How to Handle Dogs While You’re Cycling

Sometimes, even though you’ve read all you can about cycling, there are some unexpected occurrences that challenge your knowledge. Cycling in real life comes with these kinds of experiences. One of the most common is simple: a barking dog. Sometimes dogs’ barks are full of empty threats, but they can also be legimate warnings about impending attacks. here’s how to handle dogs while you’re cycling.

Dogs will defend their territory. The first thing to understand about a barking dog is that it usually feels like it’s defending its territory. Most dogs will give up on you when you’re out of their vicinity, and some well-behaved dogs won’t even bark at you because they feel they’re on their owners’ territory, not theirs. It’s the dogs that believe they run the show you have to worry about. Remember that mailmen wouldn’t have problems with dogs if they could deliver the mail from outside a dog’s imagined territory. If you can, try to steer clear of a dog’s territory. If you don’t want to do that, read on.

Ride confidently. You’d be surprised how much your body language will impact dogs, as if they can read body language as well as humans. Keep your chest up and your eyes forward, and many dogs will realize that you’re someone who’s confident despite their presence. Your attention should be forward, so dogs know that you don’t pose a threat, but your confidence should show that you’re willing to defend yourself if need be. This kind of body language alone should help you out with most dogs who were barking as an empty threat.

If the dog continues to attack, prepare to defend yourself. This doesn’t mean that you actually defend yourself yet – it simply means that you look like you’re ready. How do you do this? By getting ready. If you can’t avoid a dog simply by moving out of its territory faster, you should let it know that you’re not one to be trifled with. A quick shout of “No!” can catch it off-guard. If that fails, bring your arm back like you have an object ready to throw.

If the dog attacks, respond. Last of all – and there’s a good chance you may never face this – the dog may attack despite all of the warnings to the contrary. You’ll have to defend yourself. If you have to feed it an arm, feed it your non-dominant one. And make plenty of noise so that others will see and be able to help you.

Photo Credits: pigpogm

Originally posted 2009-08-31 03:43:26.

This post involves:

body language, confidence, dogs, empty threat, experiences, mailmen, presence, shout, unexpected occurrences, vicinity

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Biking, Safety

Posted by Bike Swim Run on May 30, 2010 in Biking, Safety. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.