Awww man, that poor guy…
This brought back memories of UnPlanned Dog Dismounts.
I’ve had, and been around, dogs all my life. If you see it coming and there is any question about their intentions, dismount and prepare for battle. A uni can be an effective dog racquet. If it’s a bad dog those moving legs are just too much of a temptation for the hound, seems once you’re off they back off.
I’ve wondered myself whether it’s better to try to ride away or hop off and stand your ground. This seems like good advice. Another factor when dealing with animals unfamiliar with unicycles is that they may not immediately recognize you as a person. Dismounting may help them realize this. Of course in some cases they may be just as happy to bite a person as much as some fanciful half-person/half-machine unitaur.
(I should also add that a muni in particular makes quite an effective shield. I discovered that one time I slammed into a barbed wire fence after a UPD.)
If the dog is coming to attack you, stand in defense with your uni in front. I’ve had dogs come at me before, sometimes all it takes is a swift smack on the nose. The owners will get all angry “You hit my dog!” But you can just reply “Your dog was trying to rip my flesh off”. Some dogs are just let to do whatever they like, and they think that they are the alpha, even if they are a wimpy dog. Use your best judgement.
I know the dog your talking about. It always runs in front of my car. just down from your estate yea?
It sucks when a dog owner doesn’t seem to care, though in my experience I feel it is better to assume that every dog is going to come after me…
Simply put, as a general rule, dogs are put out by unicycles since we are not part of their “normal” world. In high school we got a dog from the humane society that was the nicest dog, calm, never barked at anyone (the UPS driver would carry treats and stop to give him a ride when he drove past our house), but the first time he saw me me get on a uni he jumped up and started barking his head off. This was a dog that we’d had almost 7 years by then, and he was lying there on the lawn watching me mount. As soon as I was not what he was expecting, he went off.
Similarly, there is a dog down the street from where I live now (I may be repeating myself, I forget if I’ve told this story on here or not) who bit me last September. I was riding down the sidewalk (on the way to a job interview) and the mother and her 2 kids (prolly 5 and under) were standing on the sidewalk talking to another mother and her kids. I rode off the sidewalk onto the road to go around them a good 50 feet before I reached them. As I got to about 5 feet from them, the dog saw me (I had been hidden from view by shrubbery… slightly lower, not too expensive) and charged, grabbing my shorts and pulling me off the uni before retreating and then being grabbed by the collar by the owner. She was very apologetic, immediately put the dog inside, and was quite concerned. No harm, no foul, and I knew from the dog’s POV that this “thing” had suddenly popped up next to his family. It was kinda like accidentally getting between a mama bear and her cubs.
Since then, I’ve had zero probs with the dog, both with and without the owners present, though I do always dismount when I see it. Fairly friendly, and a good dog.
Then again, I do have a bite scar on my left calf from a dog that took me down on my uni once… It never bothered me again though, the act of falling kicked the uni back into its’ face… it always barked at me from several hundred feet away after that…
Maybe as a community we should start building some Portable Dog Killers (actually non-lethal acoustic weapons) a-la Steve Gibson:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Glft9CQ-5s
