Stradageek wrote:Tangled Metal wrote:You can get done for hitting a dog with your car and not reporting it. Not so with a cat aiui but have you ever tried to hit one? One left me behind doing 35mph and accelerating once. A big ginger trapped under the retaining walls of a bridge. It left me behind and in one fluid movement ran away and jumped on n excess of 7foot up the side then stopped to watch me pass. They know how to take the mick!
My brother went on an advanced motorcycling course which covered what to when animals run out in front of you, the advice was as follows:
Sheep - aim for the rear, they always run forwards
Dogs - terminally stupid, will probably not move, aim to cut them in half
My brother than asked about cats and the reply was a sharp intake of breath followed by - "
you've got to be really good to get a cat"
Don't I know it! I was doing 30mph when it saw me with nowhere to go but run away from me along the road. I was doing 35mph and it was easily keeping ahead. Then it simply swerved to the right and jumped up a 7ft retaining wall without me closing in on it. They're fast and your only chance is to get lucky!
Seriously though, I would never have hit it, always kept my distance but I was a bit cruel getting it to run like that. Still they are cruel animals so I feel no guilt.
Btw there's an infamous cat near where I used to live. It's been run over by so many locals but if you stop to find it there's no sign of anything being hit. No blood, fur or anything. Apparently it's known as a ghost cat. I know very honest and logical thinkers who have been convinced they've hit a cat there. We're talking complete sceptics on things like that.
Our dog does a nice line in cat taunting. It rocks backwards and forwards in the cat's face with a paw up. The cat swipes and always misses but it never hurts the cat. It had a large ginger tom climbing backwards up a brick wall before I could pull her away. Considering she's a border terrier I doubt she is much heavier than that cat. It's amazing to see her do it but we're right on that behaviour trying to stop it. She's always pulled away sharply. Rabbits and squirrels (grey) are free game though. Rats too.
Dogs constantly surprise me with their behaviour. Certainly ours. Until you've lived with one you'll not understand how they learn your way of life and fit in with it. It's actually amazing how quickly they pick up on changes to that life pattern and how quickly they react or change to it. Even get upset by it. Dogs above any other animal have developed to live with humans. There's a symbiosis there.