Dog issues on the cycle path

I was biking to work like on any other day. I saw a lady on the path, and rung my bell so she would know I was approaching. I then saw she had a dog as well; a bit further away from me, and quietly standing to the side. The woman headed for the dog with a slight jog. She tried to put it on a lead before I would get to her. I appreciated that; most dogs will behave sensibly enough, but you never know. 

I thought I would just bike past and that would be it. But when I got to the dog, it charged. The lady had not managed to put the lead on the dog. I braked hard. I hit the dog anyway, but luckily at low speed. This seemed to puzzle the dog a bit, and the lady managed to put a lead on it after all.

She said she hadn't heard me coming. I said that us cyclists tend to not be very noisy. She also said she thought it would be quiet. Not sure what to make of that! It was prime commuting time. And she explained the dog had been once kicked by a cyclist. That explained why he charged at me. But it did make me wonder the wisdom of her decision to walk it, off the lead, on the cycle path. And especially if she wasn't keeping a very keen eye out for anything approaching. I am Dutch; I think cycle lanes are for cyclists. If I walk on them, which can be totally legal and societally accepted, I really look around me like the criminal on the run. I really don't want to end up right in front of the wheels of an enraged cyclist! 

I was okay and the dog was okay, so it had all ended well. Therefore, in spite of me thinking she hadn't made the best possible decision, I figured that she had realised that now as well, any didn't need pointing out any further. It must be quite unpleasant to see your beloved dog being run over by a cyclist, even if it is totally unhurt. No point in me hammering the point home. So I said I appreciated her apology, and wished her a good day. Then I was on my way again.

It happened at the entrance of that tunnel in the distance

Only a few hundred meters further I bumped into a lady in running kit I recognised from the Bethesda wokerati scene. She flagged me down, and asked if I had seen a person with a German Shepherd. I hadn't! She was supposed to go running with that person, but had been a bit late. Now she didn't know if she had missed them, or whether they were even later than she was. What to do?

We solved it by me biking up the bicycle path, and her driving over the road, as that way, if the person with the German Shepherd would be on their way, they couldn't escape both of us. And I caught them! Unfortunately, they had already been on the run. But it was funny to have two dog-related encounters within a kilometre.

I find that commuting over a bicycle paths gives me very strong opinions about dog walkers. And they go both ways! I really appreciate the dog walkers who keep an eye out, and they have their dogs under control. I recognise a lot of them already. And I really don't like the dog walkers that use the whole width of the path, don't look around them, possibly wear headphones so don't hear you ring your bell, and either are slow to bring the dog(s) to the side, or fail to do so because the dog does whatever the dog wants. 

I think it is fine to share infrastructure like that. But you shouldn't share it in such a way that you hinder other people, as that is more claiming than sharing. And especially if it is a recognised bicycle route, you need to use the path in such a way cyclists can just get past without issues. We cyclists don’t block the way of dog walkers. And I'm sure these dog walkers would be quite grumpy if arbitrary pedestrians, with dogs or otherwise, would block their commutes.

I think this is one of those situations where conflicts will never be weeded out. Which is a bit of a pity, as it is such an avoidable kind of conflict. But there we are! And today was a day where things didn't go as they should have. I think that actual accidents in which a cyclist or dog gets hurt are rare. But far from unthinkable! But I will still try to get my commute over in a reasonably short time. Dog walkers or not…