Country Roads & DOGS

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After a 5 year absence from road cycling I am back on the
bike. I ride some great rural roads mainly in farm country.
It seems every house I pass has a large dog and they all
love to chase the bike. What's the best way to deal with
the dog???

On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 11:04:40 -0500, "TAT 57" <tatullis@ccrtc.com>
wrote:

>After a 5 year absence from road cycling I am back on the
>bike. I ride some great rural roads mainly in farm country.
>It seems every house I pass has a large dog and they all
>love to chase the bike. What's the best way to deal with
>the dog???

Buy a Newfoundland that likes to run. Second choice: Buy a
Wolfhound - they all like to run. You give up 30 pounds, but
you're still over
150.

When you get to the English Mastiff's house, you're on your
own. Your dog will probably outrun it, though.

Curtis L. Russell Odenton, MD (USA) Just someone on
two wheels...

On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 11:04:40 -0500, "TAT 57" <tatullis@ccrtc.com> wrote:

>After a 5 year absence from road cycling I am back on the
>bike. I ride some great rural roads mainly in farm country.
>It seems every house I pass has a large dog and they all
>love to chase the bike. What's the best way to deal with
>the dog???

I'm nearly a 'chased by dog' expert, and in my experience,
every one is different.

What did you do the first time this happened? I presume
none of them has caught you yet, so you must have ridden
faster than they can chase you? If that's the case, just
keep doing that.

You might plan your route so that you're going on the
downhill at the most vicious chasers, but other than that,
it's pretty hard to hit them with sprays and things.

There's a wealth of anecdotal info in the ng, just google
for it. If you want to be really harsh, just time your ride
to coincide with the passage of a large asphault roller
truck - think Wiley E. Coyote. ;-p

-Badger

On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 11:04:40 -0500, "TAT 57" <tatullis@ccrtc.com>
wrote:
>What's the best way to deal with the dog???

groups.google.com/groups?&as_ugroup=rec.bicycles.*&as_usubj-
ect=dogs&as_scoring=d
--
Rick Onanian

On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 12:29:33 -0400, Curtis L. Russell
<curtis@md-bicycling.org> wrote:

>On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 11:04:40 -0500, "TAT 57"
><tatullis@ccrtc.com> wrote:
>
>>After a 5 year absence from road cycling I am back on the
>>bike. I ride some great rural roads mainly in farm
>>country. It seems every house I pass has a large dog and
>>they all love to chase the bike. What's the best way to
>>deal with the dog???
>
>Buy a Newfoundland that likes to run. Second choice: Buy a
>Wolfhound - they all like to run. You give up 30 pounds,
>but you're still over
>150.

I'm not sure I'm, duh, following you here. What do you mean
give up 30lbs. Do you mean have a -bigger- dog to intimidate
the chasing dog? Won't they just get into a scrap?

>When you get to the English Mastiff's house, you're on your
>own. Your dog will probably outrun it, though.

Are Mastiffs notorious chasers, and/or fighters? What
about a Rodesian Redback? I saw one of those on the trail
the other day. Nice looking dog, very docile and
friendly, it seems.

-Badger Studying up on dog breeds...

>
>Curtis L. Russell Odenton, MD (USA) Just someone on two
>wheels...

What did you do the first time this happened?....Yes I Out
Ran Them...But I ride on occasion with my wife and or
neighbor and always more concerned about them more than
myself and the "ambush dog" getting into the wheel and
causing a crash.

"Badger_South" <Badger@South.net> wrote in message
news:1lq5e0hph8401hq4m0d8kulrnucm7bo68n@4ax.com...
> On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 11:04:40 -0500, "TAT 57"
> <tatullis@ccrtc.com> wrote:
>
> >After a 5 year absence from road cycling I am back on the
> >bike. I ride
some
> >great rural roads mainly in farm country. It seems every
> >house I pass
has a
> >large dog and they all love to chase the bike. What's the
> >best way to
deal
> >with the dog???
>
> I'm nearly a 'chased by dog' expert, and in my experience,
> every one is different.
>
> What did you do the first time this happened? I presume
> none of them has caught you yet, so you must have ridden
> faster than they can chase you? If that's the case, just
> keep doing that.
>
> You might plan your route so that you're going on the
> downhill at the most vicious chasers, but other than that,
> it's pretty hard to hit them with sprays and things.
>
> There's a wealth of anecdotal info in the ng, just google
> for it. If you want to be really harsh, just time your
> ride to coincide with the passage of a large asphault
> roller truck - think Wiley E. Coyote. ;-p
>
> -Badger

>Are Mastiffs notorious chasers, and/or fighters? What
>about a Rodesian Redback? I saw one of those on the trail
>the other day. Nice looking dog, very docile and friendly,
>it seems.

Doh, Ridgeback, I mean.

-B

TAT 57 wrote:
> After a 5 year absence from road cycling I am back on the
> bike. I ride some great rural roads mainly in farm
> country. It seems every house I pass has a large dog and
> they all love to chase the bike. What's the best way to
> deal with the dog???

I would tell the owners and the authorities that you'll
resort to force if nesessary, and would prefer to not harm
the animals.

The go buy a pea-shooter and practice, practice, practice.

Bill "there must be laws, right?" S.

On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 11:48:27 -0500, "TAT 57" <tatullis@ccrtc.com> wrote:

>What did you do the first time this happened?....Yes I Out
>Ran Them...But I ride on occasion with my wife and or
>neighbor and always more concerned about them more than
>myself and the "ambush dog" getting into the wheel and
>causing a crash.

There's not much you can do, and it's an 'every man, every
woman for themselves, sitch'. Just brief the fellow riders
where to expect the dogs and have 'em ride like heck. By the
time you get a spray or waterbottle out, they're on you. If
it's really a threat, you might have to dismount and use the
bike as a shield.

Some say that if you ride the route enough the dogs will get
to know you. You might, if you're brave, stop one time and
pet them. After they know you they may ignore you - but
there's an unpredictability factor in all of this
- as in bites the hand that pets them. Another strategy
might be to stop and talk to the owner, if the dogs are
operating in a pack and one is stationing themself ahead
to jump at you - is that what you mean by ambush?

BTW, wasn't trying to be flippant with the 'outride them'
comment. Most advice boils down to that. If you actually get
bit or crash, you may have to get the cops involved. If you
think it might come to that, change your route, maybe?

Good luck!

-B

In article <10e5p4m7v2gq263@corp.supernews.com>,
tatullis@ccrtc.com says...
> After a 5 year absence from road cycling I am back on the
> bike. I ride some great rural roads mainly in farm
> country. It seems every house I pass has a large dog and
> they all love to chase the bike. What's the best way to
> deal with the dog???

Have a can of Haltz ready.

--
Remove the ns_ from if replying by e-mail (but keep posts in
the newsgroups if possible).

Rick, Thanks for the link...I was just heading to Google
when your reply came through.

"Rick Onanian" <spamsink@cox.net> wrote in message
news:o4r5e0p5sqo1841hp2qc0rb4qcgn4skoti@4ax.com...
> On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 11:04:40 -0500, "TAT 57"
> <tatullis@ccrtc.com> wrote:
> >What's the best way to deal with the dog???
>
>
groups.google.com/groups?&as_ugroup=rec.bicycles.*&as_usubj-
ect=dogs&as_scori ng=d
> --
> Rick Onanian

On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 12:48:14 -0400, Badger_South <Badger@South.net>
wrote:

>
>I'm not sure I'm, duh, following you here. What do
>you mean give up 30lbs. Do you mean have a -bigger-
>dog to intimidate the chasing dog? Won't they just
>get into a scrap?

The Wolfhound gives up 30 pounds, more or less, to the
Newfoundland, but they are both probably going to be enough
to intimidate a farm dog.

>Are Mastiffs notorious chasers, and/or fighters? What
>about a Rodesian Redback? I saw one of those on the trail
>the other day. Nice looking dog, very docile and friendly,
>it seems.

The original mastiffs go back to at least the Romans and
were guard dogs. Probably the largest breed of dog to ever
live, based on various records. Various types of current
mastiffs run from 130 pounds to 200 plus, so they are
definitely in the running for the largest dog you don't want
to meet in a dark alley.

Curtis L. Russell Odenton, MD (USA) Just someone on
two wheels...

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----

In article <10e5p4m7v2gq263@corp.supernews.com>, TAT 57
<tatullis@ccrtc.com> wrote:
>After a 5 year absence from road cycling I am back on the
>bike. I ride some great rural roads mainly in farm country.
>It seems every house I pass has a large dog and they all
>love to chase the bike. What's the best way to deal with
>the dog???
>

_ If you have the vocal tools, you can often get them to
stop with a low deep roar of "Stop" or "Hey". These dogs are
generally poorly trained and get yelled at a lot. Basically,
you need to convert the image of you in their head from prey
to master.

_ For really dangerous dogs[1], get off the bike and keep
your bike between you and the dog. Yell loudly while this is
happening, maybe the owner will show up.

_ Booker C. Bense

[1]- Generally, these are the ones that don't bark, but make
a beeline for your calf. A barking dog at some level sees
you as threat, silent dogs see you as lunch....

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Curtis L. Russell wrote:
:: On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 12:48:14 -0400, Badger_South
:: <Badger@South.net> wrote:
::
:::
::: I'm not sure I'm, duh, following you here. What do you
::: mean give up 30lbs. Do you mean have a -bigger- dog to
::: intimidate the chasing dog? Won't they just get into a
::: scrap?
::
:: The Wolfhound gives up 30 pounds, more or less, to the
:: Newfoundland, but they are both probably going to be
:: enough to intimidate a farm dog.
::
::: Are Mastiffs notorious chasers, and/or fighters? What
::: about a Rodesian Redback? I saw one of those on the
::: trail the other day. Nice looking dog, very docile and
::: friendly, it seems.
::
:: The original mastiffs go back to at least the Romans and
:: were guard dogs. Probably the largest breed of dog to
:: ever live, based on various records. Various types of
:: current mastiffs run from 130 pounds to 200 plus, so they
:: are definitely in the running for the largest dog you
:: don't want to meet in a dark alley.

But can they keep up with someone riding a bicycle? :)

"TAT 57" <tatullis@ccrtc.com> wrote in message
news:10e5p4m7v2gq263@corp.supernews.com...
> After a 5 year absence from road cycling I am back on the
> bike. I ride
some
> great rural roads mainly in farm country. It seems every
> house I pass has
a
> large dog and they all love to chase the bike. What's the
> best way to
deal
> with the dog???
>

Learn to sprint!

And never take any of them for granted. We had a large lab
retreiver that we used to ride by every day for a couple of
years. He'd always run rather lazily up to the drainage
ditch alongside the road in front of his house where he'd
stop, bark at us and wag his tail. I NEVER saw him come out
into the road. Then one day we were flying by in a large
paceline (as we'd done a hundred times) and the dog comes
flying off the porch, leaps the ditch, rams into the front
wheel of the second ride and causes a huge, messy pileup.
The guy who got taken out directly by the dog got an
ambulance ride and surgery to repair his broken collarbone.
The dogs owner paid his bills ... times 3, and bought him a
new bike (Trek 5200/Ultegra). What set that dog off that one
time? Who knows.

Bob C.

Halt, it works like a charm!
http://www.magidglove.com/product.asp?dept_id=279&pf_id=32

"TAT 57" <tatullis@ccrtc.com> wrote in message
news:10e5p4m7v2gq263@corp.supernews.com...
> After a 5 year absence from road cycling I am back on the
> bike. I ride
some
> great rural roads mainly in farm country. It seems every
> house I pass has
a
> large dog and they all love to chase the bike. What's the
> best way to
deal
> with the dog???

Thry this link, single unit
http://www.benmeadows.com/store/product_group.asp?dept_id=2295

"Monty" <monty@nanandmont.com> wrote in message
news:clEEc.38$ks.29@newssvr15.news.prodigy.com...
> Halt, it works like a charm! http://www.magidglove.com/pr-
> oduct.asp?dept_id=279&pf_id=32
>
>
>
>
> "TAT 57" <tatullis@ccrtc.com> wrote in message
> news:10e5p4m7v2gq263@corp.supernews.com...
> > After a 5 year absence from road cycling I am back on
> > the bike. I ride
> some
> > great rural roads mainly in farm country. It seems every
> > house I pass
has
> a
> > large dog and they all love to chase the bike. What's
> > the best way to
> deal
> > with the dog???
> >
>

In article <kgr5e09o4u1qfq4kj8df3dig3053jkn5jd@4ax.com>,
Badger_South <Badger@South.net> wrote:

> On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 12:29:33 -0400, Curtis L. Russell <curtis@md-
> bicycling.org> wrote:
>
> >On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 11:04:40 -0500, "TAT 57"
> ><tatullis@ccrtc.com> wrote:
> >
> >>After a 5 year absence from road cycling I am back on
> >>the bike. I ride some great rural roads mainly in farm
> >>country. It seems every house I pass has a large dog and
> >>they all love to chase the bike. What's the best way to
> >>deal with the dog???
> >
> >Buy a Newfoundland that likes to run. Second choice: Buy
> >a Wolfhound - they all like to run. You give up 30
> >pounds, but you're still over
> >150.

You'd have to be pretty slow or have a very fast dog for
him to keep up on road rides. On mountain bike trails,
sure (I once was in a mountain bike race where one rider
brought his small yellow dog. Rider and dog both finished
way ahead of me).

> I'm not sure I'm, duh, following you here. What do
> you mean give up 30lbs. Do you mean have a -bigger-
> dog to intimidate the chasing dog? Won't they just
> get into a scrap?

Only once :)

> >When you get to the English Mastiff's house, you're on
> >your own. Your dog will probably outrun it, though.
>
> Are Mastiffs notorious chasers, and/or fighters? What
> about a Rodesian Redback? I saw one of those on the trail
> the other day. Nice looking dog, very docile and friendly,
> it seems.

Mastiffs are big.

In practice, the only time I got caught on a country road
with two largish dogs, I stopped and the dogs came up to
check me out. End of incident.

--
Ryan Cousineau, rcousine@sfu.ca
http://www.sfu.ca/~rcousine/wiredcola/ President, Fabrizio
Mazzoleni Fan Club

On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 19:17:28 GMT, "Monty" <monty@nanandmont.com>
wrote:

>Halt, it works like a charm!

Sprays of any kind have more drawbacks than pluses. It is
extremely uncertain on a day with no wind and if you are not
moving fast yourself. It is more uncertain if you are
actually moving and/or there is a wind. And for a determined
dog, Halt does not work - nor do most sprays. A trained or
extremely irate dog will work right through any spray that
does not disable both eyes and nose. If you have a serious
pepper spray that does that, you may very well disable the
dog and make it unable to locate you as you move on.

OTOH, that same spray caught by the wrong breeze would leave
you to be dog meat.

If you are large, the advice to get off with the bike
between you and the dog is best. And then be prepared to
improvise. But the dynamics change once you are a largish
animal that is somewhat static, but standing your ground.

I've never had a dog take it further than a gradual backing
off from the above, although with one I can remember
repeating it twice before he completely returned to the
porch. But I came up on a situation where a smaller person
was having problems with a dog that kept trying to circle.
Gave up when he realized he was outnumbered and I was making
very angry noises at him.

And I do remember a family that kept a bunch of smallish
mutts that were a real pain in the behind - and lived right
on a regular ride segment for the Oxon Hill, MD bike club.
The house was at a switchback, where the road cut into the
grade that led to the house, so at least one would be near
head high. At least two of the dogs were killed by cyclists
in self defense, but there always seemed to be a small pack.
Then they all went away - figured inbreeding caused a sudden
death to all the humans in the colony and the dogs followed
the pigs to someplace else.

Curtis L. Russell Odenton, MD (USA) Just someone on
two wheels...

PS: And then there was my wife's way. We were on our upright
tandem near Georgetown, KY when we passed a house with
what we thought was a pony. Turned out to be a sort of
giant schnauzer thing - ran along the fence making
noises. Then the fence became a large opening. That's
when my wife got off and put me AND the bike between her
and the dog...

Curtis L. Russell Odenton, MD (USA) Just someone on
two wheels...

On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 15:01:16 -0400, "Roger Zoul"
<rogerzoul2@hotmail.com> wrote:
>:: dogs. Probably the largest breed of dog to ever live,
>:: based on various records. Various types of current
>:: mastiffs run from 130 pounds to 200 plus, so they are
>:: definitely in the running for the largest dog you don't
>:: want to meet in a dark alley.
>
>But can they keep up with someone riding a bicycle? :)

No, I don't think so; bicycles don't fit dogs well. However,
running, they can keep up.

<G>
--
Rick Onanian