Best Way To Carry Pepper Spray ?

Hello,

I hope that all of you had a happy Thanksgiving and got a chance to
ride off some of the excess!

Do any of you have any suggestions on a good way to carry pepper spray
to be used against vicious canines? I have recently started carrying
some to use against a problem dog on my lunch time ride. Since I know
where the dog is I have been carrying the pepper spray in my pocket
and taking it out before I get to where the dog might be loose.

Carrying the pepper spray in a pocket is not a good place if traveling
in unfamiliar areas. It needs to be carried somewhere it is
immediately accessible near the handlebars. Can any of you offer
suggestions as to holsters or other methods of carrying pepper spray.


Next question... What do you do about a dog that has been hit point
blank with pepper spray about 3-4 times by myself or co-worker yet
still continues to try to attack the next day? The dog is a female pit
bull who immediately breaks off the attack when hit with the pepper
spray but will come back for more the next day. Unfortunately, this
dog is smart enough not to get hit by traffic yet dumb enough keep
getting pepper sprayed.


Thanks,

Steve

Steve Sr. wrote:
::
:: Do any of you have any suggestions on a good way to carry pepper
:: spray to be used against vicious canines? I have recently started
:: carrying some to use against a problem dog on my lunch time ride.
:: Since I know where the dog is I have been carrying the pepper spray
:: in my pocket and taking it out before I get to where the dog might
:: be loose.

My pepper spray canister came with a velcro band that goes around a bike
tube. I put mine on the top tube. There is a velcro patch on the canister as
well. You could make a strap and use the iron-on velcro to secure that to
the strap. Strangely enough, since I bought the pepper spray, all I have
ever needed to do was wield my water bottle as if it were a rock. Grab the
bottle and put it near your ear and shake it as if you are going to throw a
fastball. It seems all dogs know this action and will shy away instantly.
At first, I thought, "Oh great, if I throw it, I lose a $10 water bottle!"
but I have never had to go ahead and fling it. shrug whatever works....




: Next question... What do you do about a dog that has been hit point
:: blank with pepper spray about 3-4 times by myself or co-worker yet
:: still continues to try to attack the next day? The dog is a female
:: pit bull who immediately breaks off the attack when hit with the
:: pepper spray but will come back for more the next day.
:: Unfortunately, this dog is smart enough not to get hit by traffic
:: yet dumb enough keep getting pepper sprayed.

Steve, this dog needs to be reported to the authorities. It is just a matter
of time before someone gets mauled.

Pat in TX

On Fri, 28 Nov 2008 21:15:54 -0600, "PatTX"
wrote:


: Next question... What do you do about a dog that has been hit point
:: blank with pepper spray about 3-4 times by myself or co-worker yet
:: still continues to try to attack the next day? The dog is a female
:: pit bull who immediately breaks off the attack when hit with the
:: pepper spray but will come back for more the next day.
:: Unfortunately, this dog is smart enough not to get hit by traffic
:: yet dumb enough keep getting pepper sprayed.

Steve, this dog needs to be reported to the authorities. It is just a matter
of time before someone gets mauled.

This dog has been reported to the Authorities on multiple occasions.
Animal Control is totally toothless. All they can do is give the owner
a citation. I suspect that only after someone is seriously injured
will they take further action.


Steve

:::
::: Steve, this dog needs to be reported to the authorities. It is just
::: a matter of time before someone gets mauled.
:::
:: This dog has been reported to the Authorities on multiple occasions.
:: Animal Control is totally toothless. All they can do is give the
:: owner a citation. I suspect that only after someone is seriously
:: injured will they take further action.
::
::
:: Steve

Is there not a law that after a certain number of citations something else
is done? Or that the second citation carries a substantial fine and the
third citation doubles that, etc? I doubt if they would be "toothless" if
you complained to the mayor or your councilman.

Pat in TX

In article ,
Steve Sr. writes:

Next question... What do you do about a dog that has been hit point
blank with pepper spray about 3-4 times by myself or co-worker yet
still continues to try to attack the next day? The dog is a female pit
bull who immediately breaks off the attack when hit with the pepper
spray but will come back for more the next day. Unfortunately, this
dog is smart enough not to get hit by traffic yet dumb enough keep
getting pepper sprayed.

Drop a MilkBone biscuit for Puppy. If possible, one
with a thick wad of peanut butter plastered onto it.

That oughta keep her busy for a while. I haven't
met the pooch yet who could resist the temptation
of free peanut butter, despite its sticky, gooey,
lingual/palatal consequences.

If all goes well, she gets her trophy, you get
to escape, and everybody's happy.

Except she'll routinely expect her special MilkBone
from you everytime you ride by. Maybe the both of
you will attain friendly, if not at least mutual
terms. Sounds like the Protection racket, doesn't
it? :-)

If you're dead-set on going the pepper spray route
(even though it heretofore obviously hasn't worked,)
maybe arrange a system where it shoots out the soles
of your shoes. That way it's more likely to get right
into Puppy's face, and you don't have to aim downward
and backward while trying to speedily propel a
bicycle forward.

I have a strong hunch that scents like Chanel No 5
or Revlon's "Charlie" would be more effective than
pepper spray for repelling canines. I figure animules
who like to roll around in manure & rotten fish guts
must absolutely hate to smell pretty -- such predatory
techniques as smelling pretty seem to work only for
human females.

Too much patchouli seems to repel everything.
And it's very easy to attain too much patchouli.

Pepper spray isn't the only weapon in the arsenal.
But weapons are to be invoked only after reasonable
means & enticements have been shown to be ineffective.

Nothing gets a dog all distracted & obsessed like
peanut butter. Or in some cases, ice cream.
But it's usually logistically difficult to pack
defensive ice cream on a bicycle.


cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

On Fri, 28 Nov 2008 19:56:14 -0800, Tom Keats wrote:


Pepper spray isn't the only weapon in the arsenal. But weapons are to be
invoked only after reasonable means & enticements have been shown to be
ineffective.

Nothing gets a dog all distracted & obsessed like peanut butter. Or in
some cases, ice cream. But it's usually logistically difficult to pack
defensive ice cream on a bicycle.


By dropping treats from a bicycle, aren't you training the dog to chase
other cyclists? The dog chases a cyclist. The dog gets a treat. Surely
after enough positive reinforcement, the dog learns a new trick.

--Luigi



--
Luigi de Guzman
http://ouij.livejournal.com

In article ,
Luigi de Guzman writes:
On Fri, 28 Nov 2008 19:56:14 -0800, Tom Keats wrote:


Pepper spray isn't the only weapon in the arsenal. But weapons are to be
invoked only after reasonable means & enticements have been shown to be
ineffective.

Nothing gets a dog all distracted & obsessed like peanut butter. Or in
some cases, ice cream. But it's usually logistically difficult to pack
defensive ice cream on a bicycle.


By dropping treats from a bicycle, aren't you training the dog to chase
other cyclists? The dog chases a cyclist. The dog gets a treat. Surely
after enough positive reinforcement, the dog learns a new trick.

No, that's not how it works. Dogs identify and recognize
the individual. So do the crows to whom I feed tidbits
during my lunchtime at work.

They don't know cyclists-in-general from a hole in the ground.

Frankly, I don't think pepper spray is as effective on
canines/lupines as it is on other mammals. Bear Spray
isn't necessarily Dog Spray. In fact, it isn't necessarily
very effective Bear Spray.

Predatory critters such as canines, lupines, ursines and
felines have an amazing capacity to clear their olfactory
stuff, thereby being better enabled to scent their
respective dinners.

What they /don't/ want is having strong scents stuck onto
them, like sulphurous skunk spray. It gives away their
stalking positions to their prey. That's why dogs
(especially sporting dogs) like to roll around in icky
stuff -- it helps them to blend in with the environment,
as well as masking the carnivore scent that all dogs carry.

The worst thing to do to a predatory critter is to put
a hard-to-remove, unnatural scent on them. That's why
some domestic cats are so touchy about who pets them.
If you're a smoker, you're persona non grata to many
cats.

Pepper spray doesn't necessariy work on animules like
it does on people.

What's with this reliance on pepper spray as if it's
the ultimate repellant for /everything/, anyways?

A good bear spray is that which a skunk produces.
Bears leave skunks alone, and for good reason.
And skunks don't shoot papain, they shoot horribly
sulphurous compounds that linger until the bear
takes a tomato juice bath.

Skunk juice might be hard to procure, but all that
stinky, sneezy stuff at the cosmetics counter when
you walk into a department store is readily available.


cheers,
Tom

--
Nothing is safe from me.
I'm really at:
tkeats curlicue vcn dot bc dot ca

On Nov 30, 12:46*am, (Tom Keats) wrote:

Frankly, I don't think pepper spray is as effective on
canines/lupines as it is on other mammals.

I've used it with great success on many, many dogs over the years.

It doesn't work on all of them, but I'd say it works on well over 95%
of them. The main problem is that you must be a good shot. Getting
it near the dog does nothing; you must get it in the nose, mouth or
eyes.

- Frank Krygowski

Tom Keats wrote:

I have a strong hunch that scents like Chanel No 5
or Revlon's "Charlie" would be more effective than
pepper spray for repelling canines. I figure animules
who like to roll around in manure & rotten fish guts
must absolutely hate to smell pretty -- such predatory
techniques as smelling pretty seem to work only for
human females.

I like this idea better than the skunk scent idea. If I'm going to
go home after spilling something on me, I'd rather it be perfume
than skunk scent.

Actually, as a married man I'm not quite sure about that. If I try
this, I'd better do full disclosure ahead of time

There are a lot of perfumes cheaper than Chanel #5 -- I'm thinking
Wal-mart, not Nordstrom's.

But does it work?????

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