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IB13: Sound Defense Humanely Keeps Dogs at Bay

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dog blaster (2)

Most cyclists have had a run in or two with a not so friendly K9 companion, especially if you ride in the boonies. You can throw something at them like a water bottle or a pump, yell and scream, ride faster, or resort to chemical persuasion like Halt. Sound defense thinks they have a better solution – one that will not harm the dog or the human. Essentially a doggie megaphone, Sound Defense blasts a high pitched tone directly at the dog which causes them to turn tail and run.

See it in action after the break.

dog blaster (1)

Like dog whistles and other devices, the Sound Defense is tuned specifically for a dog’s sensitive hearing range. Since it is battery powered, as long as the batteries are good the device will work – meaning it doesn’t expire like pepper sprays. The device attaches to a bag, belt, or bike with a belt clip, frame mount, or utility holster. Sound Defense is on the bigger side, but they mentioned they are working to shrink it a bit in the future, and it only weighs in at 198g.

Sound Defense retails for $39.95 with the bike clip adding another $9.95.

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NASH
NASH
10 years ago

Or you could just ride faster than a dog can run.

Dustin
Dustin
10 years ago

@NASH
The rest of us mere mortals don’t posses your gift of being able to climb the Alpe d’Huez with a 53/39 11-23 combo and outsprint dogs with the slightest flick of the pedal. I’d love to take you for a ride in rural California where many pet owners view cyclists as a cheap chew toy for their free-roaming pets.

Considering that the average domesticated dog can easily reach and maintain speeds of up to 32 miles an hour, they are an unwelcome sight when climbing a gradual ascent near the end of a 60 mile training run with hill repeats. I got a good jump on the sprint with one dog and he still gave a solid pursuit for at least a 1/4 mile. You see NASH.. dogs are hunters.. it’s their natural instinct to chase prey.. running just fuels that natural instinct and incites them to chase. We had a local rider get pulled from her bike by a pit bull. She won’t get on her bike again.

I could only wish that this product works as claimed. I’m hoping someone has some personal experience to share that will shed some light.

David R.
David R.
10 years ago

It’s not just about dogs…

A colleague of mine lived in a cabin in the San Gabriel Mts. for a while. Woke up one night to find a lion making off with one of her dogs. She pulled off her wooden clog and bashed it on the head until it dropped the dog and stalked off. The lion woke her up again later that night. She took her air horn out and blasted it at close range. It left and did not come back.

Of course that was a conventional air horn. Would this “high pitched” horn work on lions? This incident occurred near a spot where a 250# MTB rider got jumped by a lion. He beat it off with his bike, but a smaller rider may not have been so lucky.

Larry Falk
Larry Falk
10 years ago

I love dogs, but after years of torment by rover (the dog somehow always surprises you just when you are at your most relaxed), using “Sound Defense” looks like FUN!!!

jose
jose
10 years ago

This is for real?

Especially on road bikes, are we not riding on the road with our road bikes?

AlanM
AlanM
10 years ago

Jose, some of us ride on dirt and gravel roads out in the country where people let their dogs roam free. I’ve gone on rides carrying dog food in my jersey pocket to toss as a distraction.

Ryan
Ryan
10 years ago

I have real issues with dogs, lions, and rabid raccoons…so this could be a good complement to some bear spray.

deboat
deboat
10 years ago

I think the air horn with 120Db is better!! More fun !! If it scares off a lion then maybe it is even better than a gun!!
In Australia the Magpie bird is a big problem too. An air horn is my next purchase!!

Thanks for the inspiration!!

Brendan
Brendan
10 years ago

Dogs on gravel roads are a real problem.

Gravity
Gravity
10 years ago

Anyone who says “just outrun the dog” has obviously never seen a large dog at top speed, which can very easily run at the same speed as a pro cyclist. The fattest, laziest dog has a VO2 max that would make any Cancellara feel inadequate.

Totally unrelated, but no joke, the most wattage I ever produced was when I was being chased by a dog. More than any time racing with the elites, more than any training ride sprint. I can’t remember the exact wattage anymore, but it was something like 1800 watts. I had to check my meter’s calibration. For reference, I am 5’4″ and 130lbs. It’s amazing what adrenaline can produce.

Sardinian
Sardinian
10 years ago

As a dog lover ( i have 4) nothing that some good ‘ol mace won’t do…

lawyerknowitall
lawyerknowitall
10 years ago

I typically hit one squirrel a year, and that is not an exaggeration. Black squirrels are taking over Northern California. I would get one of these if I knew I could reach it in time to scare it off.

A friend of mine has a very, very large air canister horn with remote button on his handlebar. He uses it to commute and honk back at cars. I’m sure the same thing would work here.

buddy
buddy
10 years ago

I played the video and my dog was asleep on the couch beside me. She didnt wake up. Must be the volume-I will try the airhorn.

Luiggi
Luiggi
10 years ago

Dogs get into hunting mode when they see you pass them by at high speed, and think you are running away from them. If a dog tries to bite you, all you have to do is stop and face him. This will get him out of the hunting mode, and then you can resume your bike excursion.

NASH
NASH
10 years ago

Agreed if its a Grey Hound yes difficult to out run but here in London you more likely to get chased by some short legged chav dog which has a fire ball chance in hell of catching me.

@Dustin
The Alpe d’Huez would not be the most likely place to encounter a vicious canine.

@AlanM
Dog food in the back pocket is great idea, I wear a squid suit while I go scuba diving to deter sharks, works a treat.

ChrisW
ChrisW
10 years ago

My mother-in-law, who lives in rural Nova Scotia (Canada), is very afraid of the dogs in her region that often chase cyclists. I’m pretty sure that she can’t outsprint most of them (she’s over 60 and only weighs about 100 lbs). She still goes out on regular rides in the summer, but always has some mace spray with her; I even made a bike holder for the mace from an extra pump holder that I had.

I think she’d love this device, and I want to get her one one for Christmas. The only problem is that I live in Switzerland and she lives in Canada, and they’ll only ship to the US, so I’ll have to figure out who we know over there and will be going back to Nova Scotia for Christmas.

David
David
10 years ago

@NASH, Speeding up isn’t always an option.
A friend had a nasty encounter with a dog at the top of a steep hill. He was in good shape, years later rode RAAM, but couldn’t out distance this dog.
The result was the dog walked away fine, but he needed a year off work to recover from the injuries.

SizzleChest
SizzleChest
10 years ago

@David R
Beating off an animal with a bike is disgusting. I don’t even want to think of how you would do that in the first place.

Ajax
Ajax
10 years ago

Are u kiting me? Look at the size of that thing? It looks like a gun. If you pull that thing on a dog, the cops are going to shoot YOU!

Rain
Rain
10 years ago

Should make one for dogs AND cops, both are equally vicious anymore.

Rain
Rain
10 years ago

http://www.mallory-sonalert.com/3_2.htm#PMSC

Dogs hate the 4500 hz or fast warble as shown in the vid. Mount tiny momentary switch in tape or by grip and 12-28vdc. These babies are used for cockpit warning tones and are loud enough to hear through Bose aviation headsets in some very noisy applications.

Crs
Crs
10 years ago

In almost all off-road bike trips I get attacked by dogs. I carry with me a pepper spray and an ultrasound dog chaser (not this model). Stones and wood bats are already there. The ultrasound device worked fine on some big aggressive dogs but didn’t on others. This type of device is usually not working on dogs that live in urban area because they are used to strong sounds. When getting old, dogs can loose hearing and this device will not work on those dogs either.

@SizzleChest: You obviously did not encounter a big aggressive dog pack. When it’s “me lying few months in a hospital” vs “dog get to know who’s the superior species on earth” ….I choose the last one. Remember we were hunters too sometime and we also have defensive instinct. And we also eat meat, I wonder how we get that without hurting animals. It’s a cruel world and not all of us have the luck to be able to ignore this aspect.
I live in Romania and here dogs are a real problem. Last year a guy was killed by a dog and this year a 4 years child. In the capital Bucharest alone, dog attacks on persons (cyclists and non-cyclists) that needed hospital care are with hundreds each month and the peak was 1.468 persons (274 of them kids) in two months in 2011. These were only the officially reported ones and it’s a crowded urban area. ONGs managed to save the dogs by adopting them and letting them free afterwards… until that child was killed.

RLR
RLR
10 years ago

I have been using this product for 6 weeks. It works amazingly well! I have never had it fail to stop a dog in its tracks. It is large and clunky and slow to draw from a jersey pocket. The mounting gizmo does not work well at all. Hit a bump and unit is gone.

Johnny
Johnny
10 years ago

Riding in the boondocks dogs can be a big problem. Would love to try this out. Halt is not very effective, and it does have a shelf life. On a bigger, more agro dog it’s gonna get you, and won’t notice the spray till after the adrenaline has worn off. 20 year postman talking here so you can trust me on that one. Not to mention even if someone’s dog does bite you some owners may get belligerent if you mace their dog. Then you may have a situation where you have some redneck trying to run you off the road, or worse. Even as a postman I’ve had bodily harm threatened by an owner when I reached for my can of halt for a fast approaching dog. This seems like a much better solution, too bad it’s sort of bulky, a smaller version would be perfect.

Cowtowner
Cowtowner
9 years ago

I have the unit sitting up front on top of my offroad Revelate Harness and dry bag combo — it’s strapped down with some reflective velcro and the back ON button is easily reachable in a split second. I don’t know about dogs, but it sure worked well on a coyote that was running toward me on my side of a training pathway that I regularly use on the outskirts of town. The critter was maybe 150 feet away at the time. I pressed the button for about two seconds and that coyote was bounding off the path and doing hops on its front legs in tall grass trying to figure out what just hit it as I passed by. Works for me! I now have the sound gun covered in a plastic bread bag to keep the dust and rain off it. The button is still readily available through the plastic though.

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