As a dog lover myself I had a visceral reaction as I felt the impact I was on my way to work this morning. Had just made a right turn at the bottom of our hill onto the pavement and was probably doing 15mph as I passed an inn that had gone bankrupt and been sold by the bank to new folks we hadn't met yet. They've been working on the place for a couple of weeks, hauling stuff out and tossing it into two huge dumpsters: furniture, old carpeting, drywall, insulation. Anyhow, I complete the turn and am scanning for ice (24F this morning) when a brown streak comes around a truck parked in front of the inn and makes a beeline for me. I rolled on instinctively and the front end of the GSA comes right off the ground. Wheelies on a hack can get pretty interesting; with the rear wheel and the tub wheel offset you never come straight up like on a two-wheeler. A little body English to regain control and I notice the dog is fixated on me, not the rig. He goes under the raised nose of the tub and I feel a sickening thud as the rig briefly goes forth on one tire before it lurches back on all three. I start pulling over but the dog is up and snarling. I pulled over at the high school a few hundred yards away to look for damage or blood. I find none. It looks like the bumper that Claude designed so the rig would slide over rocks without damaging the fiberglass tub pushed the dog down and away from hard angles. All I could think is if I had taken the two-wheeler today I would have gone down. Called the cops from work to let them know what happened and to ask that they check on the dog for me. Knowing our local cops they'll most likely educate the owner on the legal consequences of their dog causing a crash as well. Close one!
having read many of your posts, I am sure that you were as concerned about the dog as you were your own safety. Glad that it all worked out for the best possible outcome, that it could.
Geez Pete, I know you feel bad about that, fortunate you found no bad signs. Hope the local PD finds the dog and it's owners and all is OK with the pup. Definitely not your fault, the owners need some education though.
I usually ride at the end of the line when I dual-sport with my buddies. Countless times I have seen a farm dog bolt onto the road after a bike not even realizing there are other bikes behind. Had several near misses but haven't pegged one yet. Ran over a snake once as I thought is was a branch on the fire road. By the time I could discern that it was a snake it was too late. VAC
I never heard back from the cops, but I noticed the owner has the dog on a leash for pee breaks now. Looks like all is well.
Glad to see that both you and the pooch are ok! When I read the title of the thread, I was fearing the worst (for both). Jim
