Bumped a Dog, wondering who was wrong.

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wyorider

New Member
Something happened tonight when went out for a little ride tonight, and I made this account because I wanted to get an opinion on if I was in the wrong or not.

I went on a short ride from my house with my two daughters. I was on a designed biking trail, but it goes through a fairly large dog park. Both dogs and bikes are allowed on the trail.

There was some people and several dogs ahead on the trail so I put on the brakes and went ahead at the slowest speed I possibly could as I got close. I could have pushed the bike faster, and really when I say I was going at the slowest speed I could I am not exaggerating. One dog moved out of the way, one would not move at all and my front tire bumped the side of dog and it jumped away startled. It was not injured but let out a small bark as it was startled. The owners were behind both me and the dog.

The owners become very belligerent and aggressive. I told them to call the cops if they have a problem as I went as slow as I possibly could and its both a bike trail and a dog park. He then got up to me and threatened to commit assault against me. I think he was debating going for it, it deescalated when we pedaled away.

Obviously they were in the wrong as far as their attitude, but I am unsure if I contributed to the errors by touching the dog even at approximately 1-2 mph. To me at that speed its more like bumping shoulders in a crowded aisle in the store, no harm no foul. Am I wrong ?
 

si_c

Guru
Location
Wirral
You're in the wrong I'm afraid. If the dog wouldn't get out of the way you should have stopped until it did. Doesn't matter if it was a shared path or not.
 

alicat

Legendary Member
Location
Staffs
Welcome to the forum.

The dog doesn't know it's a shared path so you were in the wrong. And now the owner is likely to brand all cyclists as aggressive, which does none of us any favours.
 

Jody

Stubborn git
Was the dog on a lead and was it a designated place you are allowed to ride a bike?

If you are allowed to cycle there and the dog was not on a lead its their fault technically as the dog is not under control. But that doesn't mean you can just run any dog over if its not on a lead.

However, it sounds like you bumped it due to an error or impatience in which case I would side with the owner. Its not like it darted across your path and you couldn't avoid it
 

alicat

Legendary Member
Location
Staffs
What you could have done differently was to go off the trail for a short distance to go round the dog or stop and ask the owner to call his dog to heel.
 

Heltor Chasca

Out-riding the Black Dog
It sounds like you’re from the states. I could be wrong but I don’t know the laws.

If this was the U.K. I would be asking if the dog was on a lead or not and under control (which is law here) in a public area regardless of the designation of users.

Either way it sounds like a really minor incident and I would move on. I think you did as best as you could in the circumstances.

Reason No. 41 why different modes of transport or trail use should be separate.
 
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Jody

Stubborn git
It sounds like you’re from the states.

Good point.
 

Sixmile

Veteran
Location
N Ireland
Whilst I'd never 'bump' a dog out of the way, I do find it rather amusing on these shared paths when dog owners reckon their pooch is more clued in and intelligent than it actually is. I seen owners give their dogs all sorts of gestures, points, signals and multi faceted instructions, just for the dog to respond by doing the total opposite or normally just ignoring any instruction.
 

Heltor Chasca

Out-riding the Black Dog
Whilst I'd never 'bump' a dog out of the way, I do find it rather amusing on these shared paths when dog owners reckon their pooch is more clued in and intelligent than it actually is. I seen owners give their dogs all sorts of gestures, points, signals and multi faceted instructions, just for the dog to respond by doing the total opposite or normally just ignoring any instruction.

You could also replace the word ‘dog’ with ‘child’.
 

Kajjal

Guru
Location
Wheely World
Best to just ask the dog to move out the way or whistle at it. Most are often too keen sniffing things to know you are there, hearing your voice means they look up and move. It can be confusing if you are not used to dogs.

A jack russel ran at me mountain biking ready to take a chunk out of me. I firmly told it to sit and it stayed there looking confused until the owner appeared.
 
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