I hit a dog yesterday

[goo_mason]

Arn't all dogs supposed to be on a lead in all public places?

No they are supposed to be under control, a dog can be under control when off the lead, but sadly many owners don't understand that. I was passing a dog one time when the own called it, the stupid mutt turned and tried to walk trough my front wheel. It didn't half give out a yelp, poor thing. If owner would only learn to keep their dogs under control and out of harms way it would greatly help.[/QUOTE]

Same thing happened to me - saw owner and two dogs ahead, rang bell and slowed down. Owner and one dog move to the left of the path, other dog stands off the path on the right. Just as I'm level with them, the woman calls on the dog on the other side of the path to 'come here !', at which point it runs right in front of me and I have to make a sudden stop. Thankfully I was only at walking speed at the time so the dog wasn't touched.

Of course, it was then MY fault and I was subjected to a torrent of abuse.

I'd been looking forward ever since to meeting the woman again, so I can ring my bell for about 20 secs beforehand and ask her if that was "adequate advance warning this time", just to get my own back

 

[Arch]

On the plus side in that owner one side/dog the other situation, I have encountered owners smart enough for them to be able to shout "Stay there!" instead of "Come here!", which is always gratefully acknowledged.

 

[goo_mason]

Indeed, Arch.

Thankfully I've never really had many problems with dogs and their owners on the paths. The usual encounters with them are all smiles and thank-yous from both sides - I think they get their fair share of unthinking cyclists who tear past them with no warning, so the fact that I let them know I'm approaching seems to go down well.

(I nearly said 'never really had many issues' but given what domtyler seems to think of me in another thread, that would be the wrong word to use )

 

[Road Fiddler]

Were you on the road, cycle lane? By law you are supposed to report any RTIs with dogs to the police, I would have been inclined to do this as the owner may have been prosecuted for not controlling the dog properly.

 

[HLaB]

Are dogs supposed to be on a lead on a shared use path? A while back I was cycling along an old railway path when I saw somebody walking along swinging a lead slowed I slowed down; on queue a dog comes rushing out of the bushes and stops in front of my bike beside the bloke. As I was expecting it, it was no problem. I laughed and said to the bloke that was almost a close one. He then proceeded to start blaming me, it was my fault?

 

[asterix]

It sounds as if you slowed to an appropriate speed, so that was the right move. The dog owner sounds a bit over sensitive about such encounters.

 

[snorri]

Are dogs supposed to be on a lead on a shared use path?
He then proceeded to start blaming me, it was my fault?

I don't think there is a requirement for dogs to be on a lead, but they should be "under control", a grey area if ever there was one.
Yes, in the dog owners eyes it was your fault for just being there.

 

[longers]

On a shared use path (ie the Trans Pennine Trail) I thought that walkers had right of way. As the dog is walking does this mean it should have right of way too? This doesn't stop me from taking every possible precaution with my dog to give way to cyclists, and when I'm cycling along there I'm very courteous to walkers and their dogs. Ramblers are worse than dogs