jppe

On our regular Tues/Thurs night ride there are 3 dogs at the top of pretty nasty hill towards the end of our 30 mile ride. When folks feel spirited we "race" to the top of this 1/2 mile climb. Two of the dogs are small yappers that run along the road but don't come out in the road.

The third dog is a large black mix that hides in the brush along the road and darts out onto the road. We all know they are there and watch for them. However the black dog has been missing for about a month so we thought a car had already taken him out.

Thursday night my very good friend who is 56- who has become the top rider in our area --was taken down when the black dog surprised us and ran out and broadsided him. He had no time to react to the dog.

My friend went down hard and probably has a broken collarbone along with road rash and a busted helmet. He was riding the best he has ever ridden-and he has been riding for years, leading his age group and setting track records at the TT's and doing PR's in centuries we do from year to year.

What a bummer. Needless to say either Animal control is going to take care of the dog or it will be gone....

Bob S.

Ouch! Good luck & speedy recovery to your buddy. Call & let animal control take care of the dog. Don't get yourself in trouble with the law on it (or: it someone takes care of this situation, do so carefully). Bob

Hask12

I don't really understand why you put up with it for so long until somebody got hurt.

DnvrFox

Organized group Russian Roulette?

This had disaster written all over it.

centexwoody 

small dish of antifreeze...

CRUM

Back many years on a regular group ride, we also had a particular dog that would come at us hard down a long dirt driveway. One ride I was in the front of the group and it came running down the drive. Focused on me, it ran head first into the mailbox at the end of the drive. Hit that mail box with such force it was knocked back onto it's haunches. I laughed so hard I almost crashed, hitting the ditch and trying to retain control as tears shot from my eyes. The look on that dog's face was priceless. And you knew it had to hurt. Jeez he made the mail box sway like it was a tree in a high wind. This was no wimpy mail box either. At least a 4x4 post and set into the ground hard.

dauphin

Animals do what comes natural to them. Generally speaking, if a "pet" is a problem, the fault lies with the owners inability or unwillingness to exercise proper control. I would hope all legal and humane avenues are explored in resolving such a situation.

jppe

Legitimate question.

We had not seen the dog for a month so we thought it was gone. Also, a sheriff's deputy was cresting the hill in his car as we came riding up one day and the dog ran out on the road. The deputy stopped and went to some houses where the dog ran to so we thought it had been taken care of......

nedgoudy

If I had a broken collar bone off that incident
the owners of that dog would owe me about
$250K. That is the legal limit for liability in
the state of California, and I would sue their
ass off for letting the dog out without a leash
and contributory negiligence leading to my
accident.

And I would probably win.

stapfam

In the UK you would probably win, but the Liability would probably be about £100 ($180), and then you would find out that the owner is probably be on Handouts so you would finish up paying the legal bills and no recompence. Better to kick dog- kick the owner and get taken to court by the animal protection people, where they would then take the dog into care.

Monoborracho

i prescribe instant lead poison

NOS88

For the dog's owner? I mean the dog was just doing what dogs do. The owner is the one who lacks responsibility in this case, and in my opinion should be liable for medical expenses and pain and suffering.

dauphin

+1

roscoe50

I've got a situation close to yours as well, at the top of a hill up the street are three very large dogs looks like two of them are St. Bernard mix and the third looks like a pure-bred pitbull. I'd say the cross breeds are over a 100lbs and the pit would be 50-70lbs, they are very intimidating and love to chase as I ride by. So far no one has gotten bit but Im getting real tired of their antics. I've talked to the owner twice and he assured me that the dogs won't bite and he'll make an effort to pin them up. The next time I get chased I'm going to file a formal complaint with the Sheriff and animal control people, after that if I get chased again I think I'll try a little lead therapy. I hate to have to put down his animals but I think he's leaving me little choice. What do you guys think? Any other way around a situation like this?

ajf

Similar thing happened to me in Ca. Two small, and one large dog would chase me on the way home from work every evening. Only way to avoid them was add an extra 25 miles and several thousand feet climbing to a 10 mile commute.

I complained to animal control, and the police. They wouldn't do anything unless somebody got hurt!
Then one day the large dog jumped me, knocking me over, causing some minor road rash and destroying my rear wheel. (100+ pound dog hitting bicycle and me from the side at considerable speed, causing wheel to pretzel.) Another call to police and animal control. More no action, as I had just fallen off my bike and was not seriously injured.

Two days later, my wife was driving down the road, and large dog tried to argue with her car. Dog was killed, and car badly damaged. Police then spoke to owner, who denied that any of the dogs belonged to them. Animal control took the two small dogs, and my commute got much more pleasant.

-a.

SSP

Pepper spray (cop strength...not the watered down "Halt" variety). A shot or two to the nose and eyes can help to "train" all but the dumbest of dogs not to chase cyclists.

I've used it plenty of times on dogs, and it always causes them to cease chasing immediately. It's easy to carry in a jersey pocket, and can also provide some degree of protection from two-legged varmints.

Note: I'm a dog lover, and would never shoot or poison one. But I will use pepper spray on dogs that chase me on the bike. FWIW, it doesn't seem to hurt them very much (no whimpering or yelping)...they just stop chasing and head for tall grass to rub their muzzles.

Note 2: get the "stream" style of pepper spray, not the "fog" style. It lessens the chances of blowback due to wind.

sch

Well, disregarding the dog, based on my recent experience with fall and clavicle + scapular fracture your friend is likely to be able to start riding some in 2-3weeks, depending on where the fracture is. Locals with clavicle fractures are usually back riding within a month and several have ridden century rides 4-5wks after a fracture. These are people 45+ yrs old. Mine was 4 weeks ago and I did 51mi this morning, granted on a bent, but I suspect I could ride a DF bike with a little adjustment. I was gratified that my conditioning was not too far off what it was.