Its the owners! As a unbitten mail carrier emeritus, I sympathize. The dogs on my route obeyed me & ignored their owners. It's the owners.

On my morning walk today, crack of dawn sorta thing, a minivan pulled over to me and stopped. The driver let me know that a pit bull had gotten loose in the neighborhood and attacked a woman last night. He mentioned that the police had been aware and patrolling. Keep your eyes open where ever you live.

Consider a small can of dog-repellent spray. It won''t injure the dog, but will make it hurt- a lot. The owner will be pissed, but you can be sure they will reconsider leash usage. The dog may calm down as well.

Dogs used to run after me when I rode my now-sold motorcycle. At first, I'd swerve away from them, which I determined put me at risk for a bunch of bad outcomes. Then I figured out that changing course and riding directly at them worked wonders. The bike plus me weighed almost 900 pounds. The dogs always backed off.

A dog mimics it owner, if the owner is anti-social so is the dog, but the dog does not know how to hide it.

A had a dog track me and the owner would order it to bite me. It bit the tire on my bike.

I am so sorry to hear how many times you've been injured by loose dogs. I am a dog lover, however, I keep control of my dog and she is never off leash when we are out walking.

I take a small spray bottle of half water, half ammonia that hooks on my belt loop. I've used it a few times when I have had a loose dog come after me and my dog. It stops them cold. The vet told me it won't hurt them, only discourage their bad behavior.

As another person mentioned, it may be a good idea to find something to spray at loose animals.

I don't know if they make an essence of skunk spray in an aerosol can, but if they do I would buy a case of it and take it with you, it wouldn't hurt the dog/dogs but they would stink really bad and the own will have all kinds of fun trying to wash it off. And if the dog owner get rude with you spray them too.

Dogs (and most other animals) live in a very different world than we do.

I've read that dogs have only two types of cone cells in their eyes and can only perceive blue and yellow, not red. I've heard that called 'dichromatic vision' for what its worth.
And dogs likely see the world on a different time scale than we do. Is your dog uninterested in the TV? Is it because the screen refresh rate is confusing and disjointed to them -- probably.

We by nature anthropomorphize -- we think everyone is the same as us. When you see that bird hiding in a bush, it's cowering in fear of its life.

People think dogs understand -- they don't. It's a testament to their social skills that they tolerate us at all. People MUST NOT expect their animals to behave like other people -- that's not the way they perceive their world.

If we want our dogs to act the way we want, its up to us to make it happen. We cannot assume that our pets (slaves) will live up to our expectations.

The whole dog thing is over the top. I am done with it. The owners sense of entitlement is ridiculous. I moved in to a no pet community 22 years ago that is now overrun with emotional support animals. In 140 units, there must be at least 35-40 dogs. Carrying a gun to address this is a bit too much, other accidents could happen, but I understand the frustration that makes the idea sound reasonable at first.

Carry a gun, and use it if you have too. But, practice shooting it and taking care of it. Sounds like you need one if that's the kind of crap you have to put up with.

Just give them a little taste of your bear spray

The whole dog issue makes me wish I owned a gun and could actually shoot what I was aiming at. I have had dogs chase me while on my bicycle. A a guy I knew did carry a hand gun, he had been attacked by a large dog while riding.
I really do not like dog owners that do not leash their dogs pr pick up after them.

When we would catch a ferry in the large terminal we would often go for a walk along a boardwalk by the beach. I hated that as whenever, my partner saw an unleashed dog she would go after the owner. No one ever went after her and some even put their dog on it's leash (they all carry one in case a ranger comes along). She even thanked those who had their dogs on leashes and often got into conversations how the unleashed dogs hurt the reputation of responsible owners. It's almost like you are criticizing these people's children.

I don't know what's worse,the untrained dogs,or the clueless owners.

I was attacked by a Chihuahua when I was out for a walk and 6 months pregnant. The little bastard bruised and sank its teeth into my ankle as I walked past its house. The dog owner never apologized, but I reported her to the SPCA. Most dog owners are responsible, and I count myself among them. However, some people are really nasty, and their dogs are, too.