upthemaiden: I pretty much agree with you about kicking the dog. Dogs are pretty simple. If something unpleasant happens while, or immediately after some piece of behavior, they might not repeat that behavior. If they chase you and miss, and then you go back and do something to them, they're probably not going to put it together.
I'm a dog guy. BUT, if I'm on two wheels (with or without a motor), and a dog comes into the road OR if they're at the side of the road with obvious intent to enter the road as a threat to me--all bets are off. Anything, and I mean anything short of lethal force that I need to do to deter the threat is fair game. My safety outweighs the dog's 100% of the time.