An interesting take. As a cyclist, cats generally don't bother me, but dogs can be a massive nuisance. It's no fun being chased by a snarling dog on a steep incline. I do occasionally stop and "confront" them to try to scare them away but sometimes it doesn't work.

I'm hardly ever reassured by the owner, if there is one in sight, saying that he/she doesn't bite.

I used to have one of those ultrasound gadgets but the first one I tried left the poor dog whimpering, which made me feel like crap and the second one seemed to be ignored by most dogs. To be fair this was over 10 years ago, so the devices might actually work better these days.

Not from Turkey but we do have roaming cats and dogs in the countryside back home.

My experience in Turkey is that cats and dog almost never follow you (unless you are feeding them) and don't run after you. For the most part, they are actually quite shy / don't really care about you.

My wife use to bicycle a lot in Turkey and she never had a problem with dogs and cats, but you don't see them that much in the countryside also.

Lonely dogs are not a problem but packs of stray dogs are a huge problem in the rural areas in Turkey. They are fearless and aggressive in a pack.