Hi all,

Just passing by place where I was attacked by pack of dogs, and saw 4 of them lazy spreading on lawn under the Sun in this suprizingly warm day for February here, I got urge to ask, so:

Well, I tried, but... Here one can't legally buy dog reppelent spray, nor import one, or human protection spray, law doesn't allow you to have one if you are male (for females is OK, if you are male and police find you with one, it is 200 Euros fine). Those audible devices not look very dependable, that is reading about them I wouldn't trust to use one if attacked by few dogs.

Saying that, what are "best" alternative, home made, solutions for anti dog protection when riding bicycle?

Thanks.

Billy club.

I don't know about your specific locality, but you can usually register for an exemption for some of these personal protection devices. It's actually pretty common in my area for riders to have a tiny canister of pepper-spray attached to the handlebar stem.

If there is no passing traffic, one little trick that usually works for shedding a chasing dog is to swerve back and forth several times. I recall a study years ago that showed that it takes three times of directional change before the dog stops chasing. This, by no means is my favorite means of dog-bite prevention, but have used it successfully more than once. My problem is that invariably you'll get a dog coming after you while being passed by a car.

I've been bitten at least five times by dogs while on a bike. The nastiest attack came from a poodle!