BIKEPGH MESSAGE BOARD ARCHIVE

If the dog had been driving a car and hit her, charges might not be filed.

i got chased by a bull terrier type dog in farm country a few weeks ago. i tried to outrun it but i was just hitting a hill and it was gaining on me, so my thoughts went like this: this dog is bred for bull-baiting, and it probably has a really strong instinct to chase and bring down things bigger than it. so i stopped and yelled at it, and it gave up the chase and turned around and walked away. i wonder if that works in general, and if these dogs have a tendency toward this bike-baiting behavior.

Riding around farmland in California, you got used to dogs chasing you. It seemed like these dogs would just sit around in the driveway waiting for a cyclist to come by. I was chased at least once a month, and I didn't even go out all that often. What I was taught, and what worked quite well is, without changing your pace, turn your head to the dog that is running at you and yell "NO!" in the loudest voice you could muster. About 8/10 times that worked and the dog stops. The other few times you get your frame pump out and give it a whack. Outrunning them rarely works unless you have a pace line going or are flying down a hill. Most of the people I know that were injured from the dog weren't bit, but the dog ended up getting in front of their wheels and they suffered broken collar bones and such.

Riding through Junction Hollow this morning, got chased by an off-leash three-legged dog (not making this up). Even I was able to outrun it, but I may have gotten lucky because he turned toward my buddy behind me, who simply yelled "NO" at it loudly and authoritatively, and the pooch, stopped.

I generally just ride away from dogs, but I have used the shouting technique when out with other riders and found it to work well.

I think that most dogs don't really want to hurt anybody, but when something fast-but-slow-enough goes by, well, there are some primal urges that are just too strong to resist.

Living in the country growing up, around age 10 I was chasing around the countryside enough to encounter many unchained dogs with an affinity for bicycles. Maybe 10 different dogs, depending on the path I was following that day.

I sure wish I'd known this trick then. Seems every kid could use this information. Every cyclist, any age, for that matter.

I usually prefer the stop, dismount, and "c'mere good puppy" approach. It seems to really confuse the dog. I think most of the time I've been chased it's been by working breeds. Boxers, pits, sheepdogs etc. which are usually very gentle dogs.

The thing I hate most is when people let their dogs off leash at night along junction hollow thinking that nobody rips through at 3am.

Those dogs always chase me.

which are usually very gentle dogs

Except when they bite you "several times in the face" and drag you some 50 feet away before someone comes along with a bat.

According to the Trib, the girl was trying to play nice with the dog(s?). "Aliyah Dixon, 10, said the girl went over to the fence to pet another dog when the attack occurred"

While the guy claims "I never raised the dog to be aggressive", he named it "Pain", and "The police source said the dog had a history of attacking other dogs and at least one other person."

Maybe playing nice will get me good results most of the time, but I hate to think what will happen when that tactic fails and you try and pet Pain. I am not a dog person at all, so I'll stick with my yelling and hitting approach if a large animal is chasing me. I can't tell a playful dog from a bloodthirsty one.

FWIW: If you want to stop a pit from biting someone/you, the best method is to apply a thumb to the posterior. Or a bat.

I was chased by a fair number of farm dogs in Indiana (the state of) in June, yelling "No" works sometimes...but I was surprised at how well the squirt in the face from a water bottle worked. It stopped a number of hard charging dogs cold.

Why does this post have dbacklover's picture on it?

thought i'd add some feel good to this thread.

Judge judy video where the cyclist is vindicated over bad dog owners.

it's a must see.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p12x52UzJsc&feature=player_embedded

@Erok - Thanks! That Judge Judy clip made my morning.

I am big on the idea that there are rarely bad dogs, but a whole lot of bad owners. All this 'vicious pit bull' press is a constant annoyance to me. It is unfortunate that many pit owners are also bad owners. The kind that leave their dogs out in the back yard with no food, water, or attention. That's how I got my dog. She had no attention for the 1st year of her life, was beaten, left without food/water for days. She was never socialized and can't be around other dogs right now... so guess what: I don't let her around other dogs. This isn't rocket science people. These animals are what we make of them.

Ok, very sorry, off the soap box.

I completely agree with IHMB.. Bad owners make bad dogs.. bad dogs dont make themselves.. The judge judy clip just proves it even more.. even till the end.. the owners werent willing to accept any of the responsibility. I like the part at the end.. "if I backed my car out of my driveway and he hit me wouldnt he be to blame?" no.. he wouldnt.. you didnt yield right of way.

Judge judy did make me smile.. I like her response to why the highways are dangerous.

" the girl went over to the fence to pet another dog"

a dog that isnt aggressive will still bite someone if they come up to where it lives and stick their hand in there. I have a dog and don't want to have any strange kids interact with it if i am not around, so he isn't in the yard unless i am standing next to him.

and usually, if you are an adult, you can get a dog to stop charging by removing the chase, and being really big and firm with them.

that said, yes, bad owners make bad dogs. and, dogs will bite, no matter how good.

There is also a difference in a "bite" as in biting to protect or defend or in fear. and an "attack" which is clearly what this attack was.. for the dog to stay fixed on the victim and even dragging them, thats not a normal reactionary bite, that is trained behavior.

If you watched the videos I linked, the girl's friend said she went up to pet a different dog that she knew, and had pet before. Then the attacking dog jumped over another fence(?) and attacked her. From the sound of it, she didn't even get to the point of sticking her hands through any fence, and was simply riding up to it, as the other witnesses claimed she was riding her bike at the time.

I don't really know what happened, but I am inclined not to blame the little girl who had her face ripped off. I am blaming the guy who named his dog "Pain", knew it attacks other dogs and people, wasn't home, didn't have it chained up, and had a laughably crappy fence that was supposed to stop it from mauling someone.

our hyper-friendly boxer can get out of our yard to lick people when he really wants to, and we have a 6 foot high wooden privacy fence with no space under it. if you have an animal that's trained to attack, you should not have it outside unless its leashed, chained or behind an 8 foot security fence that is properly installed and locked. anything short of that and the dog WILL figure out how to get to what its after. (rufus figured out how to jump in the corner and get his front legs over the edge, ten scramble up with his hind legs)

I had a friendly german shepherd that figured out how to open the gate by leaning against it, then pushing the latch with her nose to unlatch it. Ended up having to tie a rope around the gate and post.

==dwillen; A dog owner who knows their dog is prone to attack and leaves it alone outside, particularly improperly secured, is a dog owner who is not being at all responsible.

im not blaming the girl, i am blaming the large number of humans who don't know how dogs work, including the owner of "Pain", the dog that is now dead (the article stated that 'pain' was put down). if it weren't for people who don't know much about dogs owning them, there wouldn't be as many vicioius, abandoned, sheltered, and put down dogs out there.

one of the biggest issues i have with "people" is that they assume that all other animals work just like people and that all other people work just like them.