heavy fall due to unleashed dog

The late lamented Richard Ballantine famously advised the readers of Richard’s Bicyle Book to unclip their cycle pump and thrust it as far down the dog’s throat as it would go.

I am sorry to hear that you were injured by the actions of a bad dog owner, rather than a bad dog (who should have been under control in an area in close proximity to a cycle path). I imagine that there is little you can do when any animal jumps out at random from a blind spot – much like a child running out from behind a car. All you can do, I would guess, is be extra vigilant in areas where dogs off the leash are more likely to be about – perhaps looking for people holding empty leads, rather than the more easily hidden dogs themselves.

If you are chased/attacked by a dog however, the following website offers some useful advice:

http://bicycling.about.com/od/howtoride/tp/dogs_and_bikes.htm

It is nice to see it recommends attacking the dog only as a last resort, if you are in danger of being bitten.

Technically speaking, the owner could be breaking the law by their dog behaving in a dangerous manner:

https://www.gov.uk/control-dog-public/overview

You could (and I would suggest, should), therefore report the guy to the police… but we can probably all guess what kind of reaction you are going to get from them.

If you had experienced any material damage yourself or to the bike, with the footage that you have (showing that the guy is paying no attention to his obviously bonkers and out of control animal on a route which is also a clearly designated cycle route and where he should, therefore, reasonably expect that there might be cyclists passing) it would be entirely within the realms of possibility that you could (and should) sue him through the small claims court for the value of that damage.

Hi,

Looks like the Didcot-Upton Sustrans path from your video ? I use this for cycling and running, and a small number of dog-walkers who use this path certainly don’t even attempt to keep their dogs under control. When I was knocked off my bike in similar circumstances a couple of years ago I did at least manage to persuade the owner to pay up for a replacement helmet (I’d hit my head on the ground when I landed and I think my rolling around in agony scared her into thinking the crash had been much worse than it was – so perhaps my best advice if you are unlucky enough to end up in this situation is to exaggerate your injuries !)

It might just be my imagination, but using a bell on my bike can encourage people to get their dogs out of the way when I’m approaching – even if I know they’ve seen me, ringing the bell can be used to point out that their dog is creating a potential obstruction (since they probably haven’t realised where their dog is !). Some people of course will just ignore you anyway, and get quite upset if you don’t stop to allow their dear little Rover to have a snap at your ankles. Occasionally I’m tempted by the idea of a very loud air horn, but haven’t resorted to it yet.

Sustrans have a ‘code of conduct’ on their website for shared use paths, which is quite extensive for cyclists but seems to restrict ‘rules’ for non-cyclists to a couple of ‘tips for other path users’ – one of these being to keep dogs under control.
http://www.sustrans.org.uk/change-your-travel/get-cycling/cycling-code-conduct-shared-use-paths
Personally I’d like these ‘tips’ for pedestrians to also include wearing of reflective clothing/carrying of lights when on the path at night, and not stopping to have conversations in the middle of the path. But that’s a whole other topic…