After weeks of using my patched together and heavily duct taped razor scooter (nicknamed "deathscooter") to exercise my dog and as training for urban mushing races when he's older I FINALLY got a bike.....which we took for a ride today.

Now, Ryuk likes to pretend to chase bikes (he never actually runs after them, just will dance and "talk" if one passes him while he's pulling the scooter) so I wasn't sure about what would happen if I hooked him up to one. I usually hold him back quite a bit with the scooter since I don't want him doing any hard pulling (he's not 2 yet).

Long story short......19mph down the muddy trail with dog power alone.....Took me about 20 seconds to pull him up a bit and even then it was an effort to pedal and keep the line from going tight...I think I have a bikejoring race dog on my hands (now to get him a teammate....) he LOVES the bike because he doesn't have to be careful not to drag me to far off the pavement (deathscooter=causes death on anything other than newly poured uncracked clean pavement) and I love it because I have brakes that don't required putting feet down, praying, stomping on bare scooter wheels, and spot on dog control....

Yeah! Sounds fun... and scary! Wear a helmet!!!

My wife just took our dog for his first bike ride recently, now that he's over a year old and the weather's getting better. He's the same where he'll bark at people on bikes so I was unsure how he was going to react. He absolutely loved it and was worn out from just a half mile of pulling her.

Hubby does the majority of biking in our pack but I’m in charge of the training, groundwork and maiden voyage. I do bike them too but domestically it just seems to work out that he does it most of the time.

As we don’t do any skijoring or bikejoring (spelling) all walk rules apply in our routine– just at a faster pace. Personally and IMHO only, because we don’t participate in these sports, I don’t like a dog pulling on the leash under any circumstances (well I guess there’s been the odd rocky hill that I’ve solicited their assistance and I would hope they’d give it their best to get me out of swamp and such) but before we advance to the bike (for safety all round) I make sure that the heel is rock solid. I do a lot of leash work (putting on pressure and showing them how to turn it off) and then teach the leash heel. This follows through beautifully to the bike – they are never to be in front and focused on me the majority of the time. Nose just slightly ahead of my knee but back from the front wheel for turning purposes.

I’ve found that this consistency has the boys behaving under many other circumstances. My brother has a great little motor scooter that took me a bit to navigate (I believe you are correct Jamie – death scooter is a much more appropriate term) but once I got it under control, I had no hesitation bringing each of my boys on a round. We do some hospice work as well (husky and malamute) and this translates to wheelchairs and walkers, should a patient want the feeling of walking a dog. The ride-on mover has to be the best though. It takes me about 2 hours to do our lawn and I figured why not give the GSD some exercise at the same time. He off-leash heels beside me the entire time.

Always looking for new and fun ways to exercise the boys and biking has to be one of the best for draining energy.

Keep up the great work Jamie – stay safe. Just love your signature pic. I’m sure the flopbeast is a lot of fun!!

My Presa bikes with me. She's too lazy to pull, but she really enjoys the fast paced lope around the lake. She heels with the bike perfectly. My old pit, though, would actually take me for a ride. He knew the difference between wearing a pull harness, and being on a collar. I never had any problems with pulling. You simply train the two events. My 2 cents.

We went out again today!

It's so fun (and yes, I do wear a helmet my parents would kill me if I didn't....and they'd be willing to drive the couple hours to do it)

For us pulling is only allowed when he's in harness and he gets it pretty well. I clip him to his collar when we have to go down the busier street to get to the trails and he will heel next to the bike when on his collar...moment he's off his harness he's out front and pulling like an ox. I bring water, poop bags, and a a small first aid kit, a bike lock, and an emergency line and extra bungiecord just in case.

I love the fact that in 30 minutes I can drain my dog of energy...then a quick 30 minute game of frisbee to make sure the reserves are drained and he's out for the rest of the day waking up only for dinner and nighttime training.

I have been wanting to do this for so long, but I am too chicken!
I even bought the walky dog thing and a helmet. We need to get a second bike so that Chad can go with me the first few times. That way if I wipe out I am not stuck somewhere hurt with a crazy dog.

I think I will also try to do it with Loki first before taking out Yote because he is a much better listener and has a tenth of the drive.


P.S. Jamie, your flopbeast looks almost exactly like mine from behind, down to the blonde tail with dark highlights in it!!

Would any of you dog bikers be willing to post links to pics of your set-ups? I'd love to see your harnesses and how they're hooked to the bike.

Thanks!

This is the one I've got. http://www.thedogoutdoors.com/

They've got a new one, too, that looks pretty neat. It has a lower center of gravity. http://www.thedogoutdoors.com/dog-bike-leash.html

Here is a pic of our setup. http://www.flickr.com/photos/21532799@N08/3312774067/

And a vid for good measure. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n45uCLWx27o

He is so cute with those little legs!