What can be done? Not much. Most of us resort to a bit of interval training, sprinting past and out of harms way.
Last week, a case from the N.C. Court of Appeals alerted me to a potential legal stategy: the use of the dangerous dog law.
Here's the case:
www.aoc.state.nc.us/www/public/coa/opinions/2007/unpub/060502-1.htm
And here's a PDF of the law:
www.epi.state.nc.us/epi/vet/pdf/NCGSdogs.pdf
In a nutshell, if a dog has vicious or aggressive tendencies, you can ask county animal control officials to have the dog declared a "dangerous dog."
The dog's owner then has a heightened duty to keep the animal on his property and properly restrain it.
If a dangerous dog attacks a person and causes physical injuries requiring medical treatment of more than $100, the owner can be charged with a Class 1 misdemeanor. And the owner faces strict liablity for any injuries or property damage the dog causes to a person and his or her property (i.e., cyclist and bike).
The statute has one application that could apply to cyclists out on the road. The statute covers dogs that approach "a person when not on the owner's property in a vicious or terrorizing manner in an apparent attitude of attack."
Most dogs are simply in it for the chase. But some I've faced off against fall squarely under the statute.
There are administrative hoops that you have to jump through to get a dog declared dangerous, and my guess is few cyclists would go to all that trouble, but clubs with established routes might.
Meantime, there's nothing dangerous about this dog: Elsie, aka "The Schmootz."
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