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Who does it? My GSP is still not quite a year old, and has bounds of energy. Walking him does nothing, and I understand and accept that. He likes to run off leash at the soccer fields near my house. Anyways, I'm wondering if anyone bikes with their dogs? I know there are some products out there like the walkydog, and the springer, that seem to be beneficial for the dog's safety.

I haven't started biking with my GSP or anything. It simply occured to me as a good way to give him the exercise he wants and needs, but before I tried I wanted to know how to do it the safest way? Or should I not at all? Tips? Thanks!
 

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We used to bike with our ACD mix when she was younger and needed that level of exercise. She really enjoyed it, getting to tour the neighborhood at high speed! I also taught my brother's lab mix to run beside my bike when I was babysitting him for a couple of weeks. Both dogs picked it up very easily. We don't use any special equipment, just ride one handed, so we can control the leash and keep dog and leash away from the bike with an outstretched arm. I understand that there are devices which could make it less likely for the dog to dump your bike.

The dogs were taught to run on the right side of the bike, so they would be away from traffic (not that there is much in our neighborhood) and so, if they did pull us over going after something, we'd fall onto the shoulder instead of toward the middle of the road. I only wiped out once with ACD mix. Until they got good at following verbal commands for which way to turn and we had practiced left turns while walking the bike, I made only right hand turns while sitting on the bike...lefts are tricky, as the dog has to come around on the outside of the turn. Oh, we also taught a "come around" command, so that if the dog did somehow get on the wrong side of the bicycle, we could tell them to come around in back of the bike to the right side.

I rode dogs with my seat a bit low, so that I could get both feet on the ground quickly, for stability, if I needed to. I also prefer a cruiser style bike, which is heavy, doesn't require messing with gears and has the big wide handlebars that are easier to control with a single hand.

I would not bike with a dog until it is truly full grown, running fast on pavement is hard on their joints. Also, watch for signs of their tiring, I know with our ACD mix, she is so driven that she will not stop what she is doing, no matter how tired, sore or anything else she might be, full speed charging ahead at all times, so I had to be the one to rein her in and call it quits before she got to tired or overheated.
 

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We do this constantly with our dogs, a catahoula x and a ACD x and it works wonderfully.

I started with the catahoula (Sydney) because she's very high energy. Wiped out the first try... she saw a cat lol. After that I started again, slow, basically walking the bike with her on the right side. After a few accidental run ins with the bike tire when she ran in front, she will no longer go in front of the bike. Normally I keep one hand always on the bike and the other with the leash hooked on my thumb and fingers on the bike. We ride in low traffic areas with speed limits of 10 mph and if she really decided to bolt the leash would come off my thumb and i would hopefully stay upright. When I fell the bike landed slightly on Sydney and took a little skin off her back leg, so I didn't want that happening again.

With the ACD x she wears a harness because for some reason she will not listen if she's leashed on a collar, and that meant a little adjustment with the riding style, but she picked it up very quickly. Now the SO and I can have a nice ride around the neighborhood or ride over to the abandoned development down the road and run till the girls are tired.

Now a days if the SO is busy and can't some, I can take both dogs with me and have no problems! Just start slow in low traffic areas and it will soon become a wonderful way to spend some energy!!

*Hint: Always wear pants and sneakers in the beginning because you will probably fall and it hurts much less if you're covered!! Also, if you plan on going very far take water for the pups. Running at the faster pace of the bike makes for thirsty dogs.
 

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You could always look into Bikejoring, my guess is that it would use even more energy than biking with your dog beside you. Do a quick google search, lots comes up. Training involved, but I don't know that it would be much more than what you'll have to do to be able to bike safely with your dog anyway. I know there are a couple of people on here that do it, or at least Skijoring/mushing/canicross (I'm planning on starting some training this spring actually). You might find it really fun!
 

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I have a 3 year old beagle, Hunter, with TONS of energy! I have a WalkyDog for my bike. I cannot recommend it enough. I got mine off of Amazon about a year and a half ago. I read the reviews on there and just couldn't resist. I bought the same day I discovered it. We ride 6-8 miles a few times a week in the spring, summer, and fall. He's mostly at a jog pace the whole time. We run next to a river so having enough water is not an issue. We take short breaks so he can swim and drink to cool off. We live in the country so there's a lot of critters always running around. While Hunter is trained to not try to dart after them, it does happen every once in a while. The WalkyDog somehow absorbs all the energy and doesn't effect me in the least. He's 34 pounds of pure muscle so that's impressive to me. I've also tried it on my dad's 85 pound black lab/mix (we kinda think German Shepard) who is also pure muscle and not very well trained. He was unable to pull me over either. I do recommend usually a harness when biking with a dog though.

That's just my two cents and hope it helps! Feel free to ask more questions if you have any.

Sorry for any typos or grammar errors. I'm writing this on my phone and the autocorrect is killing me lol.
 
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