livedarklions

I wish people would leash their squirrels. The damn things are running all over the place, getting in front of bikes and cars.

Elbeinlaw

Two observations.

It should not be lost on anybody that here we are, a group characterized by our stubborn unwillingness to stop a pursuit of someone faster when our quads are screaming for mercy, unable to not take up the challenge of a 89 degree slope, unwilling to succumb to 99 degree temperatures and 100% humidity ... complaining about dogs that want to chase us for miles. There's something Gary Larsen-ish about it.

And second: the only dog that almost killed me on a bike was a dachsund. It wandered out in front of me at the bottom of a long, long hill. I was young and stupid and going really fast. The dachsy was old and fat and waddled right into my path. I didn't hit it--I'm a dog person, like I said--but the avoidance manuever at high speed was, shall we say, destabilizing. Little f***er came over to lick my face as I was laying on the ground.

(By the way, the bike was an old 70's era Univega, and it survived quite nicely.)

Flip Flop Rider

ride with 2 milk-bones in your pocket/saddle bag. Toss em out to decoy the dog

if you forget, you should stop, put your bike between you and the dog and let the owner get his/her dog

livedarklions

seaweedsam

A similar incident happened to me and I was bit

shelbyfv

One comment about the "bad owner/ bad dog" discussion. You are entitled to kick, spray or shoot a dog that is attacking/chasing you. That is likely to discourage the attack. All you can do with the owner is call him names after the fact. Which one is more likely to keep you from being bitten or wrecked?

genejockey 

Dogs are great. Some dog owners are s***.

Everybody JUST KNOWS their dog is perfectly obedient, comes when called, and would never attack another dog or a human. So why not let your dog off leash? And that works out great, right up till it doesn't work at all.

Every time I'm walking my dog and encounter some a****** who JUST KNOWS their dog is perfectly safe, I want to say to them, "You follow leash laws because however sure you are of YOUR dog, you don't know my dog AT ALL. What if your dog came running over to mine for a friendly sniff, and MY dog felt threatened and attacked it? Whose fault would that be? It would be YOURS. You DO NOT KNOW if my dog is an angel or a killer. So why would you put YOUR dog at risk?"

(As it happens, my Greyhound is a big playful goof, but if you don't know him, you don't know that)