Today’s QoW comes to us from RBR Premium Member Bruce Miller. It ties in nicely with today’ Quick Tip.
(We really need to replenish our stock of Questions! Please submit you own QoW ideas using the Question of the Week Ideas link.)
Expert road cycling advice, since 2001
Today’s QoW comes to us from RBR Premium Member Bruce Miller. It ties in nicely with today’ Quick Tip.
(We really need to replenish our stock of Questions! Please submit you own QoW ideas using the Question of the Week Ideas link.)
IF the dog is very aggressive, I get off my bike and stand behind it, keeping the bike between me and the dog. Then I yell, “GO HOME!” at the dog until it does.
A lot of dogs are just curious or want to be territorial & intimidate you. I often make a barking sound back at them, this seems to puzzle or intimidate them, or perhaps they think I “speak their language” or am a bigger dog. I’m not a dog psychologist, but for whatever reason this seems to work most of the time & they will wag their tail & regard me as a friend. With a very aggressive dog, I will use a very aggressive commanding voice & yell “no” or tell them to “get away, go home.” Only once have I had to get off the bike & put it between them & me, this was when a group of 4-5 dogs came out & they wouldn’t respond. The owner came out & I read him the riot act about keeping his dogs out of the road. I had no further problems.
Try yellowing “Get Off of The Couch!” Most dogs have heard this in their lives and it may be enough to confuse them to stop. I have tried this twice in rural areas and it worked both times.
In my experience, most dogs will respond if you “attack” the dog and yell loudly taking a dominant attitude. By “attack” I mean move towards, not away, from the dog because dogs will chase anything moving past or away from them. But they will get scared if you move towards them. That plus the loud voice and dominant attitude tells them that you are the leader and they’d better behave accordingly. And if they had any doubt that you are human, your voice will confirm it.
Dogs are territorial so if you get into what they think is their territory, they are more likely to be aggressive. Part of the problem on rural roads may be that the dogs don’t understand that the public road is not part of their territory.