I don't think I've really seen a thread re: how to handle dogs on a bike. While running it's easy...very seldom do I run into aggressive dogs and most of my worries are dogs that want to follow me.

On a bike...even the sweetest dogs seem to turn into Cujo at the sight of me (is this something wired into a dog's brain?).

So how does one handle a chasing dog. I've already had more instances of this while biking in the few hours I've managed outdoors than I usually do in an entire year of running. Do you try to stop? Try to outrun the dog? Bring treats along to make friends with a dog so that he/she doesn't go into attack mode the next time?

I had one dog last Sunday that appeared out of nowhere and scared the bejeezus out of me. Luckily I was going at 17mph or so and he couldn't get anywhere near me.