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Abraham wrote:
Presumably, in their opinion, I ought to let the dog bite. Or, perhaps they assume he's only going to chase and not bite, but how am I supposed to be assured that's the case when it's a pit/rott/ridgeback/dober/German shep/ fill in the blank - that can do serious harm?

All that said, I don't always spray all dogs that come after me. Some dogs do just want to chase for fun and these I can generally intuit as harmless, but if I have doubt, I spray.

The owner of the Doberman that bit me told me, with blood streaming down my leg, said that his dog would never bite and that I must have kicked at it to provoke it. Any fool should understand that when you are standing up on the pedals, pumping as hard as you can, trying to raise a foot would put you on the ground. I don't often pat myself on the back but it took every ounce of restraint that I had not to beat that guy to a bloody pulp. By the way, I ride a mountain bike. I've have been off onto the ground many times if I was on those skinny road bike tires.

I'm reading "A Nation of Cowards" right now. Some of the arguments against not using a gun to defend yourself against a human BG have apparently spilled over in some dog owner's heads. I'm not supposed to try to defend myself in ANY WAY, (never mind a firearm) from an aggressive dog. A non-aggressive dog isn't at issue here because it would not have approached me at a speed which could be interpreted as an attack. I agree with you that in most cases, I can see a dog 20 yards away and know whether I should worry about it. I also agree with you that the sneaky ones are the worst. Even with a helmet mirror, I cannot see low behind my back wheel and that is where many of them approach.

Based on my experiences over 5 years, pepper spray would not have helped me in almost half the cases. I'm definitely in condition yellow when I'm on my bike (and not just for dogs) so it isn't that I'm not watching and profiling the animals that I see. The problem is that I also have to watch to make sure that I don't hit something with my wheels, don't run off the pavement or hit a curb.

Riding defensively is probably a two person job. Yep, that's it - I need a tandem bike and a weapons officer aboard

I found this

http://www.amazon.com/Mace-Pepper-Gel-L ... 433&sr=8-1

It looks like a gel type product and if it truly shoots 18 feet, that would be a help.

Abraham wrote:.....
P.S. I would never recommend getting off your bike if a dog comes after you. Pedal away as quickly and as safely you can with your spray at the ready.

That is what resulted in my bite situation. I had just turned a corner and was down around 10mph. When I caught the dog starting toward me out of the corner of my eye, I started pump as hard as I could. I could not accelerate fast enough to get away and the dog lunged at me. My sweat pants probably keep the bite from being worse because she couldn't get a good grip. I prevented the attack from continuing by getting my body on the side of bike opposite the dog. The dog was definitely ready to continue.

A lot of my response is dictated by my condition at the time of the attack. There are several points in my ride where I am challenging my heart rate. If I'm already gassed, applying a lot more energy at that moment to try to get away may not be possible. At 60+, I don't have the reserve that I used to have, even if I'm really scared.

We often talk on this board about how quickly things can go South with a BG. I see dog attacks at that same level regarding the speed of development.

I am going to look into getting the spray that you recommend.

C-dub wrote:

chasfm11 wrote:I, too, have been bitten while bike riding. I normally ride 3 times a week, 12 miles per ride and try to get it done in 55 minutes. I was watching a guy with about a 65lb Doberman on a retractable leash and thought I had gotten by. That dog went from 30ft on one side of the owner, past the owner another 20 feet towards me, grabbing my right calf, drawing a reasonable amount of blood through a pair of sweat pants. Even if I had had a gun with me, there is no way that I could have outdrawn that dog.

After he bit me, I almost got into an altercation with the owner who refused to identify himself.

Note to self: Never, ever ride without a cellphone with a camera again.

I have mixed feelings about shooting the dog after it has bitten me. According to the Town, I'd be at fault, even though the animal has shown a willingness to take a piece of my flesh (I did report the incident and talked with an animal control officer who tried to find the animal). I also doubt that I would have been effective with pepper spray or maybe even bear spray. It happened too quick.

My strategy now is that if I see a dog, even a leashed that looks like trouble (and I knew the Doberman was but it looked like I had a enough distance), I slow down enough that I can get off and put my bike between us. I've had to do that in the past week with a pit bull mix.

I'm a dog lover and a dog owner. I have zero time for irresponsible owners. When you cannot control your dog on a leash you are holding, you are way beyond irresponsible in my book. We won't even talk about the ones where the dog is off leash and pays no attention to the owner.

I would have just followed him home.

I tried to do that but he knew that I was angry from our exchange (with blood dripping from your leg, wouldn't you be?) and he was not walking in the direction of any housing. I broke off to try to find a house where someone was home to call the LEOs but it was the middle of the day and I wasn't successful. I decided that it was better to go home and tend to my wound than the follow the creep on a wild goose chase.

Purplehood wrote:My first thought would be Pepper Spray. A firearm would likely be a distant second. Having once been a postal carrier I have a fair deal of experience with dogs and territoriality.

I've always had a lot of respect for postal carriers, meter readers and others who have to go to where dogs live to perform their duties. One of our dogs (always fenced) is very territorial and would not be happy about someone coming into her yard. Fortunately, our meter is outside of her area.

I view public places very differently. A dog in a public place has to be well mannered, well-controlled or both. We go to a lot of RV campgrounds where a few people allow their dogs to roam freely. I guess it never occurred to them that others might not enjoy a strange dog jumping up onto a picnic table where there is food being served.

In the end, I believe that ratio of bad dog owners mirrors the ratio of criminals in society. A very few and mostly repeat offenders are a blight on otherwise responsible people who own dogs. As Cesar Milan says, you don't train dogs, you train owners.

philip964 wrote:I'm just saying shoot my dog and you better be ready to shoot me.

Those of you thinking that shooting a man's dog is a wise move, better think again. You would be better off shooting the owner first then the dog.

That is an interesting thought. Let me counter with a question: When does the owner of a dog become responsible for its actions and the potential consequences, particularly in light of the fact that those actions may be occurring because the owner has elected to violate Town ordnance?

I probably pass 30-40 dogs on my bike rides per week. Most are on leashes and well controlled. I usually don't give them a 2nd glance. For those off leash, I assess the relative age of the dog and its size. Older and smaller dogs also don't get much of my attention. I really don't care what they do as long as they leave me alone. I'm occasionally chased by a small yapper but at 20mph, most cannot keep up with me.

Right after I was bitten, I had a confrontation with about a 50lb off leash dog. I saw him coming and was off my bike, putting it and keeping it between me and him as he circled me to try to get closer. As the owner approached me, I curtly reminded him that the Town had a leash ordnance, using a single sentence. I was not particularly cordial because I felt that I was under attack. His response was "what are you going to do about it?" He then proceeded to yell at me to mind my own #$%@ business and that he would darn well handle his dog however he wanted to. Keep in mind that I'm on a designed and marked bike trail and, up to this point, have done nothing but ride my bike to try to keep my heart rate up. Faced with an large aggressive dog AND an irate owner, I could make a good case for being threatened with deadly force. Dogs which will show aggression towards strangers will often attack if their owners appear to be in some sort of an altercation. At that moment, the owner was in a flanking position and I was trying to figure out how I was going to deal with both of them at the same time because if one attacked me, I expected the other to do so, too. I had done nothing but to use my bike as a shield.

Those who have never been attacked by a dog do not understand what it is like. I'm not going to stand by and become one of those victims whose face was all torn up by a vicious animal. As far as I'm concerned, the easiest way for me to avoid these kinds of confrontations is to ride off the bike trail if I must to put as much space as possible between me and a potentially aggressive dog. If that dog chooses not to leave me alone, I'll do what I have to to protect myself. The easiest way for an owner not to have his dog in that kind of situation is simply to maintain control of it.

philip964 wrote:I would carry pepper spray, no offense, but shoot my dog and I might decide my life for yours would be a fair trade.

I hope you don't take offense about what I have said, but I care a great deal about my dog.

..and I suspect that you would not be one of those who allowed your dog to bite someone who was just passing by. I love my dogs, too, but it is my responsibility to control them. There is absolutely no excuse for someone who has a dog out in public that will be bite and not having the owner control it.

This isn't about dogs...it is about owners.

I, too, have been bitten while bike riding. I normally ride 3 times a week, 12 miles per ride and try to get it done in 55 minutes. I was watching a guy with about a 65lb Doberman on a retractable leash and thought I had gotten by. That dog went from 30ft on one side of the owner, past the owner another 20 feet towards me, grabbing my right calf, drawing a reasonable amount of blood through a pair of sweat pants. Even if I had had a gun with me, there is no way that I could have outdrawn that dog.

After he bit me, I almost got into an altercation with the owner who refused to identify himself.

Note to self: Never, ever ride without a cellphone with a camera again.

I have mixed feelings about shooting the dog after it has bitten me. According to the Town, I'd be at fault, even though the animal has shown a willingness to take a piece of my flesh (I did report the incident and talked with an animal control officer who tried to find the animal). I also doubt that I would have been effective with pepper spray or maybe even bear spray. It happened too quick.

My strategy now is that if I see a dog, even a leashed that looks like trouble (and I knew the Doberman was but it looked like I had a enough distance), I slow down enough that I can get off and put my bike between us. I've had to do that in the past week with a pit bull mix.

I'm a dog lover and a dog owner. I have zero time for irresponsible owners. When you cannot control your dog on a leash you are holding, you are way beyond irresponsible in my book. We won't even talk about the ones where the dog is off leash and pays no attention to the owner.