help me not run over my dog

March 9, 2008 12:25 PM

How to bicycle with my dog?

I'd like to be able to take the dog on the local bikepaths, which requires teaching her to run alongside the bike without grevious bodily injury to either one of us. She must be leashed.

We've been on a test run and she's not scared of the bike which is good, but did try to run in front of it a couple times, which was bad. She has no traffic sense and regularly walks in front of moving vehicles so a spectacular dog/bicycle accident is a real possibility. I'm thinking one of those bike-dog gadgets would solve this problem but there are a bewildering variety available and I'd appreciate some input on whether they work and which ones are best.

She's a 50lb dog and walks nicely on a leash but will sometimes lunge after cats/squirrels and also tends to "follow her nose" and stop or head abruptly into bushes. Responds better to hand signals / pressure than voice commands. I need a system that will correct/ control her but not too harshly because she's not a dog-genius and it may take her a while to get it. For the same reason I'm willing to pay a bit more for a system with some failsafes built in, like quick releases. Finally, I ride a mountain bike and want to be able to easily convert it from dog to no-dog mode.

Hopefully this will be a fun way for her to get a bit more exercise and for us to spend more time together.

posted by fshgrl to pets & animals (12 comments total)

They make dog leash attachments for bicycles that are exactly for this.

And here's an article from eHow on How to Bike With Your Dog Safely.
posted by rhapsodie at 1:43 PM on March 9 [1 favorite]

Hey, I've been literally thousands of miles with my dog beside the bike and trained others to it as well. We had one minor upset early on in getting the hang of it, and years and years of trouble-free riding since. Here are a few things:

1. The Springer and similar "attach your dog to your bike" gadgets aren't so good; they don't allow you enough precise control of where your dog is and despite the springs or whatnots the dog can still deliver a large lateral force to your bike, which is undesirable. I hold the leash in my left hand, which still also does its usual duties for bike control. This isn't difficult to manage and if you should see trouble approaching you just open your palm for a "breakaway" in a tiny fraction of a second. More likely you saw it coming further in advance, in which case steered away or got off and walked, which you'll have to do sometimes. Not everybody using the trail will be as conscientious as you are. With leash in hand you're also able to send a corrective little pop! down it when you see, e.g., squirrel-related ideas forming in her head. Really, you'll be a lot happier doing this if she really and truly heels well with you on foot, before you set about doing things with the bike.

1a. Your right hand might actually be a better choice, because it puts the dog on the outside of the trail. But I've tried it and it feels too weird, so I keep the dog on the left.

2. If she walks in front of the bike once, then (as long as you are keeping things to a reasonable speed - see 1) she will yipe, it will not be a tragedy for either of you, and she will almost certainly not do it again.

3. Make sure you have it clearly fixed in your mind that the ride is your dog's ride, and absolutely keep it to a pace that's fun for her. If that means getting off and walking for a while or stopping altogether, so be it. Make sure you end up with a dog that's tired, but will want to go do it again. Stay close to water or carry plenty of it, and make sure she has plenty of opportunities to get at it. Take it slow and keep it short at first - they aren't necessarily smart about pacing themselves and may want to go flat-out from the beginning. If you let her go flat-out in a straight line away from home then when she suddenly runs out of gas - problem.

4. Toenails get worn down fast. You'll never have to clip them! Try to avoid getting them worn down to the quick. Have a set of cordura booties you can carry with you. Probably also a good idea to carry some MediStyp or something similar just in case. If you do wear a nail down to the quick, it will retract and it won't be so easy to get to the next time. But it will bleed, and that's when you'll be glad to have the medistyp and the booties (and water). Give pads an inspection before and after the ride.

5. If you're on multi-use trails do be extra double courteous to other folks. They won't necessarily reciprocate, but don't be one of those people on the trail. You won't really take up more space than a walker with a dog beside them does, but you can look intimidating as you're coming up the trail toward someone. Get off and walk if you're passing horses.

6. You'll have some number of busybodies telling you you're doing something cruel, you're being a nuisance, you're not entitled to do it, blah, blah, blah, and they can shove that.

7. You say you have a mountain bike, and getting out on good trails with your pup can be a real pleasure, but narrow single-track is hard to manage. I never found a solution for that except going slow, being patient, and walking more than I would by myself.
posted by Wolfdog at 2:31 PM on March 9 [2 favorites]

8. Get to know what your dog looks like just before she needs to squat, because they can really put on the brakes when they decide it's time. If you are attentive, though, there will be warning signals.
posted by Wolfdog at 2:32 PM on March 9

some failsafes built in, like quick releases.

big yes to that. back in the days, ten-year-old-krautland broke both his arms by attaching the leash to his bike and just taking doggie for a spin. one cat was all it took.
posted by krautland at 2:39 PM on March 9

Busybody here, just my two cents: Watch your dog for signs of tiring. (Sorry wolfdog!) Too often I've seen people literally dragging their dogs by the leash as they jog/bike/skate. Of course, your dog sounds like a good size for this kind of excercise. It's just that I can't get one sight out of my head: a college-age girl rollerblading with two guys jogging. She had a toy sized Pomeranian on a leash, and that poor dog was doing his best to keep up. He kept looking up at her for help, but she was ignoring him. I kept thinking she had the wrong sized dog for that sort of fun.
posted by annieb at 4:01 PM on March 9

Oh, I agree totally, annie, that's what I was aiming at with my #3 there, but it can't be overemphasized.
posted by Wolfdog at 4:12 PM on March 9

Thanks for all the answers. I guess I should have added that I used to bicycle a lot with my old dog (who was not suicidal) and and also that I (obviously) don't plan on running her legs off. I will go slow enough that she can trot 99% of the time.

Thanks for the info on the Springer, wolfdog: I thought the whole point of these was that the dog could not deliver a strong lateral force to your bike due to the dampening effect of the gadget so it is interesting to hear that doesn't work. It also sounds like it's not ideal in crowded areas. Nonetheless, may work for us as we walk at 7am and there is no-one about. Maybe after a while she will figure out not to run under the wheels and I can ride with her with just a leash. After all, the quicker we get to the dogpark, the more squirrel chasing time there is.

If anyone else has used one of these devices and had it work better than wolfdog I'm interested to hear about it.
posted by fshgrl at 5:36 PM on March 9

Wolfdog had some really good tips, but I just wanted to throw in my 2 cents quick too. My boyfriend and I regularly walk his friend's dog when he goes on trips, and since we are both into biking, that means the big boy comes with us. The dog is a 90 lbs labrador retriever, non neutered male, so that means lots of pulling and trying to chase after anything that moves pretty much. Because retrievers are notorious for yanking on anything that pulls on their collar (a side effect to their natural working nature: pulling on the chest means pull harder to carry the weight of their work) we had to get a special collar/harness system for him. Its called a Gentle Leader, and it works by wrapping around the muzzle and head rather than just the neck. The hook is in the back, so as soon as he pulls, his head is pulled down to prevent chasing. This is also helpful for dogs that like to bite and bark. A good example is found here.

When it comes to the bike, we hook up the gentle leader to a spring loaded extension bar that attaches to the bike, like this one. This allows him some room to move about, but the spring helps reduce any pulling that might come from him immediately stopping. Mostly, we just make frequent stops just to let him move around and sniff out the terrain. The bar is also a nice distance from the bike to prevent any accidents between us and him.

Like I said though, just my 2 cents, and this system might not work for your dog. Every dog is different ^^ Hope it helps!
posted by LittleNami at 8:28 PM on March 9

Oops, forgot one little note. The only problem that we have had with the devices is that the bike bar is a little difficult to attach on some bikes, but if you have a good bike shop that you are familiar with, you can have them attach it with a regular bike tune up.
posted by LittleNami at 8:31 PM on March 9

A neighbor I used to have used a Springer with a saluki. He claimed it was wonderful and gave the dog the exercise it needed.

I tried walking a dog on my bike when I was an adolescent. The dog saw a realtor on the lot next to our house and yanked me off the bike and yanked the leash out of my hands and attacked the realtor. As part of the settlement, the dog was destroyed. Between that and Krautland's experiences, you may wish to strongly consider only a device that attaches to the bike and not you.
posted by plinth at 5:52 AM on March 10

My (now-ex) wife broke her leg biking with our dog--just holding the leash while casually peddling down an empty, flat road. Maybe one of those attachement thingies would've helped.
posted by MrMoonPie at 8:22 AM on March 10

Thanks all, looks like the Springer is worth a test-ride.
posted by fshgrl at 5:05 PM on March 11