KrautFed

I just got back on my bike from several years off. I have this small subdivision near me that I use for my cool down. It has two cul-de-sacs at the end, with the cul-de-sacs being elevated higher than the road essentially forming a "bowl" that if I wanted to, could practically coast back and forth many times. I use this for a slow pedal, no effort cool down for about 10 minutes at the end of the ride. There are NO other riders that come in the subdivision and the only people riding are kids going 2mph.

I was riding cooling down yesterday when I hear this yapping. I look up and I see what appeared to be a little Westie lap dog coming at my 2 o'clock. Just past the dog running at me, was the dogs owner in her flowerbed watching her precious run at me. The dog was literally maybe 1lb, so I wasn't really effected by the dog and kept a straight steady path, going about 15mph. That is, until the dog runs into my front spokes! Luckily, the dog bounced off the spinning spokes, tumbling down the pavement. The owner watched in horror screaching/crying, and giving me evil looks but never said a word to me. The dog returned (safely I presume) as I passed the house the next time it or the owner was nowhere in sight.

How am I supposed to handle this situation if the dog's head or leg gets caught in the spokes and I shred the toy to pieces (with the owner watching)? Do I have the right to keep using this as my cool down street? I've never really had to deal with small sized dogs.

powers2b

If for some unforseen reason the dog happens to expire while chasing your bike you have the right to sever the head of said beast and mount it proudly on your stem.
The remainder can be used for soup stock.

I-Like-To-Bike

Bike attacks dog? Sounds like a news story.

sgtsmile

LMAO!!!!!


YES!!!


er, sorry, too many mutts have attacked me in the past

sauerwald

It is not funny - many years ago, I was riding through a residential area at about 20mph when a little yorkie comes running out of a yard and I hit him. I was braking when my front wheel hit the dog, and the result was my flying over the handlebars and badly bruising my shoulder and arms. The shirt that I was wearing was shredded and ruined, the bike had minor issues. The dog yelped and ran away. The owner came out yelling at me for having hit her dog. I was in shock and didn't respond. Little dogs, running free are a hazard to cyclists.

banerjek

Keep using the street. You may have saved the dog's life. If the idiot owner makes a practice of letting her sweetie dart about, it would only be a matter of time before he'd meet his demise chasing a car or a large grouchy dog.

Although other postings I have made would probably make people believe that I am soft in the heart (and possibly the head) when it comes to dogs, dog owners are responsible for keeping their animals under control.

It simply blows my mind how many people will let their dogs out with no leash. I've had little unleashed yappers come at my much larger and stronger pooch when I'm walking. Any dog that is allowed to get into dangerous situations will eventually get in serious trouble.

If you had hit and killed the dog, I think you're morally obligated to stop and express sorrow over the tragedy, but you would also want to say that he came right at you and you couldn't avoid him. You wouldn't be at fault, morally or technically. Hopefully, this experience was a wakeup call for the owner.

slowandsteady

You have every right to keep on riding. They need to keep their dog on a 6 foot leash. This is why they invented pepper spray. Alright, maybe not, but I never leave home without it. After being bitten, I WILL spray any dog that gets within five feet of me.

sgtsmile

I was not implying that crashing into animals was funny... merely that a dog got its just deserts.

1) I almost t-boned a golden retriever that darted out of the undergrowth while I was mtn biking, that was a dramatic downhill nose wheelie, but no crash.

2) I was "treed" by 3 farm dogs and it took almost 15 min for them to get bored enough to leave me alone.

3) I was repeatedly charged by the same dog 3 times on a public trail, with the owner threatening us with death if we touched her doggie (this resulted in a talk with a cop)

4) I have had hunting dogs, with owners and guns, tell me I am a wimp as their mutt latched onto my foot

5) I have had attack dogs attack me as I rode by on a public trail after attacking someones little mutt and its owner (also involved the cops on that one.)

6) and lastly, I have several square inches of scar tissue, some spots where the bone stuck out, from when a husky took my off the bike at 36kmph on a road. I cut the dog off and it balked, but having low tire pressure for wet off road riding, combined with a wet road and road paint, tore the front tire off the rim and endoed into the asphalt at speed. Did about 600 dollars damage to the bike, and freaked the owners out when I rolled to my feet, blood dripping everywhere, and tore a verbal chunk out of them you could have parked a truck on.

so yah, I know how unfunny dogs and bikes mixed together can be. In all of these cases, it was the owner's fault, but still, I am paranoid around them when I am on the bike.

San Rensho 

I can't stop laughing!

pityr

If that happened to me i would have just called the cops and reported it. The dogs owner is responsible for what thier dog does, expecially if it is off the leash.

ken cummings

I had a similiar problem with two toy poodles on my commute in Denver. When I spotted the owner and asked him to restrain his dogs he said, "You afraid of a couple of little doggies?" "No" I said, "but if I swerve to avoid running over them on these icy roads I may get injured so I will not swerve to avoid them. How will your children feel if my big heavy MTB crushed them?" I never saw those rat dogs again.

banerjek

May as well pepper spray squirrels, chipmunks, and other small wildlife if you're going to go after the small yappy dogs since they represent a similar threat (actually greater because of the disease factor).

Hostile humans (particularly those in vehicles) are more common and dangerous. I'll bet there's a good plan for them.....

BeTheChange

If the owner just watches as their dog runs after you they don't deserve to own a pet. What moron claims to care about their pet and does not try to train it for its own safety?

Use the street as a cool down only if you have bladed areo spokes. Also, sharpen the spokes before you go out so you can retreive you prize as quickly as possible.

Brate

There are alot of "ignut" people out there. When I was a runner some guy let his dog just come charging after me, he watched as I kicked the dog square in the head i then called the cops and the man got a ticket. The dog survived but lost some teeth, and the owners case against me got thrown out of court because the owner was in violation of leash laws and I acted in self defense.

nova

Neer had to harm a dog but have had my knife out oepn and ready a few times. Nothing like getting ready to turn left with a car coming and some bozos dog coming out and trying to take a peice out of you. Guy was laughing i said you got to the count of 3 before i slit its throat i got to 3 just as he grabbed the dog. I did take fein a swing at the dog as he pulled it back just to drive my point home. Told him if i eer seen the dog out and off leash again i would kill it and there would be no 3 count.

Personaly id much prefer to take the knife to the owners than the happless dog that doesnt know any better. Not in a deadly manner but a few nice deap slices would do wonders for them i think.

Ive been bit twice in my life and i have nevr faulted the dog. Well ok if you count my own dogs takeing a peice out of me dozens of times but thats gettign to ruff when playing. My worst dog bite was my own ddarn fault and wasnt a bite so much as me playing with my rodesian ridge back and catching his fang trying to shuv him he turned his head at the wrong moment and i could feel it litterly sink in to my palm he got this real odd look on his face and froze.

End result him with his mouth open and his fang a good 2 inches under my skin. Ok enough OT stuff from me.

By legal rights if you should happeen to put a end to the dogs lfife by flattenign it theres nothign in the law to prevent you riding there. Should you well i wouldnt. The lady will never forget her dog gettign killed by a cyclist any ways so no need to remind her of it daily. Considering you didnt kill it id still ride there and next time you see her maybe explain that she needs to keep that dog on a leash for its safty.If you dont want to bring up the fact a bike can and will kill such a small dog use other reasons like that big dog you seen last night that was chaeing after another small dog. Or that you seen and reported what you beleive to be a rabid racoon. Sure your likly lieing about the dog or coon (would be funny if you did see one and post that you infact did) But it will get that dog on a leash and out of harms way and keep you from getting hurt at the same time.

Personaly id just tell her the truth that bikes can and do kill small animals if they hit them. Theres simply no time to react for the cyclist to stop or avoid them some times.

Enigma198

Speaking from experience, I think the dog probably learned his lesson. I took a more bike friendly alternate route to the gym today due to a sore hamstring and wanting to take it easy. I was ambushed by a large black lab that backed off when I yelled at him to "go you're a_s on!" He didn't have that killer look to him but I wish that I would have thought about spraying him with my waterbottle. If I used this route often I would talk to the owners or sick Animal Control on them.

bbonnn

Speaking from the other side of things, my friend's dog got killed by a car recently. It was wearing a quick-release "safety" collar. She was holding the leash, the dog got excited by a car, the collar broke off, and the dog went running. I guess I'm saying that not ALL dog incidents are due to some turdball lazy owner neglecting their pet, or siccing it on cyclists because they hate our guts. Maybe they just have faulty judgment about how well their dogs are trained (or their equipment). Surprise, splat.

I think with the little dog in OP, whatever you do, you're gonna be branded as the cyclist who tried to kill her dog. Oh well, some stranger hates you. Meh. If they keep their dog off the street in case Mr. Meanpanties comes back, in the end the dog's safe and (almost) everybody wins.

nova

Lol water bottle pluss dog on ht day will have one of 2 effects
dog bacckign of or
dog being your friend for life.

Theres a local giant mastif that loves to chase me just for the pure enjoyment of the chase hed not hurt a fly. One day i squirted him with my water bottle and he was drinking while i was squirting away.

Hes a big clown any ways though totaly harmless. He has enough common sence to not get in front of your or to get to close he will slow down when you dod and speed up when you do.

The owners run and jog with him all the time.

Keith99

I've never had problems with little yippers when riding. But they are a royal pain when I'm out walking my pair 210 total lbs. of dog and a little yipper off leash starts barking at my two who both seem to find little yippers to be an insult to dogkind.

And of course it will be my fault when one finally comes into leash range (and does not even make a good snack).

maddyfish

A small dog it would seem to me you'd be in more danger trying to avoid it. Maybe best to hit it straight on. A big dog, I think best to avoid at all cost.
I too, have been bitten bad by a dog, now an out of control dog that comes with in range of me gets hurt as much as I can hurt it.

nova

Ack the dog killer collars hate those damn things. I had a friend who had their dog get killed because of the same thing the collar let loose and the dog got hit by a car. He tried to sue the manufacture and the store that sold the collar to no effect both cases were dismissed. My friend dont take crap lieing down so he got a nice pair of snips paid 30 bucks for them went to the store and cut every single safty collar they had on shelf and in stock room in half. He did this to about 7 stores in the chain and about 5 local kmarts and 3 walmarts.

I use to double collar my own dog used a regular belt buckle like collar and what they use to call a ribbon choker or tie out choke collar. It was essentially a flat ribbon with a hoop the ribbon was stuffed with cotton to give it a oval shape. Relize though my dog was 80 to 9o pounds of solid muscle. Rodisian ridge backs wre bread to hunt large game animals and im not talking gettign the animal to run or just finding the target the were bread to bring it down and kill it.

heres a link for those who might be intrested int eh breed 9 i always butcher the spelling so forgive the dozen miss spellings inthe postign lol

https://www.dogbreedinfo.com/rhodesianridgeback.htm
These dogs could take on lions. What killed my poor buddy was what they call bloat i forget the medical name but its essentially colic but in their case its do to the stomache twisting around. I never heard of the problem before it killed my old buddy. I just sumed he was sick with the flu as he had it once before and acted the same and sence i still had some of the meds the vet gave me then i just treated him the same. One night he was acting ill the next day he was acting much better the next day he was dead.

For any one who has a puppy of a large barrel chested breed of dog please ask your vet about preventitive surgery for bloat. You dont want to see your dog go through it and die of it.

sorry about rambling on but im a dog lover my self ive had dogs of all shapes and sizes all my life got a jack rustle and mini pin now. Have had keishounds (sp) my rodisian mix breed with some pit bull in him akita saint bernard mix golden retreiver mix even a wolf hybrid (well i took care of him for about 3 weeks for a friend who was out of town chalenging but loads of fun he was half wolf.) Even took care of some ones dingo for a few weeks during the summer one year.

So if i bite your head off for sugestign spraying the so called safe deterant halt dont be suprised. Ive seen dogs that have lost sight in one or both eyes do to that crap. Theres simply no quality control with the stuff some is so weak as to be little more than water other canisters can have enough to burn and blister the skin.

If you realy feel the scared that you might be bit then carry red peper and black pepper in small easy open pill bottles mix it have and half and just fling the mix in to the air. It will make the dogs eyes wter and over load their sense of smell.

I am not how ever beyond killing a dog if theres no way out of the situation though ive never had to and hope that i dont ever need to kill a dog. I do know this if i do need to end up killing a dog i will find the owners and i will beat the crap out of them for forcing me to kill their dog.

Heres a little info tid bit for you most all breeds of dogs left to their own devices ( as in born in the wild livign in the wild) Will not even aproach a human let aloan attack.

Dogs are not born mean they are made mean by their owners or by their contact with previous people during their lives. Some dogs like pit bulls have a lower tolerance for being asulted by people and will turn mean faster and much easyer than say your typical lab or golden retriever.

nova

Lol omg
When my ridge back was young he use to snap his lead or slip it all the time. He always came up on the porch and waited to be let in. so id let him in and get my shoes on to tie him back up or take him for a walk. Well i finaly found a collar and chain he couldnt slipout of easly. But one day about 3 years later when our jack russel was about 2 or 2 nd a half he got loose and my brother let my ridge back in.
Corky our little jack russel jumps up grabs my ridge back beneti aroudn the neck and holds on. Beneti has this 10 pound ankle biter hanging of his neck his tails wagging and hes just sittign there not even paying a bit of atention to corky at all. See me come and stand up starts to walk with corky still hanging there like some white tumor. It was quite funny to see. I finaly got corky to let go and took beneti back out side and for a nice long walk back in the deep woods for a little deer tracking or what ever other animal may have been back there.

nova

You know one thing this forums missing is a good sticky for us to talk about our pets (by forum i mean bikeforums not road cycling or a dn s etc.

Keith99

I've had Joey, the beta male wlaking arround with the car (who fears everything except the two dogs) hanging from his nose by his claws. Wheatly, the Alpha male raised an orphaned kitten. One time when Joey was just a 50 pound puppy (6 months old) I had someone ask if he was good with puppies.

The really strange thing is both dogs are still puppies at heart, jumping, dancing and playing all the time. The only really adult thing about either of them is that they are housebroken.

bmclaughlin807

Hah! I used to have a pure bred German Rottweiller .... At 10 months old he weighed 120 lbs and his shoulders came up past my belt when he stood next to me....

One day I hear him whimpering in the other room... I walk in, and he's laying there on the floor, with our two kittens on top of him... one is curled up asleep, the other is kneading his claws into the dog's side... every time he does, the dog whimpers a bit, but he didn't budge once.