Dover Dogs Don's first TRUE story. The rest is history!

By Don TRUE - Copyright © 1994 - All Rights Reserved

Dover is a small town, 15 miles due west of our state capitol, Topeka, KS. It has a population of 357 people and 42 dogs. And I know each and every rotten, flea ridden, foul smelling one of them dogs personally! I HATE dogs! and they Hate me. The following True story is why I Hate Dogs.When you leave Dover, if you ride South and West on gravel, for about 3 miles, you'll reach the base of Echo Cliffs Hill. It's an imposing hill early in the training season. At the base of the hill is the US Army's Guard Dog training Facility. Every dog you see patrolling a military complex or protecting our President had to graduate from the Dover Dog Compound. The Army used to keep these dogs behind a 12 foot chain link fence with that sharp pointed barb wire at the top. They did, that is, till someone filed a Historical Landmark law suit. It seems the Santa Fe trail crossed at the exact spot of the Dog compound. So the Army tore out the barb wire and went to this new technology called "Invisible Fencing". Each dog is fitted with an electronic collar. At the perimeters of the camp there are small towers that have laser beams that send light in the blue band spectrum to the next tower. If this beam of light is interrupted, radio waves are transmitted sending an electrical shock to the guilty dog. The first time we rode by the camp, 17 shepherds and 5 Dobermans frantically ran toward the road, fangs bared, snarling; "I'm going to eat your little legs, right off!!" When they broke the light beam, they stopped dead in their tracks, whined, cried and tore off in the other direction. It was wonderful to see their hair standing straight up in the air, bright white with electrical energy. We had to ride our Mountain bikes past the camp 6 or 7 times that day!I think it was the night before Labor Day that a tornado came within 6 miles of Dover knocking out all electrical power for miles around. On the Club ride the next day, was the first time I had ever managed to stay with the leaders. They had tried to drop me at all the small hills on the way to Dover, but I had managed to hang on. I was drafting in the back, conserving my energy, as we approached the base of Echo Cliffs Hill. There were 21 German shepherds and 15 Dobermans standing at attention behind what we thought was an invisible fence.

What happened next was NOT pretty. We did our usual cat calls at the dogs to see if they'd rush the beam, AND THEY DID! The pack of bikes quickly accelerated, but were met with equal acceleration in speed from dogs. We were cranking now, up hill on gravel at about 25 mph. I could see pure physical hatred in the eyes of the lead dog. He looked straight into my eyes and said: "I eat Mountain Bikers for breakfast, and You're next!" He lunged at my rear wheel and almost caught it. The Dobermans seem to be a little faster than the shepherds. Several wild eyed and drooling Dobermans were now about 3 feet off my rear wheel. I was riding behind the whole bike pack and shouted out at the bikers, that we could never out run these mad dogs..........When 35 Mountain bikers in Dover Dirt Dog T-shirts all turned in unison and said:"We don't have to out run the dogs, we only have to out run you!"
With that, the big dogs in the bike pack put the hammer down and left me, pedaling, alone, on Echo Cliffs Hill.