IB13: Sound Defense Humanely Keeps Dogs at Bay

@NASH
The rest of us mere mortals don’t posses your gift of being able to climb the Alpe d’Huez with a 53/39 11-23 combo and outsprint dogs with the slightest flick of the pedal. I’d love to take you for a ride in rural California where many pet owners view cyclists as a cheap chew toy for their free-roaming pets.

Considering that the average domesticated dog can easily reach and maintain speeds of up to 32 miles an hour, they are an unwelcome sight when climbing a gradual ascent near the end of a 60 mile training run with hill repeats. I got a good jump on the sprint with one dog and he still gave a solid pursuit for at least a 1/4 mile. You see NASH.. dogs are hunters.. it’s their natural instinct to chase prey.. running just fuels that natural instinct and incites them to chase. We had a local rider get pulled from her bike by a pit bull. She won’t get on her bike again.

I could only wish that this product works as claimed. I’m hoping someone has some personal experience to share that will shed some light.

I love dogs, but after years of torment by rover (the dog somehow always surprises you just when you are at your most relaxed), using “Sound Defense” looks like FUN!!!

Jose, some of us ride on dirt and gravel roads out in the country where people let their dogs roam free. I’ve gone on rides carrying dog food in my jersey pocket to toss as a distraction.

I think the air horn with 120Db is better!! More fun !! If it scares off a lion then maybe it is even better than a gun!!
In Australia the Magpie bird is a big problem too. An air horn is my next purchase!!

Thanks for the inspiration!!

Anyone who says “just outrun the dog” has obviously never seen a large dog at top speed, which can very easily run at the same speed as a pro cyclist. The fattest, laziest dog has a VO2 max that would make any Cancellara feel inadequate.

Totally unrelated, but no joke, the most wattage I ever produced was when I was being chased by a dog. More than any time racing with the elites, more than any training ride sprint. I can’t remember the exact wattage anymore, but it was something like 1800 watts. I had to check my meter’s calibration. For reference, I am 5’4″ and 130lbs. It’s amazing what adrenaline can produce.

I typically hit one squirrel a year, and that is not an exaggeration. Black squirrels are taking over Northern California. I would get one of these if I knew I could reach it in time to scare it off.

A friend of mine has a very, very large air canister horn with remote button on his handlebar. He uses it to commute and honk back at cars. I’m sure the same thing would work here.

Dogs get into hunting mode when they see you pass them by at high speed, and think you are running away from them. If a dog tries to bite you, all you have to do is stop and face him. This will get him out of the hunting mode, and then you can resume your bike excursion.

My mother-in-law, who lives in rural Nova Scotia (Canada), is very afraid of the dogs in her region that often chase cyclists. I’m pretty sure that she can’t outsprint most of them (she’s over 60 and only weighs about 100 lbs). She still goes out on regular rides in the summer, but always has some mace spray with her; I even made a bike holder for the mace from an extra pump holder that I had.

I think she’d love this device, and I want to get her one one for Christmas. The only problem is that I live in Switzerland and she lives in Canada, and they’ll only ship to the US, so I’ll have to figure out who we know over there and will be going back to Nova Scotia for Christmas.

@David R
Beating off an animal with a bike is disgusting. I don’t even want to think of how you would do that in the first place.

Should make one for dogs AND cops, both are equally vicious anymore.

In almost all off-road bike trips I get attacked by dogs. I carry with me a pepper spray and an ultrasound dog chaser (not this model). Stones and wood bats are already there. The ultrasound device worked fine on some big aggressive dogs but didn’t on others. This type of device is usually not working on dogs that live in urban area because they are used to strong sounds. When getting old, dogs can loose hearing and this device will not work on those dogs either.

@SizzleChest: You obviously did not encounter a big aggressive dog pack. When it’s “me lying few months in a hospital” vs “dog get to know who’s the superior species on earth” ….I choose the last one. Remember we were hunters too sometime and we also have defensive instinct. And we also eat meat, I wonder how we get that without hurting animals. It’s a cruel world and not all of us have the luck to be able to ignore this aspect.
I live in Romania and here dogs are a real problem. Last year a guy was killed by a dog and this year a 4 years child. In the capital Bucharest alone, dog attacks on persons (cyclists and non-cyclists) that needed hospital care are with hundreds each month and the peak was 1.468 persons (274 of them kids) in two months in 2011. These were only the officially reported ones and it’s a crowded urban area. ONGs managed to save the dogs by adopting them and letting them free afterwards… until that child was killed.

Riding in the boondocks dogs can be a big problem. Would love to try this out. Halt is not very effective, and it does have a shelf life. On a bigger, more agro dog it’s gonna get you, and won’t notice the spray till after the adrenaline has worn off. 20 year postman talking here so you can trust me on that one. Not to mention even if someone’s dog does bite you some owners may get belligerent if you mace their dog. Then you may have a situation where you have some redneck trying to run you off the road, or worse. Even as a postman I’ve had bodily harm threatened by an owner when I reached for my can of halt for a fast approaching dog. This seems like a much better solution, too bad it’s sort of bulky, a smaller version would be perfect.