“I have a couple of minor scars and a healthy wariness of dogs now, but other than that I was unharmed.”
Frightening situation for this UK mountain biker who was out for winter ride when he was attacked by 3 juvenile Malinois dogs. Thankfully they weren’t full grown or the outcome could have been more severe:
“I’m just glad those Malinois were only pups, if they’d have been adult dogs I could have been much more badly injured.”
The YouTuber who goes by Grumpy MTB explained the situation at length following the attack (READ BELOW) and in no way wants to demonize the breed. This was an unfortunate incident and a great reminder to always keep you dogs leashed in the backcountry if they pose could pose a danger to anyone you might meet along the way.
Please read this…
It’s now about 1 year since this happened. The original incident happened in December 2022, so I thought now would be a good time to provide a bit more information. I found out soon after this happened that these dogs were being fostered. They were being temporarily cared for by the people in the video while a charity that rehomes Malinois looked for suitable “forever homes” for them.
By weird coincidence, I got to speak to the lady who runs the rehoming charity a few months ago. She was very apologetic and said that these dogs were immediately taken off these foster carers after this incident. However, since then both of the Malinois have been rehomed with appropriate owners who have trained them properly and both are doing really well.
I honestly think this was just bad luck. Given the weather and location I don’t think the foster carers expected anyone to be around and then I just appeared. I think in hindsight staying as calm as possible and not trying to run or ride off was the right move. It kept the handlers in close proximity so they could try to bring this under control. If I’d tried to escape, the dogs would have caught up to me (they go fast!) and then it would have been 1 human vs 3 dogs, rather than 3 humans vs 3 dogs.
As I previously mentioned, the handlers in the video did apologise and exchanged details with me after the video ends. They also quickly paid for my damaged gear and I made a full recovery. I have a couple of minor scars and a healthy wariness of dogs now, but other than that I was unharmed. I’m just glad those Malinois were only pups, if they’d have been adult dogs I could have been much more badly injured.
Lots of people in the comments said I should sue these people. To be honest, I didn’t see the need to put these people into financial hardship for what was essentially a mistake on their part that caused me no permanent damage. It wasn’t malicious, it was an accident, an error of judgement. We all make mistakes. I did discuss this with the police too. Due to the circumstances I didn’t make a formal complaint and the police also decided not to pursue this. Punishing temporary owners trying to help out a charity seemed unreasonable and putting the dogs at risk of destruction while they waited for a full-time owner/trainer/handler also didn’t make sense.
At the time, I posted this video update of what happened immediately after this incident: https://youtu.be/GwNnpDhpH-U
Thanks for reading.
Here’s an update from the biker shortly after he was attacked: