Best Way To Carry Pepper Spray ?

On Nov 30, 12:43*am, Dan O wrote:
... "Dog hill", where a pair of big dogs always hear me coming
up the hill, start barking to let each other know, and head for the
road to intercept me at the top. *One of the dogs - a blond color, and
apparently a little older (and wiser) than the other - stops at the
road - or rather, turns and chases me along the road but staying in
the field. *The other - a dark colored dog - apparently younger (and a
frickin' idiot), runs right out into the road and chases me down.
He's never actually made contact, but gets right up there.

I usually try to get by as fast as I can; and if my mojo's working I
can zoom past without giving them much chance to nip at my heels. *I
also employ my usual dog language, cheerfully saying "Hi,
pooch" (sometimes followed by, "good dog"), which almost always has
the effect of changing any dog's barking tone from "I'm gonna get you"
to "Oh... well, hello to you, too. *No offense, this barking and
chasing business is just my job, you know."

I would never put up with that.

A dog chasing you, even for "sport," is dangerous - and I don't use
that word lightly. I've had friends who were injured by dogs that got
in front of them. Even if you feel you can handle it, there are other
cyclists who may get seriously injured, if not by the dog itself, then
by trying to evade the dog when there are cars around. And of course,
as your story illustrated, it's dangerous for the dog.

What I've done is such situations is train the dog. Usually, all it
takes is confronting the dog repeatedly and making it understand that
the road is my territory, not the dog's territory. I begin this by
not riding on, but instead circling around and staring the dog down
until it's staying away from me. Sometimes I've backed that up with
repeated sprays of Halt. In extreme cases (mostly in rural Georgia) I
threw rocks at the dogs. But most importantly, I'd repeat the lesson
as needed, even taking pains to ride by that dog several days in a row
until it knows to behave.

In my case, I was most concerned that my wife or kids might get hurt
by the dog. But in any case, I won't put up with a dog that endangers
me, or other cyclists.

- Frank Krygowski

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