I live in the land of dogs .Seriously, I've never lived around so many dogs in my life. I live in a kind of biker (motorcycle) / pick up truck kind of town, and everyone seems to have one or more dogs. Many of them of the large variety. Cars, trucks, motorcycles, even people walking by don't seem to bother them at all, but you go by on a bicycle, and they just go bonkers. .. what's up with that? 99% of them are locked up in their yards, but the other day a medium size dog appeared from nowhere, caught up with me and started nipping at my feet as I was pedaling. I almost kicked him in the head, when he stopped and turned away. But this is a good topic, its good to be prepared for some bad stuff in case it does happen. I can definitely see possible problems around here. I guess pepper spray or some repellent would be good, as long as its right where you can grab it immediately