Was riding a bridleway/path this morning saw a woman with small dog approaching so i started slowing
the dog was running free suddenly bared its teeth and ran towards me snarling.
i decided to stop but it jumped up and bit me on the calf drawing blood
It all happened so quickly the woman was very apologetic so i just rode on
i was pissed off so decided to cut short my ride return home and clean the wound
didnt look too bad but i rang nhs 111. Just in case . they told me to contact my gp within next 48 hours
to check my tetanus jabs are up to date.
did i make mistake in stopping ? Should i have rode on and let it chase,? Or just got off and booted it ?

You need to practice your technique. Quickly unclip when offending wee rat is approaching, and it’s a sort of a stamping motion, quite easy really. If you make proper contact, the wee rat generally scurries away, so you’ve also planted the seed in the wee rats head for next time too.

Win win.

Don’t get me wrong, I love dogs but if one bit me & drew blood it would be getting drop kicked over the horizon!

If there’s a dog that’s off its lead and heading towards me barking and stuff, I make sure to aim directly at it and put the kindness bomb back in my pocket.

Get off. Bike between you and dog. 99% of time lift up bike and dog craps itself.

A biting dog needs to be put down. Should have stopped, taken control of dog and called cops.

I’ve only had trouble on foot recently, I find that charging at the bugger while yelling angrily and trying to boot it hard works well. Even though I haven’t managed more that a glancing blow yet. Not sure it would work for anything really big, but in that event I’m probably stuffed anyway.

I was bitten few months back with the slowing to hopefully calm dog… Won’t ever make same mistake again !!

Yes I like dogs but one baring teeth now get quick boot in chops …

That dog could bite some little kiddie on a bike next time , I allways make sure a dog gets a kick if it goes for me , shouldn’t be happening IMO , ive had dog owners laughting before until Ive booted the thing .

What toys said. On the couple of occasions a snarling barking dog has been coming at me I’ve cycled away as quick as I bloody well could. Why on earth would you stop?

Would be far better booting the owner over the horizon, dog can’t help if stupid owner has trained it to attack unknowns. Little yappy dogs are always badly trained because they are treated like children and not the pack animals they actually are.

Booting it is unfortunately not going to make it stop it’s bad behavior for the next person/child as it is probably attacking out of fear. It will just fear even more after being kicked by a cyclist. The owner needs to introduce the dog to bikes and cyclists in a controlled way…difficult I know! If possible just try avoid the offending dog and cycle off.

Booting it is unfortunately not going to make it stop it’s bad behavior for the next person/child as it is probably attacking out of fear. It will just fear even more after being kicked by a cyclist. The owner needs to introduce the dog to bikes and cyclists in a controlled way…difficult I know! If possible just try avoid the offending dog and cycle off.

Nonsense. Dogs ain’t stupid, they learn quickly.

Depends on the type of dog. If it was a rotty, pitbull / staffy thing or other ‘big n’ nasty’ breed I’d be peddling until my body collapsed and praying that I didn’t have some mechanical failure.

I recently got chased by a yappy rat thing. It ran towards me while the owner (woman) was flapping and yelling for it to come back. It was a fast little bugger but I kept just ahead of it. I must have followed me for about a mile. I wonder if it made its way back to its owner or got lost and starved to death.

We’ve always had retrievers. 2 goldies and 3 flatties. Wonderful dogs and they don’t go for people. Shame you didn’t report this incident OP as the next victim could be a child.

As soon as me & my mate come across dodgy dogs we stop & arm ourselves with whatever is handy, sticks, rocks, whatever. When I’m on my own & have a water bottle I’ll give the mutt a squirt even if it just approaches me, If I’m using a bladder then a big gobful of water blasted as loudly & as hard as possible has also been effective.

If I’m using a bladder then a big gobful of water blasted as loudly & as hard as possible has also been effective.

sounds like a laugh, any videos of you spitting water at dogs?

You should definitely report it. If it helps, dog walkers are habitual creatures and often return to the same spot. Being in the same place at the same time will likely give you an opportunity to see if the offender arrives in a vehicle with some unique identifying marks (usually low down near the front and back), or you even be able to track the creature back to its nest if it is local.

Change your route, especially if this happens in the dark…it’s bad enough having the mad axe-man behind every tree without a mad dog there too

As a dog owner I find it unacceptable for any dog off a lead to be unable to recall on command or be aggressive.

Unfortunately this lack of control is down to the owners lack of application of training or obedience for their dog.

Like cars, some people feel dog ownership is a right not a privilege.

I would have reported the incident as well as advising the owner you were, if the dog can’t be trusted or isn’t trained not to bite or snap it needs to wear a muzzle when out and about.

Had three dogs with muzzles on run up to us yesterday, barking like goodun’s. We stopped and waited for the owner to get the dogs under control. Apparently the reason they do this to cyclists is because “a cyclist kicked one once”.

There was probably a reason why 🙂

Crane might be best. (In answer to the question posted by the OP).

Kill it with fire

As Lummox said, a bitey dog shouldn’t be allowed off-lead in a public place, and if it’s not muzzled, the owner should make sure it’s on a short lead. If a dog (even non-bitey) has poor recall, they should be getting training and only let off in quiet, secure locations (for the dog’s safety as much as anything else – you don’t want it running into danger, people’s gardens, into dog-aggressive dogs, dog-aggressive people, etc).

People can be dismissive of the bites of little dogs, but they’ve got teeth like bloody needles! If you see them again on the same route and the dog is out of control, report it to the local dog warden (might be worth reporting anyway).

Yep, big, HUGE dog lover and owner here….but….in that situation a drop kick is the only solution.

Sprint while urging the dog on. Owner then spends hours finding the dog and might think about keeping said dog under control in future.

Report it – it’s an offence, and very likely to have the owner arrested or cautioned for allowing their dog to bite someone.

I wouldn’t kick the dog, unless in self-defence to stop it from biting me.

Depends on the size of dog.

Big dog = either ride away as quick as possible, or dismount and use bike as a barrier (while trying to escape)

Small dog = kick as hard as possible.

I tell people to ride at my dog if she gets in their way. She’ll soon move.
Definitely not a biter, but yeah, aim at it. They do learn.

you should have bitten it back!! 😉

seriously though bike between rider and dog…but if it manages to get past the bike than its getting a penalty kick into row Z!

I’m a dog lover, have two of my own, but in this case you should have reported it. If a dog can’t be recalled and is prone to biting people it should definitely not be off the lead.

OT… I was reported once, it was alleged one of my dogs had bitten a guy. What had actually happened was his dog attacked us (both of mine on short leads, his off the lead, ignoring him completely and making a beeline for us across the park). He, the stupid owner, then stuck his hands in the middle of the commotion to try and retrieve his dog 🙄 One thing you do not ever do in that situation, is stick your hands in there. Because you will get bitten. It was quite possibly his own dog that bit him. That dog went on to attack a cyclist, and then something else happened that I never got the full details of, but it resulted in the dog being destroyed. That was a Newfoundland, not a breed particularly known for being aggressive. Just a massive tw4t of an owner.

I’m actually pretty disappointed to hear there are so many vicious little dogs out there. I’m thankful that I’m yet to come across one, I’d definitely be thinking about giving it a kick if anything untoward happened

I’m a dog lover and a dog owner, my black lab is only likely to come towards you if you start throwing him food!

I wouldn’t kick the dog, unless in self-defence to stop it from biting me.

Errr, that’s the exact scenario posed here…

I’ve booted a dog before which had a go at my foot, then came back for a second attempt, and would gladly do it again. It’s a very satisfying feeling when you connect with them.

South paw 🙄

Booted a little yappy dog myself last summer, after it nipped my heal. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed doing it. The owner was furious and went completely mental, waving her flabby arms around and shouting how I “wasn’t a very nice man”. Told her I’d enjoy kicking her too if she was hanging off my foot by her teeth

Booting it is unfortunately not going to make it stop it’s bad behavior for the next person/child as it is probably attacking out of fear.

I think you are mistaking what we we should do and what the dogs owner should be doing here

If you get attacked your choices are fight or flee
It depends on many factors not least the size of the dog and how you are with dogs

@njee – I’m not getting into hypothetical scenarios about what might/could have happened.

The thing that surprises me most is that people don’t report these attacks more often, and that the dog owners do anything other than brick themselves, given that they are liable for arrest if their dog bites someone.

That was a Newfoundland, not a breed particularly known for being aggressive

Owners of giant breeds do have an extra layer of responsibility I reckon. The sheer bulk and strength means a bad’un can really do some damage. A massive dog running towards you is pretty terrifying even if it just wants to say hello to you / your dog…

@njee – I’m not getting into hypothetical scenarios about what might/could have happened.

But it’s not a hypothetical situation. The OP was bitten by a dog. You said:

I wouldn’t kick the dog, unless in self-defence to stop it from biting me.

But that’s exactly what happened! I’d agree if he’d hoofed it speculatively because it was running towards him, but it had already done the bitey thing, so a well placed punt to the chin would be very justifiable on self defence grounds!

I normally find that barking back at them (Very loud and aggressive ) works very effectively to check their approach.

@njee – I should have known.

OK, to satisfy you, what I could have expanded upon, but did not originally was that I did not propose to go chasing after the dog, after being bitten and beat/kick it.

To save the hypothetical pondering – I wasn’t there, so have no idea how fast this all happened, where the dog came from etc.

In summary, I would rather people were not bitten by dogs in the first place, and one very effective way of making that happen is to prosecute the owners.