GaryPitts

Wondering how many have actually been nipped or bit while riding. I've been carrying around a small canister of biker's pepper spray all year and never felt threatened enough to use it. I've got this one dog I'd like to use it on as he always harrasses me, but he's not a real threat I had one medium/large dog catch me completely unawares yesterday and scared the hell out of me! Didn't see him coming and he didn't bark until he was right at the bike. I jerked pretty good when he finally barked. Ha! So, anybody been bit?

JonathanGennick 

Once -- when I was maybe 13. A mean dog got loose and bit me while the owner had his gate open to pull his car into his garage. I was so shook up that I could not even remember where I was at the time. My dad drove down a series of dead-end streets -- they were all dead-end along the trail I was riding -- one by one until we found the right house. Then he reported the dog to the police, the police impounded it for a couple weeks, the owner was peeved, but at least I was eventually reassured that I wasn't going to get rabies. I'll always remember my dad for going through all that trouble.

sknhgy 

A dog used to chase me and at least once he nipped at the back of my calf with his front teeth. He was the same dog that later jumped out in front of me when I was going downhill. I ended up with a metal plate in my shoulder.
Any dog that gets in my "bubble" gets sprayed in the face with Halt.

beezaur

I have had numerous dogs come in for a bite. I have no doubt they would have bitten me had I not given them snouts full of pepper spray. I get extremely aggressive with dogs that lay in wait. I will go after them and spray them. The reason is I have had near misses downhill like sknhgy. Hitting even a 15-lb dog at over 20 mph is not cool.

One dog got hit by a car chasing me; several have had near misses.

I was actually attacked by a pack of wiener dogs while I was running, about eight of them. They came swarming out of their driveway and swooped in at my ankles one at a time. The problem was that they were tracking for a moving target, but each foot stops when it hits the ground. So, they tried hard to bring me down to kill and eat, but all they succeeded in doing was getting bounced off my firmly-planted ankles. Four or five face-plants and they called it a day.

Loose Chain

Well, yeah. It is like this, I have always been and still am a dog/animal lover but I now have a phobic fear of any kind of aggressive dog, especially pitbull type dogs or anything that closely resembles them. It is a phobia, I do not have to justify it or explain it and now if need be, I will kill them dead on the spot if one even gets near me. That is just how it is. So, here is the story, riding along, by myself a fine but blistering hot 105 degree Sunday afternoon almost exactly one year ago, out of no where, on a road I had traveled many times, two pittbull type dogs attacked me, this is the result:



There were other scraps on my back and head, a busted helmet and a damaged bike and burns on my back from laying on the hot asphalt. The femur bone was broken in two places, once piece was jammed in my groin, the other was sticking out of the leg. I went unconscious in the impact but snapped back to reality and good thing because the larger dog was trying to get on my throat. I punched him wildly, completely disoriented and then somehow got my helmet off or maybe it was already off and in any case began swinging it at them and screaming. It was a lonely country road, the two houses to which the dogs belong were set far back and nobody came to my rescue. I fought the dogs for possibly as long as five minutes. When they left (---hmm) I passed out again and when I came to off and on I lost track of time. I think that I laid on the road for at least 30 minutes. I lost a lot of blood. The first car that came by went around me and did not stop. Then a truck stopped, somebody got out and then left. I could not move, I was at that time paralyzed from impact, exhaustion, pain and shock. Despite my cell phone being only inches from my finger tips, I could not get it--period! I passed out again and when I came aware again there was a policeman there trying to get me to get off the road, wtf!!!!! He did nothing to help me. I told him not to touch me and to get away as I was seriously injured. He was a jackass. About that time a deputy came up and and pretty much chewed the policeman out and he stayed by me until the paramedic arrived. He later took my bike home. He held my hand until the gurney ws under me as I screamed every time somebody touched me. He asked me if the truck hit me and I told him there was no truck, it was dogs. Apparently somebody had gathered the dogs away---hmmmmm!. Also, it appears they though the truck that stopped and left had hit me. I told them no again that it was the dogs. I guess it appears the truck had both called 911 and had gone to a fire station about a mile away to get them. He should have stayed with me because I was, well, it was not good.

My leg is never going to be the same, there is a titanium rod and screws etc now. I missed two months of work and only recently stopped using a cane. My leg still hurts and it has a non-union and would require a third surgery and a graft to replace a missing piece of bone. My doc says I can do OK without it and recommends my waiting to see what happens. My leg is still weak and still only about 90% as big as the other. I wake up quite often fighting in the bed and punching and kicking and in a sweat. My wife has the bruises now to prove it.

So, back riding, guess what, this:



That is right, it came in the road and attacked me. I dismounted and placed the bike between me and the dog as it continued to lunge through my frame trying to bite me. Three shots of bear Mace finally made him leave. See, this is the thing, I have a CCL and while I have NEVER carried before for any thing other than to the range, I am packing now, every ride. I think I did pretty good Macing the dog as I was extremely frightened by the dog. I had my hand in my bag and was about to kill him when the third shot of Mace sent him away. The owner was there and did nothing and told me "f---a---X, get on your tricycle and get out of here etc and etc" and of course no way was I going to get on the bike so the dog could pull me down like last time. I make no apologies, if need be, I will kill any dog that comes at me. I was able to maintain my fear under control and use the Mace but it is not guaranteed, a phobia is a phobia, an irrational fear and if I am afraid for my life or injury, then I can do what I need to do to protect myself and I will. I ain't putting up with dogs chasing me, biting me or any other bull-sXXXX again. That was my one time and that is it.

The bills went north of 100,000 pretty quick and yes I sued them and won. Seems the authorities don't think much of aggressive breeds of dogs either. I bought two things with the money and put the rest away, a new LCD television and a new, compact 40S&W auto pistol with concealed carry holster, oh, and a new bottle of Mace.

Yeah, I been bit.

LC

panamapete

^^^^ sorry for your ordeal, and by no means do i mean to change your mind, but usually bad owners outweigh bad dogs. by no means am i fan of aggressive breads, and at the same time i have no problem trying to kick a dog, hell i almost tried to break ones back when i was a kid because it was attacking my dog, but there are some big scary dogs that are all bite and no bark

AlmostTrick

The bigger threat is the dog causing a crash. If I'm not %100 certain I can easily and safely out run 'em, I always stop. Shouting them back usually works, using the bike as a shield or weapon would be the next step.

Dogs love to chase. If you stop, the chase is off.

fietsbob

Mozzys, Midges .. ? yes..

Loose Chain

Thank you but a phobia is what I have now. I am now terrified of dogs and since it is a phobia, you will not be changing my mind unless you want to pay for therapy. I break out in a sweat when near them. Like I said, I have nightmares and wake up fighting the pittbulls off me. You can say they are all bark and no bite, whatever and I don't mean that in a bad way. Nevertheless, if their on the road and sticking their head through my frame trying to bite me, I am shooting them and I may shoot them before that. I could have been killed or paralyzed. People need to keep their dangerous, aggressive dogs restrained, it is not my concern to decide if a dog trying to bite me or kill me is really trying to bite me or kill me or if he is just funn'n around. I am NOT funn'n, I am terrified of them and I am packing and I am loaded for bear. I freaking mean it. BTW, the sherrif, told me to nail their axxxes and don't worry about it, he had my back. The authorities are sick of this stuff too with people and their gang dogs and drug guard dogs and pitt fighting dogs.

LC

superflylondon

Wow I am sorry that happened to you Loose Chain. I might have missed it in the story, but do you know whatever happened to the two dogs?

Also I think I'll hot link this thread for every time someone starts a dog thread and someone posts "you wimp just out sprint it" or "oh come on the dogs never mean to hurt you" type crap. It is ultimate the owners fault and I love animals but when it comes between me, my health and my life and your dog....well your dog might just have to die. If you cared about the dog you probably would have first trained it better or kept it on your property to be begin with....

Loose Chain

I am not really sure. I do know they are not there anymore but I do not ride that way either. However, I have cruised passed and still do in my car and don't see them. One policeman told me they were destroyed. But, I really don't know.

Yeah, do not, do NOT try to outmaneuver dogs. See, more on the story. As I was approaching I saw one dog come into the road but I figured I could just go around him. I guess I did not realize he was going to attack. I figured it would be the usual bark and tail wag . The other dog was laying in ambush and sprung out at me. Yep, dogs, like wolves will use pack tactics to bring their prey down. If you are their prey, you are in trouble if you try to out maneuver them. The best thing to do, stop the bike, place the bike between them and you and Mace them while screaming help, sit, stop etc. It is better to be bitten than bitten and broken.

Of course, see, when you are dealing with man killer dogs like we have know, bred to fight and hold on until and after even they are dead, we are in another circumstance. We are not talking about Fluffy, the 25 pound schitzu or Goldie the friendly loves everybody golden retriever who just wants to get petted by you.

So, you guys are on your own for what you will do, I know what I am going to do.

Since my crash, I know of five more and one of them, now 9 months ago, she is still not walking or riding. Shattered tibia, broken clavicle, two broken wrists and other injuries to her knees and a bite. Again, it was aggressive dogs that ambushed her. Similar to me. Fortunately her husband was trailing behind several hundred yards and caught up and was able to run the man killer dogs off by swinging his bicycle at them and call 911. If not she might have been killed by them.

Y'all might not take this stuff serious until you have been the one in the road, broken and bleeding with a killer dog still pressing the attack. I think it fosters a whole new perspective on "won't hurt a flea" dangerous animals and their negligent owners.

LC

Loose Chain

Uh huh, yeah, right, you go ahead and think that. It may be true most of the time.

AlmostTrick

I too am very sorry to hear what you had to go through LC.

Even if the dog(s) continue to attack when you stop and you have to fight them off, that's still better than crashing hard, and then possibly STILL having to fight them off. (which is what sounds like you had to do)

If one follows all the dog/cyclist stories, the crashes are usually what ends up causing the greatest injuries, it seems.

Best wishes that you make a complete recovery LC.

That's my point for the OP. Don't worry so much about the bite, be more concerned about not crashing.

Paranoid.Guy

It's happened to me to be barked at by dogs when riding my bike, but so far I've been lucky not to be bitten.
One good way to avoid being bitten by dogs is indeed to use pepper sprays-especially if you can spray while riding.
Or simply ignore the dogs, this often works great ;-)

sknhgy 

Here's my reminder to never leave the driveway without pepper spray. I live in the wonderful state of Illinois and they don't let us defend ourselves with deadly force, or else there would be one dead mutt on my road.
You HAVE TO take care of yourself. After my crash the sheriff twice refused to file an accident report. He said no motor vehicle was involved. Then I went to the mayor and asked about the leash laws. He said he didn't know anything about them. BTW, his son owns the dog I hit. I asked the state's attorney and he said I would have to petition the mayor and city counsel to have the leash laws enforced.
The cop told me to carry a fire extinguisher to ward off dogs with.
The first time the dog chased me after I healed, and after I was back on the bike, I got him good with the pepper spray. Since then he sometimes barks at me but he won't come near. I am astounded that they have kept the dog. I too received some monetary payment. I would think their insurance agent would have told them to keep the dog tied up.

sknhgy 

My advice is to not let dogs treat you like a toy or something to be chased. I truely feel I'm doing the dog and the owner a favor by macing any dog that chases me. The dog I crashed into was not a mean dog. He's a nice dog. He plays with their toddler. He rides in the back seat of their car. But he HAS NO BUSINESS CHASING BICYCLES!!!!! People are just too stupid to keep their dogs restrained.