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If You Bike With Your Dog


Chula

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How far do you go? I just took Chula out for a two mile ride and she's not even remotely tired. We moved at a pretty good pace and the terrain is hilly. She's just 14 months so I don't want to push her too hard or too far but she got back from the ride and is now running circles in the backyard. I can't keep up!

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I'm not deep south but the temp today is around 50 which is pretty typical for this time of year. I think for now I will keep to 2-3 miles or so at her pace. I don't want to damage her, but walks aren't cutting it on the exercise front.

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There's a reason I don't live in Minnesota with my family!

And yeah, she's crazy full of energy. She pants for three minutes then ready to go again! She gets an hour and a half of walks/run, a half hour of fetch a day and usually dog park a few times a week. She is exhausting!

Edited by Chula
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One that doesn't shed. :) I'm up to my knees in husky hair.

This crazy dog is still running laps. She hasn't stopped moving since she woke me up five hours ago. She will nap in her crate while I go to the grocery store and then be crazy again when I get home.

Tomorrow is daycare day. My Monday morning meeting got moved to Tuesday afternoons but I'm taking her anyway so she can go wear out some strangers for the day. :)

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I just started biking with Champ and since we don't have a yard for him to run in he gets tired pretty quick. It's a half mile walk to the park where we bike so we just walk along so he can do his business before we get there. One lap at the park is about a mile and we only get through two laps before he's tired, I'm sure once we're able to do it on a regular basis his stamina will build back up and we'll be able to go for longer.

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Nikko is 14 months now, and I started slowly with him at about 11 months old. I use a Springer, which has been, to me, the best invention since Hot Chocolate Chip Cookies! The first few weeks were nothing more than a few times around the block. He took to the process very well, so I feel fortunate to have this outlet.

We now go for about an hour, with a water break at the midway point, or every 20 minutes, depending on amount of real running. Most of the time he just walks/trots next to the bike. Since this rig and harness is not designed for pulling, when he decides to really RUN, I am forced to really step up my game to peddle fast enough to keep up with him.

Biking has turned out to be the best exercise, outside the beach or dog park, for Nikko. He has learned his basic commands of "Gee", "Haw", and Whoa!" pretty well.

As seen below, I only have his lead as a fail safe, it does not actually do anything in the process of riding.

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Nikko is 14 months now, and I started slowly with him at about 11 months old. I use a Springer, which has been, to me, the best invention since Hot Chocolate Chip Cookies! The first few weeks were nothing more than a few times around the block. He took to the process very well, so I feel fortunate to have this outlet.

We now go for about an hour, with a water break at the midway point, or every 20 minutes, depending on amount of real running. Most of the time he just walks/trots next to the bike. Since this rig and harness is not designed for pulling, when he decides to really RUN, I am forced to really step up my game to peddle fast enough to keep up with him.

Biking has turned out to be the best exercise, outside the beach or dog park, for Nikko. He has learned his basic commands of "Gee", "Haw", and Whoa!" pretty well.

As seen below, I only have his lead as a fail safe, it does not actually do anything in the process of riding.

post-11296-0-37223600-1389556500_thumb.j

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I can't wait for it warm back up here, everything is covered in ice so biking is like taking your life into your hands because the ground is trying to kill you all the time.  I'm sure Champ will be happy to get back out and bike as well.  We also use the Springer, cause it's too dangerous to have him pulling the bike along as he wants to go after anything that moves.

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I'm don't think I'll ever be able to control Harry whilst on a bike, even with a springer I think he'd just take off, mind you I didn't ever think I'd be able to walk 2 huskies. Snowy is 6 months old and I'd like to try biking with him in the future, when do you think is a good time to start?

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Depends. Are you looking to bikejor or just have him next to you? If you want to bikejor with them, find a team and train him with them for a while, and in the mean time you can work on solo training your pup. The formation you use also makes a difference.

 

Here is a formation we are using more often. Learning dog in the back. Teaching dog in front.

 

1557250_10152124152935726_636187626_o.jp

 

Vs a Co-Leader 

 

1545183_10152124147340726_849176988_n.jp

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I'm interested in just having him run along side me. Do you think he's too young to start at 6 months?

 

people have mixed opinions regarding that. Personally I'd wait until the dog is at least 24 months old, but some others start running their dog at age 6 months

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We started taking really short, slow rides around 11-12 months to get her used to being next to a bike. I think six months is too young. I am still worried that 14 months is young to do much more than trot alongside but I decided that her need for exercise outweighs the risks at this point.

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I've been running Storm in front of the bike since he was around 15 months (he's now 30 months approx) - I pedal very little except for a short up hill stretch where I help out. We do about 4 miles, which takes him between 18 and 25 minutes depending on (a) how cold it is and (B) how many distractions we come across. I'll do this 2-3 times a week, normally around 10pm so it's nice and quiet out, using head torch and good bike lights (which cost about 4 times what I paid for the bike!). I did a quick one this weekend, and I expected him to crash out when we returned home, and I would take my other two out for a walk. He was having none of it - he was up for the walk as much as ever!!!

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I wasn't trying to 'work' him, more just getting him to trot along with a bicycle. After todays events I realise he's still very young and whilst he has bags of energy I don't want to push him too quickly. The general consensus seems to be to wait, so on that advice I will :) thanks :)

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