Cycling with doglets.

Toffee44

Toffee44

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I know that a few of you cycle with your dogs, just wondering how to go about it?

Do you have attachements?

Or go off lead completly?


I currently run with Teal and he loves it. But I need to start cycling to the yard now (3 miles there mostly a cycle track but have to start out on road which we run on anyway).
 
Ideally, you just hold the lead in your hand. Unless your dog is super well trained, attaching dog to the bike, if it sees something and bolts, the bike will go out from underneath you and you will be hurt.
At least with the lead in your hand you can put your feet down or jump off the bike and have a bit more control.
Having said that I do use a springy thing as a back-up but he has been taught to come alongside the bike since he was a pup.

I trained it the same way as the heel, at first straddling the bike in the yard when he was a pup, clicking and feeding when he was in the position I wanted him in. Using a command like 'follow'.
Then very slow sessions for a couple of metres. Now he is a year old and I have seen that his hips and elbows are not a disaster zone :p we are doing a couple of miles once or twice a week on the flat/grass verge.

It is a good control exercise as well as exercise exercise....when you go, the dog must follow, when you stop, the dog must stop. Make sure you are using a good collar and lead combo.

Personally speaking and this may be a breed thing, I like to keep the dog in an extended trot rather than a gallop.

Have fun, we love it :D
 
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FH Really? Never heard of that? I obv don't take him on pavements/roads.... only off road cyclepaths/bridlepaths....
 
Didn't know that!! I always used to lead my dog from my horse. And cc I'd love to see my sprinters trot but I don't think that's in their vocabulary. It's either walk or canter/gallop
 
I've just googled and can't find anything about it being illegal other than other peoples point of view on other forums!! Nothing official to back it up.

On offical websites it only talks about it being illegal to ride a bike on a pavement, and I did find one saying that dogs HAVE to be on a lead next to roads, which I may just print out and hand out as flyers to the idiots around here (if I had the guts!! lol!). None said anything about riding a bike with a dog. Not even mentioned.
 
Off lead or with lead around the handle-far better balance imo than trying to hold a lead in your hand. Your dog needs to respect the bike wheels i.e not be trying to cross over (and ideally lead short enough so it isn't easy for them to do so) and not pull overly, but they tend to learn that with time. You do end up cycling quite slowly!
It's something a bit of practice in a quiet place will teacht hem. Make sure you use voice commands at any turns i.e right/left so that when you need to do an 'inside' turn the dog is ready for it!
 
Foxhunter49 said:
Not that you are likely to be stopped but in the UK it is actually illegal to lead a dog from a horse or a bike!
Click to expand...

Funny how it's a recognised sport then. :p Canix UK do a dedicated bikejor class at most of their events and a lot of the dryland mushing organisers include bike/scooter classes for one or two dogs.

I have tried the side attachments (Walkydog type thing) and really didn't like them, no matter how well I bolted them they or the seatpost would move while in use. Plus with the type of dogs I have it'd be daft not to use them to actually pull me along.

I use a bikejor antenna to keep the line off the wheel and have the dogs running out front - it's a scooter but the principle is exactly the same for a bike.

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I also have adequate liability insurance. :p
 
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