Walking beside a bike

AussieGirl · 07-24-2009, 06:23 AM

DH and I love bike riding and he really wants Ruby to be able to come along with us when she is old enough. At the moment we have tried just walking with her beside the bike while we push it along and as she gets used to it plan on progressing to riding the bike. Has anyone else success teaching their Boxer to do this. I'll be honest at the moment it's not looking too promising LOL she gets easily distracted by other dogs, kids, people

. Any tips, ideas, gadgets would be appreciated. We will persevere with it, we may just need to wait until she matures a bit and calms down

if that ever happens.

And by the way I believe this is the 1000th thread!!!!!

Ron · 07-24-2009, 06:30 AM

Tie hates bikes!!! He's better now, but when he was younger he'd just start barking as soon as the wheels start turning

Ron · 07-24-2009, 06:37 AM

yah it is the 1,000th thread

AussieGirl · 07-24-2009, 06:42 AM

Ruby LOVES them, she know it means we are going somewhere - but she also likes everything we see along the way which means she doesn't always walk in a straight line she's not like that on a normal walk but I am more focused on correcting her when just walking, and she's got a bit of pull on her when she wants to. I'm not game enough to get on the bike yet as I can see myself being taken where I don't want to go or over the handle bars

, I think because the bike keeps moving she can't really tell there isn't enough slack in the lead. Maybe I'm just not strict enough with how much slack I allow her to have on her lead

it just seems so different to walking her.

purplelori · 07-24-2009, 09:14 AM

I know they make an apparatus that hooks to the bike and has a bar that keeps your dog to the side of the bike, and makes it so they can't dive in front of you. I think they have them in the Dr Foster & Smith catalogue---or just look it up on the Net.

I don't think Wally is a good candidate!

Lori & Wally

Brian J. Sabel · 07-24-2009, 11:12 AM

After Scout turns one year next month I plan to start training her to walk next to a bike. I think it would be a good way to get her energy out! I know she won't be old enough to run next to a bike for a while but I figure it will be a long process so I'm starting now! I'll post any tips or tricks I discover.

JoeV · 07-24-2009, 12:44 PM

She'll eventually realize the bike is not a threat and you'll have to work hard to teach her to "leave" things or any distractions that may be around. I ride and change it up where Lucky runs and walks, she has a lot of fun with it.

Boxer100 · 07-28-2009, 11:40 AM

Knowing our dog and how he behaves when he sees other dogs or small animals (e.g rabbits), I would never want to be on a bike when he starts pulling toward them. We never tried putting him next to a bike, but we do rolleblade with him and that took some time for him to get used to. I'm also afraid he'll jump in front of the bike and hurt himself so I'm not planning to try it anytime soon.