Anyone else ride with their dog?

Two Bikes

I guess the question could be any pet in general, but so far, my cat is only non-K9 pet I've personally seen at the trails and he was more of a guard-cat than anything else.

Lucy is my lab/pointer mix who's been tagging along with me since she was six months old. She's logged about 400 or so miles over the years and is by far my favorite riding companion.

We got lost on a trip one time and the ride turned out to be 19 miles long. Lucy was right there every step of the way and was the only one not complaining when we got back - in fact - she took off after a deer while we were putting the bikes on the Jeep.

She's getting a little older now so I don’t take her as much as I used to. Yesterday we went out for a quick four-mile ride and it felt so good to have her out there with me again that while she was drinking from my Camel Bak, I got to wondering about other people’s trail dogs and wanted to hear some other stories.

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ireman_1

I ride with my doggy dog (see avatar) whenever possible. I learned that despite his keen sense of direction and willingness to go where I go he has a hard time keeping up on some of the sustained downhills/high-speed trails. He is a great riding partner, my favorite truthfully. He never laughs at me when he beats me to the top of the climb, which is every climb. Maybe he does laugh and I'm just not very good at speaking dog. He has learned to take the rear (or off trail) when a descent comes. I T-boned him once when he stopped to smell something on the trail on a short descent of about 100 yards. He yellped(sp?), I grabbed disc, I slid into some unexpecting tree, tree yellped (did any hear it?), etc. But I digress. He goes into crazy mode when I grab my bag and helmet. Pavlov may have been onto something. Hmmm...

K.

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Disciples Of Dirt

stevemtbsteve

Yes, I do.

jtfleming

My dog keeps up for about 10 miles and then he heads home. If he comes along, I usually plan a 5 mile loop to drop him off. Long 10 miles though...he provides lawn watering service 3 times on every block

singletrack

Last fall I rode with my dog, and plan to again this fall. She gets what I call "shiny, happy eyes" when we are on the trail. (so do I for that matter) She is a German Shepherd, so when we first started riding she kept trying to herd me on the trail and head me off. I had to tap her a time or two with my front wheel to keep her moving. Now she knows the drill and I give her a "walk on" command to get her on her way if she gets distracted by a smell and stops in front of me.

Yesterday I got a doggy backpack for her so she can carry her own water and bowl.

I don't take her in the spring so much because she gets a ton of ticks. And I don't run her in the summer cause it's too hot.

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Amy

blip

I ride with my furry friend. I started when he was about 5 months old. I did only short rides to get him used to FOLLOWING the wheel not being the lead dog. I also gradually built up his fitness. He now runs behind wherever we go. The funniest thing of all is that he only follows me. This becomes an issue on group rides because he knows to follow the bikes and not lead them so if I am mid pack and he is following me and there is a bike behind me he gets out of the way and lets the guys and girls behind me through and then will not follow anybody elses wheel hahaha.
When it first started happening I was kinda pissed off but then I thought it was great, he only follows me and gets out of everybody elses way. The solution is simple, we ride together often and if we are in a group then i am at the back no matter what and Perro ( my dogs name, yeah I know a dog called dog ) is at the back of everybody.
We get some great looks when a big bunch of us head across a path and people are watching because you get maybe 6 or 8 riders and then perro at the back covered in the spray of everybody's tires, tongue hanging out having a ball!

Jim

Hey guys, good to hear you're taking the four legged friend along, but a word of warning.

I regularly take out my mutt (a whippet-like kelpie bitza) who revels in the running and doesn't mind the heat much either. I used to have a kelpie/collie and he was a bit woolier, and sometimes suffered in the heat. You'd see the heat exhaustion in and around his eyes. When you see that the dog needs rest and water, preferably water deep enough to immerse in because the dog doesn't sweat. Dog's pant to keep cool, breathing air over their tongue. Now compare a tongue to your whole body and you'll see that their cooling system isn't as effective as ours.

I had a friend who brought his dog along for a ride, a labby/golden retriever kind of thing. While my kelpie was quite comfortable and the kelpie/collie was doing okay, the labby quietly curled up and died. And I mean died. We got him to he vet but the damage was done and he was buried later that day.

Keep and eye on your mutt, because the dog won't tell you when he's suffering. If he has to, he'll run himself to death.

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Alnamvet

I have a Golden on my port side, a Rottweiller on my starboard side, a Presa Canarius covering my six, and a Chihuahua-Great Dane mix running point.

mikefrommi

I would but my dog can't reach the pedals :-)

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poppa23

That's really good advice man...Really appreciate that... I just wanted to add in addition to that even in the fall dogs can overheat. Just last Saturday I decided to ride a little faster with my dog and like a trooper she didn't complain. I stopped at a closer rest area cause I wanted to check to see if my doggy was really alright... Good thing too cause she was really, really thirsty and hot...Plus she had a little limp too...This was when I harnessed her in the little trailer that I hitch to the back of my bike which I always bring with me when I ride with my dog in case I ride further than I expect...After a little bit of a rest, she was ready to go with me the rest of the way...Anyone else bring a trailer just in case?

Jim

I love the trailer idea. I've been thinking about the trailer because my dog get's a bit lazy with the commute section between trail and home. Her breed can run 40km in a day, but really, unless there's birds to chase and swimming holes to jump in she's not much interested.

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vektor

I ride with my dog up on Boggs mountain in california, He's a 110 lb lab shepard cross so he does really well uphill but I have to wait quite a bit on the downhill. It's great cause he absolutely loves it even if he runs himself to the ground he'd have it no other way . I love him very much. Neat post I didn't think many road with the dogds. Thank , Vektor

Roberta

I ride with my girl, Koa, too and she is the kind of dog who would run herself to death if I asked her to. I never really know if I'm babying her or running her too hard. So, does anyone have any good advice on monitoring your dog's health status?

zach

I ride with my pet budgie bird... does that count???