As am sure many of you have experienced, today on my long ride an alpha dog thought it a good idea to chase me as I rode by his master’s yard. The dog had a close call when a car coming in the opposite lane gave it a good scare. It made think I’m sure you guys have plenty of stories of being chased by dogs. Share!
Better be careful with this one…dont blast dogs.
This one route I do all the time there is always a dog that decides to come out and chase me. The one dog that does is this tiny little punk, so I just spray it a we bit with whatever is in my water bottle. Then I continue on my way. I wonder if that dog chases cars too… Hmmm…
I thought your title implied the dog was running loose with the cyclist which I have seen a couple times and it always suprises me considering the stories of cyclist attacked by dogs. Thats what happened to me this morning. 3 of us were running a path when a mtbr came from the other direction with his dog running loose. We gave the mtbr the path and kept running, but the dog almost ran into me, not in a theatening way, but i had to stop and almost tripped over him. Fortunately it was a nice dog or I might have startled him into something unfriendly.
I’m definitely not blasting dogs. I love them. I just don’t like it when owners don’t properly train their dogs.
Yeah, I have always wondered why their owners don’t do something. Where I bike there is lots of country roads and what not, but I don’t get why one wouldn’t want to protect their dogs from runnin all over in the street! Invisible fences are great. I always fear that after a dog chases me for a bit that a car might come and hit that dog. I would be sad if on my out and backs if on the back I saw the same dog who chased me dead on the road 
I’m definitely not blasting dogs. I love them. I just don’t like it when owners don’t properly train their dogs.
You are correct, it is the owner, but it is not a matter of training. It is a matter of supervision and containment. As an owner we need to control the dog, but left on its own, it will chase, no matter how well “trained”. ALL DOGS have an instinct to chase, at least the good ones. Some dogs don’t have much of a chase drive, but those are usually lazy, couch potato dogs.
Dogs chase bicycles because they can. Most will stop if you do. Some may try to grab at your tire or leg. Not safe. The dogs that chase out of “aggression” are using protection drive. These dogs are the ones you don’t want to confront as they are VERY likely to take on a challenge. They may do some nasty damage. I am not a big fan of “dangerous” dogs, nor encouraging dogs to be protective.
I hate invisible fences and flexi leashes. Two of the most dangerous things you can use with a dog.
What I find…the words “NO” and “SIT” work with darn near every dog.
What I find…the words “NO” and “SIT” work with darn near every dog.
I would rather see the owner keep the dog from chasing you in the first place. It is that dog that doesn’t care what you say that I would worry about.
As you point out, this is dangerous for both the dog and the rider. They go for your ankle by instinct, but can easily get let caught in the drivetrain or spokes; you get road rash, fido gets a mangled leg, nobody wins.
Our college cycling team had lots of dog issues, as we cycled on lots of rural roads. Usually a spray from a water bottle was enough to confuse the pooch in question. For those stubborn cases, we learned how to use our frame pumps for “puppy polo” (not optimal, but better than the aforementioned crashing). After one frame pump encounter they would typically leave us alone.
…and now for some dog/cyclist videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLNTuxFdvvg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8aBD1oLKpQ4&feature=related
A couple of years ago…I’m about 10 miles into a 30 mile rural ride when I see a guy standing near a pickup truck look at me, then look at his loose dog and start calling the dog. The dog isn’t listening and he immediately starts for me.
It appeared that the guy and the dog had concluded a walk on a piece of property with no house, so the dog was probably not in a protective mode…and the guy was probably thinking it was okay for the dog to be unleashed.
Anyhow I accelerate, thinking I will outrun the dog…as I had done many times before with other dogs. However this is a really fast dog; and he is closing on me (and not barking). I go faster and faster…eventually going anaerobic. But this dog pulls up along side and matches my effort. I’m riding as hard as I can.
After a while it appears the dog means me no harm; he is just getting a blast out of racing me.
Most of the dogs I have encountered are sprinters, so I figure I’ll eventually pull away from him. In this case it took me more than 1/4 mile to lose the dog. There was no traffic on the road, so the dog was probably safe.
I guess what was different in this case was that the dog was not protecting any property…Most dogs are and, as you ride away from the property they are protecting, their job of making you go away has either been accomplished or they’re getting separated from the property and realize they can’t protect it without returning.
I’m hoping that guy learned a lesson about loose dogs and roads.
I was out riding a part of a sprint triahtlon course the day before a race when a cute Cocker Spaniel started chasing me. I slowed down a little to avoid from hitting the dog and then I felt a tug on my bike. Thought the dog grabbed by back wheel and then I discovered teeth marks in my rear derailleur cable. Glad it was not my leg because I was not expecting the Cocker to bite. Glad to dog didn’t bite the spokes either because it may of hurt the dog.
I am a dog and pet person and once had a little dog to run beside me for over a mile and going near 20 part of the time and turned back around to get the dog back home. I just had to make sure the little dog found his way back home. I have stopped during run to help people look for missing pets or to chase an escaped dog.
Had some friend with bad run in with dogs on bikes. Not the worst injury, but a friend missed Kona from crashing into a dog 2 weeks out.
Not about bike riding, but I was visiting a friend who admits her Chichuaha can be mean so she left him in the cage. I told her to let him out. The dog was small and couldn’t bite that hard-right??? I had a Chichuaha mix and she was pretty sweet. She would nip, but not bite for blood. Her little shit bite the blood out me on my leg, my knee and my finger.
First things first. My dogs stay within the invisible no matter what is outside – animal, vegetable, or school bus.
Now on to the story…
I was doing a test ride for a Chicago to Galena trip and chose my ride on nowhere roads through farm country.
With about 3 miles until the turnaround(I-39) I hear barking and see the dog(lab) exit the ditch chasing me. I do my best sprint imitation and manage to distance him, although it was a bit hairy. In my mind I marked the place, because in 20 minutes I would be headed the opposite direction on the road. As I approached the spot on the way back I picked up the pace and tucked tight into aero. Despite my efforts the dog was gaining on my at 25mph. Luckily I escaped his clutches.
As I escaped this one I got cocky as I had not been chased at any other point on the ride. When I heard the barking I did not realize that dogs formed relay teams. I distanced the golden, but as soon as he broke off he passed the baton to a terrier who picked up the pursuit.
The only other time I was chased was in a very nice area of large-acreage houses where you don’t expect loose dogs. The unfortunate part of this area was they obviously had cut-through traffic so they had speedbumps. It definitely was not fun sprinting away from a rhodesian and trying not to splat on the speedbumps.
After those experiences I bought a can of direct-stop although I only carry it on rides where I “expect” dogs and I have never had a chance to use it.
Years ago I was riding home from the UCDavis library at about 11 at night when a German Shepard came after me. I took off and when I thought I had dropped it, I turned to yell at it but only got a squeak out of my throat because it was right next to me and it immediately started barking like crazy again. Fortunately, I was able to swerve away from it and accelerate like never before. My heart was back to normal a few hours later.
i have a route that i get chased by a chihuahua in a pink coat. just about fall off laughing every time. the jack in the tartan coat is a bit less funny.
Since we are now telling “stories”. In the winter Joe hosts a series of off road triathlons on a 320 acre quarry property. I take my dogs of course, who are free to swim, run and play. I leash them when the athletes are going thru transition so they don’t get in the way. After the last bike had left on the mountain bike leg, one of my dogs who is trained to track, decided to go after the bikes. She left in last place of course, but came in with the 3rd place biker. She had passed them all on the course.
The athletes claimed she took a short cut. 
On one of my rides I feel disappointed if the dogs don’t come chase me! Nothing like a couple Chow mixes to motivate your intervals.
Huh, thought this was a thread about people riding their bikes and walking their dogs at the same time. I see someone doing this every day around here, yes the dogs are leashed. Seems like a very bad idea. These are not big dogs either, we’re talking beagles and weener dogs. My recent favorite was a woman riding her bike with what I assume was her child on the bike and she was “walking” a beagle.
I live in rural Alabama and of course put all my miles in here as I have in rural TN also. The “yard dog” is alive and well here. Best bet is to get a concealed carry permit and pack yourself a nice subcompact pistol… .45 preferrably:) Fits perfectly in your bike jersey…just don’t hit yourself in the foot when firing! LOL
…I’m only partly joking, but not much…
Have several routes where you can count on some doggie cheering from somewhere… actually most of them. Only a couple places are they roaming free and are mean. Most of the time I just yell, “Hey there puppers” in my nicest loud voice and they stop and wag…if that doesn’t work, my meanest, I’m a red-head female, “NO NO NO” and that works…most of the time.
One route, there is a farm with goats and they have this beautiful Great Pyrenees! Big, huge white goldie… he just lumbers along the fence with that monster bark that says “rub my belly!” It is like a GIANT version of my Bichon with straight hair! Poor big dog… it is hot in Alabama!! All that hair!!!
Favorite though is the big pouty face my Lucy Wiggles gives me when I get the bike trainer out…that is a face if I’ve ever seen one…