Okay, so two bikes, or one bike and one stick… 
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Bring back the food, or the human?
What Hamlet said is most important: don’t make eye contact with the dog. It’s the same as when a dog is being too friendly. Whether a dog is too friendly or too aggressive, if you don’t want it to give you attention, don’t pay attention to it: look away. Dogs are very similar to humans in this respect.
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I usually am going up hill when this happens so I’m then faced with turning around and going the long way home or trying to ride very fast and risk blowing up before I can out run them. What I started doing is standing on the pedals very tall and barking at them them, aggressively, as soon as I sense they are debating a chase (most just lay there never moving). This has never failed and most the the time the dog(s) stop barking, give me a wtf look, and back away. Should I encounter a pack that doesn’t react this way I guess I’d just turn around and go the long way back. On a flat or downhill I just outrun them and don’t bother.
Yeah, because obviously I’d spray it directly into the wind. Finally I understand why I always get covered in piss when take a leak outdoors! 
And dogs are almost 5 feet tall, so there’s no way I’d be angling the nozzle downward or anything.
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good advice. i’ve seen a few angry strays here and it can be kinda scary
A bike and a back leg will do.
not sure if its been posted but here is my advice for if you are dealing with one dog…
not sure if this will work with more than 1.
Anyway, if you got nothing to defend yourself with, you are still in luck… take off your shirt or jacket… anything… and hold it firmly with both hands out away from your body.
The dog is pretty stupid to be honest and just want to bite anything thats you… so hopefully he sinks his teeth into this shirt… then all you need to do is kick the crap out of it while its teeth are occupied on what it thinks is you.
I dont condone kick animals for shits and giggles. But self defense… yes.
So the dogs are just laying there minding their own business, when you show up on a bike and start barking at them aggressively?
That’s mental
pump action shotgun. every real cyclist I know has one in their gun rack.
Well I’m not going to deny your experience. It’s just that I always stop, unless I have a clear speed advantage and the dogs have no chance of interception. Often I stop when I don’t need to. And there are many situations in which you cannot run away.
Just the other week I was out on a scooter ride with my wife on a mountain road near Sanxia and we had an encounter. We were exploring, going up a very steep, narrow road that suddenly ended in someone’s front yard and dogs appeared from everywhere, about seven of them, all barking at us. I had no option to ride away because the road ended. It was so steep and narrow I couldn’t turn around without a very slow three-point turn.
What would you do in this situation?
Even without a dead end, it’s not possible to ride away from dogs up a steep hill on a bicycle (or run away from them, anywhere, on foot). If every time I encountered dogs when riding up a mountain road my reaction was to turn around and ride down again I would feel very defeated. I used to regularly ride up Shitoushan behind Xindian and, for a while there, as I would go past one particular house, the same three dogs would come out to chase me every single time. They would wait for people to come past and chase them - that was, seemingly, their mission in life. It wasn’t possible to ride away from them up a gradient well over 10%.
And what would you do if you encountered them on foot?
This is precisely how our last dog encounter went awry and ended in a bite. I imagine it would be even worse with kids. 
No you misread. As soon as it appears like they are debating a chase, I do this. That means, getting up, growling, moving towards me. Don’t know how I could have been more clear. Most of the time packs just lay there, never moving, which I mentioned as an aside to indicate that I rarely have to do this.
Wait, I’m not following.
Who bit you, your spouse or your kids???
This hasn’t happened to me while on a bike, but many times on foot. In these situations, just pick up a rock near by and throw it in their general direction. This usually scares the shit out of them and they scatter. Most of the time even if you don’t have a rock, just making the motion like you’re going to throw one will be enough to scare them off. This has worked for me not only in Taiwan, but also Mexico, Thailand, Venezuela, Philippines and other assorted 3rd world shitholes.
Exactly what gavemasterflash suggests: rocks. You don’t have to throw aggressively – you can do it in a “behold my magic powers” way. 
Best to carry a few just in case, any time you’re hiking or biking. And like I said, as a last resort, scream like it’s the end of the world.
Yes, screaming will also help.
I went for a run on the riverside park in the Wanhua District area of Taipei the other day. I noticed at least several packs of stray dogs in this section of the park. I ran by without any incident, was completely left alone. However, there were people going by on bikes that were getting chased. I don’t know much about canine psychology but the bikes seem to be more of a threat to them for some reason. Perhaps because of the speed?
A lot of this advice is from well-meaning ‘dog lovers’. Most of it would be useless in a serious dog attack, and as other posters have pointed out, some of it borders on the ridiculous – and some of it boldly crosses that border. Not much of it addresses the underlying cause of the dog problem in Taiwan, which remains a gaping, festering sore.
Despite their calm assurances, I have heard of several serious dog attacks in my local area in recent times – including a frail old guy who had his fleshed ripped off to the bone – pity he didn’t have his ‘bike-shield’ handy.
The stray dog problem in Taiwan is not a mystery. It is caused, purely and simply, by owners allowing their unneutered dogs to roam free to breed (up to 12 more strays a year), harass, and attack and even kill other animals, including people.
Recently, and sadly, it inevitably had to come to this:
https://taiwaninfo.nat.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=88131&ctNode=103&htx_TRCategory=&mp=4
They further announced a crackdown on owners who haven’t licensed their dogs. Previously there was no fine, believe it or not – but there is now. Hooray for that.
In 2014, there were more than 300 cases of dogs attacking and injuring postmen alone.
So my advice, and I am sad to say it, is to call the pound, or if you prefer, a dog shelter – many of which do good work and do try to address the core problem. But Taiwan cannot continue to have dogs roaming around like some third world shanty town. The next person they attack may not be as fit and agile as you, or have several bike shields, sticks, rocks, threatening postures, pieces of cloth etc handy.
If there were just a requirement to have your dogs neutered unless you were a registered breeder (and breeders were routinely inspected), it would go a long way to reducing the problem. Is it Sweden where dog breeding is simply illegal? I think that’s what my parents were telling me. They’re involved in rescuing strays in Spain and often send dogs there. But a shift in attitude is needed, and attitudes are hard to shift.
Folks in taiwan should treat dogs better
Yes, you are right - this is such a blindingly obvious solution that has worked in many other countires in the world - and yet all we hear about are ways to take defensive measures against growing dog packs - most of which are plain silly.
It also needs to be coupled with a strict enforcement of the rules - something that has been promised but it remains to be seen if it will come to pass. And in case anyone is wondering, it is illegal in Taiwan to (a) not have your dog registered and (b) let it roam the streets.
How many of the posters on this thread are breaking the law on either of these two counts? And then offering ridiculous advice about how the rest of us should defend ourselves against the menace created by their actions?
So how to shift attitudes here (and to be sure, this is not just a local Taiwanese problem, foreigners are just as bad and often worse)? Well, logic, facts, and appealing for basic consideration for others apparently don’t work, so unfortunately it is going to take either a serious rabies outbreak and several deaths from that, or the mauling of a few more toddlers and elderly.