I've always considered myself an advocate, but I never thought I did enough to be considered worthy of the title 'Bicycle Advocate'...until today.
On my way home today, I passed by a guy playing with his dog in the park. Nothing unusual...unless you aren't in Colorado Springs (cause it's awesome), and think that playing with your dog in the snow is weird. And then the dog came after me. Now, this has happened before, but it's never bothered me, since I love dogs, and I've dealt with the truly damaged ones, and don't flinch (I'll probably expand on that in my journal). Usually, even with strays, I jump off the bike and confront the dog, and I've been extremely successful doing that. Well snow, and my newish panniers, and the ice and snow, stopping quickly and dismounting wasn't an option. So the dog had a go at me. Fortunately, I'm a damn ninja, and avoided the bites. Granted, the dog was an australian shepherd mix, so it wasn't very bitey, just tried to 'herd' me. I finally got stopped after pushing the dog off, and confronted the dog, which went back to his owner, who was understandably freaked out. Well, I wasn't hurt, and I wanted to make sure the dog was okay. Plus, in the back of my mind, I must have sensed...some potential. I wasn't mad or anything. It happens, and it's usually because a dog wasn't trained. So I went back to the guy, made sure the pup was okay, and struck up a conversation...since biking is awesome, and I'm an unusually nice person when riding. He was apologizing, naturally, and I told him not to worry about. Actually, I asked him if the dog had been trained on what to do when a biker came by. He looked confused, so I grabbed a cheese stick from my bag, and gave the guy some pointers and the cheese stick. He had the dog on leash, and put him into a sit every time I passed (since I had time). It took all of ten minutes, and he will need to continue working with the dog, but that dog is going to sit every time a biker comes by. Everything about this experience was just awesome.
I turned off the GoPro since the dude was freaking out, thinking I was trying to set him up (what a shitty way to live), but I got the attached shot right before the dog came at me after I pushed it away the first time.