Chased by a dog

[momtohanna]

This morning I finally made it to the road after the 1/2 mile of gravel. As I'm finding a good gear I suddenly hear loud barking and a huge white german sheperd comes over the hill and out of the ditch.

CRAP!!

I happen to know this dog but I don't think he'd ever seen me on a bike. My first instinct was to stop ~ I think so I didn't get knocked over ~ but I'm pretty sure that's not the BEST reaction to have when a dog is chasing you on your bike.

The owner yelled at him and he went back in his yard. However on the ride back I wanted to take a pic of the silly dog for my blog post today and was slightly disappointed he wasn't there. As I get back on the gravel (have I mentioned how much I hate the gravel) I hear paws tearing after me. I did stop and take a picture of him (crazy dog) but pretty sure that's not what my response should have been had I not known the dog.

so 2 questions:

What should you do if

1. a dog jumps out at you.
2. a dog is chasing you from behind.

Thanks!!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Hi Mom to Hanna,

Here are a whole bunch of great TE threads already written about what to do when chased by dogs:
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=32098
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=29980
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=31204
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=12053
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=741

I found them easily by using the "Search" link on the top of every forum page.
Enjoy! :)

[momtohanna]

sorry ~ I should have thought of that. I think my brain is still half dazed. :)

[MartianDestiny]

Actually, stopping is one of the very good reactions you can have, especially if you are confident around dogs.

If you are riding you are prey and you are running away; it's a game. When you stop you take away the prey/chase drive and you become a human (which, if the owner has done any amount of decent training the dog will recognize as a) not prey and b) dominant. That is an if you have to rely on, but most dogs aren't trained attack dogs ;) ).

Stop, put your bike between you and the dog (and be prepared to use it as a weapon if necessary), square off your shoulders and "get big", and yell (anything "go home", "no", "bad dog", etc), maybe take a step or two towards them. Most will run back home before you get to the end of that sequence.

Try this thread as well for more ideas: http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=32098&highlight=dogs

[arielmoon]

Good advice Martian.

After having been hit by a dog in March I will say that stopping is not a bad option especially if the dog can get to you. Unfortunately, the dog that hit me came from the side and I had no time to react so every situation is a little bit different. I try to think of what I could have done that would have had an effect on what happened to me but I come up with nothing.

[kermit]

+1 to what MartianDestiny said. I have done exactly that when I got chased by a farm dog in south Georgia. A huge pit bull that really would have hurt me if he ran into me. I stopped, yelled "NO" and he slammed on the brakes. Two seconds later he's on his back getting his belly rubbed.

[Aquila]

I think stopping is usually a smart idea for all the reasons mentioned, as is the "bad dog, go home, bad dog" thing. I also point my finger at wherever the dog came from. So far, I've been lucky, but you could get a really nasty dog or not have time to react.

My experience is that most dogs aren't really nasty, they want to chase and bark, and they aren't really smart enough to realize they're in danger, too.

I have to stop, because I'm slow enough that I couldn't outrun a dachsund. :(

[witeowl]

Stop, put your bike between you and the dog (and be prepared to use it as a weapon if necessary), square off your shoulders and "get big", and yell (anything "go home", "no", "bad dog", etc), maybe take a step or two towards them. Most will run back home before you get to the end of that sequence.

Yup. This is what I do, but there's an awful side-effect when out running with my dog. My dog is trained well enough to (at least try to pretend to) ignore the other dog, but we'll often get other dogs coming up and trying to be social. Sure, it might start out social, but I can't stop two fighting dogs so it's just best to keep us away from the loose dog. (Sometimes, even with two owners of dogs on leashes, a dog will somehow show some doggie disrespect - for all I know it's my dog - and a little spat will break out.)

So, I stop, I tower, I yell, I point. But then I feel bad when the dog cowers. They never seem to actually go away, so I have to repeat the performance every few feet until we're out of the dog's range where it finally stops and watches us leave.

Some dogs look just so, so sad and hurt and confused. I know they're only trying to be social, but I've got to take the safe route.

I know there's no solution; I was just posting this to kind of vent my sadness. Well, there is one solution, but somehow I just can't get all those loose-dog owners to be better dog owners. :(

[kenyonchris]

Stop, put your bike between you and the dog (and be prepared to use it as a weapon if necessary), square off your shoulders and "get big", and yell (anything "go home", "no", "bad dog", etc), maybe take a step or two towards them. Most will run back home before you get to the end of that sequence.

Try this thread as well for more ideas: http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=32098&highlight=dogs

LOL.....this is what we do on bike patrol if we are dealing with aggressive people...the bike between us at least slows em down while we decide what to pull out of the belt.

[TxDoc]

but most dogs aren't trained attack dogs ;)

and if they were trained, they would not chase your bike to begin with - unless you are willingly assaulting their owner while on your bike :D

[pfunk12]

Stop, put your bike between you and the dog (and be prepared to use it as a weapon if necessary), square off your shoulders and "get big", and yell (anything "go home", "no", "bad dog", etc), maybe take a step or two towards them. Most will run back home before you get to the end of that sequence.

When I was in South Africa a few years ago, I was doing a marathon training run in a nature park. A co-worker was with me - riding a bike. This was the technique he used when we were both attacked by an ostrich. He used his bike as a shield and weapon and it worked. Of course, the ostrich decided to leave him alone and attack me but that's a different thread. :D

[SpinSpinSugar]

Do like Ceasar Millan the Dog Whisperer... Turn your shoulders toward the dog and shout.. SSSHHHHHHHHT!!!! NO!!.... Really really loud in a deep commanding voice. Then Growl back at them "Aaaaaaarrrrrggh!!" when they startle.

That worked for me this weekend when we were chased by a large spaniel that came bounding across a lawn/ditch/and was about to crash into us. The loud SSSHHHHHHHHT!!!! stopped him in for a second and then the Aaaaaaarrrrrggh!!! kept him there (looking rather confused I might add) while we pedaled safely away :p

SpinSpinSugar

[MartianDestiny]

and if they were trained, they would not chase your bike to begin with - unless you are willingly assaulting their owner while on your bike :D

True true! I guess I was thinking more trained fighting dogs, which may just have enough aggression to keep coming, but I definitely phrased it wrong. :o

[OakLeaf]

I've found that if I try to give a command to the dog that it might understand, my anxiety creeps into my voice and they ignore me.

I have much better luck ordering dogs away by telling them "Get a job!" or something else nonsensical or dismissive. As others have said, it's the tone of voice that counts.

[Mistie]

I used to get chased by this golden retriever until I squirted him right between the eyes with the water bottle. He backed off. He tried a few more times and I kept squirting him so he just barks and runs behind me. I do carry pepper spray for dogs that I don't know and act mean. I have it lightly taped on handlebars.

[Geonz]

Do you point your shoulders at 'em while still riding? Sometimes I can get 'em to back off before they're even in the street (but that could be better training too).
Marking our bike club ride we had one come out and we stopped, and that critter paused from ahead of us and kept looking back... looking back... took its owner 3-4 minutes to get him close enough to grab (alas, I suspect because Dudley knew he'd get smacked around some), while he told us that yes, he generally kept the dog in 'cause he'd run with cyclists for miles. Unfortunately, he wanted running *and* playing and somebody would be goin' down eventually...