Los Perros…
It may come as a surprise to some of you, but one of the main problems I face down here is the dogs. On a day to day basis I’m never worried about the police, the cartels (which yes I have seen), or any thing else people warned me about before hand. The only thing I worry about is getting bitten by a pissed off dog.
Just like the mail ladies and men back home, the dogs down here hate bicycles. Every day, I am chased by countless dogs down countless streets. Luckily for me, I have managed to avoid getting bitten up to now. I’d like to think that’s thanks to my self defence systems I have built for my dog encounters.
First off, before I get into my funny methods, I’d like to touch on the fact that in rural communities, the stray dogs are a serious issue. Even in the wild, it’s not uncommon to see a pack of wild dogs scrounging the road sides for food. Most times, my heart goes into my mouth as I approach a pack of stray dogs, because you never know if they’re going to attack or mind their own business. Putting it into a percentage, I would say 30-40% of the time the dogs will bark at you; and 50% of the times they bark, they will run after you.
It is for this 50% of the time that I have developed a few rules and methods to not get munched by a dog. Rule one is to always have my head on a swivel when entering small towns. I’ve noticed that in the smaller towns, less people bike, and therefore, the dogs usually are more tempted to chase after a bicycle.
Rule two is to anticipate the chase before the chase happens. This sort of follows rule one… I find it a lot easier to think quickly if I see the dogs before they chase. Sometimes, they catch you by surprise, and it’s in these cases I tend to have to resort to stopping and dismounting, or kicking on the roll. Anticipate, and it’s a lot easier to be proactive with your reaction.
Rule three is to never ever assume they are done chasing. Sometimes, you’ll think they are done chasing, and ten seconds later they are nipping at your ankles again. Usually catching me by surprise. I’ve learnt to shoulder check for up to 100 metres after the dogs, just to ensure they have truly lost interest in the chase.
If you’ve read this far, thank you! I appreciate you taking your time to read what I’ve written. Next, I do want to share the ‘funny’ methods that I mentioned earlier. These methods are purely self defence, because like most people, I’d rather not get bitten by a pack of wild dogs.
The first original method I developed was to get off my bike and walk. This way, you’re able to put the bike between you and the dogs, and I’ve learnt that it sort of throws the dogs off a little when you get off the bike. Like the “threat” that they saw is now gone, so they usually bark at you, but rarely do they follow. It’s a very effective method, but getting on and off your bike every few minutes can get annoying, so of course I trialed a few other methods.
The second one I started to use was just to start yelling at them! I saw a local yell “vamos” loudly and it worked, so I decided to try it myself. This method seems to work, especially if it is a stray dog. They tend to scare easily, and only if it is one singular dog. This method is useless in a pack, and I actually think it aggravates them to an extent. That being said the next method involves yelling, but I mixed it with a little something extra.
Method 3, which is the one I’m currently using, is combining yelling and spraying water. Pierre, one of the cyclists I travelled with would use water and spray it at the dogs. Surprisingly, it is extremely affective, and it works with small and large groups. I will yell something stupid in English, usually with some provocative words, and spray the dogs, and this has become extremely effective!
Lastly, is the kick method. Which is self explanatory, it’s boot f***ing a dog in the face. I have had to do this a handful of times now. It’s sad, I don’t want to harm dogs. I do truly love them, but when they’re inches from chewing on my new tattoos, sorry… they’re getting my heel to their nose. This thankfully has had a 100% success rate at stopping those close encounters.
It doesn’t matter where I’ve been… Baja, Mexico City, Oaxaca… all the towns/states are the same. Dogs everywhere. When I was young, I was chased and nipped by a neighbouring dog, so naturally I have a slim fear of getting bitten by dogs chasing me. However, the more I get chased, the more comfortable I am in dealing with these situations. After all, there is no way in hell I am going to let a stray dog ruin my ‘vacation’