Dogs Hurt!

I am fairly new to cycling and still have plenty of questions! Last week while riding I ran into a group of dogs that were nice enough to run me off of the road, which caused me to flip my bike. I guess I shouldn't be too suprised as an experienced cyclist I know once told me that there are two types of cyclists in this world: 1)Those that have crashed, and 2) those that are going to crash. So I now consider myself a cylcist with my first real crash. My question though is whether anyone has some good tips on avoiding a similar occurance? In your experiences, what have you found that is effective when dealing with insane canines? Thanks!



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