"Steve Sr." <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:Hello,
One of the routes that a co-worker and I regularly ride has a house
(trailer) where two dogs reside. The first is an older yellow lab mix
and the second is a much younger (and faster!) pit-bull.Both of these dogs act like they are out for blood although neither
has caught me or my co-worker yet. But they have come too close for my
comfort. The road at this point in the ride is slightly uphill making
it hard to out run them although on a good day the lab gives up fairly
easily.The pit bull is a different story. He tries to circle around you and
get in your way to slow you down. One day he got close enough to my
left heel that I unclipped and kicked him in the head as hard as I
could. Boy did he act surprised that his "prey" fought back!Unfortunately that lesson didn't take. Since then we thought that we
had him trained by squirting water from our water bottles at him but
lately even this has begun to loose its effectiveness.Obviously persuing the owner would be a waste of time so we are
looking for other suggestions to train the dog not to chase bikes. I
have thought about trying bitter apple in a squirt gun but have been
unable to find an appropriate sized squirt gun anymore. I also wonder
about aiming such a small stream of liquid at a moving target while on
a moving bicycle.I am begining to think about pepper spray but it has similar
limitations in aiming and other consequences if the wind happens to
blow the wrong way. Another possibility would be a handful of rocks
thrown simultaneously. I would definitely hit the target but doubt
that I would cause enough damage to work more than once.A pellet gun would probably inflict enough pain on the dog that he
wouldn't forget soon, but I don't have one and don't really want to
buy one just for this purpose if I can avoid it.Can anybody offer any other suggestions for dealing with the dog?
BTW, this is in a lower income rural area. I have thought about
talking to the local sheriff but don't think it would do much good or
work more than once. Even though there is probably a leash law the
sheriff probably likes dogs more than bikers!Thanks,
Steve
Well when I was a younger kid, I used to have the same problem but with an
old Irish Setter, I used to carry a little water pistol filled with vinegar
and water. I remember it worked like a charm.
Ken