Kevan Smith said:
The Real Bev said:Kevan Smith said:"di" <[email hidden]> from Cox Communications wrote:
>>Kevan wrote: You're going from chasing to biting. If
>>a dog is biting you, sure, defend yourself. Spraying
>>a chemical that could blind or poison on a dog that
>>is merely chasing is cruelty to animals. Most chasing
>>dogs just do it for play, not to commit harm. And, as
>>I said, a simple spray of water stops them. I have
>>seen it work many times.
>
>Wait until he gets his teeth into your flesh to
>determine if it's merely a chase or bite?No, spray it with water to make it stop chasing. Learn
to freakin' read.Somebody said he'd tried water, to no effect. What about
mixing a LITTLE ammonia with the water? Or do you have a
better suggestion?Ammonia eats away flesh. It's a caustic solution. That's
why it blinds. Even a little bit is harmful.
What do you think is in Windex? Do you wear gloves when you
clean your windows? Do you know anybody who does? I once
(yeah, stupid, I know) sprayed myself in the eye with dryer
fabric-softening spray. It took several days for the blur to
disappear. Would Windex have been more damaging?
Quoted message said:If you insist on a spray, jalapeno juice (not pickled)
inflames nerve endings to cause pain, but it is otherwise
harmless. It's cheaper than pepper spray, too.
Interesting. So all you need are some jalapenos and a
blender? And the skill to avoid dripping the stuff on
yourself? I've dealt with jalapenos. You need gloves.
Quoted message said:Do you have a size limit? I mean, if a Chihuahua were
chasing you bent on attack, would you spray it with
ammonia as readily as you might a pit bull?
No. As a matter of fact I WAS chased by a chihuahua. I had
time to get off and do my bear imitation. Game little guy. I
had to do it three times before he went back home. The
German Shepard turned tail the first time, but my bicycle
wasn't around.
Quoted message said:Or how about a friendliness limit -- say, a beautiful
Golden Retriever, among the gentlest of dogs, were chasing
you and barking, would you spray it with a caustic
solution?
You look at their faces. You look at their posture. You look
at their tails. Some dogs are clearly playing, others want
blood. With some you can't tell.
In general, dogs are wonderful. In many cases they're much
nicer than humans. I don't carry pepper spray or a squirt
gun or ammonia and I'd have to get off my bike and open up
my trunk bag to get my pump, which is too puny to be
usefully threatening to anything past weaning age. I guess I
could grab my water bottle and throw it at the dog, but that
doesn't seem like it would be really effective. This whole
discussion is theoretical.
Quoted message said:If you are looking for a really humane solution to the dog
chasing problem, I can think of three really good ones: 1)
outrace the dog,
I can't outrace my 5'5" 250-lb beer-bellied medicare-age
friend, why should I be able to outrace a dog of sufficient
size to be at least potentially frightening? I've been
riding for 10 years and am not likely to discover new depths
of hitherto-unfound talent.
Quoted message said:or 2) learn to make dog friends,
Sometimes works. Dogs are generally very nice people unless
they've been owned by [censored] who treat them badly.
or 3) don't ride in that area.
You mean "don't ride in any area that might contain a possibly-
scary dog"? My husband, riding alone at night, was chased up
a hill in the Cajon Pass area by a pack of feral dogs. He
was just fast enough that he could keep ahead of them and
eventually they got tired and turned around. He remembers
wondering if they managed to catch him, could he kill one of
them and would that perhaps distract the others while they
ate their former pal?
What SHOULD he have done?
--
Cheers, Bev
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