My Computer
I had a bit of a change of heart dealing with dogs, from sprint as hard as
I can to not-playing their game. I think anybody that has owned dogs knows
how easily they pick up on emotions.
Relevant story.....Last summer was doing a bike tour in N Cali on the Lost
Coast, decided to take some backroads well off the beaten path. Mind you,
this is in the "Emerald Triangle", people take their privacy and protection
very seriously, for obvious reasons. Halfway up a 4 mile climb, 30 miles
from civilization a pit bull ran down a hill, barking, growling, charging
me in full sprint, he had probably never seen a biker before. Normally I'd
get amped up and defensive, but I didn't. Can explain why, maybe due to
the fact that I just accepted **** was going to go down and I had to man-up
and fight a 100 lb pit-bull in the woods in my spandex. I had nowhere to
run, no where to go, nothing to protect me but my bike and I hadn't seen a
car in 2 hours...would the owner help, was he home, did he care? I stopped
before he got to me, I got off my bike opposite of him, crouched down and
chatted to him like I do my own dog, figuring I would sarcastically throw
him off a bit, seemed like a good idea at the time. The puzzled look in
his eye, WTF...run, I wanna chase / bite you, this is boring, your not a
threat....smelled me and off he went.
Exception to the rule, maybe....it worked, for me YMMV.
On Fri, Dec 11, 2015 at 11:08 AM, spencer via OBRA
wrote:
> I love dogs, I have owned them and trained them for many years. Once upon
> a time I had a little boston terrier. Every day the mailman came my little
> terrier raised hell and scared that SOB mailman away from the front door.
> He did this for 8 years. I thought no big deal until I recognized that my
> dog began to hate and want to kill every mailperson in uniform all over the
> city. They had all become a threat because of what they were wearing.
> Kind of like dorky cyclists in the 'merica.
> Dogs have a prey drive, its what feeds them when they don't have great
> owners. A cyclist riding by quickly incites that predator/prey reaction.
> Never run from dogs, they're fast, and it incites them to bite/nip/bark/
> warn. Thats often all that will happen. Most road interactions are a result
> of the dog believing that the road is their territory, and they must
> protect it. The speed you travel makes you more of a threat. Ride by
> slowly, talk to the dog, and never turn your back. If a dog is really
> aggressive, stop, keep your bike between you and the dog, and back away off
> "their" territory. Every time you ride by ( or the same looking person
> rides by) and the dog chases, it makes the behavior stronger. Do yourself
> and your fellow riders a favor and don't run from dogs (or hit them)
> because you are telling that dog that every cyclist is; A. prey, B. an
> asshole, C. a trespasser, or D. All of the above. You make that dog a
> threat to every subsequent rider. Be safe.
>
>
> Cheers,
> Spencer
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