[Nerodia]

My Aussie moves way too fast for me to try to call walking "exercise". I plunked the $30 down for a WalkyDog, and it was, by far, the BEST investment I've ever made! She loves it...and I have to say, my attempts to keep her at a trot are fruitless. She runs, no matter how slowly I go, and pulls me along with her. 10 miles, she still runs. It's kind of like having a little motor :-) Now, if I could just figure out how to bottle and sell all that energy...

The only thing that can happen is that sometimes, when she pulls exceptionally strongly, my seat moves around on the seat post, which is distracting to say the least. For some reason, the seat on my mountain bike is less "wiggly" in this way than my hybrid bike.

Also, after about six months, the cord that the clip is attached to frayed and broke (in mid-ride! Ack! I had visions of Mirren becoming road-pizza...), so keep an eye on that. Fortunately, we always have lots of twine and stuff lying around, so were able to make repairs.

The other thing is: be careful about is your dog's feet. Start out slow; a mile, a couple of miles only, then check their feet. Any blistering, soreness, give 'em a break to recover. Dirt is less abrasive than pavement; grass is better than dirt.

I highly recommend the WalkyDog. The benefits WAY outweigh the drawbacks!

[jbbasler]

I LOVE biking with my 2 year old American Pit Bull Terrier/American Bulldog mix Conan. He is incredibly strong and can run all day, so he loves running beside my bike on the bike trails around my college community.

I trained Conan to "heel" on my left side when I am walking or running, so I always have him run on that side of my bike too. I taught him to be respectful and not pull by using a chain control collar, but now we are working away from that with the end goal being a nylon collar, as we are working towards taking and passing the AKC Canine Good Citizen test.

Conan has more skiddish tendencies than aggressive, so when I first brought out the bike he was really nervous. I got him over it by taking him for walks while pushing my bike next to me on my right. This way I was in between him and the bike, which helped build his confidence. Whenever I stop while walking or running I expect my dog to sit, so I did the same with the bike.

After about a week of this I started biking next to him slowly. Soon enough we were in an everyday routine and his fears are now completely gone! I simply wrap his leash around my left hand and go...I like the leash because I do not want my 90 pound dog pulling on my bike at all and this way the bike is just an extension of my body. However, I have heard really good things about the WalkyDogs too. We have never had an accident and we've been doing this for a year.

I always wear a drawstring backpack with a collapsable water dish, water bottle, waste bags and my cell phone and wallet inside. Also, I always bike against traffic so that Conan (who is on my left) can be as far away from vehicles as possible. I use this same idea on the bike trails and sidewalks so Conan can run in the grass rather than on the pavement in hopes of preventing sore paws, shoulders, etc. This irritates other bikers and runners, so I try to move over to the right side when I come across other people to be courteous.

Conan LOVES bike rides, and I really enjoy them too. I highly recommend them to anyone with a dog who has a lot of energy and is a good runner.

[aenlaasu]

I was sooo glad to find this forum and even more importantly this post! It's great to find other people who enjoy cycling with their dogs.

I have a Siberian Husky who's been running with me since he was a year and a half old. He had a long time to get adjusted to the weird machine I use to explore the Swedish countryside. Instead of the normal two wheeled bike, I have a recumbent trike (my arm chair with pedals) which I purchased when Loke was still a puppy. He loves it and the only time he has separation anxiety is when the trike goes out the door without him. I'm fairly sure he believes the trike is his and I just go along to give him water. :P

We even went out on overnight trips with the trike and camping gear. Last year was incredibly hot for Sweden so we only managed to get 680 miles under our paws/wheels.

[Bensmith]

Thanks so much.I will do this with my dog.This is a great idea ..