Dog Repellents - Yeah or Nay?

In my particular dog incident there was no time for anything. The dog came at me at an almost 90 degree angle and I didnt see him until he was only a few feet from me. :( Between my speed and his miss-judged angle it was quite a collision when he slammed into my front tire. Up until that very moment, I had never considered being hit by a dog.

Anyway, as I prepare to start riding again I will probably be thinking about ways to deter any dogs that I come across. Maybe if we had been able to scare the dog more when he half heartedly chased us three weeks before he wouldnt have been quite so game when he saw us again.

A friend in our cycling club had the exact same accident about 3 weeks ago, Ariel. He was in ICU for a while, had lots of broken ribs, etc. They were going downhill at about 35 mph when the dog came out of nowhere at the bottom of the hill. Nothing could be done to avoid the dog. If it had not been him, it would have been another rider that was with him.

I'm just so angry that people don't care about their dogs or other people enough keep their dogs penned up. This accident was in the county, so no leash law...but I'll bet there is something about nuisances. We have an attorney in our club, so maybe something good will come out of it.

Karen

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tulip

I bet an air horn would work.

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Hubby uses one that he picked up from an O'Reilly's auto store. And yes, it does deter most dogs. A dog's hearing is much more acute than a human's so it is a painful blast of sound.