Water won't do a darn thing for inconsiderate dog owners.

---

Ride a Surly, you'll like it...

Yes, but then the assault weapon toting members of the NRA won't be able to justify carrying their AK-47s for use in hunting and self defense...

---

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Animal!!!

Lighten up Francis. As usual you are wrong. Pepper spray won't hurt the damn dog one bit and just might save the dog and the next rider who cames by if the moron dog can even remember the incident for more than 5 seconds which I doubt. I am sick of people who have unrestrained dogs who attack cyclists and runners without concequence. A little dog can cause a lot of damage when it runs under your wheel at 25mph. I know first hand with a 3rd degree AC separation last year. Lucky I didn't break my neck. If a dog ATTACKS me no matter what size I will hit back with pepper spray, pump, foot, stick whatever I've got. I will also go after the moron owner who doesn't control their animal.

I really like the half mine argument. I might start running with a leash and taking dogs home with me. I would love to see the owners reaction when I explain that it can't be his dog, when he is on my leash.



Time to go dog hunting.



I am really suprised the left wing animal activist haven't come out from under their rocks to proclaim the civil rights of the dogs. Come on lets hear your arguments. I could use a good laugh.

---

The Cuban Comet
(Comets are unbelievably slow over Cuba)

What a bunch of pansies. Laws laws laws. We need laws to protect us so we can ride our bikes everywhere and tell the locals how they need to live. If a dog is well trained, it doesn't need a leash. In the one case, a dog is well trained not to leave its property. So it barks and runs along, but keeps to private property. So what does the "toughguy" (probably a 120lb. midget) runner/biker do, sprays it with water anyways (apparently on multiple occasions). Finally, one day the dog tires of the taunting and bites the guy. So he calls the authorities on the "irresponsible" dog owner. What a bunch of commies. He's lucky the dog's owner didn't shoot him in defense of property when he routinely sprayed an unknown substance at the dog that was staying on PRIVATE PROPERTY.

"Lighten up Francis. As usual you are wrong"

Uh. My name isn't Francis. I think you have me confused with a fella from France who also posts here regularly.

BTW, he spells his name Francois.

If the dogs were in the road, the owner was breaking the law. I live in a rural area of Northwest Florida, and lots of dog "owners" feel they have the right to let their dogs run loose--but they don't. You were perfectly within your rights to spray. But, you should have followed up with an assault charge against the driver, and reported the loose dogs to animal control. After she had to go to the pound and retrieve her dogs a few times, she might think twice about keeping them in her yard. Or, better yet, she might move to Canada where apparently, dogs are free but people aren't.

BTW, on my long ride Saturday, I saw a LARGE Rottweiler charging at us out of the corner of my eye. He launched himself into the air just before he got to the end of his chain. The sudden stop jerked him around ass-backwards and upside-down. I almost fell out of my saddle laughing. The folks I was riding with said he does that every time a bike goes by. Hope that chain holds out!

If you have such poor control of your bike that you can't slow down when a little dog comes running, then you should take up some other sport you can handle. Perhaps chess or croquet?

Iron Mike has two posts to his credit, both in this thread. I've been taken down by a dog before and I do have good reaction time. they're strong animals and if they come running out from behind a car or open gate on an intersect course, good luck sprinting away in time.

www.martygaal.com/words/damndog.html

check the picture at the bottom of the article if you still think unleashed dogs chasing bikes are harmless - even tiny little rat dogs.

---

Marty Gaal, CSCS
One Step Beyond Coaching
Triangle Open Water Swim Series | Old School Aquathon Series
Powerstroke® Freestyle Technique DVD

Edited to remove over-the-line personal insult- I am writing this to insult girly bikers in general, not any specific girly biker.

Look, my yard is mine, and my dog has free reign of it. Until she leaves my property, whether I have her on a leash or not is no ones business but mine. If she leaves my yard, she's fair game- I begrude no one a kick or spray if she does that, it's only reasonable for you to defend yourself. But if she just runs toward you barking, then shut up and ride on. That's why I have a dog, get it? Barking at strangely clad people at the property perimeter is how she earns her daily bread, and it has saved me from being robbed more than once already (twice that I am aware of). I encourage her to bark at things like this, and doing so is my prerogative as much as riding on a public street is yours.

Hey look, now I have three posts to my credit, and we all know the more you post, the smarter you are- right?

Hey, I'm as big a dog lover as anyone, and if my dog (black lab) had been involved in this altercation I would have been pissed off but I would have been wrong in allowing my dog to get off my property. No defense to that. The owner was way out of line in using her vehicle to force you to stop. That's an assault, assuming you felt threatened.

It's a well known movie line from Stripes. I know your name isn't "francis". Hello, McFly?

>>Hey look, now I have three posts to my credit, and we all know the more you post, the smarter you are- right?<<

In your case, no.

BTW--Nice to see you just registered yesterday to jump into this thread.

Bring your unleashed, attacking dogs to San Francisco where we don't mess around with crap like that.

---

clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

OK, I'll fess up. I was around before RST went downhill faster than Armstrong at Luz-Ardiden, and I was there when MartyG (who is a much better athlete than poet) dogged the run at IMH, so be careful when you ASSume that someone is a newbie...

I just don't tolerate certain things, and complaining about mutant attack chihuahuas is one of them. It gives all of us a bad name. If you can't deal with dogs, take up needlepoint.

$50 to the first person who guesses my other name and the last event stage I won...

HAHahaha....

oops...

Forgot to hit the spell checker...

But still ... I hope you did not lose the point...

Animals are wonderfull, but you must admit that the average cat/dog or whatever, has about the equivalent intelect of a 1 year old at best... I would never alow my 1 year old to run around chasing cyclists in the street...

hahahaha

Let's all keep in mind that dogs are color-blind, so they don't know whether their owner thinks any given rider is girly, or whatever. To them, a rider is a rider, and whether you or I might judge a person based on the color of their spandex is irrelevant.

They might not like the smell of your shaving lotion, though. ;)

As for the laws, they are supposed to keep us all behaving civilly towards each other. The fact that many people ignore them is the reason why the legislators have to keep passing more and more ridiculous laws in the first place.

I'll make the obviously false assumption that everybody on this forum is a cyclist, or you wouldn't be here, and that many of us own and love our dogs. One would think that it therefore behooves all of us to act in a manner that improves safety for riders and for the dogs.

The fact that many of the arguments from the "Bikers are a nuisance" side of the thread are ad hominem attacks that infer that all bikers are gay and that the dogs attack them because of purple lycra rather than using a potentially valid argument such as "the dog is protecting its territory" (which is true only if the dog is in its yard) would be funny if it weren't so sad.

Disclaimer: For the sake of accuracy, scientists think that dogs can see limited color, much as colorblind humans can, however this would inhibit their ability to distinguish, say a nice indigo Sugoi short from a navy DeSoto short.

---

------------------------------------------------------------

That's what we have been talking about Einstein. I could care less if a dog barks at me from his yard. If the dog is in his yard he can't be reached by pepper spray anyways. We are talking about aggressive dogs who charge into the road out of control. Frequently with a group of riders the dog charges the lead rider, overshoots and collides into the rider(s) behind. I've seen guys go down many times. If you advocate taking the law into our own hands then a lot of dogs will dissappear. Isn't it better to legally get those people to restrain their dogs. Do you have children? Would you want them chased or bitten. Also children will panic and swerve into the road and traffic to avoid an aggressive dog. Most dogs aren't a problem. I am talking about the minority and their idiot owners.

 
> $50 to the first person who guesses my other name
> and the last event stage I won...

$50 to the first person who gives a crap

haven't made it out to IMH just yet but when i do i'm sure my dogs will be barkin'.

shoot, i thought i was a better poet...

---

Marty Gaal, CSCS
One Step Beyond Coaching
Triangle Open Water Swim Series | Old School Aquathon Series
Powerstroke® Freestyle Technique DVD

I reply to my original post bc there is such a variety of response. For the record: didn't have my water bottle due to short ride; wasn't worried about being bitten--concerned about crashing; heterosexual, Pearlizumi black shorts/white jersey; $2k Cannondale with D/A and aerobars; and, have two dogs.

In rural IL dogs are a fact of life on bike rides; I see them almost every time I ride. Some love to run beside the bike, others bark, others ignore me, some resent you being in their road. Most are not chained, leashed, etc. If they don't bother me, I dont bother them. I deal with dogs everytime and when I am clipped in pedals I get cautious. IL law says all dogs have to be controlled by their owners at all times, even in the country. Halt is not illegal here.

Feel free to handle dogs you encounter the way that works for you. I got tired of this same encounter on the short, fast (for me) ride.

The post wasn't for sympathy and really wasn't really about the little dogs. It was about the owner. I was interested in how others handle this situation and I have learned a few things. Thanks.

Aaaaggghhh!!! Where did that damned dog go?!!!!!

---

--------------
Elivis needs boats.

Hey, not everyone's a poet, and I hear Walt Whitman couldn't ride worth a da*n. I can't write to save my soul. On top of that, I'm cheaper than Brian Wagner's sunglasses, and if they're going to make me pay to race, I'll take my Emilio-neoprene-induced rash (next prototype please), Slowman Roo frame riding butt to Cobb's to muck around with the latest aero gear. Or if John's busy, maybe I'll slip down to the pound and get myself another, bigger dog ;-)

Disclaimer for the humor-impared; the $50 comment was a joke. I figured someone would call me out right away. All that pressure on the community taint must be affecting our brains.

Don't change your route jlb. If they come at you again give them another shot. If their owner pulls another stunt like she did you need to press charges. I live in the country and that's where I ride and run. Just remember, "Don't shoot until the whites of their eyes!" If the owner is outside and making any kind of effort to get fido under control I won't spray the dog. If the owner is sitting on their a$$ and the dog comes at me on the road it gets a shot. The only dogs I spray are those who come at me on the road while I'm riding, running or walking with my kids, and most of those only needed one shot.

---

jimmyk

---

--------------
Elivis needs boats.

 
coach Ditka, is that you???


>Disclaimer for the humor-impared; the $50 comment was
>a joke.

ah, sorry, I get cranky around "Do you know who I am??" bullshit