How to scare away dogs without wrecking your bike???

If a dog is close enough, spraying a water bottle at the dog will usually stop them. Most of the time they want to play.

They do have doggie pepper spray and whistles you can use, if its something you regularily incounter.

Yell as loudly as you can at it. "GO HOME!" "GET AWAY!" etc.  This works 99% of the time for me.

If it really looks like the dog is coming after you and may catch you, get off of your bike and keep it between you and the dog.  I also carry a can of Halt! when I'm riding in areas that I know have aggressive dogs.

You can get a small pocketsize handheld airhorn.  I used one on my FIL's neighbors annoying dogs and they won't come near the fence anymore :D

In as mean a voice as you can muster, yell "NO" and "BAD DOG", "GO HOME". If you are in an area where it's possible to sprint for a short distance you can do that as most dogs will only chase near their property, and very few will continue to chase if you're pulling away from them.

Spit or spray water. Quick and easy.

Spray water at it's face, yell, sprint, all good suggestions!

Me too, I get a big mouthful and spray it on them, lots of dogs around here smelling like gatorade!
If I try to swirt it at them from the bottle I usually miss.

The "No No, BAD DOG" works well too. 

I live out in the country where dogs are less behaved. I agree with the other advise but I carry Pepper spray in my Bento bag. I have it ready anytime a new dog comes anywhere close to me. If they have been sprayed in the past they won't come anywhere near you. Some of the worse bike accidents I have seen were due to dogs. Be careful

Yeah, very big animal.  I would be wary of being too aggressive with larger dogs.  It's a fine line between showing dominance and threatening attack.  If a big dog like that thinks you're attacking, it may attack you in what it thinks is self defense.  I would yell "no" and "back" or whatever along with a squirt of water.

It pisses me off when dogs are loose, but I don't really want to hurt one either.

A different approach:

If it's on a route that I regularly ride, I get off of the bike and call/whistle for the dog.  I then make friends with it and get his/her name off of the collar.  So the next time I see it, I just slow down and call his/her name.   There are five very large dogs who no longer bother to chase me when they see me coming...but I'm still working on a small mutt that will not approach me when I get off my bike.

Are you the Dog Whisperer? All kidding aside, that may work for you, but it's not a method I would recommend. I have the scar to show for a dog bite (pit bull) and that is when I was on foot. Dogs are very unpredictable, especially when your on their turf. Best bet is to try to seperate yourself.

If your going to carry something that you want to spray or throw at the dog, you better be able to use it at a moments notice. That's when your most likely to be alarmed and do something rash which may cause an accident. In another words, practice your method, especially when tucked in aero.

my .o2 tom

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Tossing a piece of food as you go by often works wonders, too.

I have had a lot of encounters with dogs, and honestly the best advice I have heard is to just ignore them.  Most of the time they just want to chase you, so if you act like nothing is wrong and don't speed up or yell or even acknowledge them, they quickly give up.  I have tried everything else (sprinting away, spraying water, yelling, and pepper spray) and this has worked best for me.

If I have warning and can I just speed up.

On a group ride last week as we were coming up a big hill,  I notice a dog run out at the group ahead of me just in time to see one of the riders break out and CHASE IT with his bike! I almost started laughing. (Maybe I actually did, can't remember for sure.)

I was the next one to pass the dog.  It didn't leave its yard.

It did apparently chase the guy behind me though.  Go figure.

I hate it when dogs show up on steep hills like that. Sooooo hard to use my normal technique of sprinting away! 

-eric 

Agreed with the above on "noise" (i.e., yelling, etc.) first. Second is just get ahead of them as quickly as possible, shift into a high gear and hammer it until you are out of range (try to time with your interval set if possible . Dogs might be quick but you can hold a pace a lot longer than they can and they will probably lose interest once you are no longer a threat/play friend. THird, if they do chase you and get close, I will unclip my foot closest to him and use it to whack'em on the nose. Never had to resort to the third option yet (although I have unclipped before.. just no contact....that's usually enough for them to rethink their actions).

I love dogs...but owners with loose dogs near roadways are just stupid. On another note, I have t-boned a dog that skittered in front of me out of the blue on my mountain bike. I somehow avoided going over the handlebars. I had a few choice words for that owner.

I really, really hate it when this happens. I have changed routes in the past because of this but have employed a few strategies. My favorite is when I know I can outrun the dog and I'll keep just far enough of him to keep his interest and try to coax him into a heart attack.

It really comes down to two different approches depending on you and the dog.

1.  Ignoring them is usually affective with most dogs (they are only interested in playing or protecting their turf) and as long as you don't show signs of caring about either, neither will they.   Most dogs that I have on my "rugular" routes over time will quite carring about me all together.

2.  Showing domanance over the dog also works well as long as you REALLY show and feel dominant.   This is the yelling, telling it to go home, Bad Dog, Barking, etc.

Normally 1 can work for anyone who is not afraid of dogs.  #2 is more affective for masculine men (not try to be offensive, but petite femails don't want this to backfire against a large agressive dog or your only defense is to sprint or turn and fight).

I am sure the water/spit, horns all can work, I just don't want to take my hands or feet away from the bike to try them, it just creates too much concern for a wreck either in or out of a group.

Same principals aply on the run also.

Michael