On Nov 28, 10:27*pm, Jim wrote:
I was " grabbed " by a dog two weeks ago. It was standing kinda harmless
in the road, I passed it, then it spun, snarled and tried to take a bite
of my leg. Luckily it didn't get a good hold, but it did rip my pant leg
and cause some bruising. *

Next day I bought some pepper ( or whatever it is ) spray, and velcroed
it to my handlebar.

tic tic, a week passes.

Yesterday I was out riding with my brother, he in the lead, when a
rather big, I'd guess 70 or 80 lb, dog came at him at a full run from
behind a building. I saw it, yelled some warning and he stood up on the
pedals just in time for the dog to miss his leg and slam into the rear
wheel and derailer. The wheel " taco-ed " and the derailer snagged in
the spokes breaking itself to bits.

The dog rolled, turned, and came at me. I was trying to get the stupid
can of spray off the bars and where I could use it, and finally did, but
with way too much difficulty. The dog circled me, but didn't attack. It
eventually ran off, but watched us from a distance. This was in mildly
hilly farm country, and our concern was getting away and home. Brothers
bike was unrideable. He carried it home.

What I took away from this it that the spray needs to be really easy to
get to and use. Yesterdays attack only lasted a few seconds, and I
didn't have time to stop the bike and use the spray. Unless it had been
in my hand already, there just wasn't enough time or warning.

Interesting this came up. I really need to rethink how to carry the
stuff.

The other thing is I think maybe a thing to do would be to dismount the
bike ( quickly ) on whatever side the dog wasn't, and use it as a
shield, possibly buying time to get the spray in hand. In both of my
recent dog encounters, I couldn't have outrun the dog, so pedaling away
wasn't an option, I might as well stop.

I'm considering a velro pad on my jacket front and around the spray can.
I'll stick the can to my chest area or shoulder or sleeve.

jim d

I'll bet that if you STOP pedaling, point your finger at the dog and
scream NO as loudly as you can, it'll have the same effect as the
pepper spray would.

Failing that you could shoot the owner, kidnap the dog and take it
home with you. Then, when you go for a ride, Fido will be safe and
comfortable, snoozing in your house.

Let me know how this works out. :-)

Lewis.

*****