Any suggestions please?
I have considered carrying a can of Pepper spray,even though they are not legal in UK.
I live in very rural area & where most people make their livings from Farming.
I encounter dogs most rides at some point,tipping point was this Sunday chased by two collies,a springer & then almost forced to ditch with a large Alsatian charging towards me.
Animal lover & don't want to harm the dogs,as it's owners that are at fault for letting their dog's roam free.
That's been one upside of a decline of dairy* farms in my area.
Fewer packs of swivel eyed collies laying in wait for hapless cyclists.
If the dog is big or aggressive it's your right to fight back, if it's just a terrier trying to nip your tyres you can out ride it.
As others have said stopping and facing them off can work.. Use your bike to defend yourself.
But at some point you still have to get going again , and it's scarey.
A bop on the nose with a pump to show em who is boss, may be in order, and may prevent someone else, less able being molested .
A dog trainng friend of mine uses nothing more technical than an empty plastic bag to show them how to respect space and pecking order.
They don't like the sudden ballooning effect when it's shaken in their faces, and of course it doesn't hurt them. but I'm not sure I'd be brave enough to reach for a placcy bag over a pump, when faced with a snarling hound.
If people, cared about their dogs they wouldn't let them run free on the road, it's a menace to everyone.
* This decline may even be your doing in part
- so you just have to convert everyone to veganism.. No more mad collies..
One dairy farm I milked at, the cow dog would grab a tyre lugs in its teeth as the tractor was moving, and get a circular ride round with the wheel.. Nuts..
Funnily enough the postie insisted on a mailbox at the road end of the driveway.
I'm wondering if one of those loud air horns, to blast in its face would help.. Might also alert the owner to the fact that something was going on too.