While motor traffic is commonly listed as the greatest concern to cyclists, being chased by a dog is pretty near the top of that list too.( How to Overcome Cyclists’ Top 6 Fears – CTS ). According to the American Kennel Club, chasing is part of a dog’s natural instinct and is one of the more frustrating behaviors for dog owners. Unless dogs are trained to ignore the temptation, they will chase, cyclists, runners, pets and wild animals. Unfortunately for cyclists, chasing incidents may be on the rise as organizations including the UK’s RSPCA are concerned about the surge of “inexperienced” pet owner following the pandemic. ( www.vettimes.com/news/vets/international/covid-19-impact-on-pets-five-years-after)
For full disclosure here, I admit to have never being a dog owner, but many cycling friends own dogs and some actually take their dogs along with them during rides either in a carrier or running alongside on a leash. It made me smile to see pictures of world class cyclist Demi Vollering carrying her four-legged friend Flo in a backpack during a training session. For a professional rider to be able to enjoy the company of a dog while out training is something special, but the interaction of cyclists with dogs covers the full range of positive and negative experiences. Ask Tour de France rider Yves Lampert who crashed on Stage 12 in 2022 when an inattentive owner allowed their dog to wander out in front of the peleton.
Car-free bike paths in Calgary are often combined with footpaths as mixed-use trails. Consequently, you will frequently encounter people walking dogs. If you give the dog and handler a heads-up with a ring of your bell and slow down to pass, then the interaction should be uneventful. City bylaws specify that unless you are in an off-lease area, your dog should be restrained on a lease no longer than 2m. However, a minority of owners will let their dogs off lease or have them at the limit of a flexible leash, indifferent to the inconvenience this poses for other trail users.
More caution is needed when cycling through off leash areas, but I have found the majority of dogs will not interfere with your progress. Owners are usually very aware of their dog’s response to cyclists and take the appropriate action, either calling the dog back or physically restraining them. However, I have been chased and was once knocked off my bike when a dog ran into my front wheel in an off-lease zone.
Problems can arise when dogs are allowed run alongside their owner who is on a bike. Sure, this freedom does give more energetic dogs the chance to exercise fully. But in some cases, the dog is attached to the bike by a leash or even assisting by pulling the bike. On our crowded paths, this informal combination has potential dangers, for rider, dog and other trail users. Here, I am not denigrating the sport of Bikejoring, which evolved from dog sledding, where properly trained dogs use specialist equipment to pull bikes on open trails.
Outside the city, on rural roads, you would think there was no issue with dogs. Alberta is not like Thailand where bike-packers report being troubled by the country’s estimated one million stray dogs. Some adventurers there advise carrying a dog Dazer, a device that emits a high frequency sound that normally deters dogs find unpleasant. ( If you cycle in Thailand you have to take aggressive dogs with you. (S3 P1:E4) – CA15 ) Other riders even carry pepper spray. During my short ride through Vietnam last year, I found the dogs there were never an issue. Certainly, they were curious and came out to see what was going past but I was never chased. It may be that they were conditioned or trained not to run after the thousands of scooters and motorbikes that constitute most road traffic.
In Alberta, property owners are understandably concerned about the rise in rural crime (Rural crime rates consistently higher than in urban areas: StatCan | Calgary Herald ) and often protect their acreage with dogs. If relatively untrained dogs are left to run loose on a property and have free access to the roadway then problems can arise. A bored dog given little organized exercise may chase a cyclist on a public road, even when the cyclist poses no threat to the property it is supposedly protecting.
Being chased by a dog is both scary and annoying and you may not wish to take action but by reporting the incident to the local bylaw enforcement office, you may be protecting others in the future. If the dog actually nips you and draws blood, you need to take immediate action to protect yourself as well as others. Even if the wound seems superficial, you should immediately seek medical attention. Fortunately, rabies is not prevalent in the dog population here but you will be advised about tetanus protection. Also, you should take photos and report the incident so a bylaw enforcement officer can contact the property owner and investigate further.
Don’t let this discussion of negative experiences with dogs colour your attitude towards our loyal companions. In five decades of cycling, I have been chased numerous times but have only ever been knocked off once and nipped on one other occasion. With the co-operation of both cyclists and dog owners we can co-exists and all enjoy our city paths and country roads in peace.
Photo Credits:, American Kennel Club, Canadian Cycling Magazine