August 19 Road Hazards - Dogs

A generic chocolate lab that resembles one that chased me yesterday. 

I have been asked to write about how-to bicycling questions. One thing that folks who have ridden before warned me of were dogs. Dogs are predators and like to chase prey. Bicyclists look like prey to dogs. I was told that I could set the bicycle brakes to squeal loudly and to do this just as the dog is about to bite your ankle. Or I could carry a long bicycle pump and swing it as the dog approaches. Other deterrents that you can buy include air horns and mace/pepper spray. I have managed to not use any of those methods. 

What has worked for me is stopping. I have a loud construction-site voice when necessary and NO works most of the time. When in Grants NM, in the pueblo country, I learned an extra trick. I carry a cable to secure my bike when I stop for a meal. I decided to leave the cable exposed and at the ready when I left my lunch rest and it came in handy right away. That was serendipity.

One dog will easily back down, they are pack animals and derive encouragement from others. More than one can be more difficult. As I was riding on back roads, NM has a lot of cattle guards -open grating in the roadway to prevent animals from crossing, I approached a fenced in property with a cattle guard instead of a gate. I felt good until the three barking dogs went right through a large hole in the fence, avoiding the cattle guard.

I stopped and shouted NO, many times, and that slowed them some. I then found my cable and whirled it above my head. That did stop them but only as I stood still. After about five minutes of me whirling and trying to walk away, I managed 50 feet, two Native American Police showed up in black suburbans and arrested the dogs. I tired to save them the arrest record but to no avail. Liberal hippie logic lost to their view that, chasing dogs cause accidents.

But mostly stopping and the big NO has worked very well for me.