On Wed, 30 Jun 2004 19:17:28 GMT, "Monty" <
[email protected]>
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...