Last Tuesday morning I was out bicycling when I saw, a few houses away, a very large dog, sitting in yard and surveying the street. A few years ago I would have been compelled to immediately cross the street, regardless of any danger from the traffic, but I’ve gone through a lot of therapy since then and have my phobia under control. The dog didn’t seem threatening and was behind a fence (though the gate was open), so, striving not to seem threatening, I kept on riding on the proper side of the street.
That was a mistake. I had barely passed the house when the dog got up, ran through the gate, and bounded toward me. It knocked me off my bike and onto the group. I hit my head but did not lose consciousness, which was a good thing as the dog was not done with me. It came at me again and tried to bite. Fortunately I was about to kick it in the head; even more fortunately I had my collapsible baton and my adrenaline was pumping. I got the baton and smacked it as hard as I could three times before it rain off. I’d like to say that I cracked one of the fucker’s ribs and it ran off into the woods with a punctured lung, the better to collapse in pain and be eaten alive by a colony of feral cats, but that doesn’t seem likely. Anyway, it was gone.
I was able to limp to my bike but riding it was beyond me. Happily I had my cell phone and was able to call my wife for help. That was also a mistake, as my face was banged up more than I realized–enough to make our 2-year-old start bawling the second she saw me. So to the hospital we went. At the ER it was determined that I hadn’t been bitten but had been scratched, and also had a twisted ankle and more than a few scrapes from the road.
On the other hand I hadn’t wet myself from terror, or frozen. Maybe there was a benefit to the therapy after all. I dunno.
Wow, that’s awful! Do you know if it belonged to the house it was in front of? Somebody would be getting a very uncomfortable visit from me. Or the cops.
I don’t know if it belonged to that house. I tend to think not, because when it ran off it did not return to that yard, but rather toward the woods, and I tend to think that if it had identified the house as its home it would have run there. But I don’t know enough about dogs to be sure of that, and also I was kind of loopy from hitting my head and was without my glasses, so I’m not certain I’m correct about what direction the dog ran in.
I understand your fear of dogs, it’s quite common. It’s obvious the the owner of the animal made a mistake of leaving the gate open when their dog gets defensive of its’ property.
What completely makes my stomach churn is where you talked about cracking its’ ribs. I understand the animal hurt you and caused you grieve, but that description was a bit harsh in my opinion.
Happy to hear you weren’t seriously hurt though. I hope your dog phobia isn’t worse because of this experience.
That sucks. What you should do next is to report the dog. Your choice as to whether to the owners in the house, so they know what the dog did, or to the authorities.
When I delivered mail I got attacked a couple of times, but never bitten thanks to my handy mace. In one case the owner came running out saying that the dog would never do that. The holes in my pants leg say different, schmuck. I had to invade the dog’s territory, you didn’t.
No one should leave a dog unsupervised with a gate open. Forget about biting, the dog can get hurt. My dog has been bred for gentleness for generations but I still wouldn’t let her loose - for her protection, not anyone elses.
You know what completely made my stomach churn? When the damn dog knocked a human being off his bike, and tried to bite him. I sincerely hope such a dangerous animal is dead now too, for the safety and well being of the other human beings in Skald’s neighborhood.
Fuck that shit. That fucking beast attacked me without provocation and with clear “intent” (if dogs can be said to have such) of causing me grievous harm, and would have succeeded if I hadn’t been (minimally) armed. I wrote that I hope I cracked its ribs and cause it lethal injury because I hope I cracked its ribs and caused it lethal injury, though I am also okay with it running onto the highway and getting crushed by a semi. Note also that, since rabies can be transmitted via scratches (if the infected animal has licked its claws) I have to get the shots.
And the dog was not defending its goddamn property. In part because it may well not have lived there (when it ran off it ran down the street, not back behind the fence), but mostly because I wasn’t on its property. I wasn’t even on the sidewalk. I was riding my bike in the street, and was neither encroaching on its owner’s property nor threatening it. I spent several days in pain after the attack, and I have no doubt that the dog intended more injury to me than than that. That dog is a fucking menace, and I hope it’s dead. If that turns your stomach, get yourself some Pepto-Bismol.
Also, I am no longer terrified of dogs. The therapy worked. I can name one dog I’m fairly fond of nowadays. This particular beast, however, needs to be killed.
Voyager, I reported the attack to the police. I don’t know what they’ve done. Also, part of the reason I could easily believe the dog doesn’t belong there is that I pass by that house frequently and think I would have noticed it before. If I had thought things through when I first saw it, I might have been more wary of it for that reason.
I’m sorry you don’t agree with me as to harshness of words used. I understand the seriousness of the situation, but don’t feel a detailed description of how the animal needs to die is needed. Just MHO.
It is a bit excessive, maybe, to wish for the dog to die of a punctured lung, but it is not at all excessive to wish for the dog to die. If animal control catches it, it’s going to be put down (humanely), and rightly so. People come first.
And given that Skald was the victim of the attack, it’s perfectly understandable for him to be a bit excessive in his desires concerning its fate. We have a justice system that goes beyond “victims get to exact revenge on their attackers”, and that’s a good thing, but I’m not going to tell the victim that he’s wrong to feel that way.
Good. My old dog got attacked in a very similar situation.
I was pretty nervous around dogs too until we got one. But nothing I’ve learned would help if a dog attacked while I was on a bicycle. Some people have no clue about how to train dogs, alas.
Hey, let’s be precise. I did not wish for the dog to die of a punctured lung. I wished for it to collapse from pain FROM a punctured lung and to be eaten alive by feral cats. As you well know, I don’t do mildly excessive; I do way over the top crazy excessive.
I had passed the gate but was not yet past the fence, and the dog was outside my peripheral vision. I didn’t see it run through the gate, but it must have; the fence (chain-link) must be about five feet high, and I can’t believe it jumped over it. Anyway, it came at me from the side–without barking–and I didn’t notice its charge until it was too late. I can’t decide if I’m lucky or unlucky there was so little traffic.
My work wife came to see me in the hospital, and she both expressed a desire to borrow one of the guns so she could track it down and shoot it herself, and said she wished I’d been carrying so I could have shot it. I had to remind her that there were several reasons it would be unwise for me to ride a bike with a handgun on my hip, and anyway I’m fairly sure that a gun would have been the wrong weapon for the situation. I seriously doubt I’m skilled enough to have hit it while firing one-handed on a bicycle when it was approaching me from the side; that isn’t something I’ve trained for at the range. Perhaps I should put it in the suggestion box.
A dog can jump a five-foot fence. Dogs can also climb fences.
Also, sometimes other people open neighbors fences for various reasons from retrieving objects to playing a joke. When I was a kid, our cat (who went on to live for 10 more years) got attacked by a dog that was normally in a fenced in yard, and was good with people, but not so good with other dogs, and as we see, cats. The owners were really decent, and paid our cat’s vet bill. The opened fence was traced to a neighbor kid retrieving a kickball. The people put a combination lock on the fence, and a “No Trespassing” sign.
So, the people who lived there, assuming it was their dog, might not have been the ones who left the gate open. If it wasn’t their dog, it might nonetheless be a dog who has decided their yard is its territory (maybe they are breeders, and have a female in heat, or maybe they aren’t careful with their garbage, and their yard is a smorgasbord), and they might not think they need to keep the gate closed when their own dog, or child, or whatever, isn’t out, but now they know better.
It’s possible that if the dog does live there, shmuck neighborhood kids on bikes have been teasing it, and that’s why it reacted to a bike that way.
I’m just saying there is a lot of grey between “The owners are assholes with a vicious dog,” and “The dog didn’t live there, so the people who own the house have no responsibility.”
I have one question: were you wearing a helmet? it sounds from your description like you weren’t. I hope from now on you will, now that you know that things can happen out of nowhere.
Leapt up at me, scratched my right arm and leg, knocked down, attempted to convert me into a chew toy.
It’s likely that, if I’d been more alert to danger from the dog (rather than focusing on the road), I would have noticed its approach in time to escape unscathed. I dunno, and as I have already been scathed but was not killed or maimed it hardly matters.
FYI, The part about it not barking suggests that the dog was very serious in chasing you. Dogs who are attacking seriously are usually quiet, while dogs who are playing around usually bark their heads off.
If I had to guess, I would guess it was probably the bike whizzing past that set him off. Some dogs have a high instinct to chase and catch things. He was trying to hunt the bike.
Would he have really killed you once he had you down? Probably not, even though he was serious about catching you and the bike. Dogs aren’t generally maneaters, after all. But it’s good that you had the baton and were able to defend yourself vigorously. I’m glad you’re ok.
Odds are the dog doesn’t have rabies. It’s really pretty rare and also because the dog ran away when you fought back. If the dog did have rabies, it’s less likely that you could have driven him off since he would be operating with brain damage.
All of this is meant to be informational, for what it’s worth. I don’t think you did anything wrong, Skald, and I’m glad you’re ok.
Exactly - a dog that was playing around and happened to knock somebody off a bike would have been barking. That dog was serious as a heart attack. Any dog that aggressive to cyclists whose owners aren’t taking serious precautions that would have not allowed him out where he could hurt you does need to be put down.
