Be careful out there, ladies!

[wabisabi]

Definitely, keep track of expenses (including someone looking at your bike and your shorts) and send them a bill; they can claim on their homeowner's insurance, if they have it, and it will teach them a lesson to boot.

[doc]

Yikes.
Let us all know how things go in the ED and bike shop. Hopefully just bumps and bruises. Let us know how things go with the police and neighbors too. Do you know these dogs and their owners?

PS Does Mr. Tater know that's his new name

[Jo-n-NY]

I am so sorry to hear of this horrible ordeal. Dogs are one of my worst nightmares when cycling.

I hope you are ok and glad there was not too much damage to your bike. I agree with the others about keeping track of these expenses.

Pleast keep us posted on any updates about those dogs. I do not dislike dogs, I have one myself, but something needs to be done about what happened. Suppose a little kid was running up and down the sidewalk and the dogs attacked. Sorry I just get real angry when I hear about things like this.

~ JoAnn

[Blueberry]

I had my own "dog encounter" on foot - I was walking my dog (on a leash, of course) through an area near my home. I came around a corner and saw a child (maybe 5?) walking 2 large dogs (think 75 lbs each). The kid was significantly outweighed by dog, plus they had flexi leads which are harder to hold. I moved to the road from the sidewalk to give him an easier time. The dogs saw mine, pulled and off they came towards me. Luckily they were friendly, but they could just as easily not have been. Took quite a few minutes for me to get the dogs all untangled and get the leashes back to the kid. Plus a couple more minutes to calm my dog down (he was a bit overwhelmed when 2 large dogs came running towards him).

So...what do you do? Talking to the kid isn't going to do any good, since he's not the one that made the bad judgment. And the parents WEREN'T AROUND!!! And it's not my immediate neighborhood, so I don't know who they are. Didn't want to upset the kid worse by asking. Scary though - The dogs could just as easily have run into a cyclist or ???

[DrBee]

OMG! I know you must be unnerved by this adventure. I hope you're ok. I was pretty terrified after I was chased. I can only imagine having them take a bite out of your shorts. I hope you heal quickly and get back out there to ride as soon as you can. It took me a long time and I'm still really twitchy around dogs I don't know (I own 2 huge dogs myself).

Definitely try to get the owners to pay for the bills (hospital, bike and all). Good luck and we'll be thinking about you!

[Bad JuJu]

Oh, that's so scary--you could've easily been hurt much worse. I've been in a situation where I actually got off the bike and put it between the dog and me, and backed away like that until I obviously was out of what the dog thought was his territory. Never was able to identify the owner.

I'm a dog owner, too, but I try to be a responsible dog owner, which these folks clearly are not. Hope your wounds heal soon. And yes, I would go get my bike checked out if I were you.

[DebW]

Tater, so sorry for your injuries. Heal quickly. I had a dog encounter once on a group ride. The dog went after the back wheel of the rider in front of me, and therefore right in front of my front wheel. My only injury was to my expensive wool long underwear under my shorts. We actually knocked on doors and found the dog's owner and asked for compensation for the ripped long underwear, but didn't get it.