Tell Kentucky official your dog-attack stories

If there's one thing that Kentucky is known for among cross-country bicyclists, it's the dogs.

When my friend and I rode through there on our TransAmerica bike tour back in 1984, I remember pedaling some rural areas where the baying hounds would telegraph our passage right on down the road.

Barking isn't the problem, however. It's the chasing and biting.

Kentucky's bicycle and pedestrian coordinator, Tiffani Jackson, wants to learn more about this problem. Adventure Cycling Association notes in a recent edition of “Bike Bits” that she wants cyclists to contact her about about cyclist-dog encounters “so I can start to show people how big of a problem dogs are here in the state.”

Who to contact

If you've had a run-in with a dog in Kentucky, you can contact Jackson at Tiffani.Jackson@ky.gov. Let's hope she can help solve this problem.

Fortunately, I was able to avoid first-hand confrontations with dogs on the bicycle tour. The dogs that chased me must have had some strict upbringing, as they always stopped when I commanded, “Stop.” That's not the best ploy, however.

My friend Bruce wasn't so lucky. One mongrel lit off after Bruce, latched on to his panniers, and tried to yank him to a stop. Another time, Bruce tipped over his bike as he tried to squirt water at a chasing dog.

Lazy Louie, who ran the bicycle camp in Missouri, suggested pointing a bicycle pump at dogs because it looks like a shotgun and “these dogs are hunting dogs and they know what a shotgun can do.” We appreciated the homey advice, but doubted its usefulness.

More encounters

The dog-cyclist encounters seem to be getting more frequent now that more bicycle tourists are taking to the road through the South on the Underground Railroad tour.

Sixty-five-year-old Ed Longenecker, one of the first cyclists to complete the Underground Railroad tour and write a journal about it (LandisHomesTraveler), warns about the dogs in the south.

A member of another group tour on the Underground Railroad wrote in a forum:

“On a rather unpleasant note, we had our first casualty. A rider was thrown from his bike when a dog (and boy have there been a lot of dogs) ran under his bike. He has fractured his hip, collar bone, and has sevral contusions. He will be okay,but has to leave the tour, as you would imagine.”

Best advice

The best advice I've read about dealing with dogs comes from Neil Gunton, webmaster at Crazy Guy on a Bike and a veteran of many bike tours and dog encounters.

In the article “Dealing with Dogs,” Neil correctly dismisses the commanding “halt” tactic that has worked for me. He notes there's nothing to ensure that the dog has been trained. He also rejects the spraying-the-dog with water or stopping to place your bicycle between yourself and the dog.

He supports going directly to the ultimate weapon — pepper spray. It makes the dog stop, but the effects are not lasting. And, most importantly, it teaches the dog that chasing a cyclist can be painful. It may help prevent a bite or an injury to the next bicyclist coming down the road.

The most well-known dog repellent is Halt! Atlanta's Bicycle South shop notes that's the dog repellent of choice by the US Postal Service, which has been doing field tests for more than 30 years.

Neil recommends attaching a can or two to your handlebars so you can get to it quickly. If you keep it in your handlebar bag, you'll just be another ankle-bone dinner to the next dog that attacks.