Chased by dog while on bike, what to do?

[Anonymous]

I was riding my bike home this evening and got chased by a dog in the neighborhood next to mine. It was roaming loose and chased me 4 blocks before I could shake it by crossing a busy street.

I felt bad heading to the busy street, which was out of my way, but it was nipping at my heels and I felt really scared and couldn't think of anything else in the moment.

Dog owners, what's the best thing to do if this happens again? How can I tell of a charging dog is friendly? Maybe it wanted to play but maybe it wanted to bite. I have no idea but it was scary.

[Anonymous]

Wow it chased you 4 blocks?? Were you outrunning it that whole time? Had to believe.

[Anonymous]

Dogs are mad fast. You must be an Olympic level cyclist! I am a dog owner and would expect you to give my dog a kick if you needed to. The dog probably slipped his coller or escaped a fenced yard and was loose and scared itself.

The busy road was a good idea.

[Anonymous]

Squirt it with your water bottle.

[Anonymous]

Can you get a can of pepper spray and spray him? That would stop it.

[Anonymous]

There is no easy answer. Happened to me. I just stopped, got off of my bike, and kept the bike between me and the dog. Only reason that this worked is that someone working at the dog owner's home came out & called the dog back. If it had been a vicious dog, I think that I would have been bitten.

[Anonymous]

Bear spray

[Anonymous]

I just stop and the dog stops too. But I understand the instinct to get away

[Anonymous]

I used to live in a neighborhood with lots of loose dogs, some on the aggressive side. A very firm yell directed at them worked well. Very firm and authoritarian. Bear spray is a bad idea, as it can kill the dog.

[Anonymous]

Fake like you are throwing a ball for the dog to catch. It will usually distract him enough to distance yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no easy answer. Happened to me. I just stopped, got off of my bike, and kept the bike between me and the dog. Only reason that this worked is that someone working at the dog owner's home came out & called the dog back. If it had been a vicious dog, I think that I would have been bitten.

This happened to my husband and I on a tandem. We tried the same thing because we knew we couldn't outrun them and but it was two dogs and I was bitten before the owner could get there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I used to live in a neighborhood with lots of loose dogs, some on the aggressive side. A very firm yell directed at them worked well. Very firm and authoritarian. Bear spray is a bad idea, as it can kill the dog.

Do you have a source for bear spray killing dogs? I googled it and that's not what I'm finding.

https://expertpaws.com/dogs/will-bear-spray-hurt-a-dogpepper-vs-bear-spray/

[Anonymous]

You should call animal control to report this. It’s possible it’s a lost dog or if it’s a menace dog they can address that themselves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Squirt it with your water bottle.

This actually works on a lot of dogs. We carry a water bottle that can be easily squeezed to squirt water out on walks after being charged by several dogs. One good squirt of water in the face freaks most of them out enough to make them back off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Dogs are mad fast. You must be an Olympic level cyclist! I am a dog owner and would expect you to give my dog a kick if you needed to. The dog probably slipped his coller or escaped a fenced yard and was loose and scared itself.

The busy road was a good idea.

Great advice.