Dogs chasing my bike...ugh!
 

Hi Folks. I am being chased by dogs nearly everyday on my bike now. All kinds of dogs. If anything, it at least gets my heart pumping in the morning.

My question is this...are dogs only interested in the thrill of the chase or do they really want to attack/bite you?

And how many of you have actually been bitten while moving on the bike?

Some of these dogs can really run fast and far!!!

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Dave
www.mototrekker.com

yes they do bite !!! i was once approaching a set of traffic light,s when a pit bull dog wandered right out in front of me ,causing me to brake very hard,i blew my horn to try and scare it off it stopped, turned around,and jumped forward just as i moved off, i had to try and kick it away but it bit me right on the front toes of my boot . thank god i was wearing my heavy motocross boot,s with steel toecap,s the teeth mark,s were clearly visible on my boots !!! dogs are a problem, they just are unpredictable, i always wear good heavy boot,s when i ride, i never thought they would also protect me from dog bites.

Dont forget to make a game of it!
http://www.smellybiker.com/cgi-bin/motodogging/show.cgi

Have fun!
rene

Check
http://www.thebrightstuff.com/ch14.htm
and scroll down to what's written under "Give myself a high five".

I also suggest carrying a few stones handy to throw at them.
ChrisB

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TheBrightStuffDotCom

I reckon mostly they just enjoy chasing you to protect their area against "foreigners", but pit bulls and similar beasts are generally dangerous.

In my young days ;-) while still travelling by bicycle most attackers stopped dead when I took a squirt at them with my waterbottle but in critical situations I didn't have any other choice than to stop, standing on the other side of m ybike (opposite to the mutt) and try to persuade it that I was innocent and back away quietly... or gain some time til somebody would show up to chase the dog home. MX boots actually are a good alternative http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/smile.gif

In my experience, most dogs really do want to bit you. I just came back from 2 weeks on a bike in Samoa. There are thousands of dogs running free all over the place there, and about 1 in 20 wants a part of you. I have a technique that works pretty well if you are moving faster than about 20km/h. At this speed, they come at you from a forward angle. Accelarate at the last minute as they get close (the noise and change of speed puts their aim off) and aim as well as you can directly for the end of their snout with the underside of your boot. Pull your leg a little towards you with the sole of your boot facing at them and thrust it in their faces. At the end of our Samoa trip it was Nigel 4, Dogs 0. Some of them had very very bent noses from 70 km/h + impacts, but thats not something I loose any sleep about. I am sure they will now think twice before going for a biker. If you are walking and a dog comes at you, even pretending to hurl a stone at them always seems to work.
Good luck!
Kind regards
Nigel in NZ

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"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page"- St Augustine

Nigel! What bike did you ride? Maybe a Suzuki A80 with a broken mirror? Sorry about that again. I've got some small bike brochures to mail you.

--Dave

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Random attempts have
been made at RTW on
a '65 Ducati 250cc

Dave! I was thinking about you as I bottled 90 liters of home brew tonight! In Samoa we were on an XL350. It was fun. Hey, some thieving bastard broke the window in the hut and stole half a bottle of that moonshine you left me! The police found him unconscious about 30 feet away.....
Keep up the good works.
Kind regards
Nigel in NZ

P.S. It was only an A50, not A80! It just seemed like it was a tyre-shredding monster.

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"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page"- St Augustine

I had a very Bad experience with a dog once when while riding. Out of nowhere the dog suddenly appeared in fromt of my bike. Don't know why it wanted to cross the road at that very moment when I was passing through :-( Though I didn't exactly run over it.

The Dog did come out from under my front tyre partially and then it tried to jerk and escape off with a loud shrieking BARK! Was a fairly large size dog and it almost made me loose my balance. By the time the dog escaped the experience left me a bit shattered! I saw it limping out from under the tyres, Believe me a dog coming under your tyres is the last sight you would want to see!
Ride safe,
Red Bull

[This message has been edited by Red Bull (edited 09 December 2005).]

dunno about it being the last thing I'd want to see. I was "innocently" chasing a single dog on my XR400 when all his mates turned up and there must have been at least 20 of them. other things I've found under my front wheel include a calf that I hadn't seen behind his/her mother. he/she took flight as I rumbled through the sand, leapt forward, tripped and presented his/her neck for my front wheel. having dislocated my collarbone the day before, I didn't have the strength to stay on the bike let alone on top the calf so we were both eating dust. a couple of hours later, Tim got completely wiped out by a mutt in the front fender and later in the week, I had a sheep on the headlight.
kick 'em and kick 'em hard. out running them is OK, but I reckon it makes them fitter for whoever comes next which is only OK if its the Feds