A great way to exercise your dog!

Wellyboots6

Well the amount of people I have seen today who have told me I should attach a sledge to Digger (walking to heel doesn't count in snow apparently) it is something I could seriously consider!

Raksha

I'm never happy with any form of excercise that doesn't allow the animal to self regulate. Following ridden horses, bikes, or this type of thing can encourage owners to allow the dog to travel far beyond what is good, especially as so often they are used on large circular routes, where there is only one way home, and that's to keep going

Person_one

gettingready wrote: »

Why?

I am not an expert so asking....

Apologies, I thought it was a joke about the weight of the person on the scooter.

gettingready

Oh dear - no, of course it was not.. sorry if it came across this way...

sharloid

Raksha wrote: »

I'm never happy with any form of excercise that doesn't allow the animal to self regulate. Following ridden horses, bikes, or this type of thing can encourage owners to allow the dog to travel far beyond what is good, especially as so often they are used on large circular routes, where there is only one way home, and that's to keep going

I don't see any difference between this or a dog being allowed to run off lead?

If he doesn't want to run he stops - simple.

Gosh, I just wanted to share some photos of my dog having fun, not insulted or slated for it!

Person_one

sharloid wrote: »

I don't see any difference between this or a dog being allowed to run off lead?

If he doesn't want to run he stops - simple.

Gosh, I just wanted to share some photos of my dog having fun, not insulted or slated for it!

Your husky looks like he's having loads of fun, much better off than most of the ones I see on short leads looking stressed. Such a shame that so many people have this breed with no idea of their needs.

krlyr

Raksha wrote: »

I'm never happy with any form of excercise that doesn't allow the animal to self regulate. Following ridden horses, bikes, or this type of thing can encourage owners to allow the dog to travel far beyond what is good, especially as so often they are used on large circular routes, where there is only one way home, and that's to keep going

Surely this could be applied to being attached to a lead and following a person too? Dogs can be overwalked without any fancy equipment at all. Common sense and an awareness of your dog's capabilities is what's needed, in all cases.

I go running with my dogs, and they have to be attached as they can't be trusted off-lead, but I take lots of things into consideration - weather conditions, ground surface, the dogs' health and so on. Even then, I trained them up gradually to run longer distances, just as I trained myself, and they get a warm up and cool down just like I do.

Even off-lead, some dogs don't know when to stop physically - I've heard of dogs fetching balls to the point of exhaustion. Again, common sense is needed.

pawsies

sharloid wrote: »

Yes, anyone that's interested she definitely read up on it first. Smaller breeds are able to do bikejoring though!

I just wanted to share some pics of my boy having a nice time.

Sorry, I don't have that much experience of the sport- I was thinking of those doggy rucksacks that makes the dog carry it's own things.

Those are unsuitable for small breeds.

Caroline_a

Your husky looks like he's having a great time. I would be too much of a wimp to try that with my two boys - between them they are over 100kg, and pretty damn strong too. I shall stick to my wandering around the countryside with them off-lead whilst I meander at my own pace. I'm really not that keen on hospital food...:rotfl:

Raksha

sharloid wrote: »

I don't see any difference between this or a dog being allowed to run off lead?

If he doesn't want to run he stops - simple.

Gosh, I just wanted to share some photos of my dog having fun, not insulted or slated for it!

If a dog is being walked off lead by a human, he can drop back to the humans pace which is slower than the dogs normal pace. If he's attached to a bike, or following a bike or horse, he's pushed to keep up that pace. A fit dog may well be able to keep up, but I've see dogs being exercised like this beyond their fitness levels and because the owners don't recognise that their dog is stressed they keep going because that's the route they decided they were going to take that day. I'm not saying you do, but it needs a far deeper understanding of dog training and fitness than just buying a special bike and riding into the sunset.

Dogs don't tend to stop unless they're very close to the extent of their stamina.

If you don't want to be critised, don't post on an open forum