I Ran Over a Dog Yesterday.

[Desmo]

Before you start sending cruelty to animal e-mails the dog is fine.

I was riding on a new to me road (FM1736, thanks for the tip Brian) north of Hempstead about noon Sunday (2/1/04). The air was crisp with low clouds but no rain. I topped the hill at a good clip and immediately saw a couple working on a fence in a pasture below.

They had three or four dogs helping. The largest was a black and white collie size. The minute he heard my bike he put his head down and headed full blast for the road. Judging his closing speed and my closing speed, it was obvious he would arrive at our intersection first. There was no way to outrun him. He was on a mission.

I clamped down on the front Brembos and by the time I met him I was at almost a walking pace. Trouble is he danced around right in front of my front wheel. Barking and snapping at it to pevent my escape, his buddies came after my boots from the left side. This did not look like a good situation so instead of stopping, I decided to give it a little gas.

That is when I felt the front tire lift up and I heard the yelp. I probably just ran over his paw or leg. He finally headed toward the ditch. The others were still beside so I accelerated to prevent them from getting in front of me and getting the same fate. This whole time I was watching the dogs, not paying any attention to the owner. While riding off I looked back to see him smile and wave. This was probably not the first time he went after a bike and won't be the last either.

The situation turned out much better than it could have. It reminded me of a ride many years ago. I was with a few buddies and when returning to one's house in Cypress, his next door neighbors dog came out to greet us. My friend hit the dog and it took the front tire right out from under his Kawasaki 1100 (didn't hurt the dog). He hit the pavement without any gear (besides a helmet) and now has the scars to show for it. His bike also got trashed on one side and the dogs owner would not pay for anything. He did not pursue it because this was the next door neighbor of our other buddy.

Anyway, be safe out there. Steve

[Tourmeister]

:tab Very glad to hear nothing happened to you. In most states, an owner is not always responsible for the first "attack" of an animal if they had no prior indication that the animal was predisposed to such behavior. However, once the owner has notice, from that point on they will usually be held liable for any damage to people or property resulting from such behavior. Most court cases involving this center around stores with loose pets inside and dogs attacking joggers, mail carriers and neighbors. In this case, I would be inclined to get the address of the owner and send them a polite nonhostile certified letter notifying them of their dogs behavior and the potential for liability. You can bet that if I had been in your place, had slowed down and was not being squidly and the dogs caused an accident, the owner would be hearing from me regarding paying for bike damages. They might also get a visit from the local animal control.

:tab I don't like being a prick in such situations. However, the owner has the responsibility to keep his animals under control. The way I see it, when a dog comes after me, it is his life versus mine. If I can miss him without endangering myself, then great. I have no desire to hurt them. But if it comes down to hitting them or swerving off the road, they are getting hit. You have a much better chance of surviving such an impact if the bike is upright and travelling straight, even for big dogs. But if you are swerving and the bike is leaned over, hitting the dog is much more likely to cause you to lose control of the bike.

:tab Disclaimer. I am a cat person. But I have nothing against dogs in particular. Some of my best friends are dogs :-P

Adios,

[Docspeed]

I was out on 1736 about that time. I was on a silver vtec VFR and my tailgunner was on a RC51. I saw a big group of bikes, were you with them or by yourself. Don't tell too many people about that road. Let's keep it a secret.

[Desmo]

I was by myself. I also passed a big group of sportsbikes (probably the HSN guys) going the other way on 1488 right afterwards. BTW, they had a Harley riding sweep (or maybe they just passed him)!

[Tourmeister]

Don't tell too many people about that road. Let's keep it a secret.


Hehe... every squid in Houston knows about that road! :lol: The TSBA guys ride out there almost every weekend. So do quite a few of the HSN guys. That's what is so nice about the roads I run up further North, they are virtually empty. :dude:

Adios,

[Docspeed]

That's what is so nice about the roads I run up further North, they are virtually empty

I guess your right the squids were out on Sunday. One bike was even sporting number plates and no lights. There must have been 15 of them all together.

I usually ride that road when I keeping the ride around 2 hours. I do prefer your northern deserted roads. I really have a hankerin' to go east and do Hwy 87 and surrounding. I just need a little more warmth, I don't like to be cold all day. :eek:

[Tourmeister]

One bike was even sporting number plates and no lights.

Did it look like this one?

http://www.cycleforums.com/forums/avatar.php?userid=6166&dateline=1053056422

I know him... tsk tsk... living dangerously. Seems that is just asking for LEO attention :roll:

I do prefer your northern deserted roads. I really have a hankerin' to go east and do Hwy 87 and surrounding. I just need a little more warmth, I don't like to be cold all day.

I'll be doing a ride out into East Texas at the end of March and the beginning of April. they are both over nighters. You can read about previous rides in the Story Telling forum. Any of the East Texas Butt Burner reports or the Hodges Gardens reports will cover most of the roads in that area.

Adios,

[Docspeed]

You know it might have been him. We had already run up 1736 & took a break at the Chevron on 290. When we turned off of 290 back onto 1736 they were all turning around & parking. It looked like a road race on open road had just finished. I was looking at all the bikes & didn't read the number. My first thought was, I'll bet we see the DPS on the run back thru, but fortunately we didn't. Had to get back home to get ready for a Superbowl Party, so we didn't have a chance to stop & find out who they were. But the bike with the numberplate would give the LEO's a good reason to haul them all in for observing street racing.

[Anonymous]

Good to hear nothing serious happened there, Steve. While out riding around Lake Livingston yesterday (FM 224 rocks - when there's no traffic :wink: ) I pulled over in Point Blank to read a historical marker and was almost immediately set upon by two large mixed-breed dogs. They trotted over to me and proceeded to bark until they saw I wasn't impressed, then just sat there. When I was ready to go, I fired up the Triumph (Staintune w/o the restrictor 8) ) and gunned it a couple of times and sure enough they backed waaayyy off, and looked pretty relieved to see me go. :mrgreen:

Pet owners are totally responsible for keeping control of their animals. If I'm ever in an accident on a public road due to someone's negligence with their pet - and I survive the ordeal - they WILL be facing the consequences!
:x

[scratch]

Good to hear nothing serious happened there, Steve. While out riding around Lake Livingston yesterday (FM 224 rocks - when there's no traffic :wink: ) I pulled over in Point Blank to read a historical marker and was almost immediately set upon by two large mixed-breed dogs. They trotted over to me and proceeded to bark until they saw I wasn't impressed, then just sat there. When I was ready to go, I fired up the Triumph (Staintune w/o the restrictor 8) ) and gunned it a couple of times and sure enough they backed waaayyy off, and looked pretty relieved to see me go. :mrgreen:

Pet owners are totally responsible for keeping control of their animals. If I'm ever in an accident on a public road due to someone's negligence with their pet - and I survive the ordeal - they WILL be facing the consequences!
:x

That was me - linked directly from my e-mail topic notification and forgot to log in. :roll:

[10-95]

Animal owners ARE responsible if you hit them on the road and you get damages/injury/etc. Homeowners insurance usually covers it, but you could easily haul their butt to small claims and win.

It always bothers me to see people letting their animals roam --- kids are in that category too. If you can't control them you shouldn't have them.

[RapidRobert]

So of you may not be aware that there is a technique for avoiding dogs that come at you from the side. I picked this up from RIDER magazine about 15 years ago, and I've used it sucessfully many times since.

Dogs seem to have a built-in computer that can project an intercept point with you. They seem to know intuitively how fast to run and what trajectory to take. Your job must be to confuse them! When you first spot a dog looking like it wants to chase after you, get hard on the brakes to scrub off some speed. You will notice the dog will immediately pull up and try to re-compute his trajectory. As he does this, get hard on the throttle, before he has time to figure out what you've done, and chances are, you'll blow by the poor critter as he looks confused and defeated.

Practice this until it becomes instinctive, and you'll find it never fails. As long as you stay alert to impending dangers from the side of the road, that is.

[Horribilis]

Yeah if it was the grp with the race bike, that looked like that one, I was in that grp. It was actually a Honda shadow 700 riding sweep. There was a Harley V-rod with the grp earlier, but he went down on a corner on Robertson cemetary Road. He was fine, no injuries at all, the bike was a little dinged up, but nothing 2 hrs in the shop didn't fix right up. THe grp started out with 16 riders - after the V-rod went down, he and BabyT split for home. Then, on 1736 a 954RR took a rock to the radiator and had to nurse it back to Houston. So the ride ended with 13 of us. It was a great day, temp wise and with the clouds behind the clouds, didnt have to worry about glare.

Went back out there yesterday, and I am certain that we (only 5 of us) passed that same couple working on their fences....no dogs this time though, thankfully.