There TJ, you said it yourself (and in bold, even): reasonable apprehension.
ie, not unreasonable fear. On a previous thread, you said you had a phobia for dogs. That suggests to me an inability to think or act reasonably around dogs, which I can sympathise with, but I don’t think it makes you an objective commentator on this thread.
And just to clarify my original point: kicking a dog that’s showing inappropriate friendliness or bad manners will not help you or other cyclists (and isn’t a legal response, no matter how many times you copy and paste that bit of legalese with bold text in it up there). At best you’re promoting aggression towards cyclists in that animal, which is bad for us on this forum, which is why I posted originally. I don’t want to get bitten any more than anyone else.
I’m not talking about truly aggressive dogs here – that’s a different subject. But you’d be mad to try kicking one of them, anyway.
One other thing is the impression some people seem to have that a dog can ever be both ‘under control’ and off lead. If a dog’s off lead, it’s out of control, as far as I’m concerned. Anything could come and spook the animal no matter how carefully trained. That’s why I, personally, could never take dogs out riding with me. I can’t see how you can ride a bike and control protect your dog from idiots at the same time.
So, on that point at least, I imagine we agree…. can we leave it there? I wish I’d never started this stupid thread.