Dogs in South America
 

Hi,

I was just wondering... what do you do with regards to dogs in South America. Granted, I have only travelled in Chile and a little bit of Argentina so far, but they seem to be everywhere and often really really keen on chasing motorcyclists. I have been bitten once (luckily only once, and not very serious) and am not keen on it happening again.

So I was pondering on different methods to keep (or scare) them away, without taking too drastic measures. I googled a bit around, and found the following web page:

Smells That Repel Dogs - Pets

Suggestion 1:
Keeping a small water pistol at hand loaded with citrus water. Give any chasing dogs a squint and see what happens?

Suggestion 2:
Somehow put some chilli on your pants' legs, hoping that dogs will sense the chilli and come to other thoughts. Of course, you should be careful yourself not to touch your pants and then touch your eyes ;-)

?c?
Have any of you tried this? Thoughts?

And a follow-up q:
When you get bitten... do you (always) run to the doctor to get a rabies shot? I did not... the bit only *scarcely* drew blood - like 1/10th of a drop - and there were no holes in my jeans, so I figured the contact might just be Teeth-Jeans and Jeans-Flesh. And it was in Coyhaique, Chile - Chile (according to my search on the internet) having close to zero rabies-level in dogs."Close" being only one reported incident the last 5-10 years.

~Jørn

Not all dogs chase bikes, not all dogs bite. My wife was bitten in Bolivia but as the dog was guarding the piece of land we had strayed onto it was only doing its job , so she opted not to go tothe Dr.

As to dogs chasing , you can usually spot the ones about to do it. They are aware of your approach and stand at the ready.

Slow down.
Then as it starts it's run, speed up. Confuses the f&^K out of them. :-)

Hm... sometimes, yes, you can see it coming. But not all the times. I have had dogs lying peacefully on the streets, just to jump up when it sees me, catching me with a surprise.

Also, your trick of slowing down / speeding up can be very difficult to perform in traffic in cities. In fact, the occasion where I was bitten was in such a scenario. Big big round-about, many side roads, cars moving slowly in and out between each-other. You had to follow traffic, keeping on eye on where cars were moving. I tried to pay attention to the dog(s) barking on my right, which is why the dog coming from the left caught me by surprise and managed to bite me.

~Jørn

The best solution is for you to catch the dog and eat it. If every motorcyclist does this, then the nuisance dog problem will be cleaned up quite quickly. And you get the bonus of eating your way across the continent for free. Win-win.

I wear fairly high motorcycle boots and my riding pants are somewhat loose fitting. I wear them over my riding boots. I was chased more than I can count, and twice I felt the grip of teeth on my pants.

I often keep my foot up off the peg so they have a harder time getting anything above my boot top. The loose pants also helped preserve the integrity of my skin when attacked by sharp fangs.

I had two instances that I considered revenge sport - with dog(s) focused on me, zipping on to the road in fierce attack. In those two instances, oncoming traffic created a sporting challenge. The sport of the situation was to see if I could get the dog run over by the oncoming traffic. I figured I deserved three points if I was able to get the dog nailed dead to the road. I did not get my three points of revenge, either time, but it was good sport to try. I was close though, barely a miss both times, so I know it is possible.

AND if there are any SPCA comments to this post, if you haven't been chased by 50 or more Latin American dogs in a month, keep your comments to yourself.

Opening the door fast onto a dog running beside the car also gives them a surprise, as does "wiping them off" by edging over close to the brush.

Yes, export the bloody things to asia would be the best solution.

Not sure there is any connection between a dog doing its job and freedom from rabies. Most don't foam at the mouth.

Not all dogs have rabies. You can't be a scared westerner all your life

You should be wearing some kind for riding boot that covers half of your calf, if only to protect your leg from the random airborne rocks and stones. Chances are a dog will try to bite your ankles, so boots are your first line of defense.

When dogs come tearing up to me, barking, foaming at the mouth and teeth flashing for soft flesh...I bend my knee like I fixin' to kick. Sadly most street dogs have been kicked, so they know the what a raised foot means. I don't go out of my way to hurt an animal. Raising my foot usually does the trick. In Uyuni, Bolivia, a feisty dog got really close by the time I noticed. Contact was made with the bottom of my foot and his snout. The blow was not serve by any means, but sufficient for the dog to quickly give up.

Weaving in your lane will sometimes confuse a dog...

What you really have to watch out for are loose pigs. The appear to be deaf, oblivious to even a loud horn or they have a death wish. They are driven by a single focus, the next bite of food. If they sense that its across the street, then that is were they point their round and hairy bodies. With no regard to you or your motorcycle.

Do dogs taste like chicken? I'm sure the Peruvian woman serving me just now said it was pollo, but now I'm not sure.

Slightly off topic: Today between Cusco and Ayacucho I was kicked by a horse while riding close to and behind it. Caught my right knee. Thankfully I was wearing knee braces. Can anyone suggest remedies to prevent this in the future (apart from not riding so close to the horse and not revving my motor)?

Wear a Zorro mask and rename my bike Trigger?

Tell the horse I was in the film The Full Monty and my character was called "Horse"?

Put remoulade on my bike boots and enter the Getting Eaten By A Crocodile Olympics?

Please help!