The buses leapfrog
In a poorly choreographed
Hop through the country.
Friday, June 10, 2016
The hills can be daunting. The rain blinding. The drivers insane. But it’s the dogs that are frightening me to death.
A lot of people run and ride here and just don’t seem to be bothered by dogs barking at them or coming toward them in a threatening way. But for me, I might be able to learn how to cope, but I’ll never be able to just treat these near attacks nonchalantly.
To cope on the run we’ve been told to bend over and pick up a rock. Usually just the act of bending down and reaching for a stone will stop a Panamanian dog. It’s been effective. I’ve only thrown a rock once, and that was not to hit the dog but to warn it that I had the nerve to do it. That has lead me to modify my approach. I now try to pick up two stones if I see a dog is going to be aggressive. One to warn and the other in case it doesn’t heed the warning.
Similarly on a ride I’ve been using the water bottle squirt method. A good squirt aimed at a dog sprinting at me seems to stun it enough to halt the pursuit. Problem yesterday was a dog came after me within a quarter mile of home and I was out of water. Modification: don’t drink all my water until I’m home. I’m also going to start carrying pepper spray just in case the dog’s thirsty and water isn’t doing the trick.
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