Postby awavey » 30 Dec 2018, 6:01pm
I wouldnt say I dislike dogs, just not a big fan of them, they smell, leave little presents in black plastic bags everywhere, and slobber/drool all over you
fair enough alot of those are problems caused by useless owners, not the dog itself, and I tend to have more problems with them when im not on the bike
but on the bike, its the dogs off leads on cycle paths that cause the most issue, one commute home in the dark I remember most was I was cycling along a cycle path no-one seemingly around at all and a dog which hadnt been visible at all till that point, suddenly leapt out of a bush in front of me and my lights lit up its eyes like it was the hound of baskerville, apart from the aah reaction, I had the panic swerve/brake try not to hit it or fall off, followed by lots of me swearing and then the owner appeared from way off to the right.
I tend to avoid as much of the shared spaces on my route from now on, as Ive had a few chase me at times and try and bite my heels, they seem to get more energised around the bigger space they have to run across, but even on a small country lane, owners couldnt hear me calling and I had to stop to ask them to let me by and their dog bounded over headbutted my leg growling, then tried to leap up as my foot was still clipped in that side I couldnt move it out of the way and I know I was concerned about it taking a bite out of my calf so just pushed away on the pedals and it dropped off, all the owners did was that most useless of statements every dog owner deploys "its just trying to make friends with you".