dogs that chase us

anyone else get chased often? i get chased all the time, and not by small dogs, its always a rotweiler or something. once there were trees on both sides of the road, and lots of them. all of a sudden, heard a young girl screach "no, get back here!" and then i heard running and looked back and there was a rotweiler running out from the trees and chasing me, i upshifted and sprinted and got away. that wasn't the only time i got chased, its like all the time i get chased, and not by the same dogs. so anyone else got some stories of dogs chasing them?

 

I'm lucky. I usually don't see any dogs. But the other day as I turning left on to st rt 132 from Twelve Mile rd, I see this kid riding his quad in the yard, which is situated on a steep hill. His dog was running along side of him. I thought to myself that if the dog sees me, he might be out of breath after running up hill, after the boy. Just then he sees me and makes a B line for me. I'm only going about 15 mph, at the time so I start to give it full gas and I only got up to around 20, when he caught me, as he had the preferred angle of pursuit.
He was coming towards me, from the front left. And as I was wondering what was going to happen he ran head first right into might rear wheel or chainstay, I think. My back wheel kicked out from under me quite a bit, and I thought I was going down, but for some reason I didn't. I looked back as I coasted away and the poor pooch was just kind of limping away. I don't think he meant to ram me.
I just think he mis-timed his attack. I felt bad for the dog and I hope he's alright.
However, my immediate concern was for my bike. See, that was only like my third ride on my new 5.2 Madone. So I was freaking out because it's my first full carbon bike. Anyway, I just never imagined that a dog would do that.
So now, I don't know what to expect.

PS: Holy Mother of God is doing just fine.
Ken, out.

 

Carry a water pistol.
Make sure its hot pink or lime green so people don't think it's a real gun. Fill with water and a little washing up liquid. If doggy comes a chasing give him a squirt in the face.

 

No dogs. A few times, though, I've had to take evasive action to avoid javelinas and big snakes, and one night, I found myself stopped in the middle of a pack of coyotes...10-15, maybe more....as they passed all around me while crossing the road.

Few people on our side of the city let dogs run loose since there is plenty of wildlife that likes dining on dogs.

 

Forget what I said about the water pistol... I don't think it would deter 15 Coyotes.

My dad used to tell me a similar story. He was born in Africa and as a 5yo my grandmother sent him to the market to buy lemons. On his way back he was surrounded by a large troop of baboons. Completely unafraid he handed out lemons from the big basket he was carrying. The big males took one each and chomped into them and all pulled "lemon" faces, then walked off. My grandma passed out when he told her what happened.

 

Riding home as usual along the river last month and with a tail wind was going a bit faster than normal.

I know what it's like to be a dog walker as well as when I get home I trade my bike for my 2 dogs and take them for a walk along the river as well. Dogs are unpredictable, I know that.

So, about 50 meters ahead I saw a lady with 2 dogs. She had them both on the grass on the left hand side of the path and she could see me coming. I saw her reach down and make sure she had them on a short leash. (so I thought).

I moved across to the right hand side of the bike path thinking all was well when the dog behind her decided to jump across to the other side of the path. His lead being longer than imagined, there was now a trip wire across the path about 50cm off the ground waiting to tangle me up.

I slammed on the brakes and came to a sliding halt with the front tire riding over the trip wire and a dog on my left and a dog on my right. The dog on my right separated from it's master decided I needed to be taken out and went to work on my right ankle...while I was trying to get my back wheel over the lead to make my escape.

The poor lady was apologizing while the dog was making a meal of my ankle and I smiled and told her not to worry....

Only a little blood was drawn.....

 

If you'd have been one of those NRA guys in the Equipment forum... you could have taken your gun out of your saddlebag and shot the dogs and then the lady. I'm coming around to their POV....


not.

 

Don't they eat dogs in Japan? She was probably taking them home to make dinner. Should be at least as tasty as your ankles.

 

I have some new dogs that surprise me on occasion and of course my regulars.
One Beagle,who I haven't seen lately, is a good sprinter. I think the little bastard is training on the side and maybe blood doping. He seems to get faster each season.
He may have met his demise since I haven't seen him in about a month or maybe the pavement is too hot for him ,but it never stopped him before.
I kinda miss him!

 

Ya, I've been chased a few times in the past. In fact, just recently I crashed when a dog got between me and another rider. Luckily no damage to the bike, and I only scraped up my elbow. Unfortunately, I don't think the dog felt a thing. In the future, you can try two things to scare off dogs: if the dog is in the right position, I suggest going straight at it (become the chaser instead of the chasee); or you could use the classic technique of squirting the dog in the face with your water bottle. Good Luck with those dogs.

 

A riding buddy has a regular route that has a mean pitbull that always will chase him. 2 rides in a row he called the sheriff and filed a complaint. 3rd time he carried an air powered BB pistol in his jersey pocket and when the dog chased him......10-15 BB's to the nose. Dog owner came out, ended up calling a deputy to have my buddy arrested for damages and to pay the vet bill, instead, dog owner was written up for a dangerous animal in the roadway and a $500 fine. The only thing that saved my friend was he filed a complaint first......

 

I get chased quite often but as others have stated usually by the same dogs, only one really seems intent on catching me and I just stopped and faced him down yelling at him and he decided I was a bigger dog than him. There is also one house where about seven or eight dogs come running out but none really seem intent on catching me and they are actually quite funny to watch, they are all looking at each other like you grab him no you grab him and so on. Just in case I carry pepper spray but I would use it much quicker on a person than I would a dog!!! Yea I have had people throw things at me!!

 

I was riding in a fairly rural area several years ago. I was approaching a house on the left and heard barking from a large dog. It sort of looked like a rottwieller but it was tan instead of black. There was a fence there so he was not chasing me. I just sort of ignored him because of the fence. He followed along as I rode past the house with the fence. Suddenly, there was no fence anymore and it was off to the races. Thankfully I out ran him, and I learned a good lesson, don't take "fenced in" dogs for granted. I now carry a small spray bottle with a diluted solution of ammonia in it. It is enough to discourage a dog but not enough to permanently injure him. Usually all I have to do is just spray it in the general direction of the oncoming dog and it stops him when he smells it. Twice I have had to spray it in a dogs face. They both run when they see me coming now!

 

Went for a spin today after letting my knee heal for a week on a new route I mapped out on the Map My Ride site. Part way through it, riding down a secluded back road, I heard a dog bark 5 times in a row as I rode by a driveway, then I heard it bark again, louder this time, and noticed it was making a beeline straight for me. I don't think I ever had to sprint as fast as I did this time before, especially on an unpaved road....

Fortunately, I was able to outrun it. If I was armed with a vinegar bottle, I would've snapped a photo of that pesky unleashed critter with my phone and reported its hamster-brained owners to the local authorities.

On a more positive note, I hit the 100-mile mark today for this season.

 

You should probably quit carrying dog biscuits in your jersey pockets. Seriously though, I have been fortunate. For the amount of miles I've done (over 75,000) I haven't had to deal with dogs to the capacity that you have, however, in Va. beach, Va., where I raced for 10yrs.,there is a lawyer that is a fellow cyclist and specializes in just such cases. He once got a woman $35,000 for a dog bite where she was on the road minding her own business and the dog, unleashed, came out of the yard and bit her. I understand that a Rottweiler or a Pit-bull is not a bite (or mauling) you or anyone else cares to experience but if this is a continuing situation you would probably be doing yourself a great service by looking at lawyers in your local area that might have experience in that field. Remember, you have rights as a cyclist and an improperly maintained pet that exceeds it's boundary's is the pet owners liability. At any rate I hope this never happens to you so keep working on that killer sprint. Good luck!

 

Lucky! No matter where I go...there is some dog that always chases me. There are 3 roads I can take from mine...one has a 3 legged rottwieler (UPS truck....long story...) on has two chow-chows (cute but mean!) and one has this big black dog that will chase you for miles (but I think he's frienly...never stuck around to find out!) So its pretty much pick your poison, haha!

 

Just in case I decide to ride that route again, I've made some homemade defense spray out of Tabasco Habanero sauce (the hottest version they make ) and vinegar and put it in a small spray bottle. A couple of sprays to the snout of that pesky pooch will render it nothing more than a whimpering blob, with plenty of evidence to support a criminal complaint for failing to obey the leash law, and a nice lawsuit if the dog actually did bite me....

 

Well, the owners of that pesky pooch must have smartened up - I rode that route again today, and when riding past the offending driveway I heard the dog bark, but it didn't come chasing after me, it also barked at a couple of passing pedestrians, but didn't chase them either. I still had my bottle of homemade defense spray with me, just in case - in a way though I'm glad I didn't have to use it, at least not this time around....

 

Why not just stick it in the 12 cog and do some sprint training?

 

Easier said than done on an unpaved road, especially after it rains and the road develops tons of wavy ruts....