Dog control on off road cycleways

[BenM]

the one thing that I always wonder about is why dog owners insist on walking as far away from their hounds as possible connected or not by an invisible lead, then, when seeing a bike, call/try to haul the dog to them across the path... dog is reluctant to obey as it can see the bike and is thinking 'you want me to run to you in front of that????' at which point the owner insists or wanders over to the dog with much less time before I get to them...

As has been said previously there are bad dog owners, bad cyclists bad car drivers etc. and whilst it is disappointing that one may encounter the bad ones more often its just something you have to accept and adapt to - no amount of talk or persuasion will change any of them!

Right - off to play with the dog walkers on the shared path I commute along.. my speeds vary from slower than walking to rather too quick for a shared path!

 

[ceejayh]

Report him to your local authority dog warden or the police. He is obliged to have them 'under control' in a public place and if they are harassing other dogs or scaring children, he could be prosecuted.

This.

At the end of the day, dog owners are responsible for their pets. There's a reason there are signs about requesting that dogs be kept on leads. There are rules and regulations about keeping your dog under control in a public place. Fortunately, I don't have cause to used shared paths but I wouldn't be impressed if I saw a dog wandering aimlessly across my path when it should really be on a lead. Don't get me wrong because cyclists should also be considerate to other users of the path and I'm sure the majority are, but when (in the OP's case), there are signs staing that dogs should be kept on a lead, I think they're right to be miffed.

 

[smutchin]

That's not clever or not funny Matthew_T, get it deleted before you get banned from here.

Jeez, lighten up, people. It was obviously a joke, even without the footnote.

And it made me laugh, unlike the sanctimonious nonsense some others have spouted in this thread.

My view? Threads on dogs vs cyclists should be banished to Siberia along with helmet and headphone debates. They never provide a positive contribution to forum life.

 

[hopless500]

Matthew the more I read your drivel the more I believe that you seriously need help, oh btw I have deliberately deleted your white on white text, does your mummy know you play on the computer when you should be asleep?

Alan...

Does yours?
Give the lad a bloody break fgs.

 

[snorri]

Jeez, lighten up, people. It was obviously a joke, even without the footnote.

A footnote added after I had posted.

 

[smutchin]

A footnote added after I had posted.

"obvious even without the footnote"

 

[snorri]

"obvious even without the footnote"

Help me, point out the obvious.

My view? Threads on dogs vs cyclists should be banished to Siberia along with helmet and headphone debates. They never provide a positive contribution to forum life.

Why then do you contribute to such threads?

.

 

[smutchin]

Help me, point out the obvious.

Seriously?

Why then do you contribute to such threads?

Helpful reminder.

 

[Boris Bajic]

My view? Threads on dogs vs cyclists should be banished to Siberia along with helmet and headphone debates. They never provide a positive contribution to forum life.

Have you ever tried to ride a bicycle or walk a dog in a Siberian winter?

Trying to do both at once while wearing a helmet and headphones in temperatures that drop to -45 Celcius is frankly a recipe for disaster.

You should be ashamed of yourself for suggesting it. I am ashamed of you. The look on my cat's face tells me that he is, too. Or he's hungry.

 

[Binka]

I cycle and dog walk on a local shared use Sustrans path. Not normally at the sametime, though sometimes.

Sustrans website says, or certainly, used to that dogs should be on a lead on one of their paths. However there's no signs on this path and I don't walk my dog on her lead. She's got recall and will come when I call her and ill hold her as a cyclist comes by. However there's been a number of times when a cyclist has come up silently behind us and made us jump and then there's been a mad scramble to grab dogs. A few times the cyclist has been a bit arsey with us (I'm often with friends and their dogs) but if the cyclist had shouted out to us we'd have known they were there earlier.

I've seen it from the other side when cycling. Ill always use a bell when coming behind someone to give them warning and chance to grab dogs or kids. I'll slow down and unclip as well. The people who do annoy me are the people walking towards me who see me coming and make no effort to grab the dog. They assume the dog will stay on the grass. I've twice had to do an emergency stop due to a dog bolting infront of me at the last second and both times came off the bike due to been clipped in.

I have been slightly arsey with the dog owner on both those occasions. No apologies from them but a load of abuse instead.

 

[I like Skol]

......... The people who do annoy me are the people walking towards me who see me coming and make no effort to grab the dog. They assume the dog will stay on the grass. I've twice had to do an emergency stop due to a dog bolting infront of me at the last second.........

Bad cycling from you I'm afraid. As a dog owner and a cyclist I wouldn't expect you to make this mistake.

You saw the dog and know what dogs are like but despite this YOU assumed the dog would stay on the grass and failed to anticipate the possible outcome? If you had planned ahead it wouldn't have been an emergency stop, you could have slowed and unclipped and you wouldn't have ended up on the deck!

Just think how much more pleasant my scenario is. You and the dog owner could have rolled your eyes, shrugged, laughed and exchanged pleasantries and then continued on your ways without the bitter taste of arsy confrontation in your mouth.

 

[Maylian]

Not really an issue I've come across as I rarely cycle on shared paths apart from once in a while to visit my mother (cuts out about a 15 minute road route). As with others I slow right down and make sure I'm as far away as possible to give myself enough time. Only slightly worrying "incident" I've had was going along and a Great Dane decided to chase me through the park, boy those things can shift! He was running parallel to me but could have wiped me out at any moment

 

[Binka]

Yeah, possibly. Those incidents were when I'd first started cycling so I do unclip now.

I had thought that if the owners weren't bothering to grab the dogs then they must trust the dogs to stay still, therefore I thought I was ok. I've now realised that some dog owners just aren't very sensible or have an inflated idea of how well trained their dogs are. I can't understand dog owners who are happy to let their dogs shoot about infront of cyclists.

Just got back from a ride along this path and had a rather scary experience of some mastiff type breed bounding along at the side of me. I was on the recumbent so dogs mouth was at face level. The owners thought this was so funny.

 

[FindingMozart]

Just had a classic case today of a guy on the phone, with six small dogs darting across the path behind him, the dogs were never really a problem or a danger because I took the responsibility of avoiding them, but his solution to my suggestion that he has his dogs under control was 'I've got a brake', my answer was evidently that must be the thing I used to avoid the 4th dog that darted back on itself - despite the fact I'd slowed down well in advance to barely walking pace I was the #%$£ idiot!

The dogs weren't the problem, they rarely are. It's the attitude some dog owners take on shared paths they don't think they have to share.

Isn't there a law that states you can only walk so many dogs at a time?

 

[Iain M Norman]

I personally wouldn't pass walkers at 15mph with or without dogs. I'm always worried about flicking stones at dogs, there eyes are just at the right height to take a stone.