dogcrazyjen wrote:Where do you bike with your dogs? Do you have a spring clip on the bike or just hold the leash? How do you handle other dogs and such? What does your dog wear for collar/harness?
I live where there are no sidewalks, so we would have to be on roads, Also, there are loose dogs around, although most are harmless.
My dal mix would be able to bike, as he is proofed on these things, but Tess is still pretty reactive, and I like unbroken bones! I just keep flashing back to the bike scene in 101 dalmations!
Jen, if I take them out on the bike (depends on how much time I have: more time = running; less time = biking), I take them on the road. We have sidewalks at my house, but there's simply not enough room for both my dog and bike. I use what is called a Springer (
http://www.springerusa.com/). It works really well....they have them now at some regular petstores...but I ordered mine straight from the company.
I hooked it up to be on the right side, rather than the left so that the dog would always be closest to the sidewalk (b/c God knows that I'd rather get hit by a car than have my dog get hit).
Sacha is fairly well trained, so I can just hook her up to a flat collar or a harness (though I tend to steer towards the flat collar). With the puppy, though (and while Sacha was still being trained not to pull me) I use the pinch/prong collar. It just trains them to not pull you over/forward, etc...
I think the hardest part has been teaching them that it's okay to be on my right side, and running next to me...I just gave it a new command "Bike" so they don't get it confused with "heel."