Country Roads & DOGS

Re: Country Roads & DOGS

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...

Re: Country Roads & DOGS

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

Re: Country Roads & DOGS

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...

Re: Country Roads & DOGS

>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

Re: Country Roads & DOGS

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

Re: Country Roads & DOGS

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.

Re: Country Roads & DOGS

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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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Re: Country Roads & DOGS

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...

Re: Country Roads & DOGS

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?

Re: Country Roads & DOGS

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

Re: Country Roads & DOGS

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...

Re: Country Roads & DOGS

Rick Onanian wrote:
:: 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>

Funny guy! But seriously, can/could a dog run with me at say 15 mph average
for 50 miles or so? Might that be hard on the paws?