A first for me! Dog encounter

[steveoz]

Riding along and hear someone on the other side of the road yelling frantically at the top of their lungs - then realize it's directed at their dog - then realize that a 9 inch tall , furiously vicious ,four legged ball of anger-rage-spit and fangs was yipping his way across FOUR LANES OF TRAFFIC to get me...holy sh**. The rage monster finally caught up with me and I had to think quick! So I slowed, figuring that'd quell the primal animal instinct to chase...think it worked cause the demonic hell hound slowed...I think it's owner screaming at it to stop might have helped as well but I think it was my rather convincing command of DON'T FU***ING BITE ME! was the convincer...as the little satanic spawn curled back away I noticed NO LEASH! - all I could think was that Cerberus Jr just came out of Hades and played it's first game of "Frogger" and won...no harm, no foul I didn't stick around..

[weisan]

And you didn't think of fetching it safely across the traffic back to its owner?

[steveoz]

Originally Posted by weisan

And you didn't think of fetching it safely across the traffic back to its owner?

I could see out of the corner of my eye that it took a bad angle across the road, it's 3 inch legs were scrambling as fast as they could but it had to flatten out the curve and was running the wrong way right down the middle of the lane - I have nooo idea how it made it alive - it's a busy street with a supermarket entrance and bus stop! I did actually pull closer to the curb to help get it out of the road, but rather vociferously instructed it to not bite me... lol!

[ERK55]

Originally Posted by weisan

And you didn't think of fetching it safely across the traffic back to its owner?

Let Darwinism take it’s course.

[flying]

I have gotten quite accurate at grabbing my bottle & squirting it at any dog who has chased me. Worked well on all but one...He just got more angry

Luckily it was a flat sprint-able section

[Mark McM]

When I was a teenager, it was far less common for people to keep their dogs on leashes, or in a fenced yard. Many just let their dogs roam free. Dog encounters were a common hazard for cyclists. Each cyclist developed their own techniques for fending off vicious dogs: Some sprayed them with their water bottles (a few even kept a special water with some noxious fluid in it for spraying dogs); some whacked them with their pumps (full size frame pumps were the norm back then); some yelled common dog commands at them (like "Stay," or "Bad dog", or "Go home"); and others just tried to out run them. For me, I'd first assess the situation - if I was on a downhill, I'd just out run them; if I was on an uphill, I'd stop and make friends with them.

[Steve in SLO]

Steveoz: did you notice that your original post was post number 666?

[smontanaro]

Had my first encounter with an angry pooch a few days ago in rural SW Michigan. JRA, when I came to a yard with three yapping boxers. They stopped well shy of the road, so were either very well-trained or constrained by an Invisible Fence™ (probably the latter as they seemed like they could do some real damage). A few doors down, the story was different. I waved at a guy picking up his newspaper and noticed his dog, an oldish (grey muzzle) beagle-sized and beagle-dimensioned mutt. I doubt I was going more than 18mph when he began the chase, first from his (left) side of the road, crossing over, nearly running into a mailbox post, then back over to the left. He managed to keep pace with me for perhaps a tenth of a mile. I wasn't really worried that he'd catch me. I found it more amusing than alarming. I imagine the occasional passing of bikies has provided him with plenty of exercise over the years.

[paredown]

I remember a route we used to ride that had a particularly nasty farm dog--you know, the kind that catches cats to kill them. He had the system down--he'd sit at the top of a bank so he could get a running start, and he had some endurance too.

It was the total sprint situation on the way out--and always a lot worse on the way back when your legs were tired.

[Greatestalltime]

I’ve had 3 encounters. First one I outran a medium sized dog luckily because I didn’t see him until he was on me and it was slightly up hill. Should’ve known to watch for him because the strava segment was an is called “jackass dog sprint” (he’s gone now. I think)

2nd one a medium sized dog caught me going up a steep hill during winter. Bit a hole in my leg warmers, but not all the way through my bibs. Left a mark on my leg anyway. I yelled at a guy and he said if it was his he’d have shot it by now. It was his neighbors.

3rd was an angry and scary good sized pit bull. All white. As he/she charged me I had no way of turning as I was headed at him. I instinctively said “hey buddy” and put my hand out palm up. Still running he smelled it then aggressively smelled my leg and let me pass. It was a dead end and my first time down the st. I took a gravel road and went over a fence rather than go back by as he still was staring at me.

It would’ve been a good fight. Except, cleats don’t inspire confidence for fighting on pavement.


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[Onno]

First dog encounter?! Holy crap. I've had so many over the years (and probably 5 already this year) it just seems like a part of what we sign up for. I've had two bad crashes over the years (including one last summer), both caused by dogs running into my bike.

Here are my strategies:
--know where they are--talk to other cyclists in the area
--if you see one sizing you up, speak nicely to it, saying something happy like, hello, big fella. This works surprisingly often. Most dogs are good dogs and don't really want to mess with you
--if it's running at you, yell as loudly as you can. This occasionally works to scare them off (as with the OP)
--if you can't out run it safely, and it looks vicious, get off the bike and put it between you and the dog, and yell like hell. Then call the police. Give them the address of the dog owner if you can. When you do this, you put the dog and owner on notice, and a second offense is when things get serious for the owner and the dog.

I love dogs, by the way--have 5 of my own, and a big FENCED yard, with real wire fencing and posts. I once imagined an app for cyclists that would allow people to upload locations of hazards (a Waze for cyclists) that would include known bad dogs.

[tmf]

I was chased by a doberman on my bmx bike when I was a kid. I almost got away, until I felt him bite me on the ass. We had to verify that his rabies shots were up to date.

I am more concerned about dogs on my gravel rides for two reasons. Homes on gravel roads are probably less likely to keep their dogs secured due to much less nearby traffic, cyclists, pedestrians, and I'm also much less likely to be able to outsprint a fast dog riding on gravel.

[bigbill]

I had lots of angry dog encounters in East Texas, but this one time, I was riding on a state highway between Blossom and Detroit when a small dog came out after me. I could hear a woman calling the dog and figured it would give up and go home. Nope, it kept running after me so I turned around and headed towards the woman and the dog chased me back to his house where the woman grabbed him. It was just some yappy dog that wanted to run, he had no interest in me.

[BlueFly]

Originally Posted by tmf

I am more concerned about dogs on my gravel rides for two reasons. Homes on gravel roads are probably less likely to keep their dogs secured due to much less nearby traffic, cyclists, pedestrians, and I'm also much less likely to be able to outsprint a fast dog riding on gravel.

+1

I grew up in a rural area and my first encounter with a dog was a saint bernard. The movie Cujo had been recently released and was I actually going to experience a similar fate?! I quickly learned, I never knew that the breed could run so FAST and I didn't know I could sprint like that!

Since the bar had been set early on, all other dog incidents thus far have been less traumatic and I hope the streak stays that way.

Originally Posted by Onno

Here are my strategies:
--if you see one sizing you up, speak nicely to it, saying something happy like, hello, big fella. This works surprisingly often. Most dogs are good dogs and don't really want to mess with you
.

This is also a technique that works well.

Keep your eyes peeled out there!

[OtayBW]

[QUOTE=steveoz;2775207...but I think it was my rather convincing command of DON'T FU***ING BITE ME! ....[/QUOTE]I yell NO!!!!! because I think most dogs have a pretty quick and unambiguous understanding of what that means.