PS I really thank my lucky stars that we live near cranberry bogs.......I take Dillon to a kind of pensinsula........one way in.......so he gets to run and be a dog......usually no one's around as we go quite early, he gets to run up and down sand dunes..jump over streams......get in the bog mud L O L excellant conditioning........I really consider us very fortunate that only in walking the neighbohood..is where we at times run into loose dogs. That's owner stupidity....not the dog's fault!

Here, I will try this again.

I appreciate the constructive people on this board.

I do not have an "irrational fear" of dogs. The yapping chihuaha does not scare me. Old Wrinkles at the shop doesn't scare me. The dog that leaps over a fence into the roadway to confront me, scares me. The dog that runs behind me with his head down and snarling, scares me. The dog that can bite through car tires scares me.

I am not a "wannabe rambo" and I do not need "mental help." I am just not going to pull out a weapon and blast any dog I don't like. I am not going to poison food. I only want to ride a bike without being crashed, chased, or bitten. If can't avoid being chased, I can hopefully learn other things about dogs to dissuade them from attacking.

I have gotten a lot of abuse just for this, but I will weather it in the hopes of communicating with people that can reason, instead of people that are just going to call me "fag" or insult bicyclists or make jokes about their dogs killing pedestrians and cyclists.

I think you are being snarky, with the joke about a bite suit, but you may have valuable knowledge.

I do not expect the worst from every encounter, but I recognize that some dogs that I encounter are dangerous, and a few openly hostile.

re: "However, I do believe all people should feel safe going about their own daily business and think you're on the right track with self defense. I would think that would also give you the "confidence" to learn to control your fears."

Yes, maybe you can see my point.

re: "An attacking dog can sprint and dodge quickly, not what I imagine to be an easy target. And gunshots, being fired randomly, by a panicked person, on pavement have an ability to shatter or ricochet, most likely not getting you but could cause some damage to other people or things in the vicinity."

I am not panic prone, and I train with my pistols when I can. But the last thing I want is to have to use it, esp on a dog. As much as I detest dogs, I do not want to have a UOF incident with a dog or conflict with people.

 Quote:

I don't understand how you can keep dogs if you know how dangerous they are (all the stories and bite scenarios on your website), but maybe you can offer some advice.

Some of the best advice I have gotten was "get a gun" but that doesn't always apply (can't carry at work anyway and dogs come on the yard), and even if I had one, having one and even knowing how to shoot well doesn't always stop dogs. I have seen pit bulls shot in the brain with 9mms and .38s and still keep going. I've seen a pit bull shot in the chest with .45s and not stay down, though it did stop its attack. I want to psych dogs out so they leave me alone.
End mes

First of all welcome to the board Michael.

Second of all, where the heck are you and what are you doing that you are seeing all these pit bulls shot?

Hi,

I think your initial statement of "I hate dogs generally" in your first message might have gotten you off on the wrong foot. I would probably have phrased a request for help from a board of dog owners/trainers a little differently.

But as you have now seen, many folks here completely understand your issue and had some suggestions for you.

I have been bitten before, when I was young, by a "family dog" that was loose and running with a pack of dogs alongside the road. I looked away and road away at a steady pace, and the dog came to the road and bit my leg.

I am 30 yo and do not always ride racy machines. When I was 18 and 20 and on a featherweight road bike, I could go a lot faster, but still it is not fast enough, esp when the dog comes in front. A dog once broke from it's owners hold and outran me, coming from a large yard and down 1/4 mile of road between us. I maced him with the whole can, and he simply sat down, licking his lips, like he got jalepeno pizza when he was expecting sausage.

I usually ride trekking bikes and mtn bikes now, and sometimes carry groceries or my child. Not all bicyclists are TDF hopefuls that can drag race a dog any moment.

" I do not like how dogs press people " (from O.P.)


Did this mean running along beside, in the way?

The thread has gotten away from me because of a regirstration problem, but I will try to catch up. Thanks for being constructive and expecting an answer.

I watch news and correspond as it relates to dogs attacking people, in support of activism against dangerous dogs and advocacy for dog victims.

I was referring to mostly police videos and a home security video of a dog that was shot by a home defender.

I personally have witnessed a dog that was shot at a gun range because it was in the parking lot, and before AC could be called for it, the dog approached and growled at the range owner and his wife and kids, from quite a close distance. The same dog had approached me, but hadn't been unfriendly. It was a pitbull which had escaped a breeder in the same town.

re: running alongside.

No. I know some dogs do that and won't do anything.

I mean pressing, as in I am standing such as in a parking lot by the trailhead, and a dog presses by approaching, even when told stop, etc, and continues to either move forward or actually contacts by ramming its head into me or pushing me backwards. This has happened to me on more than one occasion by dogs owned by hikers that have come up from the trails & woods and cornered me at my car. I hold my hands up neutrally, and back up if I can, but have been pressed against my truck, and pressed against a fence before, even while calling "call off your dog" and "come get your dog." Teh owners obliged, but if the dogs had bitten, I would have struck them with everything I could muster.

"I am standing such as in a parking lot by the trailhead, and a dog presses by approaching, even when told stop, etc, and continues to either move forward or actually contacts by ramming its head into me or pushing me backwards. "

I'd be angry if this ever happened to me.

I assume you mean off-leash dogs?