Sheesh, I'm out and about enjoying the weather and doin' stuff with my dogs and I miss all the excitement in the other thread

So I'll tell you about my day and make y'all jealous that you don't have super cool, incredibly versatile Border Collies

I was walking down the hall in school and saw a notice that the Student Activity Center had mountain bikes available to use on the 4-5 miles of wooded paths on the college campus.

So after class I went I went home, got supper in the crock pot and grabbed Kenzi and her harness and head back to school. I've been doing a decent amount of biking with her the past couple months and she loves it. Gets excited when she sees the bike. Leans right into her harness and GOES when I give her the word. Nothin' like flying down the road with a 35# dog pulling you It's all been on quite country roads - not in the woods, but I figured she's pretty adaptable so why not?

I had so much fun! So did Kenzi She followed the path (thankfully!!), kept the line tight and pulled nicely. She got a bit distracted at times by the squirrels in the trees and chipmunks on the ground but didn't do anything crazy (ie, like leap off the path to go chase them) and refocused on running pretty nicely. I figured that we went 3-4 miles altogether. Not bad at all for our first time doing the wooded hilly terrain. Afterward (in true Border Collie fashion) she was sacked out for an hour before she was ready to play hard again

The one thing I did notice was that she was scrawny as all get out last night. She must have used up any excess body fat (all 8 oz or so...) running/pulling. So I'm bumping up her food intake.

I hope to do this several more times before the snow flies. And then I'll swap the bike for skis (which the college also makes available for the students ). I've wanted to try out dog sledding for several years so it's pretty cool that I can have my own version without a whole team this way!

Congrats on the fun time!

Sounds awesome! I am looking forward to getting out of work and having some fun with my dogs This weather is perfect lately.

Bikejoring and scootering are awesome "dryland" sports and great fun for all involved - super way to spend some energy!

This is wonderful!!

I wish you had a helmet-cam (or whatever you call the little camera in a hat)!

It would be one bumpy video! But maybe I can eventually figure something out with my iPod...

I'm amazed at how quickly Kenzi learned to be aware of the bike. I've bumped her a few times on purpose when we're going slow and she's not paying attention and she got right back to where she was supposed to be. She know her spot in relation to the bike and sticks to it pretty well.

Cool!!!

Do you use a standred bike for bikejoring? I was wondering if some of my carting gear could do double duty or if my carting dog might get confused as he lives to pull anything and chase balls. Congrats on the fun time!

I use a regular mountain bike - nothing fancy. Usually you have a bayonet out front and and the line is attached to the front of the bike. The baynot keeps the line off of the tire.

I use either an x-back sled harness or a step in harness and hold the leash (LB leather). I wouldn't recommended holding the leash for a larger dogs, but it works fine for my smaller girl.

Here is a good article about getting started http://www.skijor.com/bjarticle.html

Thanks for the great article link! I'll be on the look out for an x-back harness as it'll be good for having him pull the tobagun this winter. As for a step in harness, I know where I can get him one but my vet will probably think I went over the deep end. The bridle hookup was easy to make and is on the bike, now just to figure out the rest as I'll have to use his carting breast strap harness for a while. I'll let you know how it's going!