Dogs... is it just me?

General
1

What do dogs have against unicycles?

You can ride a bike past them, walk past them and they won’t bat an eyelid, but unicycle anywhere near them and they’ll be straining at the leash and barking like mad. It’s really quite frightening when you’re unicycling up a path and there’s a madly barking dog legging it up behind you!

But… why? Do I become a Terminator the second I step onto the one-wheeled beast? Does the saddle include an ultrasonic whoopie cushion that drives dogs wild? Or do dogs have some kind of genetic phobia of crazy people wobbling along on one wheel?

Madness…

Phil, just me

2

Yes four of us were MUni-ing in CT a few days ago and 3 dogs, fortunately restrained by leash, went absolutely bonkers when we went by. Large German shepards, too, so we were glad they were being held back. We, of course, blamed it on the youngest member of our group. He refused to take the blame, though, so it must have been the unicycles.

3

Not alone

I was riding through a park in CT yesterday (managed my first couple o’ freemounts - yay me!), and twice I encountered joggers with dogs. You’re right - those dogs just flip out. The second one had me scared. It was a poodle… 10 feet tall… with fangs like rhino horns… and… and… er… it breathed fire. Well, ok, in retrospect maybe the poodle wasn’t THAT scary.

4

My money is on the ultrasonic whoopie cusion. That was hilarious! Maybe try a lower pressure in your air seat :slight_smile: Just this morning a dog was barking at me so hard his eyes rolled back in his head each time he barked. That was freaky.

5

:slight_smile:

Air seat… I wish… sigh

(Also… rather than skipping the messages to read the taglines, I find myself skipping the lot to look at the pictures people have chosen…)

Phil, just me

6

reply to nice dogs

yeah, well i have never had any dogs bark at me while on a unicycle, i have a dog called Bob, and we go walking riding together, and he just wakls sorta out front, i think he doenst wana to be riden over or fallen on, possibly he may not trust me while on a unicycle, even though ive never fallen on him. I think maybe its just confuesing to teh dogs, most dogs i think dont see overly well, so seing this thing on one thing, wobbling all over, hands and arms moving wildely in all directions, might scare the crap out of them. :slight_smile: But if a dog does attack you, you can do what i promise to do when a dog attacks me, attack at with everything you got, it bites you you bite it, put it in a head lock, thats probably the last thing its expecting is to have a fight with a human. Ha ha, im gona put that in a movie im writing. I can see it now, teens driving by, and they look out the window ,a dn what do they see but some guy from schoool, having a fight with a german shepard, or somthing, rolling around on teh ground, biting the dog and having it in a head, lock. :slight_smile: oh thatd be funny.

7

I always get stronger reactions from dogs when unicycling than biking. What I love is to ride on sidewalks parallel to tall wooden privacy fences. All the dogs see is this head going by at 10 mph at the top of fence…it’s payback time for when they try to drag me off going down rural roads.
-Mark

8

brokenframe writes:

I play fight with my dog like that all the time, bites, headlocks, it’s all good fun. If you tried to do that he’d think you were playing. You could cast him if ya like :slight_smile:

As for when I’m on my uni he just stands there in front of me and doesn’t budge, he expects me to ride around him. My other dog is wiser and stays well clear.

Gary

9

Dogs, like humans, fear what they do not understand, and attack what they fear.

If I approach a dog when am riding my uni, I always click my tongue to attract its attention and speak to it in a friendly, ‘You’re a nice doggie!’ sort of way. Let them know that I may be taller than expected, and with fewer wheels, but I’m a person. Seems to work.

Always be double carfeful when approaching from behind. A startled dog is more likely to snap.

10

Re: Dogs… is it just me?

Funny, here in New York City, I think the dogs are completely jaded and
de-sensitized because they hardly ever bark at me. It might have something
to do with the fact that I’m riding with two dogs myself and they’re used to
seeing me.

Most urban dogs I’ve seen seem completely uninterested in cars and people
bikes, rollerbladers, scooters (and me on my unicycle). They only seem to
go nuts when they see other dogs, squirrels and birds.

To the sensitive suburban and rural dog, a unicycle might seem like a
bizarre threat, something really weird. To the city dog it’s just one of
many stupid human things that they stopped worrying about long ago.

Just my 2 cents.
Joe

----- Original Message -----
From: “phil” <phil.5ttxz@timelimit.unicyclist.com>
Newsgroups: rec.sport.unicycling
To: <rsu@unicycling.org>
Sent: Thursday, June 06, 2002 8:47 AM
Subject: Dogs… is it just me?

>
> What do dogs have against unicycles?
>
> You can ride a bike past them, walk past them and they won’t bat an
> eyelid, but unicycle anywhere near them and they’ll be straining at the
> leash and barking like mad. It’s really quite frightening when you’re
> unicycling up a path and there’s a madly barking dog legging it up
> behind you!
>
> But… why? Do I become a Terminator the second I step onto the
> one-wheeled beast? Does the saddle include an ultrasonic whoopie cushion
> that drives dogs wild? Or do dogs have some kind of genetic phobia of
> crazy people wobbling along on one wheel?
>
> Madness…
>
> Phil, just me
>
>
> –
> phil - I meant to fall off like that, ok?
>
> “Cattle Prods solve most of life’s little problems.”
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> phil’s Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/915
> View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/18555
>
>

> rec.sport.unicycling mailing list -
www.unicycling.org/mailman/listinfo/rsu

11

I wanted to share a few things about dealing with dogs from my experiences. In the woods, in particular, people let their dogs run around unfettered. So they run at you barking and snarling. This as many of you know always results in one of two out comes, the dogs stops when he gets near you and jumps around barking and snarling, or the dog attacks. I think the fist of these is almost invariably what will happen particularly if you show no fear whatsoever. That is difficult to do, but I have eventully gotten to this point that I get angry, I think of the carless owner that let this happen, and of the dog and how he thinks he can do something to me and take away my liberty to go where I please. I get really pissed off and I almost WANT the dog to attack me so I can clean his clock. Dogs sense this and back off. I think dogs are like bears in that they themselves don’t know what they are going to do when they run at you. The way you react helps them decide. The few times they do attack, it is almost always the case that if you immediately cause pain to the dog, they will quit and run away. In several cases where a dog has lunged to bite me, his mouth was met with my foot with every bit of force I have. The dog yeps and stumbles away, or just lays there. Know that the owner will never see any force used against their dog as reasonable. You can’t blame them. They have never seen their dog attack anything and don’t believe their dog would. One of my friends was golfing once and a dog attacked and bit him. My friend whipped out his sand wedge and when the dog lept a second time he slammed the dog with it. The owner saw this and began yelling and swearing at my friend. My friend walked over and showed the guy the bite marks and said “I think we’re even” and walked away. I have many other stories of owners getting upset at me defending myself against an attack. They often threaten to sue me. Rediculous. That said, if you can avoid an attack all together, that is always ideal. There is some middle ground. Put your unicycle or bke between you and the dog, this works really well. Some people carry dog biscuits to toss to the dog, although I’ve never tried this and I am not convinced of the effectiveness.
Here I just want to add that I’ve heard that when bobcats etc. are around if you lift you bke over your head and walk at them, they just see this 8 ft talk beastly robot thing coming at them and run away. I don’t know if this would have any affect on a dog, other than that you could fling your ride at them. What ever happens, no matter how many dogs there are, make sure you don’t let them drag you onto the ground because then you are screwed.
-gauss

12

RE: Dogs… is it just me?

> What do dogs have against unicycles?
>
> You can ride a bike past them, walk past them and they won’t bat an
> eyelid, but unicycle anywhere near them and they’ll be
> straining at the leash and barking like mad.

I’m not a dog expert, but I believe that most dog behaviors are of an
instinctive nature. Does the dog have a built-in unicycle instinct? No. But
we know many dogs have some sort of a chase instinct. If I run around in my
house, both of my dogs will chase me. They don’t know why. I guarantee you
they don’t know what they’re trying to accomplish! All they know is that I’m
running, so they’re supposed to do it too.

See the dogs: http://tinyurl.com/bmi (yes, they can run if they want)

Whatever triggers this chase reflex is probably a combination of things. I’m
a firm believer that a dog is primarily a nose with four legs, and smell
governs a huge amount of what they do. This applies proportionally to the
breed of dog, of course. Some have better sense of smell than others. A
bulldog, for example, is a flat nose, saliva glands, and four legs, in that
order.

So a dog may detect some form of physical exertion from a unicyclist, though
I don’t know how big a factor.

Dogs are probably also responding to the motion they see. A bicycle, aside
from being a familiar sight, has a smooth motion. The feet pedal slowly, and
the bike generally goes straight. A unicycle is being pedaled much faster,
and tends to wobble (the wheel goes side to side along with the pedaling).
The rider’s arms are not fixed to handlebars, but might be flailing around.
This motion somehow triggers the dog to take interest.

> Funny, here in New York City, I think the dogs are completely
> jaded and de-sensitized because they hardly ever bark at me.

The pedestrians in NYC are jaded too. And the kids! They’ve all seen too
much.

Stay on top,
JF

13

Prime Rib - Dog Connection?

I’ve been thinking more and more about this. Do you think the fact that I line my pedals with prime rib could have anything to do with it?

14

You know how when you are a kid, they tell you never to look into a dogs eyes, because they see that as a threat and flip out? I have taken to doing it to fenced dogs and dogs in cars. It is funny. If a dog is just absolutely flipping out and barking like he wants to kill you, and then you turn to it and just stare into its eyes. It quits barking and just sort of turns its head away and looks at the ground. When you turn away from it it begins barking again.

15

I’ve been knocked off my MUni a couple of times by excessively happy and rather large dogs. I now dismount when I see a dog approaching.

16

I have found small dogs to be good substitutes for air seats. Comfy. They wiggle about at first but settle down after a bit.

17

But you’ve got to be careful with your initial choice of dog. Unicycling is bad enough on that area to start with, let alone if you let a set of canine canines loose into the mix…

Phil, just me

18

Re: Dogs… is it just me?

> Funny, here in New York City, I think the dogs are completely jaded and
> de-sensitized because they hardly ever bark at me. It might have
something
> to do with the fact that I’m riding with two dogs myself and they’re used
to
> seeing me.

You ride with your dogs?!

Oh, cool. When I proposed that to the poor souls who are trying to teach me
to unicycle, they seemed to think this was a Bad, Bad Idea.

This is why the idea of a freewheeling hub and brakes appeals to me so much,
by the way. With a trio of huskies in harness, if I could coast, I could go
FAST.

Of course, if I ever implemented this idea, I’d also get full body and head
armor…

19

Re: Dogs… is it just me?

I ride with two Gordon setters. The cool thing is that they are quite
erratic when walking, but the minute I hop on the uni they can sense that
it’s time to run in a straight line. It’s very good uni practice. You do
have to pay careful attention if they stop to sniff or whiz, but as long as
you feel in control, everybody is fine. I’ve been doing this for two years.
Even doing a little pull gliding with them.

If you have huskies, I would definitely give it a whirl, if you feel solid
on the uni. This might come naturally to them. But like I said, make sure
you get into this carefully and ensure that you have control. Once my two
dogs went ape over another dog that they absolutely detest. I just leaned
back and enjoyed the ride. It must have made a cool sight, flying down the
street on a uni, being whisked along by two snarling beasts.

Joe

“Scott Kurland” <skurland@juggler.net> wrote in message
news:<ufvp7ja74177eb@corp.supernews.com>…
> > Funny, here in New York City, I think the dogs are completely jaded and
> > de-sensitized because they hardly ever bark at me. It might have
> something
> > to do with the fact that I’m riding with two dogs myself and they’re
used
> to
> > seeing me.
>
> You ride with your dogs?!
>
> Oh, cool. When I proposed that to the poor souls who are trying to teach
me
> to unicycle, they seemed to think this was a Bad, Bad Idea.
>
> This is why the idea of a freewheeling hub and brakes appeals to me so
much,
> by the way. With a trio of huskies in harness, if I could coast, I could
go
> FAST.
>
> Of course, if I ever implemented this idea, I’d also get full body and
head
> armor…
>
>
>

> rec.sport.unicycling mailing list -
www.unicycling.org/mailman/listinfo/rsu

20

RE: Dogs… is it just me?

> Always be double carfeful when approaching from behind. A
> startled dog is more likely to snap.

Speaking of which…

This applies doubly so for horses. Approaching a horse from any direction
should be done with the utmost care. I mostly encounter horses on the
trails, with civilian riders. A horse’s defense mechanism, unlike a dog, is
to run away. They can be very skittish, especially when confronted with
unknown “animals.” Also, trail etiquette rules are very simple on horses;
the horse always has the right of way.

Why? Easy. You + unicycle = 200 pounds or so. Horse + rider = over 1000.
This is not the technical reason, just the reality one. Same as giving
trucks and trains the right of way when you’re driving a car. Right or
wrong, if you have an accident with them they’re going to win.

On average, horse riders are also a little paranoid about encounters with
cyclists. Some just zoom by, and spook the horse. Others are more polite.
The best response to horses on the trail is to stop and dismount, keeping to
the opposite side of the trail while the horses pass. Often the riders will
say “go ahead” or something. The nice ones will say “thank you.” I have
found, around here, that horse owners tend to be fairly snotty. Don’t get me
wrong, there are plenty of friendly and polite ones, but many of them just
give you a dirty look, even though you stopped for them. As if it’s their
trail and they are just barely tolerating us on it. If it is their trail
and you’re not supposed to be on it, get off. Most of the trails in the
Sacramento area are multi-use, so where bikes are allowed, so are horses.
The other trails are horses and hikers only. If we ride on those trails, we
give all unicyclists a bad image.

Stay on top,
John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone
jfoss@unicycling.com

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