I was running late autumn evening through the woods. A wild hog with younglings happened. 1km PB followed.

I know it. Lots of experience.

The US is getting more 3rd world all the time. Wealth and income disparity keeps growing, job opportunities for men of modest intelligence and talent pretty well suck. The media likes to inflame divisive and hateful "us vs them" rhetoric; usually some BS about liberals vs conservatives, but whatever it is, it encourages about half the population to hate the other half. To a redneck in the country, some lycra clad "fag" going by is about as far from their "in group" as anyone could be, and an easy target for their anger or whatever.

That's a big reason why I encourage people to actually be civil and talk! Then you are a human being, not some anonymous target. Or least you have the chance to be. If your first response is to call animal control and the guy really is an asshole, you just started a war.

I think you have a few options.

If you want to be nice you can try tossing some dog biscuits, after 3-4 times you will know if it is the solution, they will pause and wait. I have used this 1-2 times cycling.
It was on a route I was not willing to give up on due to low traffic and miles.

Carry spray and blast them, it will work but you may have pissed off the wrong type of person and you may have to spray them or carry a taser.
This approach kind of defeats the mental uplift of running or cycling as in, you are going preparing for confrontation, so choose the approach that you can legally do.

Call the police or animal control and see what they can do. Maybe you can do that anonymously without the dog owner knowing your name.
Call in the pros.

Rob

I was cycling and being chased by a pack of about 8 dogs. Guy in a pickup put his signal on to pass and ran over most of them. Never had a problem with them after that.

Most people are entirely unaware that they're showing fear or submission, even when it's plainly obvious to everyone and everything else in the vicinity. Unfortunately, animals are keenly aware of even the most subtle body language.

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https://connect.garmin.com/modern/profile/domingjm

He's right. The dogs are bored and likely completely friendly but want the OP to just go away. There are painfully obvious differences between a defensive dog and a dog that's motivated to attack. Barking and other threatening behavior is a ample and charitable warning to go away peacefully; the dog that just wants to bite you....you don't hear coming.

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https://connect.garmin.com/modern/profile/domingjm

As a victim of a dog pack I say complete and utter bullshit.
I was on my MTB and 2 leonbergers (easily 120 lbs) and one mixed breed jumped from the woods barking. They tried to chase me away, getting closer and closer. The mixed passed me, jumped and bit me on my thigh with 2 leonbergers closing distance. It was no silent, stealth attack. It was an escalating brawl.

Where's the "like" button?

The reason we are where we are isn't just because the media finds it fun to pit the libtards against the redneck trash and see us go after each other. It's because there isn't any accountability.

The death threat would go further since they did push someone off a road. There was a case about the FBI "baiting" the "harmless" rednecks with a bomb plot of a mosque or something. To the point they made the final "deal" with the undercovers. The whole excuse of "just some dumb ole boys not meanin no harm" didn't fly too well in federal court.

Lady I used to live next to carried a pistol in her jersey pocket and I have zero doubts as to whether she would use it if threatened. She was trained to use it and of the mentality that she would if she was in danger. Dog, rednecks, or hood rats. Obviously, preferably not the dog.

I think for riding in the country in questionable areas they should sell a "member NRA" bike jersey or something. We do have a few local police fundraiser rides that sell jerseys. That would be a good one too.

Show a little dominance next time. I always assume that people have some idea how to communicate with dogs; the important communication isn't audible. Sounds like you made a pretty fun target.

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https://connect.garmin.com/modern/profile/domingjm

Ya. Police that came to the scene also failed at dominance pose apparently. One of the dogs had to get tasered.

They let it go yes, and figured it wasn't worth pursuing. Their feeling was.. if w call the cops on her and she sees us out again she runs us over, we're dead. In the right, but dead.

What do you do? No good answer except maybe kill the asshole dog owner first? I doubt it.

Why's it almost feel like victim blaming in this forum topic? I don't know how else to interpret that. It's almost like telling a rape victim they should have soiled themselves to prevent it.

Here we have a poster who got chased and bitten and the response is "show a little dominance next time"? Just wow.

Man, I just don't get it. Especially with a bite involved, it's not some simple little misunderstanding. There are crimes and damages involved.

Look at it this way..........if any of these situations happened to a police officer on a bike, running, walking, otherwise.......the dog might be dead and the owner sitting on the curb in handcuffs and you've got a #1 night time news story on your local TV station. But we're in here making excuses for people and almost victim blaming the others.

Currently riding in "redneck" country, which I like. It's not just cyclists. People wave guns at one another while driving and then are pulled over by the police with felony charges. And since anyone could be "packin" here, it's "yes sir or no sir" and some of the most polite people that I've come across.

In regards to dogs on the road and bears on the MTB trails, my local friend actually packs a small pistol while riding. He showed it to me after a ride and the weight weenies would be pleased.

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Indoor Triathlete - I thought I was right, until I realized I was wrong.

I was responding to otesb-whatever, not the OP in that post.

You can inadvertently miscommunicate with a dog (or any other animal) and provoke it into a bite out of ignorance. Yeah, you'd be partially to blame for that. Not legally of course, but if you would have followed some simple guidelines, the situation would have been averted. If you act like something that should be chased, you very well may be chased and bitten. How do you tell a dog "hey look, your property ends at the road and I'm only out here for some exercise"? You don't. You tell it nonverbally that you mean no harm, that you're leaving his "property" but that you're doing it confidently and not because you're intimidated.

Of course, the bottom line is it's the owners responsibility to keep their dogs sequestered from public nuisance, regardless of how far out in the country they live. But when they fail to do that, you better know how to deal with the situation, because you're going to encounter it.

And gtfo with the rape shit. So dramatic.

Edit: also, please note that I would absolutely pursue some sort of follow-up action if I was continually harassed by animals at a particular household. No question.

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To me its a great anti-gun argument. Everyone is terrorized into submission by people "packin". You don't act freely because someone dumb or someone a bit on the nervous side can terminate you. Even if you defend your life from dogs...

Murica is a scary place.

Actually quite the opposite. No one is terrorized. We laugh pretty freely and the women feel pretty safe because they're packin too. lol

Countries where people don't have guns are not that free. https://en.wikipedia.org/...f_gun_laws_by_nation

People who hate Hitler probably hate that Hitler took the guns away from his citizens early on. Or was that a good thing he did for his country?

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Indoor Triathlete - I thought I was right, until I realized I was wrong.

You gtfo out with the victim blaming and Monday morning quarterbacking. Your little comic strip one-liner tips aren't helpful to someone jumped in the woods by dogs by pretending like it's you walking past a house seeing it coming.

You come across as pretty preachy and dismissive of a pretty dangerous topic.

Here, I'll quote your nonsense: "Show a little dominance next time. I always assume that people have some idea how to communicate with dogs. Sounds like you made a pretty fun target."

If you don't find that the least bit condescending, I ain't got nothing for ya buddy. And you can keep the rape comment, because it's a very relevant and modern victim blaming culture that HAS to change in this country. And I'm seeing the same shades of that crap in this topic too.

Again, the condescension was aimed at otebski, not the OP. But I'll stand by the actual advice I gave. I've dealt with more than my share of aggressive and defensive dogs and they're mostly all diffused in the same manner, as I described.

People come here asking for advice, and this thread is no exception. So what do we do? A little armchair quarterbacking, yes. If you're hiking in Yellowstone, it's your responsibility to know how to deal with bears; if you're exercising out in the boonies, you should know how to deal with dogs. Jesus, I'm the biggest libtard on the block, but this rape victim blaming analogy you're making is well-beyond even me. See you in the lavendar room.

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Actually this is a great example. Really think about it. What can you do? Are escalating the fight or backing down the only alternatives? Both suck and are absolutely unnecessary 99% of the time. I can't fight for shit (unless I'm *really* mad) and I don't back down, so...

It's great that the dog owner actually came out and confronted the riders. Much better chance of resolution vs someone who gets out in their pickup with bull bars and just "accidentally" runs over the next cyclist they see.

So, the owner is obviously really pissed off right? Can you relate at all to why they might be mad? If they are a real crusty asshole those dogs might be the only friends and family they have. People can get really attached to their dogs. So from their perspective you just came to their home and hurt their babies! Obviously that isn't *your* perspective at all, but it's important to relate to where the owner is coming from and what they believe. You are about as far from being in their "tribe" as you can get, and they already fear and hate you. If you respond in the same manner, then there is no hope. And running to Mommy (calling the cops or animal control) is about the worst thing you can do! Don't turn your home into a war zone. And don't let your neighbors bully you. I mean, isn't that obvious?

So what do you do? Calmly ask them if they'd like to talk about it. Whatever they fire back, don't take the bait. You want them to settle down and talk as rationally as possible. If you manage that, then you've made great progress. Empathize and deescalate. Very important. Don't engage them while they are still an angry raving lunatic as no communication is possible.

Tell them that you want to find a solution that will be good for everyone (including the dogs). Be completely nonthreatening, but don't back down. Compliment their dogs, tell them that you love dogs and you'd never try to hurt them. You were just trying to train them not to chase people. Even if you didn't ride on that road other people would, and if the dogs are chasing they might get run over. Or if they bite someone the dogs will get put down, and nobody wants that. Do they have any ideas? Maybe the airhorn would work? Etc...

Here is a thought experiment for you. Come up with a measurable statistic that you think would demonstrate the benefits or otherwise of gun ownership. In what area is your country leading the world that we can attribute to guns? If everyone is safe and happy show me the figures.

Don't get me wrong. You can't put the genie back in the bottle, you have guns in the US and they aren't going away. But you are over simplifying the issue by making sweeping statements about how happy 'we' are and 'everyone' is when you are talking about the experience of hundreds of millions of people across many different divides.

His post is total bullshit. I was headed off and surrounded by three vicious dogs this spring. They gnashed their teeth, foaming at the mouth taking turns lunging at me for 10 minutes while I used my bike to fend them off. I still don’t know how I got away as they became more enraged the longer it went on. They were waiting on the highway for me around a hairpin curve.i called animal control. They talked to the guy but when they went out he was with the dogs at his shop and they weren’t just running loose as normal. There was nothing that could be done. The owner was a selfish prick that had no intention of putting up an enclosure to contain his watchdogs as he called them.

THIS is all you need for $9.99...I have it & works great.

This is THE protocol for accomplishing rational discourse and resolution in minor disagreements and in hostile situations. It's something I definitely need to work on, and it pervades all compartments of society. Unfortunately, it's usually more acutely satisfying to escalate and get the better of your "opponent" but there's rarely any long term benefit for either party. Government in particular would run a lot more smoothly, but they seem to have the explicit goal of exacerbating divisiveness.

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First it was meant with humor but since your brought up the "ignorant" word the last dog that attacked us I simply killed, cut his head off, and took the head to animal control so they could check the un-vaccinated bastard for rabies, which is 100% fatal if untreated. Since it came out on a public road and bit my son, 10 staples to close the wound in his leg, I could have cared less how the dog died.

I love dogs and have two myself but if they attack a human on public property they are fair game.