Originally Posted by
dagray
Try to learn to read dog behavior so that you don't get bit especially if you are riding rural roads.
One time I tried this. Saw a friendly medium-sized dog that wanted to run with me. I figured I'd stop and give him a pet, he was smiling and happy while I slowed down and unclipped my opposite foot. When I unclipped my foot facing him the noise startled him and he bit my ankle.
I don't do this anymore. Dogs don't have predictable behavior patterns in such a way that a cyclist can always safely make a positive assumption by observation. I treat every dog like it's looking for a bite and act accordingly. Tangentially, last weekend was the first time a pair of dogs spotted me riding, perked up and proceeded to charge away from me down the road. If anyone knows how to cultivate this behavior, please post. Here they are running ahead of me down the road barking away like mad
