owner.

If a dog runs at me, from the front, I accelerate and steer toward it as if I am going to run it over: its eyes get big, it stops and --- I get by before the fool knows what happened.

I love dogs and have some knowledge about how they think. They, on the other hand, do not know me, and cannot hide what they are thinking; they just act like dogs.

Advantage Joe ;o)

Joe

I do it like this:


Pain is a great teaching tool for aggressive dogs.

Not an issue; most will want the permit because of the reciprocity in most states of the country.

We have a "Stand Your Ground" law in Missouri that protects you from the dogs and dog owners you see as a threat. You have no obligation to retreat from a threat in public now. Notice I'm not talking about a gun issue; you can defend yourself with a rock or a box of Twinkies.

I'm not offering any advice; just saying know the laws in your state.

As far as dogs...

I have little use for dogs, especially ones chasing me on my bike. I won't be talking calmly to the chasing dog or throwing it a dog bone to chomp on. Mace, large rocks or the hardest kick I can give to the jaw works well. I gave a leader of a small pack of 3 dogs a swift kick in the jaw while in Texas. Instant retreat.

No love for dogs at all.

Yes. We did this in H.S. In the deodorant section of a pharmacy, find a brand that still comes in an old-fashioned squeeze bottle, ~6 oz. size. There'll be some way to get the top off it. Take off the spray top and empty the bottle. The spray top is designed to atomize the spray through air holes in the underside of the cap. Fill those holes with household or modeling glue. When the glue dries, put water in the bottle and test. You should get a nice stream of water like from a water pistol. This device will fit nicely in a jersey pocket.

Planning to utilize a kids' water pistol on my next ride where three dogs have tried nipping at my heals. Hopefully water (and nothing stronger) will do the trick.

I agree with you after trying everything else...just dismount. Now days I say nothing, just use the bike as a shield even for multiple dogs.


The owners eventually notice and come out to let me know the dog won't bite or worse tell the dog to get up here and lay down which of course never works.