Find Your Valentine
Slog
News & ArtsMonday, July 27, 2009
Chow Pit Bulls and Critical Mass!
Posted by Chicago Fan on Mon, Jul 27, 2009 at 8:11 AM
So, Saturday I'm riding my bike on the Major Taylor Trail, a rails-to-trails conversion through Chicago's Far South Side. At several spots, it runs essentially behind people's backyards, and I came around a curve to see a chain link fence with an open gate and a pit bull the size of a small rhino lolling about six feet off the side of the trail. Choke chain on, but no leash. I was quickly past it down a long straightaway—it turned its head to follow and shuffled its hind legs but didn't get up—and for the rest of the ride I had to contemplate my strategy for return.
To avoid being Pit Bull Chow, what should I do? Getting off the trail and taking streets wasn't much of an option, as I didn't know the neighborhood beyond its high crime statistics. (My favorite stat on that site: "Other Offense: Death. On Sidewalk." That'd be me. . . )
On the ride back, if the dog was there, it would see me coming for about 500 yards. Should I go slowly enough that if it came for me, I could speed up to avoid its lunge? Or should I go as fast as possible from the start and hope to just zoom past?
This dilemma made me think: Hey, Critical Mass is this Friday! Perhaps the Slog Hive Mind can help me with my strategy here while also planning for Mass Critical of Critical Mass? Could we work pit bulls into some sort of street-capping system?
Discuss.
PS I decided on strategy #1, to allow for acceleration, but it didn't matter as the dog was gone on my return. Gate was closed too.
1
Oh oh, Some Seattle nativist loser is going to tell you to stay off this SEATTLE BLOG in 5... 4... 3...
9
Chicago Fan -- Why weren't you complaining about the heat? Wasn't it in the 80s there yesterday? Does not compute.
11
I totally would've done the speed past. But honestly? I live in Albuquerque where there's more pit bulls owned by mean people per capita and I've never had a problem with one on my bike. I usually have the worst problems with little dogs. God damn those little dogs are scary.
12
How busy was the path? I likely would have returned the same way. Likely the dog either would be gated in by then or doesn't really care about riders going by. However, I would be ready to defend myself (some bikers carry dog mace, some use their pump) if he started chasing and attacking.
At least you were still in the city. Scarier is when you're biking in the country and ride past a house with an unleashed dog and as soon as they spot you they run right towards you. Then you find out how fast you can bike.
At least you were still in the city. Scarier is when you're biking in the country and ride past a house with an unleashed dog and as soon as they spot you they run right towards you. Then you find out how fast you can bike.
16
The wild dogs used to chase us in the Denver train yards. Simply dismount, and keep the bike between you and the dog. They will bark and growl at you. But you should be able to stay calm and walk past them. Running (or ridding fast) provokes the to give chase.
If they try to get close enough to bite or jump at you. DO NOT HESITATE to whack them in the face with your bike HARD.
Now, I love dogs. But unless you want to get bitten. You need to act accordingly.
If they try to get close enough to bite or jump at you. DO NOT HESITATE to whack them in the face with your bike HARD.
Now, I love dogs. But unless you want to get bitten. You need to act accordingly.
17
Chicago Fam,
perhaps you could provide some perspective for my Seattle brethren:
folks here have been concerned about 20 murders so far this year in Seattle. Is it not true that in Chicago 20 murders would just be the tally for an average high school football game?
Should we chill?
perhaps you could provide some perspective for my Seattle brethren:
folks here have been concerned about 20 murders so far this year in Seattle. Is it not true that in Chicago 20 murders would just be the tally for an average high school football game?
Should we chill?
18
Chicago Fan and Douche from Denver should gang up and make a blog called 'losers from other cities that have no lives'. Maybe hit up Miamis blog or heck, how about Tokyo?
19
@ 18, have they completed the anti-Suicide fence on the Aurora Bridge yet? If not, you still have time to make your greatest contribution to humanity.
21
What you should have done is get 20-100 fixie douchebags to ride along with you for moral support, and cork the open gate so the dog couldn't get through.
22
boy Matt - you sure have your finger on a city that's over 20 hours away! Good thing you spend all day here hitting F5 waiting for a witty retort that you can post.
I'm sure your loser ass also has tabs open for LA, Portland, Austin, Boston, NYC and Topeka, KS blogs as well.
I'm sure your loser ass also has tabs open for LA, Portland, Austin, Boston, NYC and Topeka, KS blogs as well.
23
Well, it IS pretty damn slow at work today (yay, I won't forget my password again!). What else should I do but give a troll the business? Especially one that posts the same thing over and over, and is so insecure that someone from out of town dares post on a blog that has about one Seattle post for every 25 non-Seattle ones. Or that I lived in Seattle long enough to gain quasi-permanent residency that goes with me wherever I do.
Thanks for the tip about F5 - I'm oldschool and have been doing CTRL-R, and this will keep me from straining my hand! Who says cowardly losers are all bad?
Thanks for the tip about F5 - I'm oldschool and have been doing CTRL-R, and this will keep me from straining my hand! Who says cowardly losers are all bad?
24
First off, we're neighbors and see you at mass. Second, I run/bike on the path you're talking about as well as through my far south side neighborhood where pretty much all my neighbors have pits. I recommend pepper spray clipped to the belt 'cause you will trigger their prey drive running or on a bike. Haven't had to use it yet, but better safe than sorry.
27
just got back from the greater chicago area, bill, and the city of the big shoulders is BEAUTIFUL! only saw it through a car window on a driving tour, but i loved what i saw. i am definitely returning in the spring for a longer visit. (greater chicago area being orland park, where we stayed for four days to attend a family wedding. like the cook county forest preserve!)
28
STM
Get in touch when you return, and I will give some advice about things to do, places to go, pit bulls to avoid, etc.
Bill
Get in touch when you return, and I will give some advice about things to do, places to go, pit bulls to avoid, etc.
Bill
29
You could have closed the gate when you passed it the first time around. Given that the dog had no interest in you, though, I suspect you're just paranoid (though I, too, have had dogs chase me on my bike -- all kinds of dogs; the behavior isn't limited to one breed).
30
STM - I've been back in Chicago for the past week for work, and the weather was just gorgeous. You picked a great time to be here. I can't believe I'm about to get on a plane and fly back into 99 degree weather....
31
I shouldn't add fuel to this fire, but here's a sick story worthy of the ever-extreme Slog treatment.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- A driver, now identified as an Asheville firefighter, shot a bicycle rider because he was angry the man was riding with his child on a busy road, Asheville police said.
http://www.wyff4.com/news/20187786/detai…
ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- A driver, now identified as an Asheville firefighter, shot a bicycle rider because he was angry the man was riding with his child on a busy road, Asheville police said.
http://www.wyff4.com/news/20187786/detai…
32
I would have slowed down, said Hello to the dog, checked for tags and called the owner. No tags? Call animal control.
It's silly to assume a dog is menacing until it gives you reason to.
Carry mace in your bike jersey in case you actually come across an aggressive dog, rather than one you have stereo-typed as aggressive.
It's silly to assume a dog is menacing until it gives you reason to.
Carry mace in your bike jersey in case you actually come across an aggressive dog, rather than one you have stereo-typed as aggressive.
33
@32 and @29
No way on God's Green Earth, or asphalt Bike Path, am I going anywhere near an unattended Pit Bull, or closing someone else's back gate. Check the tags? See if the dog is aggressive? It's a fucking Pit Bull. It's bred to be aggressive. Close the gate? That's someone else's private property, which I have no right to touch.
No way on God's Green Earth, or asphalt Bike Path, am I going anywhere near an unattended Pit Bull, or closing someone else's back gate. Check the tags? See if the dog is aggressive? It's a fucking Pit Bull. It's bred to be aggressive. Close the gate? That's someone else's private property, which I have no right to touch.
34
How about a Critical Mass of Pedestrians who keep crossing in front of the bicyclists, blocking them in by holding hands, etc.
Or just sic pit bulls on them. I'm ok with that too.
Or just sic pit bulls on them. I'm ok with that too.
35
@ 31 THe shooting is fucked up, but the guy riding with his kid in a major road way was obviously an idiot. I think that those people who tow their kidiots on bikes get what they deserve. Its one thing to risk your own life, but to risk a child's life (like that little yellow buggy is somehow safe) is just ridiculous and unacceptable. The shooting is terrible, of course, as well as illegal and inexcusable, et cetera, but riding with a kid in tow is dumb as well, and should be illegal. Sounds like two idiots met each other in a tragic twist of...metal. At least the fireman had good aim.
36
@ 33 My pit bull was not bred to be aggressive. She was bred for good temperament and obedience. However, I agree that back in the day (just a few decades ago, really) there were no breed standards for APBTs other than aggression and gameness, and I wouldn't want to get to close to an unattended and leashless dog no matter what breed! I have been bit by a spaniel lab mix in the face (and have a huge scar underneath my eye from it) and was bit by a husky as a baby on the top of my forehead. And yes, I have been bit by my own pit bull in the hand when playing rough, but that was by accident and not a defensive bite. It still hurt like a bitch though!
37
I had a similar encounter with an unexpected rattlesnake on a PA rails-to-trails path. Fucker was lying half across the path. It also ignored me and was gone by the time I returned.
38
I find it hilarious that there's one anon who posts almost constantly in every thread just to troll Matt from Denver. Somebody's got a mental problem, and it's not Matt from Denver.
Meanwhile, all due respect, but if I see a news story about Julie Russell dying from a dog attack in a few years, I will not be surprised.
Meanwhile, all due respect, but if I see a news story about Julie Russell dying from a dog attack in a few years, I will not be surprised.
39
@33 If that's your argument...beware of boston terriers as well.
They, too, are one of 35 dogs "bred to fight".
A dogs behavior is the reult of genetics and enviro. working together.
@38...I will ALWAYS stop for an unattended dog.
True story: Thursday night I was at work (crisis counseling @ a home in South Seattle) and I saw what I thought was a cute little pittie on the side of the road. I stopped and said hello...when he stood up he had the body of a Bassett Hound and a big ol' pittie head (ADORABLE!)
Anyway..AC was closed and I spoke with 4 neighbors..all stating he was abandoned there and had been hanging out for 2 weeks..(Um..HELLO why did NO ONE else help?)Presumably the pit bull prejudice.
Naturally, he jumped in my car and off we went.
Since I didn't know how he'd react to my little dog pack at home, I got a hotel and hung out with my little Bassett Buddy until AC opened in the morning.
Yes, I am crazy...and yes I annoy the shit out of my husband, but MOST dogs are super sweet, Like Pedro, my Bassett Buddy.
They, too, are one of 35 dogs "bred to fight".
A dogs behavior is the reult of genetics and enviro. working together.
@38...I will ALWAYS stop for an unattended dog.
True story: Thursday night I was at work (crisis counseling @ a home in South Seattle) and I saw what I thought was a cute little pittie on the side of the road. I stopped and said hello...when he stood up he had the body of a Bassett Hound and a big ol' pittie head (ADORABLE!)
Anyway..AC was closed and I spoke with 4 neighbors..all stating he was abandoned there and had been hanging out for 2 weeks..(Um..HELLO why did NO ONE else help?)Presumably the pit bull prejudice.
Naturally, he jumped in my car and off we went.
Since I didn't know how he'd react to my little dog pack at home, I got a hotel and hung out with my little Bassett Buddy until AC opened in the morning.
Yes, I am crazy...and yes I annoy the shit out of my husband, but MOST dogs are super sweet, Like Pedro, my Bassett Buddy.
40
@33 Well, now I'm certain that you're paranoid. Most pitbulls aren't bred to be aggressive, and if it lives right by a busy bike path and showed no interest in a passing biker, that's because it wasn't interested. That being said, it probably would be wise to carry a fog horn or something to scare off dogs that might give chase, whatever breed they may be.
Advertisement
Most Commented on Slog
-
SL Letter of the Day: Life Sentence by Dan Savage
-
SL Letter of the Day: Daddy Loves Who? by Dan Savage
-
Required Listening: Howard Stern on Ellen, JC Penney, Bullied Gay Kids, Rosie, Santorum, Bachmann, et al by Dan Savage
-
Crowdsourcing Uncut Police Video from the Dec. 12 Occupy Protest at the Port of Seattle by Eli Sanders
-
Slog Bible Study: Deuteronomy 21:10-14 by Goldy
-
The AP Is Reporting That Whitney Houston Is Dead by Paul Constant
-
State Legislator Testifies That His Opposition to Same-Sex Marriage Came to Him from a Commercial for Jack in the Box by Christopher Frizzelle
-
"Let me be the first one to say: My business will refuse to participate in a same-sex marriage ceremony," by Republican Representative Matt Shea of the Spokane Valley by Eli Sanders
-
The Onion Is on a Roll: "Iran Worried U.S. Might Be Building 8,500th Nuclear Weapon" by Charles Mudede
-
"I don't know if I want to be here [if gay marriage passes]," by Republican State Senator Jay Rodne of North Bend by Eli Sanders
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
Comments (40) RSS