dog dazer

[btchance]

I unfortunately just got back from spending the morning at the hospital with a friend whose front wheel was taken out by a dog less than 10miles into a metric. Result - pelvis fractured in 3 places, laceration to head from sunglasses, possible small brain hemorrhage, and a severely cracked helmet. Looks like she will be fine, though. Just some time to recover. (freaking owners were standing at their door watching as we waited for over 20min for the ambulance and sheriff to get there - didn't even try to get their dogs who were coming back out again as were were in the road waiting)

One of the doctors treating her at the ER is also a cyclist and mentioned a dog whistle type apparatus that mounts on your handle bars, you push a button, and the dog doesn't come any closer to you. I just looked this up on the internet, and what I found was something called a dog dazer. Some reviews of it were fantastic, some were not so great. Has anyone here used it or known someone who has? My friend had pepper spray but never had a chance to use it, so something like the dog dazer sounds great, if it actually works - much more accessible.

[pooks]

Are there leash laws? Aren't the people responsible for their dogs? I'd bring charges, I think.

I'll be curious to know about the whistle. I do carry Halt! but wonder if I could get it out to use in time.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

I hope she sues them.

[emily_in_nc]

btchance, so sorry to hear about your friend. I too fractured my pelvis in three places (but no other injuries, thankfully) due to a run-in with two dogs back in April '05. In my case, I had HALT mounted on my handlebars and was reaching for it right after my DH yelled "DOGS", but I sped up at the same time as he slowed down, and I crashed right into his back wheel right as the dogs came from the side. OUCH!

There are leash laws in our county, and if not leashed, dogs must be under an owner's control and not where they can run into the road. I considered suing and did consult a lawyer in our bike club, but he said that I probably had only a 50/50 chance of winning a case. With legal costs, he wasn't all that encouraging since in the rural area I live in, people tend to be more sympathetic to dog owners than to recreational cyclists.

He did offer a good suggestion, though, and that was to ask the dog owners (who were cooperative) for their homeowner's insurance information. I filed a claim through their ins. agency and was able to recover all my out-of-pocket expenses. I was lucky to have good health insurance and short-term disability from work, so those expenses were only around $4K (I had surgery on my ilium and was in the hospital for five days, extensive PT, rental hospital equipment at home, and many follow-up x-rays and exams). I couldn't file a claim until I was basically "recovered", since I also had to sign a paper absolving them of any future claims/medical expenses, etc.

I might have been able to get a lot more $ (pain/suffering, etc) through a lawsuit, but I just didn't want a lengthy and difficult process; I just wanted to put the entire incident behind me and get my expenses paid for.

So, that's one option for your friend, but not one she can do anything about until she is fully healed, or as healed as she is going to be (I still have occasional lingering stiffness and SI joint pain, but it's very minor and not noticeable most days; I can ride, run, hike, etc. again).

As for future dog protection, I don't know about the taser, but I bought an Air Zound air horn that is quite effective and quicker to get to than HALT; also, dogs don't have to be as close to you to use it. I got mine through Nashbar, but I am not sure if they carry them any more. Do a google on Air Zound and you'll find places that carry them. You pump them up with a bike pump, so they're easy as pie to use. And very LOUD! They are Fred, to be sure, but I'm way past the point of caring about that. My bones are much more important than worrying about how I look on a bike these days....

Hope your friend heals up - but it's going to be awhile.

Emily

[btchance]

Thank you for the info there, Emily. If and when she gets to the point of wanting to take legal action I will definitely let her know what you said. Luckily she too has good insurance. A couple of girls had pepper spray mounted on the handlebars but this dog suprised us and no one had time to react.

There are leash laws in the county and the cycling club has been working on getting these enforced. The number to report any incidents has been passed around, and most people have the phone number on them so in cases like this, the deputies can be notified immediately (and there have been multiple accidents this year). There were two official complaints filed today, and the deputy seemed fairly sympathetic (he had personally been taken out on his motorcycle by a dog before). The deputy also said he would check out another area where we have a lot of dog problems (complain has been lodged but nothing hs happened so far) Hopefully something will come out of it all.

One thing I would like to say is how proud I was of how the other riders and numerous members of our cycling club reacted today. Many people won't have anything to do with the club because of some "holier than thou" behavior, but that was not seen today. Everybody present worked well at the accident, immediately calling an ambulance, sherriff's office, and her husband. Those of us with medical background attended to her while we were waiting. People went to both ends of this very rural road to flag down emergency vehicles when they came and to stop the little traffic that was there. I went with her in the ambulance while two others started back to their vehicles on their bikes before being picked up by another club member (who herself had been injured by a dog earlier this year) and driven to the hospital to be with her. Others stayed behind to file the reports. Another club member was called to pick up our bikes and take them home for us. A big thanks to all of them.

I don't know if I will be able to do this, but I would like to organize some sort of first aid class for the cycling club. With the past few accidents there has always been somebody present who knew what to do (doctor or EMT), but this won't always be the case. One of the riders was talking to me about how terrified and hopeless she felt at the time, and just didn't know what to do to help her or keep her from getting hurt worse. Does anybody have any experiences with this or have any ideas on how to get started?

Oh, and her husband was a perfectly trained "husband of a cyclist." As we were leaving the hospital, he ran out asking "where is her bike and how do I get it back for her?" So cute. She did a great job with him And for her, some of the first questions to the ER doc before she even had her pain meds were will I be riding again, and can I go to Paris in a couple of weeks. She has her priorities straight. (and is already laughing about/dreading the evil procyclist PTs we have in town waiting just for her)

[Mr. Bloom]

While I support leash laws, I don't think they're a solution since they provide a false sense of security and only define responsibility...without really protecting anyone.

I advocate the deterrent approach.

Today, I resolved to buy pepper spray after being charged hard by a dog that came out of nowhere...right on a double curve with gravel! I've not heard of the whistle, but I'd consider it as preferable if it wasn't too big, simply because it doesn't require aiming.

Broken pelvis! Yuck...isn't that a very long recovery period? Glad she's OK, but I certainly wish it hadn't happened.

[emily_in_nc]

Broken pelvis! Yuck...isn't that a very long recovery period?

Yes indeed. She won't be going to Paris in a few weeks. We had a 20th-anniversary trip booked to the BVIs a month after my accident, and I remember (while under the influence of morphine) asking my doctors if I would be able to go. I can't remember how exactly they answered, but let's just say, they let me down as gently as possible. Thankfully, we were able to change our reservations from May to December, so we did get to go when I was in much better shape. We even took a 7-mile hilly hike around Jost van ****.

But yes, pelvic fractures are slow to heal. I couldn't bear weight on that side for 8 weeks. Started with a wheelchair/walker, then moved to two crutches, then one. I wasn't released to drive for 9 weeks. 10 weeks after my accident, I limped into work for the first time with no crutches at all. The slight limp eventually went away, but it doesn't happen overnight.

Emily