Riding at the dog is more likely to intimidate a friendly dog than the mean one that is just thankful for your coming right to him and sparing him some effort.
I'm reading this, don't remember the thread at all but I posted in it. I remember in grade school I had a paper route in a semirural area. Third world countries are the only place with dogs running loose? Is that what Southern California is? We've always had that. I carried doggie treats and one powerful battery powered squirt gun with a mix of water and a little ammonia, a little cayenne pepper, maybe something else.
Usually if they don't stop for the dog biscuits or whatever, they're going to be a problem. Don't know if he bit or just ran into them, but one tore out nearly half my spokes on the front wheel. A few got a kick in the snout, but a squirt in the face if they got within maybe 20 feet seriously discouraged them, let's say it was 'Mood altering.'
My sister lived out in the country and two big dogs showed up at her place, as in somebody must have dumped them from their car. One night there were shots right near her house, meaning on the land where there shouldn't have been any shots. In the morning one dog was wounded and the other was dead. Poachers and thieves that were always a problem for her, encountering dogs in the night. The one lived. She got to liking having it around.
So she had it in the house one night and it was barking holy terror and wanted out, so she let it go. Silently it sprinted into the dark. Suddenly there was some loud swearing and a shot, then what you might call the sound of a little street justice as my sister hoped it was whomever shot the dog before that was receiving some payback. A car started on the property, too close to be on the public road, then the dog came back seeming proud of himself. With what my sister called signs that the dog got some blue jeans and a bit of the leg that was in them.
It was official, the dog had a home.