When What's Chasing Me Is About To Bite, I'll Look back

I find when I go jogging, dogs like to chase me. This isn't the case when I walk past them, though it is if I bike. Some of the dogs that chase seem to be having fun, some seem intent on returning home with my Achilles' tendon as a chew toy. Maybe that's fun for them, in which case I question their owner's competence.

The one thing I have noticed is that regardless of the dog, if I stop running/biking, and especially if I turn to face them, they're suddenly very interested in something else. Not so gung-ho on getting a piece of me when I'm able to kick their teeth in. I like dogs (usually) but not so much I'll let them maul me.

I was trying to think of a way to describe their behavior this afternoon (why I don't know, since I wasn't running or biking), and I settled on them being Boos. Those ghosts from the Mario games, the ones that chase until the moment you turn around, when they vanish, or cover their eyes, or turn around themselves, waiting until you've resumed your previous heading to pursue. And for a few games you couldn't do anything to them because you'd have to turn around to attack them, and they'd vanish when you did. I know by Mario 64 you could beat them by jumping in the air while your back was to them and then performing the Ground Pound maneuver on them.

So maybe that's the key to the dog issue. While they chase I should jump, then land on them with my butt. It sure seems like that's going to result in painful bite marks, but if Mario 64 says to do it. . . It's probably a better idea than the Resident Evil 2 suggested response, to shoot the dogs, then shoot them again to make sure they don't get up and kill you.