dogs....do you slow down for them?

[Sandra6]

I use the same shared use path in different guises, I cycle it alone, walk my dog along it and ride with my children.
I try to share the space, I slow down for other users, signal my presence so that they can control their mutts ,I take hold of my dog so he isn't a nuisance and I keep my children under even better control.
I generally assume nobody else is as considerate as me and that they, their digs and their kids are unpredictable.
I still get irritated by people blocking my path, cyclists sneaking up on me and children generally being children.
If only everyone else would stay home when I'm out.

 

[Herbie]

I go down a canal towpath and a lot of dog walkers let their dogs off the lead. Sometimes the dogs walk/run erratically across the footpath. They don't seem to respond to my bell, sometimes the owner calls the dog which helps. Anyway, I wonder how much I need to anticipate them running under my wheel....maybe they would be able to jump out of the way in a split second unlike a person. Is it the dog owners responsibility to control them on a NCR towpath?

By the way I have the same problem with geese who just wander all over the path but don't move as i approach. part of me thinks they will move if I keep going bit I don't want to hurt one.

Can anticipate the answer is to slow down a bit but how much....down to walking pace?

I slow down... I like dogs but they are unpredictable critters at times so best to take your time when passing

 

[summerdays]

I go at a speed that I know I can stop in time if they suddenly change direction. I frequently cycle through a park with lots of dogs and the worst ones for trying to get under your wheel are the ones who are on one side of the path, owner on the other until you almost reach them and then enevitably they cross at the last minute, but I've come to expect that.

I don't ring my bell if I come up behind a dog owner but I might say good morning or something to let them know I'm there. If a can pass them giving them a wide berth I will even if it means leaving the path.

 

[semislickstick]

I've hit two, it's not nice. One guy came out without a lead on a shared use path, it was dark and I didn't know there was a dog until it raced out of the hedge towards the owner, poor thing, it ran away across a road, he blamed the dog.
It's all very well saying you'd kick the dog but it's the owners fault.
My advice would be slow down and don't ride between the dog and the owner, they tend to run toward that direction!

 

[fossyant]

I use about 3 miles of shared use path out of a 12.5 mile commute. Bear in mind this is a named urban cycle route....

Yes you need to slow down, you really don't know what the dog will do. You get to know owners and dogs, and those you can predict and say morning to. You also get the bugger that lets his big dog, with three others, carry a ruddy big stick, and he doesn't care. You can deal with them.

It's the extending lead - you see the dog on the lead, so go to pass carefully, then the bugger isn't 'locked' off. Nearly ran one or two little rats over !

All part of the fun though. Be careful.

Most dog owners say sorry, I reply 'no problem' - no point giving grief on such an excellent facility.

 

[ufkacbln]

Even if a rider couldn't care less about the welfare of dogs/children/sheep/ferrets/geese/squirrels/rabbits/(insert name of unpredictable living creature of significant size here) he/she should slow down anyway when passing them, for self-preservation!

Reminds me of the quote from the then Transport Minister in 1934

It is true that 7000 people are killed in motor accidents, but
it is not always going on like that. People are getting used to
the new conditions. The fact that the road is practically the
great railway of the country instead of the playground of the
young has to be realised. No doubt many of the old Members of
the House will recollect the numbers of chickens we killed in
the old days. We used to come back with the radiator stuffed
with feathers. It was the same with dogs. Dogs get out of the
way of motor cars nowadays and you never kill one. There is
education even in the lower animals. These things will right
themselves."

 

[steveindenmark]

Slow down, talk to the dog. If in doubt get off and talk to the dog, keeping the bike between you and the dog.

 

[crazyjoe101]

It's all very well saying you'd kick the dog but it's the owners fault.

I don't know if that was RE my post at the top of page 4, but if it was, I was just taking the rip out of people who don't slow down and show no consideration to dogs or anything else. I'm a dog owner myself and I know to slow right down because a dog is not predictable, my dog is quite good but you never know. I've ridden along shared paths with other cyclists who do not change their speed from long open empty stretches to parts with dogs roaming - 15-18mph past a dog on the grass and they wonder why they almost hit it when it wanders onto the concrete!

 

[ufkacbln]

Slow down, talk to the dog. If in doubt get off and talk to the dog, keeping the bike between you and the dog.

Ballantine went further than tat!

 

[Dayvo]

This bloke should have been a bit more cautious!


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZrxyijba50


and this fella couldn't have gone any slower.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0dzMp61G5w

 

[Saluki]

We stopped for a couple with their dogs today. 1 Leonburger and a pair of Labradoodles. They were sitting at the side, waiting nicely, when suddenly the Leo got up and decided to sit in the middle of the trail . We were going very slowly as we'd seen them up ahead anyway, and stopped for a chat (and a cuddle). The Leo moved back to the side just as 2 blokes in MTBs hooned past at a rate of knots, 2 abreast, knocking the bigger of the labradoodles in the face as they went past.
It's really not necessary to pile past on a shared footpath at that sort of rate. Hubster shouted at them. The next pair did bleed of a bit of speed to pass, they had to really as Hubster and I were in the way. Effing and Jeffing and passing at speed does not give cyclists any brownie points.

The marriotts is NCN1, it's also a footpath and a bridleway. You can get a head of steam going along there, but not so much on a sunny Sunday morning when it's heaving with dogs, walkers, bikes, kids on scooters/bikes, kids on ponies, adult riders and all sorts.