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.