Leads are for dogs!

[Little yellow Brompton]

Dealing with dogs for dummies: Stop. Simples. They chase to protect, it's in their nature. Also gives the owner a chance to control the dog.

Last time I checked, cycle tracks have nothing to do with the Highway Code.

You have never checked...
56

Dogs. Do not let a dog out on the road on its own. Keep it on a short lead when walking on the pavement, road or path shared with cyclists or horse riders.

https://www.gov.uk/rules-about-animals-47-to-58/other-animals-56-to-58

 

[Brandane]

Last time I checked, cycle tracks have nothing to do with the Highway Code.

Check again:

Rule 62.......

Cycle Tracks. These are normally located away from the road, but may occasionally be found alongside footpaths or pavements. Cyclists and pedestrians may be segregated or they may share the same space (unsegregated). When using segregated tracks you MUST keep to the side intended for cyclists as the pedestrian side remains a pavement or footpath. Take care when passing pedestrians, especially children, older or disabled people, and allow them plenty of room. Always be prepared to slow down and stop if necessary. Take care near road junctions as you may have difficulty seeing other road users, who might not notice you.
Law HA 1835 sect 72

Rule 56.....

Dogs. Do not let a dog out on the road on its own. Keep it on a short lead when walking on the pavement, road or path shared with cyclists or horse riders.

 

[HLaB]

Slightly OT

 

[snorri]

Dealing with dogs for dummies: Stop. Simples. They chase to protect, it's in their nature. Also gives the owner a chance to control the dog.

Last time I checked, cycle tracks have nothing to do with the Highway Code.

 

[I like Skol]

I'm a dog lover, grew up with (big)dogs and would have one tomorrow for me and the kids if it wasn't for her indoors! I do have to admit I have waved the size 11 boots around at some unruly dogs during my lifetime and not felt particularly guilty about it.

I have 2 stories/anecdotes about out of control dogs and both result in indignant dog owners complaining about my unfair treatment of their poor animals.

1st was as a teenager. I had a morning paper round and each day when delivering to a particular address I would be harassed by a bad tempered jack russell that belonged to one of the customers neighbours. It was an angry little sod and on one occasion I actually felt it nipping around my heels so without looking I performed an energetic backwards kick which, as luck would have it, launched the ba**ard little dog several feet and sent it off yelping. The owner was stood in their doorway watching the scene as it unfolded and instantly protested that I can't kick his dog to which I replied "I just bl**dy have done!". It kept away after that.

The second story is actually bike related. I used to take the family dog for an occasional ride/run along an old railway track near where I grew up. Bruno(the dog) loved this but was always knackered by the time we got back home. I think I probably pushed him quite hard. One day, shortly after setting off we encountered another dog being walked along the same path. Bruno was a very calm dog and after the initial meeting would always ignore other dogs and continue on his way. On this occasion the other dog (some kind of sheepdog I think?) just wouldn't let up and ended up chasing Bruno (a large Labrador/Alsation cross) back and forth along tthe track. This dog looked to have murder in it's eyes and the owner did nothing to intervene so at the third pass I steered my MTB into the path of the chasing dog and it bounced of my front wheel yelping in pain. I didn't hang around to find out the result but called my (obedient) dog and rode off to continue the ride with the distraught dog owners wailing in my ears.

This is the thing about dogs and leads. As I grew up with various dogs we rarely used leads. Each dog would walk along beside us, sit on command when waiting to cross the road and largely ignore other dogs unless they were particularly aggressive. We knew we could trust our dogs. If we didn't have that trust they would have been on leads! Some dog owners don't appear to care that their dogs are out of control. It is the owners that are the usualy problem, not the dogs!

 

[jdtate101]

I've only ever had one "incident" with a dog, which ended up with the police called. I was cycling with my 2 son's in a trailer and some sort of terrier thing ran up along side us and started to bark at the boys (covers were open as it was summer). I stopped as most people recommend , at which point the dog leaps up at the children. I grabbed it's collar and threw it away, it returned again and started to bark at my kids. The owner was only 20ft away and doing nothing to even attempt to control her dog, even when I shouted at her to get it away. Eventually I got it away again, only for it to return 30s later, at which point I lost my rag. I booted it as hard as I could in the ribs, and the thing yelped and ran away. Que fat old woman running up to me and shouting about me harming her dog and how she was going to call the police. I said to her "I'll do it for you" called them and reported a dangerous dog out of control. As soon as I mentioned kids, 2 units turned up (1 being the dog section car) and they took the dog away (after talking to a witness).
Long and short of it was she was fined rather heavily, but the dog was returned to her.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

I'm continually having to dodge uncontrolled dogs on my commute home. I use a shared path for about 2/3 of my 33.5km commute home, because despite its shortcomings it's still far better than the afternoon motor traffic. One of these shortcomings is dogs left to roam unleashed and (for the most part) uncontrolled, i.e. they're mostly not the well-trained dogs who will leave passersby alone and instantly return to their owners on command. To complicate things, parts of the shared path are in council-declared dog off-leash zones, and many of the pedestrians with dogs take this to mean that the dogs can roam completely uncontrolled. I'm almost certain that all councils have by-laws stating that dogs must be under "effective control" at all times, regardless of where they are, which would hopefully (if commonsense prevailed, anyway) apply even in these dog off-leash zones. These pedestrians to which I refer just take the signs literally and completely ignore the fact that if their uncontrolled dog runs into the path of a cyclist, property damage and injury (to both the cyclist and the dog) could result.

Over the past several decades, first-world countries seem to have changed from societies in which people took responsibility for their actions, to a society where people hide behind the laws and try to blame anyone but themselves when their actions are (partly) responsible for property damage and injury. I blame the first-world legal systems for this sorry state of affairs, because it encourages blame-shifting .

Anyway, I still enjoy my commute home, despite little annoyances like these. I truly believe I have one of the best commutes in Melbourne .

 

[sidevalve]

Victor is correct about people dodging responsibilities although I must confess to being amused by the number of people who quote the highway code as though it is law and then in another post excuse a cyclist for ignoring it.
The only realistic way to avoid confrontation with a dog is to stop, as has been said before. To carry on and try to dodge or outpace it [my lurcher for example could reach nearly 45 mph if she wanted] is simply to put both your and other people's [when they try and avoid this madly swerving cyclist] lives at risk.
Finally if there is something in the way on a shared path try slowing down and saying excuse me [you arn't driving a german made car after all]. What would you do if it were a small child in the way, just kick it in the head and scream abuse at it's mother ?

 

[Little yellow Brompton]

Victor is correct about people dodging responsibilities although I must confess to being amused by the number of people who quote the highway code as though it is law and then in another post excuse a cyclist for ignoring it.
The only realistic way to avoid confrontation with a dog is to stop, as has been said before. To carry on and try to dodge or outpace it [my lurcher for example could reach nearly 45 mph if she wanted] is simply to put both your and other people's [when they try and avoid this madly swerving cyclist] lives at risk.
Finally if there is something in the way on a shared path try slowing down and saying excuse me [you arn't driving a german made car after all]. What would you do if it were a small child in the way, just kick it in the head and scream abuse at it's mother ?

Maybe you missed the point, or perhaps I wasn't clear in my text? Yesterday, I'm bimbling , no hurry, turd dispenser on lead, on left of path , wrinkly on left of path, wrinkly sees me, steps back across path unreeling lead, whilst turd dispenser moves forward, turd dispenser being the 6inch high urban rat model means lead hits front wheel (16inch) just at the top and dissapears under the mudguard and I push the lead maybe another 6 inches forward. So, how fast do you think I was going, and how different do you think it would be if I had said "Excuse me"? You are free to find a post of mine where I have excused a cyclist for ignoring the HC, but whilst you are doing that you could consider that there is a far simpler, realistic way of avoiding confrontations with dogs than to force the innocent party to stop , that way, is for the owner of the dog to keep it on a short lead. Simple, cheap, easy ( for everyone in the world, bar the dog owner) and allows the rest of the world to continue their lives without having to work around the turd dispenser. It would also have the double benefit of forcing the dog owner to stand next to the dog whilst it's laying it's turd , rather than walking off and trying to pretend that they haven't seen it. Feel free to come up with a reason why any dog owner can't be bothered to do this, there are over 10,000,000 dogs in the UK, and there must be at least 9,000,000 reasons why their particular little poochikins is special and doesn't need to be under control.

 

[gavroche]

I'm a dog lover, grew up with (big)dogs and would have one tomorrow for me and the kids if it wasn't for her indoors! I do have to admit I have waved the size 11 boots around at some unruly dogs during my lifetime and not felt particularly guilty about it.

I have 2 stories/anecdotes about out of control dogs and both result in indignant dog owners complaining about my unfair treatment of their poor animals.

1st was as a teenager. I had a morning paper round and each day when delivering to a particular address I would be harassed by a bad tempered jack russell that belonged to one of the customers neighbours. It was an angry little sod and on one occasion I actually felt it nipping around my heels so without looking I performed an energetic backwards kick which, as luck would have it, launched the ba**ard little dog several feet and sent it off yelping. The owner was stood in their doorway watching the scene as it unfolded and instantly protested that I can't kick his dog to which I replied "I just bl**dy have done!". It kept away after that.

The second story is actually bike related. I used to take the family dog for an occasional ride/run along an old railway track near where I grew up. Bruno(the dog) loved this but was always knackered by the time we got back home. I think I probably pushed him quite hard. One day, shortly after setting off we encountered another dog being walked along the same path. Bruno was a very calm dog and after the initial meeting would always ignore other dogs and continue on his way. On this occasion the other dog (some kind of sheepdog I think?) just wouldn't let up and ended up chasing Bruno (a large Labrador/Alsation cross) back and forth along tthe track. This dog looked to have murder in it's eyes and the owner did nothing to intervene so at the third pass I steered my MTB into the path of the chasing dog and it bounced of my front wheel yelping in pain. I didn't hang around to find out the result but called my (obedient) dog and rode off to continue the ride with the distraught dog owners wailing in my ears.

This is the thing about dogs and leads. As I grew up with various dogs we rarely used leads. Each dog would walk along beside us, sit on command when waiting to cross the road and largely ignore other dogs unless they were particularly aggressive. We knew we could trust our dogs. If we didn't have that trust they would have been on leads! Some dog owners don't appear to care that their dogs are out of control. It is the owners that are the usualy problem, not the dogs!

I agree that it is the owners that should be responsible for their dogs but the fact remains that it is the dog that does the biting!

 

[Hip Priest]

Only once have I had a dog chase me whilst on my bike. I realised it wasn't going to let up, so I stopped and patted it on the head. Then the owner caught up, apologised and put it on a lead, and I said 'no worries' and rode off.

Human interaction for dummies.

 

[oldfatfool]

[QUOTE 2290966, member: 9609"]I think greyhounds can get up to near 50mph - but don't worry about that, all you need to do is outpace the person you are cycling with,[/quote]
Nearer 40 but that is at their racing weight, having said that mine could probably still hit 35 +, the best bit is the acceleration, they can hit vmax in 6 strides

 

[Little yellow Brompton]

Yep, if you stop reading once you get to the bit you don't like, then you dont have to worry about any unfortunate , truths.

 

[Hip Priest]

Yep, if you stop reading once you get to the bit you don't like, then you dont have to worry about any unfortunate , truths.

I use a shared path twice a day, every day, and never have problems with dogs. So either the dog owners of Newcastle upon Tyne are exceptionally good, or I'm just better at using shared facilities than you are.

 

[Nebulous]

I've gone from having a very low tolerance of dogs to having a dog in a few short months. I had a lot clearer an idea of what dog owners ought to do then than I have now.

Training them is quite an undertaking. At 7 months he will sit at kerbs, he walks nicely by my side on the pavement and he (mostly) comes when I call him. There are two major issues though. He's very friendly and bouncy, but he will jump up on people. He will also run off if he spots another dog. When he was younger he liked to know where we were and we let him off lead quite a lot at the beach or in the woods. More recently he has taken off after a dog, twice with my wife and once with me, so now we don't let him off at all.

I keep him very short on the pavement, don't use cycle paths at all, but have been surprised at how much work he is. I think many dog owners don't put the effort in that it takes. They want the benefits but not the work. They may well seriously underestimate what it takes (as we did) then not be willing to adjust to make it work.

Sometimes belligerence on an owners part is because they know perfectly well they are in the wrong.