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Cull all the dogs and turn them into dog food....err, cat food... I mean sausages.
an extended lead across a cycling path
I was riding down the river a few weeks ago, and there was an old lady stood on the right with one dog, and another on the left with the expending lead in the way. Heard my bell and crossed the path to wind in one lead, but left the other dog behind - with it's extending lead now across the path. So I had to stop and listen to her explaination that "this one is old and slow, that one is young and thick". I didn't quite follow the logic, but it did make me laugh. I was in no hurry.
I’ve just bounced across to The Highway Code. Am I being blind or have they had a bonfire of outdated rules for road cyclists? You need front and rear lights at night (flashing LEDs are fine), a reflector at the back, and… that’s it. No pedal reflectors or suchlike, most everything else is advisory.
Just had a look - rule 60 mentions pedal reflectors
It MUST also be fitted with a red rear reflector (and amber pedal reflectors, if manufactured after 1/10/85).
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/the-highway-code/rules-for-cyclists-59-to-82
AFAIK Pedal reflectors etc have never been part of the highway code (or the law), just BS6102 (or whatever passes for it today). So there is an implicit “thing” that a bike without them isn’t technically fit for use in public because it’s not roadworthy (according to BS6102).
Right.
Back when I put together a hybrid for road use a few years ago now I took pains to do it, as you say, "technically" correct not least in anticipation of potentially having to field rants from the "you don't pay road tax!!" brigade. I could've sworn that pedal reflectors, lights of a certain spec which favoured dim Ever Ready style lamps with a battery the size of Luxembourg over modern LEDs, etc etc were all legal requirements. Maybe my memory is wrong, it was a while ago.
Just had a look – rule 60 mentions pedal reflectors
Ah. How weird. I literally just read that rule and completely bleeped over the part in brackets.
As you were, thanks all.
If an agressive dog races towards you, alight from your bycicle on the opposite side to rabid animal,grab a pedal then spin the back wheel as fast as you can and try and take as much skin off the dogs nose as possible.
Sorted.
PS the dog isn't having my frozen sausages !
Owners that think it’s okay for the dog to bound up to people “it’s only saying hello” comments etc. that’s not okay! Apologies after, still not okay. One job, control the dog! Apologies are meaningless especially if you are a small kid.
Dogs not socialised due to lockdown? no apology for that either. It’s not my fault, or the dogs. That’s on the owner too.
Aaand, breathe!
People can be very ignorant (some times on purpose) of how their behavior and responsibilities can affect others. We all do it to some degree but without any real harm, just to other people's slight annoyance (music being played a little too loud, barbecue smoke when the neighbours have washing out , cycling a little too fast on a shared public path etc).
But having an aggressive dog off the lead in a public place is in a whole different league.
The thing is it's dead easy to buy a dog but it's a lot harder to look after one properly. As you've pointed out, most people manage to look after and control their dogs just fine. But as with most cases it's the minority that ruins it for the majority.
I'd like to see a public campaign to help educate what your responsibilities are regarding owning a dog. Get some of them 'influencers' involved, lots of folk seem to follow everything they say and do.
In the meantime, try not to let the fur babies and their fur mummies and daddies get you down.
I have the ultimate revenge.
https://www.bosworthsbutchers.co.uk/online/product/hot-chilli-pork-sausages/
Frozen or not ?
Wouldn't like to see what comes out the other end the next day !
Dog owner here and it constantly pisses me off when other people can't control their dogs. We've put the effort in to make sure we have recall and our dog doesn't just barrel up to other people/dogs because, contrary to some owners' belief, some people don't actually want to be accosted by a random dog when they're going about their day. I certainly don't.
The few times I've been attacked by a dog I have gone screaming and hollering at them, properly going for them. They have always run off.
But a big/dangerous dog no way
Owners that think it’s okay for the dog to bound up to people
We've discussed this at length on previous threads. There is a mentality amongst some dog owners exactly as you describe, "he's only..."
Doesn't matter. Don't care. People trump animals, end of. A person might be variously allergic / phobic / have nervous cats back home who would react badly to dog smell / not want muddy paws and slobber on their clean pants because they're going out for lunch after their stroll in the park / simply not like dogs. And they have every goddamn right to be left the hell alone, long long before we get into the realms of asshattery like "ooh, he's never done that before, you must have startled him" or "he doesn't like bicycles!" and other deflecting variations thereof.
I love dogs. I'd have one tomorrow myself if I could be arsed with the responsibility. But not everyone does, and self-entitled assholes need to get that into their ****ing skulls rather than making it everyone else's problem to deal with.
You say
dog stops
Then you say
dog tried to bite me
That doesn't make sense. Just saying.
I decided to stop today as this one was snarling. Normally it's just giving chase and I'm more worried about running the dog over, but closing in on your leg snarling. Screeching to a stop distracted it as it was so close. Dog's don't bother me. It's the owner's attitude and the fact I've to 'wait till tomorrow', this was from a woman, not a knuckle dragger bloke.
Hmm, cross bike for speed tomorrow, or the FS trail bike for dog owner steam roller ability ? And sausages !
My dogs are not to be trusted off the lead,*so I don't let them off the lead. It's really tempting sometimes when it seems like there is nobody else about, but the only place we do it is the garden or the dedicated, fenced dog park. I don't see how anyone could try to justify anything else.
With other peoples dogs I try to be understanding. I know that most of the time they are just 'being friendly' so I assume that's the case. I always say thanks to good dog owners, and I always compliment the owners of well behaved dogs.
They are Parson's Jack Russells, so they become 100% focused on whatever has taken their interest. They would run across a motorway to look at a falling twig.
Also Frank, the younger of the two, is the friendliest dog you could hope to meet ... right up until he decides to take a nip for no apparent reason.
Having read through this it's given me an idea. I'm going to take my drone for a walk and tell said knuckles with Pitbull in park that we'll both control our pets.
Hmm, cross bike for speed tomorrow, or the FS trail bike for dog owner steam roller ability ? And sausages !
Joking aside, and you'll obvs know the situation better than anyone else because you were actually there,
You've been threatened. A threat of physical assault is still considered assault if you believe that your safety is in danger. At the very least write it down. Ahead of tomorrow I'd do something, tell someone, whether that's the police or the landowners or Brian next door just so that it's recorded somewhere. Carry a camera if you can.
It is almost certainly someone just being a shouty, reactionary nobhead and nothing to worry about. But I've found myself thinking "shit, I wish I'd started taking notes a fortnight ago" far too often. If you do wind up having to report someone and you're going "well, maybe it was Tuesday, or was it Thursday..." then your argument falls through the floor.
Also,
I’d just ride somewhere else ?
100% screw that, because then the bullies win. Organise a nice quiet non-confrontational group ride. See how much of a cleverbollocks she still is when there's a dozen of you, hound or no.
I'm no fighter. I'm -really- good at running away. But I'd be damned if I'd be intimidated away, I'd rather get my head kicked in.
Could be the high pitched whine from either the electronics or the motor
High pitched whine from an Ebike ?.
Are you sure thats not coming from the non Ebike riders 😕
Could be the high pitched whine from either the electronics or the motor
It could well be this when it comes to e-scooters, although she also attacks the petrol lawnmower, so I suspect small fast moving wheels are more a problem.
<p style="text-align: left;">For reference, some people don't deserve dogs and everyone has the right to their opinion about dogs and whether they want to meet them or not.</p>
"Her parting shot was ‘wait for tomorrow’."
I hope the OP is OK but I was waiting for today's update.
Are you sure thats not coming from the non Ebike riders 😕
Oooh you bitch!
All quiet on the western front - I was 15 minutes later this morning, no dog walkers but many more people either cycling or walking to work on the path.
Wait for tomorrow, pointedly suggest to her that you waited yesterday as requested and imagine your disappointment.
Oh, I've just had a thought. Perhaps she got home, had second thoughts about her threat and was concerned that you might turn up mob-handed?
I honestly think a huge part of the issue is the whole ‘fur baby’ thing. Dogs aren’t humans, they don’t have the same ways of perceiving the world as we do. They’re also not ****ing wolves either! The sooner a lot of people get these two things through their thick skulls, the better life will be for dogs and people.
Should be the first two questions on the FMP Should I be allowed a dog questionnaire:
1: Is a dog a substitute for a child?
2: Is a dog a domesticated wolf?
If you answer yes to either of these you’re banned from owning a dog and also soundly beaten with a birch stick.
Big sigh and relax.
My sister has a pram for her dog. The excuse is it's a 1 year old Cavalier, and an occasional 4-6 mile walk is too far for him. It's incredibly embarrassing if I have to bee seen out with them and the pram.
If they are not a domesticated wolf, then what are they?
Not recently domesticated though, but they descended from wolves
Plodding through the Rising Sun CP early one morning on fully shared paths etc. a small squashed faced dog thing comes racing towards me yapping and snarling. I tried to ignore it and continued on. I'm not that fond of dogs (not because I don't actually like them, I'm still always wary after having been bitten as a child). As the owner eventually comes in view she yells at me to stop. I didn't immediately, so the next volley included new words I hadn't heard before. I do stop and doggo goes nuts so I squirted it with my water bottle (just a drop) and it stopped for long enough that the owner then got it on a lead. She pronounced "it doesn't like bikes, or other dogs, or people" (I may have paraphrased to keep the censors happy 😉 ). I replied, maybe you should keep it on a lead in public places if its that unhappy about other folks. Apparently I am worse than scum. Should be shot, hung, run over, beaten up. (Again avoiding swear filters.)
Must admit I let this affect me more than it should have - not the dog - the attitude of the owner. In other dogs + owners defence...every single other person, with or without a dog, was absolutely lovely that morning, and made me remember she (owner) was the issue not the ownership of dogs as a general rule 🙂
But don't get me started on extendable leads 😉 😂
fossy
Full MemberMy sister has a pram for her dog. The excuse is it’s a 1 year old Cavalier, and an occasional 4-6 mile walk is too far for him. It’s incredibly embarrassing if I have to bee seen out with them and the pram.
@fossy Please post some pics of this, it sounds amazing
My sister has a pram for her dog. The excuse is it’s a 1 year old Cavalier, and an occasional 4-6 mile walk is too far for him. It’s incredibly embarrassing if I have to bee seen out with them and the pram.
TBF, a puppy of that age shouldn't be walked too far – this is the Blue Cross recommendation:
A general guide for exercising puppies is to allow them one to two sessions of five minutes walking for each month of age, so for example, a four month old pup could enjoy walks of 20 minutes at a time, once or twice a day.
I slam the brakes on with a loud screech and stones flying. Dog stops. I yell ‘get your dog under control I’m getting sick of this”
Oh so your one of those overly aggressive mountain biker people?
So the dog didnt bite you, and as soon as you stopped it stopped. Perhaps it was just trying to tell you that you were disturbing the piece on that stupid mountain bike of yours?
Some dogs are stupid, some dog owners are stupid, some mountain bikers are stupid.
If we are in a field we let our dog off the lead if we can see no one is about. As soon as we see that she is within sniffing distance of someone else she is back on the lead. However if we dont see that someone has entered said field then our dog would more than likely want to start going over to say hello.
If I come across a dog when I am biking I slow down and engage with it.
We have very occasionally come across dog owners who are stupid but not that often, and certainly the dog is not at fault, it is always the owner who has not trained the dog correctly.
However if we dont see that someone has entered said field then our dog would more than likely want to start going over to say hello.
And here we see ( not getting at you personally) the basic issue. Behaviour dog owners believe is acceptable is not to many dog owners. IMO a properly trained dog should ignore other people until told they can engage.
If I come across a dog when I am biking I slow down and engage with it.
1) I don't want to do that
2) I can pass dozens of dogs in a few minutes
In the spring I was riding along a shared path. I was being careful and courteous as always but along one section, just past a bridge over the river where a 2nd path intersects I met two hounds from hell. The lady owner was still a good 20-30 metres from the path intersection when she shouted that her death demons didn't like bikes.
Jeepers, they really didn't like bikes, and really wanted a piece of me. So, I sped up as the feisty fiends gave chase. However, it's remarkably easy to outpace these little Shih tzu things, so I slowed up a bit to give them a chance to catch up before I pulled away from them again. I think I took the little buggers about 2-3km down the path before they gave up. The owner's shouts had long faded into the distance. I saw them a few days later, firmly tethered to the owner with leads this time. Made me smile.
"Death Demon Shih Tzu" oh how a s****ed !
And here we see ( not getting at you personally) the basic issue. Behaviour dog owners believe is acceptable is not to many dog owners. IMO a properly trained dog should ignore other people until told they can engage.
I would agree. Our dog isnt that well trained. So we dont let her off the lead around people knowingly. There are occasions though when we think we are in clear field with no one about that she will spot someone before we do, or they enter the field where she is and she will want to say hello. However if we call her she will come straight back to us.
It was just Op's approach was get aggressive immediately, where as on occasions it can be a genuine mistake
However if we call her she will come straight back to us.
good
^^^ I had a similar experience except the dogs were quite large Collie cross type’s which were very aggressive and quick. I managed to outrun them but by which time the dogs were a fair distance from the owner. I have no idea if they were ever reunited? You can only hope that lessons were learned!
If they are not a domesticated wolf, then what are they?
Not recently domesticated though, but they descended from wolves
A bit of a trick question - but you've identified the pedantry from the question in your own answer, though.
A domesticated wolf would be a pure wolf that has somehow been tamed (pretty much impossible).
domestication
noun
the process of taming an animal and keeping it as a pet or on a farm.
Dogs are far enough geneticaly removed from wolves to be classed as a seperate species.
It is pedantry to a point.
Essentially we created a new species through the process of domestication.
On a different note, most issues i have had with dogs (mainly while walking ours in the lead) are due to the owners not the dogs
It was just Op’s approach was get aggressive immediately,
The OP said "I'm getting sick of this," which does not sound like someone's immediate reaction but rather an exasperated response to sustained issues.
Dogs are far enough geneticaly removed from wolves to be classed as a seperate species.
This sounds a bit like the "if men evolved from apes, why do we still have apes?" argument. To which the answer is that we didn't, rather men and apes shared a common ancestor. Do dogs and wolves have a similar explanation?
People can be very ignorant (some times on purpose) of how their behavior and responsibilities can affect others.
So true. BITD I was walking my dog in a quiet part of Swinley when we became surrounded by 3 Rottweilers. Never heard them approach and the owners were some several hundred metres away. Fortunately my dog was calm as was I and their body language simply showed curiosity. They then went on their way, not called by their owners. However, later I ended up feeling pretty hacked off about the owners apparent indifference.
To which the answer is that we didn’t, rather men and apes shared a common ancestor. Do dogs and wolves have a similar explanation?
Bit of a semantic grey area I guess. But you wouldn't call humans domesticated monkeys though, unless you are a tory ex prime minister talking about 'darkies'.
I wouldn't call a tory domesticated at all. Let alone a domesticated monkey, although they only throw verbal shit at the walls now
I was going to answer the dogs as domesticated wolves question but pesky work got in the way. Others have answered it though and probably better than I would. They are massively removed from any Wolf we know of today. To the point where we don’t really know what the original species they come from acted like in the first place.
The whole pack thing is utter bollocks too. Mainly taken from studies of captive wolves that, surprisingly, don’t act like a natural family unit. Yet somehow we apply this model to an animal that was domesticated thousands of years ago and bears little resemblance to the animal it once was. Which we also know little about. There is a very good book on the subject, written by a couple of scientists who got annoyed with Ceaser Milan and other ‘specialists’ called In Defence of Dogs. A fascinating and interesting read.
Basically a lot of the commonly accepted knowledge around what dogs are is utter bobbins.
I’d also suggest reading up on the utterly insane Russian fox experiment that showed how quickly a species can go from wild to unrecognisable domestic version in a very short timeframe if you breed the cutest looking ones. The opposite is true if you breed the most unhinged angry looking bastards. You end up, rather quickly, with fox times a million!