Pack of dogs - best response to owner?

Question

Yesterday 5 large pit bull/lab mix dogs came after me, had to get off the bike and use the bike as a physical barrier between me and them, the owner eventually came out, but I have no idea what would have happened if he hadn't showed up. I can guess though. Two or three of them had teeth bared and were working on moving around and encircling me. The owner insists they didn't intend to bite. My leg has had many surgeries so couldn't take a bite wound. Here's a picture after the dogs calmed down a bit. Later they chased me again anyway.

So I'm trying to determine if:

1. Bear or pepper spray is a good defense. Don't want to hurt the animals.
2. Should I alert animal control that this owner has aggressive dogs right by the main road to a national park? I don't want to see other riders hurt, or animals killed by cars.
3. It was uphill, so I wouldn't have been able to outrun them, was getting off the bike and using it as a barrier the best idea in this circumstance?

Edit: I took some of your advice and called Animal Control - mostly since I couldn't otherwise see the owner suddenly becoming responsible on his own. I requested authorities "encourage" him to finish his fencing, since 2-300 feet of road frontage aren't fenced still. I haven't heard back from officials yet. I also found a water bottle adapter for bear spray, since I don't want my leg to become a dog snack in the future. This area is very close to the Redwoods on the Pacific Coast. Pretty rides when not pedaling for your life. Another poster asked about feral dogs, which are wild and uncontrolled. This dog pack "should have been" under the control of an owner.

Answer 1

To prevent this from happening again, this should be reported to the relevant authorities. You were on a public road and in all countries I am familiar with, the dog owner is responsible for preventing their pets from interacting with public road users.

If you are not sure which is the correct authority, report to all you think are relevant (eg. animal service, provincial/state authority if it's a provincial/state road, municipal police, etc).

Answer 2

Using the bike as a barrier is a perfectly good idea, but its a fair way down the escalation process. You'd hold it in front of you, with one hand around the saddle clamp area and the other hand on the head tube, or downtube+front rim to stop it waving about.

This allows you to keep the tyres close to the ground, stopping animals from getting underneath.

If you see fit to take an offensive move, then don't swing the whole bike. Instead pull the front close and push out the arm holding the rear. This will push out the rear wheel while you keep control of the bike.

If the dog bites the rear wheel, then push and pull don't just yank on it.

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Your absolute best defence is distance. Get back and stay back.

If the dogs are chasing you (and this is quite likely given instincts) then you can use your water bottle to blast them. That alone can be enough to distract them. Last resort is throwing the bottle, you might retrieve it later.

Speed doesn't necessarily help - I've raced with dogs at 40 km/h (for fun). Instead of going uphill, you might choose to go downhill where possible.

Feel free to warn other riders if you come across them, something like

Hey! You might want to avoid Blah hill because Crazy Bill was there with his dogs 10 minutes ago.

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The social solutions are definitely worth persuing. They don't help at the time, but you have photo/s and possibly video, and eyewitness testimony to offer. Do please follow up, or this might continue to happen.

Answer 3

More than likely you would have been okay, but obviously we’re talking about the “what if” scenario here. If they weren't just defending their home and trying to scare you off or look tough and were primed to fight, you could have gone down the hill instead of up. If that wasn't an option then using the bike as a weapon or shield was a great idea.

I live in a heavy homeless populated area and have caught people robbing homes (I ride early in the morning when its still dark). I always carry small arms, pepper spray, or a knife. Depending where I'm going. If you're against arms, then definitely carry spray. But remember, don't be afraid and only use weapons as an absolute last resort. Sometimes to us a growling or barking dog is scary but it may just be overly excited. If its just excited a bop on the nose should be enough to scare it off.

Dogs do sense fear so stay calm, always keep something between you, don't run away as that will cause an instinctual chase. Be as still as possible they may just sniff you and move on. If you do get attacked guard your groin and neck, keep your hands and arms to your side and make a fist so they cant bite fingers, don't make eye contact keep the dog at your side, if you want to ride by often, carry some treats and drop them every time they come out, they will see you as a friend. Give them something to chew on like a stick.

Lethal force on a dog is usually unnecessary but if they do attack kick or punch their nose or throat. This will usually stun them enough to run away. If you can access it and deploy safely for yourself, hit em with pepper spray, theres even pet-safe ones. When that fails its weapon time, knife, stick, small arms, whatever you have access to.